black and white photography by rob gardiner.

Blogging was very 2004. Back sometime …

Venice, photographs on Polaroid 55 film taken with a primitive pinhole camera, part 1.

It has been a summer of long distance holidays, visits to family, and family visits. It is about time I posted some photos. Recently I shot a commission to document Mayfair in London, I thought you might like to see some of the pics that I consider capture the essence of Mayfair. For those not familiar, it is the quintessential square mile of classic London, lots of icons of englishness, old wealth, it is the hang out of the well-to-do. (Shooting with a rangefinder, I usually compose horizontally, but the book calls for mostly portrait aspect. Funny how much that can throw you off balance).

Last Saturday, a herd of sheep was driven through central London streets to assert the ancient historic rights of the Freemen of the City of London. Leading the flock were architects Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano (the Pompidou Centre in Paris is theirs, amongst others). Joining them were a dozen butchers of the Worshipful Company of Butchers. It was all in celebration of the London Architecture Week.

The route (map) took them from the Borough Market to the ancient Smithfield Meat Market via the Millennium Bridge over the Thames and past St Pauls. The butchers were “non-practising” - the sheep were transported back to the farm for killing out of public view.

It was not something you see everyday. Many thousands watched the event along the route. The shepherds spent more time herding us backwards-walking photographers than the 20 odd sheep.

All pictures per usual Leica M6 35/2.0 Tri-X PMK Pyro