Ravenscourt Park

Outdoor textures

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Mottled barkThis was an exercise in looking for the finer details, crouching down, getting very close and capturing what is often missed or taken for granted.

I was in my local park in west London and honed in on the metal and wood objects that exist alongside living things – railings, fences and a sculpture fashioned from an old tree trunk.

And the place is studded with living trees, with their bark that looks like the terrain of another world through the macro lens. I finished close to home at a garden wall studded with moss – a tropical forest in miniature.

The discovery of photography’s fine print continues soon…

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Burst of life

/ mikeosbornphoto / 16 Comments

Burst of lifeThere is a dankness to this London winter, cold and very wet. But a burst of sun and signs of vitality can be found.

This was in my favourite local walled garden at Ravenscourt Park, a perpetual draw for my camera.

And this was the first outing for my new macro lens, which has brought the world into close focus. I’ll share more of the results with you soon.

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Nature’s decline

/ mikeosbornphoto / 6 Comments

In June I went to the walled garden in Ravenscourt Park here in west London, just a stone’s throw away from my home. It was bursting with colour and life, a sun-blessed testament to a very fine summer.

A very recent return tells a different story, but not an unexpected one. The garden’s life is slowly ebbing away, with signs of decay and death. This has its own beauty.

The aim was to avoid piles of leaves in my photographs. The autumn colour scheme creeps into some images, but doesn’t dominate. I also came to the garden in the grip of winter, which you can view here.

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Autumn colour

/ mikeosbornphoto / 8 Comments

Autumn colourThis is a simple capture of a clutch of dazzlingly pink cyclamen plants at my local garden centre. They are colourful stalwarts of the colder months here in the UK and a sure seasonal sign.

But there’s another point to this photograph. I walked through Ravenscourt Park in west London before seeing the flowers, stubbornly resisting the urge to take pictures of autumn leaves and trees turning bare.

As lovely as those browns, russets and yellows might be, photos of them are even more commonplace than the piles of fallen leaf debris. They’re everywhere.

In an effort to tease out more inventive seasonal snapshots, my friend and fellow photographer Richard Cooper-Knight is organising a special autumnal Mass Observation project.  You can also sign up via Facebook.

There is more to autumn photography than leaves, isn’t there?…

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Dusk lavender

/ mikeosbornphoto / 10 Comments

It’s been a beautiful summer day and the light is gradually fading into darkness. I’m at the walled garden in Ravenscourt Park, enjoying the sight and scent of some lavender bushes. They’re now in full bloom in the green spaces and gardens of west London.

Shortly after taking this shot, I was asked to leave by park officials who were locking up the garden for the night. It was quite easy to ignore them…

Dusk lavender