All rights to this photograph is reserved the photographer
This picture is part of a project I am working on called Impression Milton Keynes, which is a dispassionate reportage of the new city of Milton Keynes in England that has many unfair myths about it, such as being a soulless concrete jungle. My explorations have proven largely otherwise and this was taken on a Saturday this year at the end of April. It was a wonderful day of walking around with my Leica M2 (with Kodachrome) and I just saw this quintessential English landscape; and this is the result. It sums up perfectly for me my project which I will be publishing next year; that Milton Keynes is a surprising place if you only listen to the myths about it. This for me makes me smile, because it is a place I have a great deal of respect for; but it also has the magical mix of traditional English landscape, in a place you’d never expect it.
This was shot using a Leica M2 with a Voigtlander Ultron 35mm ASPH and Kodachrome 64.
Why I use a Leica:
I use a Leica because it is small, discreet and is a joy to use, it is well made, strong and allows me to explore places unhindered by the size and weight of the camera
Vicky Lamburn is a travelling photographer who lives in Worthing in the south east of England. Please visit her Flickr photostream for more Impression Milton Keynes photos. Her blog is found on lilserenity.com
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This looks quite idyllic, I would never have guessed this was in Milton Keynes. Love the shot, the saturated colors and the grainyness. It has a fantastic retro look to it. Instant fave :)
Thanks, it’s a great park to have a wander around, quite big too so there’s no shortage of walks around and viewpoints. It’s certainly not the image that people think of when you say Milton Keynes but that in some part is the raison d’etre of the project I guess. Thanks! :)
Hi there, your thoughts are spot on. I think in respect of a place being souless, I agree that this is often very unfair as it is premature.
Soul (in respect of cities) takes time to develop (a bit like grainy film). England, being as old as she is, will always have cities in comparison that are impossible to emulate except through the passage of time and as such, a place like Milton Keynes will always struggle in relative terms. In time though, this will change, as events like you have captured here, cease to be surprising and become part of the very fabric of the city. It is this repetition of wonderous activity, that gives birth to the soul of a city.
I believe in time, you may be proved correct, but what it needs is more of what you have captured, and more time.
Loved the lighting by the way.
It is premature; moreso because it’s often said by people who have never really explored the city; only driven in and back out, or worse still not even been! I have found plenty of soul, it’s talking to people, and realising that what happens in MK is not so different from the rest of South East England these days.
It does indeed take time to develop and 40 years is still very early days for a city; but as time goes by there will be an increase in the human legacy on the place; and the designed will mellow as it already is becoming.
I think in time MK will truly come into its own, arguably it only is doing so now but in many respects it’s still a bit ahead of itself; but it also has some parts where it has not been successful, and in 40 years we have also managed to create poverty and social problems from where they didn’t exist before. An education in the creation of these neagtives need not be that entrenched into the anals of history.
I love the place myself but I am trying to be true to what I feel; and not trying to make out there are no problems. Though I do find the place’s negatives are far outweighed by the positive.