Comments on: Burdekin’s London Nights

By: Cherub

Cherub — Sat, 06 Nov 2021 21:54:23 +0000

These are beautiful, it’s the deep inky blue colour – it’s like it’s sucking you into each image.

I am also a night person and I once read it’s to do with what time of day you were born. In my case afternoon, but my husband was born early in the morning. He has to get up as soon as he wakes so there must be some truth in it.

By: Mo Solter

Mo Solter — Sat, 06 Nov 2021 09:03:52 +0000

This makes my heart sing! Thank you.

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 23:40:49 +0000

Thank you, Gentle Author, for showing us these highly evocative nocturnes. Glad to know about Burdekin, and thank you for putting me onto the Rest on the Flight to Egypt. Never saw that Rembrandt before, and it is exquisite.

Kiethb beat me to it re: John Atkinson Grimshaw. Also very soulful.

By: Marcia Howard

Marcia Howard — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 19:52:39 +0000

Striking images

By: gkbowood

gkbowood — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 17:16:56 +0000

I love to read mysteries, especially with British detectives, so these pictures looked like wonderful book covers to me. The Temple Gardens, London Docks and the General Post Office photos made me want to read the mystery these images evoked. Ah well, maybe some enterprising creative writing teachers can hand these out and ask for submissions based on the photos!

By: Lizebeth

Lizebeth — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 15:49:00 +0000

Oh, what wonderful photos. I’ve always wanted to do a 3am walk in my Covent Garden neighbourhood, but being female, that option has been closed to me for many years due to safety concerns. A pleasure to have seen our city as only the cats, foxes, and occasional police constable (in olden days) have been able to observe it.

By: Heather Cole

Heather Cole — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 15:01:50 +0000

Hello, Old Thing —

Gorgeous photos here, that’ll send me off on another adventure of discovery thanks to your wonderful stories.

Off-topic, but very much on my elderly mind, these days: It would be astounding if the filmic craft could re-discover and make use of this amazing mastery of night-light. So many recent films have been largely shot in virtually utter darkness, diminishing my admiration for the work to the very extent of my not being able to *see* it.

Anyway— on to the exploration! Thanks, as always.

By: Ann V

Ann V — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 14:01:24 +0000

Utterly beautiful!

By: Su C.

Su C. — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 13:56:58 +0000

And I, on the other hand, wake early to claim that same alertness you experience in the late hours, where I am most creative.

I can hear the silence in these beautiful photos by Burdekin; a shame he didn’t live to enjoy a splendorous wave of recognition.

By: Ian Pack

Ian Pack — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 13:28:36 +0000

Thank you for sourcing and sharing these photographs. They show show considerable skill on the part of Harold Burdekin in maintaining the atmosphere and bringing out the detail in both his negatives and prints.

Out of interest, were the negatives glass plates or film based?