Even with the changes, there are remnants of its past that have yet to be gentrified. A few months ago, while wandering with my camera, finding things to photography, I came across a derelict building, waiting to be redeveloped. The interesting thing about it was how nature had taken over and managed to find a foothold into the building.
I have noticed this elsewhere. It could be weeds coming through train tracks, or peaking over the tops of gutters on old buildings. It has always amazed me that nature can take hold in places you wouldn’t expect.
Being an urbanite, it is easy to thing nature has been tamed within the city limits, and the wild and rugged side of nature is confined to the rural parts of the country. But the building I found in Wapping challenged this, and showed how Mother Nature can take root in the seemingly inhospitable or built environments.
I also found it interesting to see this derelict building with sprouting weeds and trees in amongst luxury flats and buildings. In an area of regeneration and luxury, this building is a (soon to be distant?) memory of the industrial past.
Whether we like it or not, Mother Nature doesn’t listen to the boundaries that humans place on her. Her presence is closer than we may think. If we turn away, even momentarily, her shoots sprout up through the cracks of concrete and human existence. In a subtle way, we are governed by her rules, rather than the other way around.
The derelict building in Wapping provides a wonderful contrast to the ordered and now posh surrounds we humans have created. The wild heart of Mother Nature beats, even through concrete and brick.
Photographing it in black & white seemed to do the shot justice. I could have coloured in the weeds, but thought it would take away from the industrial feel of the photo, and the contrast between nature and industry.