London: Tyrwhitt Road

Images taken at Tyrwhitt Road, Brockley, London SE4

Tree

The garden at 49 Tyrwhitt Road, Brockley, London.
Taken on a pre war Voigtländer Brillant camera. The lens captures light as it wraps around the soft edges of nature within the hard edges of South East London.

Tiko

Tiko was Mrs Saper dog in Tyrwhitt Road. Mrs Saper was my wonderful landlady originally from Poland.

Tiko was a very easy going dog and a real member of the family. Before I moved into the house I used to visit her son Adam and stay in a spare room.

One time I remember going to see a film “The Entity” at the largest screen in London and sat at the front, Adams friend got us free tickets as she worked in the industry. It was an especially scary film so I appreciated Tiko sleeping on my bed that night!

Taken on a 1932 Voigtländer Brillant V6 camera with a wide aperture (perhaps wide open at f4.5. I love the image drawing, tones and colours from this lens. A later version of this camera was copied by the Russians and called “Lubitel” My first Lubitel cost £11.75 in 1975 and had a sharper lens.

Shared kitchen

I really just rented a room when I moved to London. There was another room that was shared, it had a tv in the corner and a couple of chairs with a sink and cooker in the other corner. Not much different from the accommodation in Nottingham really except Mrs Saper the landlady lived downstairs and made the whole house feel like a home. Neither my flatmate nor myself were particularly enthusiastic with housework though….

Mid 1980s, transparency film, taken just befoe making a cup of tea.

Adams greenhouse chair

Greenhouse at the rear of 49 Tyrwhitt Road, Brockley, London. Taken in the later 1980s. A great place to drink out of a Spanish wine skin listening to Spanish / Arabic music.
Mamiya RB67 90mm lens, 6×7 transparency film.

King George VI Electric Suction Sweeper

Moving to London in 1984 was quite a step for me. My worldly posessions in the boot of a friends car and £40 in my bank account. I was very fortunate to have a lovely landlady (Adams mum). The supplied hover in the shared furnished flat worked well despite it being 30-50 years old.

James

 

 

Taken in April 1986. James was a vibrant and energetic friend, his voice filled the large Victorian house I rented rooms in as he came to visit Adam and others.

He died too soon and before I could make peace over some silly misunderstanding. Sorry James.

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