Victoria Park
Opened in 1845, Victoria Park is one of the most important parks in London, historically speaking. It sits between two London canals; Regents Canal and the Hertford Union Canal. The HUC is actually itself a cut of the Regents Canal which links to the River Lee (London's other river).
This park played a crucial role in East London in the 1800's providing the only open green space for some very impoverished residents of Tower Hamlets and the surrounding parts. There is a water fountain built in 1862 that brought the only source of clean drinking water to many. The park gained the reputation as "the people's park".
Victoria Park was used as a site for anti aircraft defence during World War II, as such was closed to the public. In the present day, the park remains one of the most beautiful and visited parks in the capital.
I was last in this park with a fellow Hiveian (see if you can recognise her), as part of a photo walk we did. She was shooting a film camera, while I was recording her. I couldn't help grabbing some shots myself though.
The fun and games, as usual, started with a cup of coffee at a very cool café on the boarder of the park in Bethnal Green. The park can be accessed via many entry points, but we walked along one of the many canal systems in that area to get to the park, which also provided more photography opportunities.
From a photography point of view, the light was garbage on the day, especially for analog photography which often requires a lot of good light, but we made the best of what we had.
Endangered buildings /
Along most of the canals in East London; in Bow, Hackney Wick, Mile End, e.t.c, you can see these really cool, soulful buildings. A lot of them are industrial or warehouse conversions into residential homes. Over the years, I've seen them starting to disappear one by one.
The Olympic Village that was built in the Stratford - Hackney area decimated a lot of them to make way for the large stadium, apartment blocks and new access roads leading to them. Since then, many more of them have been torn down to make way for modern towers and blocks of flats.
I know change is inevitable, and some of these buildings are no longer viable in the 21st Century, but it's a big shame that they are disappearing at the rate they are. I think they're a part of East London's soul, that is being lost at a staggering rate.
Peace & Love,
Adé