What is London Necropolis?
I've been photographing cemeteries on and off for years now - London Necropolis came upon me as an idea when I felt inclined to not only document my visits with photos, which I was regularly posting on Flickr, but also that I wanted to add words. You will find that in a lot of cemeteries, you come across unusual things, people, and sometimes strange things will happen (I'm not talking about ghostly things here - just strange occurances) - these are things I wanted to document here, rather than through a blog.
Each cemetery will eventually have its own page, with information, photographs, and my own writings about the cemetery. As you can appreciate, this is a huge task for someone who also works full time! However, it is a 'labour of love' and I endevour to finish this project before we move away from London.
I have added a FAQ section - this may seem odd - but a lot of people think I'm odd for taking lots of photos of cemeteries - so hopefully this section will answer some questions. Obviously, if you have any questions or comments, you can fill in a webform and I will get back to you!
To avoid confusion, this is by no means a site to rival the wonderful work of Sue Bailey at London Cemeteries. In fact, if you want a full, in-depth look at the cemeteries of London, her site is densely packed with information and photographs. London Necropolis aims to provide a different view of the cemeteries in and around the London area, the way I view them through my camera lens. My writings about the cemeteries - my personal experiences.
WHO?
My interest in photographing cemeteries first began when my mother was doing an Open University course in Art History. One of the modules covered Victorian Attitudes to Death and Dying. I watched the compulsory documentary with her and was fascinated by Highgate Cemetery. When I moved to London, I moved to Wood Green, so a trip to Highgate wasn't that difficult. Unfortunately my lack of expertise with a camera resulted in pretty poor results. My access to a camera curtailed with the end of a relationship - and it was a while before I got another SLR.
I didn't really pick up a camera again, with a few to taking something other than simply snapshots, until 2003. This was for a trip to New York. I came back with some fantastic results and my passion started. Unfortunately that camera broke on a trip to Amsterdam, and I bought the cheapest SLR I could; a Minolta Dynax. It served its purpose but I found all the auto-functions frustrating. Following that came the purchase of a Canon Powershot A95 - a compact digital camera. This allowed me much more scope - and all of my early photos were captured on this. I found digital photography much more liberating than film. Mainly because of cost. It's much cheaper to make mistakes on a digital camera!
Finally, in March this year - I purchased an entry-level DSLR - the Minolta 5D. Why this camera?
(a) Cost - it's cheap!
(b) Anti-shake system - which rocks - I have shaky hands and this camera is a dream!
(c) I already had lenses and other accessories for a Minolta Dynax and fortunately, Minolta lenses for their SLRs fitted their DSLRs - HURRAH!
There have been other influences on my photography:
e.Katie Holm - a dear dear friend of mine, who is also a stunning photographer. Her cemetery photographs are awe-inspiring - take a look at her site.
Flickr - I cannot go on enough about how wonderful this site is. My photography has come on leaps and bounds since I started posting here - and the critical, supportive and downright rude comments have encouraged me more than I could have imagined they would.
Yahoo Cemetery Photographers Group - if it wasn't for this group, Barry Smith (from the Friends of Kensal Green) would not have asked me if he could use a photo for the cover of the Friends of Kensal Green Magazine, and Tony Wallis wouldn't have spotted it and asked if I wanted to exhibit my work. A great site for everyone who skulks around cemeteries, with a wonderfully supportive community.
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