Secret Gardens of St John’s Wood

The 'Secret Gardens of St John's Wood' was project initiated by Mireille Galinou of the Queens Terrace Café in April 2011, and I photographed around 20 private gardens (and some others not included in the book) in the following 3 months. Some of the work was shown at this 'cultural café' in St John's Wood from September to November 2001.



The project gave me - and the viewers of this work - a fascinating insight into what is behind some of the high walls that characterise this wealthy area of the British capital. The images are almost all panoramic, with horizontal fields of view from around 90 to 220 degrees. Some also have extreme vertical fields of view.



"I was privileged to be able to visit the gardens in this book, which cover an extremely wide range, including a seventh floor penthouse overlooking the famous Lords cricket ground and an amazing house with three distinct gardens. I also photographed the extensive grounds of one of the neighbours of Paul McCartney."



The area was perhaps the first of the garden suburbs, and this gives the work a unique interest. It includes a brief historical introduction by Mireille Galinou, author of Cottages and Villas, The Birth of the Garden Suburb, published in 2010 by Yale University Press on St John's Wood.