St Dunstan In The East.

When I first received these images from Angela, I sat mouth agape at how utterly talented she is with her camera. I nervously ummed and ahhhed as to how to piece together some sort of story to go with such beautifully captured imagery. I knew I didn’t want to write about this dress (which I do love), because writing about clothes is a skill I simply do not possess, I also knew I didn’t want to delve too deeply into a history of the location because it may make for a boring read, so what did that leave me? Well my friends… I’m not sure to be honest, but it’s a story about our time shooting here nonetheless [Read : Wordvomit].

London is a maze of one Architect’s ego competing with another as to which studio  has the shiniest, biggest and tallest building to the company name, so as an Architecture graduate (soon to be Architect – I’m speaking it into existence ok!), it’s rare for me to focus on anything around the city that isn’t something that I’d aspire towards design wise, you see I’ve analysed Rogers’ Lloyds building, looked at the facade details for the ‘walkie talkie’ building and stared at the gherkin with a mixture of admiration and mild disgust, but I digress, on a warm Sunday afternoon I met Angela between London Bridge and The Tower of London, at what I can only describe as ones of the true jewels of the city’s crown, St Dunstan’s in The East. Quite literally nestled between the shiny new builds,  with the shard peeking through in the distance, St Dunstan’s is a grade 1 listed church and gardens. Reader, I simply cannot even begin to convey the exquisite beauty of St Dunstan’s, there really isn’t anything like it, the bombed ruins of the church are home to many varieties of plants and wildlife that come together in it’s beautiful enchanted like green expanse.

As we (amongst a few groups including a wedding party!) were shooting in the gardens, we struck up conversations about blogging, life, and chasing new ventures and dreams. For Angela it was her passion for photography, which I’m sure we can all agree from these photos alone is a brilliant idea, and for me, it was being stuck at the junction between pressing onwards towards my dreams and admitting defeat, both of which I have yet to come to a conclusion to. But it was ironic in a place that is both beautiful architecturally and indeed from a photographic point of view that we were able to discuss aforementioned ideals. Golden hour began to peek through the clouds and I almost felt a little like Cinderella leaving once the clock stroke twelve – which in my case was probably around 4:30pm, and I have to say it felt  like I was sinning by leaving such a beautiful place behind without having truly unveiled it’s treasure. As I hopped onto the Circle line my heart felt full having been able to discover such a veritable treasure trove of nature in all her glory and having met the very kind Angela – who I most definitely recommend for any photographic needs as she is patient, understanding and super creative, all whilst making one feel totally at ease which says a lot for someone as nervous as me.

St Dunstan till we meet again… (very soon hopefully)

What I Wore…

DRESS – asos | SHOES – primark | GLASSES – rayban | NECKLACE* – adore

[Photography by the Angela Shek]