London flood locations in pictures
As much as we tried to capture the shock of last year’s events in Halfway to Atlantis: Remembering the 2021 London floods, there wasn’t space to explore the surroundings of each flood location. This photo series gives them a little more context from other angles, and from nearby streets. As we wrote in the anniversary […]
Floodlines: Rain sounds recomposed
Floodlines: Rain sounds recomposed Rain makes some of the world’s best-loved sounds. They’re even better coming from a giant plywood recorder. Jay Richardson and Olivia Petryszak21 July 2022 Throughout southern England, the second Monday of July last year started with rain. The rain turned into a downpour and the downpour turned into a flood. By […]
Halfway to Atlantis: Remembering the 2021 London floods
CLIMATE Halfway to Atlantis: Remembering the 2021 London floods One year on from some of London’s most severe surface flooding, comparative photography can help us trace the cycle of shock, cleanup, and forgetting that follows environmental disasters. Illustration by Cait Mack by Jay Richardsonwith photography by Paul Reinhard25th July 2023 Ask anyone who was in […]
London’s heat wave in sounds and pictures
At 40 degrees Celsius, London transforms.
July 2022 in sounds and pictures
the sonification’s best photos and field recordings from July 2022.
Tall tree, loud robin
Tall tree, loud robin Jay Richardson29 April 2022 Recording birdsong demands endless patience. Even if you find an environment where birds are likely to be, at the right time of year, at the right time of day, the bird itself might be too far away to hear, or obscured by some other sound. That’s if […]
Marsham Street’s parliament of trees
A London Plane tree stands outside the Home Office building on Marsham Street during protests against the government’s new asylum policy.
Cherry blossom, Highbury Fields
Highbury Fields was bought for a public park in 1885 while various speculators developed the surrounding area into housing. Most of the park’s avenues are lined with London Plane trees.
Traffic isn’t noise
OPINION Traffic isn’t noise The way we conceive of traffic sounds reveals what we think of as worth hearing. by Jay Richardson 23 March 2022 Imagine you’re at an exhibition. There’s an installation on something like the Rochdale Co-op or trapezoids in postmodernist watercolours—it’s that kind of gallery. You step into a darkened room and […]
London floods: On microphones and water
On microphones and water As rain spills into destruction during the summer 2021 London floods, the violence and disruption of the climate crisis is getting louder. Jay Richardson27 January 2022 Rain sounds good. Just as the crackling of a log fire—another staple of the sleep-sounds industrial complex—subconsciously reminds you of warmth, rain sounds speak of […]
The unique and mysterious life of a London city park
The unique and mysterious life of a London park It doesn’t look like a wild ecosystem, but point your ears at Weavers Fields and you might be surprised. Jay Richardson30 December 2021 The year is 1965. You’re walking on an open green where, only ten years ago, the houses that had survived London’s wartime bombing […]
The curious sound of the void
There’s a river here, but not the kind of watery soundscape that you might have expected.
