Highgate Cemetery
Highgate cemetery, North London, Wednesday 11th September
Highgate cemetery was opened in 1839. It was one of the new seven burial rounds built around London as burial within the city had become a health hazard due to overcrowding in the church yards. It is built on a south east facing hillside at Highgate, the highest spot in London.
On the day that I attended, it was mainly clear and sunny with the occasional cloud.
My local photographic club in Stevenage had visited the cemetery a year ago. I had been unable to attend with them but having seen their pictures decided it was worth a visit of my own. I wanted to get pictures that reflected the sombre nature of the place.
Unlike my previous days visit to Oxford, there were a few people around. One or two small groups having a guided walk and the occasional visitor such as myself. However, the main challenge was the bright sunlight. The cemetery is now amongst woodland which is grown up throughout the site. As such it is regarded as a local nature reserve for birds and wildlife such as foxes.
The bright sunlight caused very strong shadows and being almost midday made for very harsh lighting coming through the trees.
I arrived at around 11 am by Uber having taken the train from Stevenage to Finsbury Park. A ticket costs £10 and entitles you to visit both the east and the west side of the cemetery. I only intended in the time I had to visit the West, side which is the original and older of the two. In the main the paths are well kept and it is still currently a burial site,. However, the site is overgrown and in poor repair. It took me approximately two hours to walk the main pathways through the western side of the grounds. The were some smaller paths that are not part of the recommended tour which I did not visit. At the highest point in the cemetery are the catacombs, which were magnificent.
I found the site really interesting and for the most part very hard to photograph. As it was so cluttered it was hard to find pictures that did not simply look confusing. The harsh sunlight and strong shadows added to this potential confusion. As you can see in the resulting pictures below, I resorted to processing the pictures with a strong black and white edit.
It is not always possible to choose your weather on such a visit. However, it would be good to return on the cloudy day without the harsh lighting and the attempt to take images that look good in colour.I thought the visit was while, and will add it to my list of places to revisit another day.
