The restoration work at Fulham Palace.
poppies in walled garden, Fulham Palace
walled garden, Fulham Palace
gardener, Fulham Palace
walled garden, Fulham Palace
restoration worker, Fulham Palace
walled garden, Fulham Palace
Fulham Palace
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Author Archives: Paul Debois
Remembrance Day
I went to a Remembrance Day service this morning. It was a shame that a local resident decided 11am was an appropriate time to start manoeuvring a car next to the memorial. Couldn’t even wait a couple of minutes. It made me think about some of the sites I’d visited over the last 18 months – Thiepval, Fromelles and Delville Wood. Amazing places to see, though very sad.
Grave of unknown soldier at the Fromelles Cemetery, France
Waterlillies
Earlier in the year I visited the Monet Gardens at Giverny to photograph the waterlillies. Prior to the shoot, I was asked to make some test shots for a few ideas I had, and these are the results. Shot at my local, Kew, the ideas weren’t adopted in the end, but a few days ago I finally made some high res scans.
I love using square format. Unfortunately most art directors worry when you mention it. To fit a page, a crop is almost inevitable, making its use irrelevant. And why shoot a beautful garden in black and white? The area around the lake at Giverny is green. And then there is a lot more green, which is not surprising really, as it’s largely a woodland type planting. There are occasional splashes of colour, but I wanted to capture the tonality. My darkroom instincts come to the fore in these situations!
Colour was eventually decided on and I shot some lovely graphic images – once these have been published next spring, I’ll post these too. And waterlillies – they’re absolute devils. If they decide to open, it’s a long wait. I timed one and it took 2 hours and 15 minutes. I’d normally have better things to do than standing around with a stop watch, but when you are planning a ferry trip home, it was essential. But worth the wait!
water lilies at Kew Gardens
water lilies at Kew Gardens
water lilies at Kew Gardens
roots in glasshouse at Kew Gardens
Land Girls – Dawn Isaac and Lyla Patel
Two more portraits from the Land Girls series from summer, 2011.
Dawn Isaac, garden designer and journalist in her garden
Lyla Patel, guerrilla gardener and blogger, at a site near Lambeth North
Marrakech
A gallery from a recent trip to Morocco.
Homemade Kodak sign, Marrakech, Morocco
Camera shop, Marrakech, Morocco
Fabric shop in souk, Marrakech, Morocco
Cafe at Museum of Marrakech, Morocco
ladies shopping in souk, Marrakech, Morocco
Souk, Marrakech, Morocco
Land Girls – Jane Perrone and Bunny Guinness
Two more portraits from the Land Girls series from summer, 2011.
Jane Perrone - Gardening Editor, The Guardian
Bunny Guinness - Broadcaster, author and garden designer, with Beetle
Urban Gardens and fruit pickers
Some more recent portraits, this time urban fruit pickers. Michael, Zhenghan and Brian Deighton, artist, volunteer….and tree owner!
Zhenghan Hao, volunteer fruit picker
Brian Deighton, artist and volunteer fruit picker
Michael, fruit picking volunteer and organizer
V1 and V2 bomb sites from WW2
With my fascination with anything from WW1 or WW2, I was quite pleased to have stumbled across the site of a V1 flying bomb on Saturday. I was taking photographs of woodland in Kent, and the owner pointed out a large round hole in the ground. At first, it was difficult to see clearly, as there was fairly dense tree growth. But with an expert eye, he pointed out the raised edge around the hole, indicating the soil had been thrown up in a blast. This is different from ancient mines or quarries which are generally level and also haphazard in shape. It was difficult to estimate the size, but significant damage would have been caused to an urban area.
Apparently many V1 bombs fell short, either being shot down or having flawed guidance. British news reports concentrated on the bombs that fell north of London, and combined with counter intelligence, the Germans reduced the range of these missiles, believing they were overshooting. They meant they would often fall in less densely populated areas south of the capital.
WW2 V1 flying bomb crater in Kent
WW2 V1 flying bomb crater in Kent - you can see the rim to the left.
A couple of weeks ago I was cycling along Staveley Road, Chiswick, and I noticed this memorial. It is on the site of the first V2 rocket to land in the UK on 8th September 1944. I’ve driven past the site hundreds of times on my rat runs, and never noticed it before. The houses have been rebuilt, though it is sobering to see photographs of the damage.
WW2 V2 rocket memorial in Staveley Road, Chiswick
Urban and Guerrilla gardening
A gallery of a few folk I have photographed over the last 18 months. Guerrilla gardeners, urban gardeners and plot holders.
Michael - allotment holder
Sarah - designer and urban garden volunteer
Anna - gardener and urban garden volunteer
Heather - Landscape architect, urban gardener/ environmentalist
Jason with his 1959 El Camino urban garden
Les - working on the restoration of the grounds and landscaping at Fulham Palace
Lewis - urban garden volunteer and organiser
Richard Reynolds - guerrilla gardener with his Austin Maxi
Stephen - garden volunteer
Nate - guerrilla gardener
Land Girls
During the autumn of 2010 I started photographing a few people I knew for a personal project, initially inspired by a Land Girls poster from WW2. Like the Gardeners’ Hands project from a couple of years ago, it gathered momentum, slowly at first, but by word of mouth it has grown from the original six portraits taken last year, to a surprising 30 portraits. And I only seem to have scratched the surface!
Not a literal interpretation of the original poster, the connection with everyone is that they grow edible plants or plants for cropping in some form – whether in a few pots on a balcony, in an allotment or in a vast garden and who are actively involved in writing, blogging, broadcasting or campaigning.
I plan to put up some of the images on the blog, maybe on a weekly or fortnightly basis, now I have a wide selection of folk. So a few recent portraits, in no particular order!
Beth Chatto, author and one of the UK's most respected plantswomen.
Jekka McVicar, plantswoman, organic expert and author, in her herb nursery
Alice Bowe, garden designer and author, making a start on her new veg plot.
Helen Babbs, author, on her balcony in Central London