Date/Time
Date(s) - 29/05/2016
11:00 am - 12:30 pm

Location
Putney Bridge Underground station

Starts at Putney Bridge tube station SW3 3UH – Ends at Fulham Palace (approximately at 2 hours later). We would recommend meeting at Cafe Nunu (64 Ranelagh Gardens) – run by friendly Algerians (turn left out of the station and Cafe Nunu is directly in front of you).  

For over 450 years, this evergreen Holm oak has stood in the grounds of Fulham Palace – it could be the earliest example of Quercus Ilex being introduced to Britain from its native Mediterranean climes.

Early coppicing has prolonged the life of the tree, and it now has in intriguing hollow base and many stems, with no predominant trunk. The gardens of Fulham Palace were laid out originally as an arboretum and some of the original specimens survive.  This walkshop will include some amazing discoveries and uncover some revealing facts surrounding trees.

We are delighted to be working with  photographer and writer  Dr Peter Coles (Visiting Fellow and tutor at Goldsmiths and specialising in urban nature) in delivering this participatory walkshop. We encourage anyone to come, whether you are dab hand with a digital SLR or a novice struggling to master your smartphone or getting to grips with Instagram

This event coincides with London Tree Week 28th May – 5th June, organised and supported by The Mayor of London. It is estimated that about 20 per cent of London is covered in trees.  The Mayor has a target to increase tree cover by a further 5 per cent, to 25 percent, by 2025.

This event will start at Putney Bridge tube station and end at Fulham Palace (approximately at 2 hours later). We would recommend meeting at Cafe Nunu (64 Ranelagh Gardens)- run by friendly Algerians (turn left out of the station and Cafe Nunu is directly in front of you.

FULLY BOOKED – WAIT LISTING – do please sign up – the more on the wait list, the more likely we can run the walkshop again.

Stalking Trees? When we first met Peter Coles he told us that when he had been trying to photograph the magnolia tree in the gardens at Kenwood House, it had taken him several weeks to get the shot.  Now we thought that was pretty extraordinary as we didn’t imagine you had to creep up on it…so we asked why on earth it took him so long to ‘stalk a tree’ – and that’s where the idea came from for our  series of Stalking Tree walkshops, in which we walk, talk about trees and discuss how to photograph them…

This is what Peter recollects: “It did take several weeks to find the exact right time to photograph the tree when the flowers were just in bloom. And I got it when a thunderstorm was about to break, with my favourite lighting of a black sky and brilliant sunshine. But yes, creeping up on the trees is what landscape photography can be about.  But how often do we get the chance to keep coming back to a subject, or stay there for hours or days till the light’s right?”

Walking in Step with Peter Coles