Camberwell. Twinned with Clacton-on-Sea

From Camberwell to Clacton-on-Sea | Clacton-on-Sea: Twinned with Camberwell

Camberwell sits in the middle of the London Borough of Southwark. Clacton-on-Sea is in Tendring, Essex.

In the recent EU referendum Southwark was the 14th most Remain part of Britain, whilst Tendring was the 14th most Leave area in the country.

As someone who loves Camberwell, and the EU, I see and hear the arguments and reasons why places like Clacton wanted to leave the EU but I don’t necessarily understand them. I live a very different life in an inner city neighbourhood to coastal town in Essex.

How did people in both areas come to their decision to leave or remain? How did our country become so divided? Is there a way to heal the divisions and respect the other’s decision?

I’d love to find out.

This is not an exercise in trying to change people’s mind.

This is not an exercise in blaming the other side of the debate for the result.

I am organising an exchange visit with people from both towns to visit our respective neighbourhoods.

I am looking for LEAVE voters from Clacton and REMAIN voters from Camberwell who would be willing to share their experiences of their lives, why they live where they live, their jobs, their friends and neighbours,  their attitude to politics and politicians, and why they voted the way they did.

I would love to organise an exchange trip where myself and others can show you around my beloved Camberwell, show you the sights, meet some wonderful people and residents of Clacton can host some Camberwellians in your home town and show off what is best about your corner of Essex.

I want to understand more about your lives and hopefully you would like to find out a bit more about us! This may not make either of us change our minds, but would hopefully help heal the differences between the two sides and respect the other’s decision.

As a photographer, I would like to photograph and film the people involved and document the discussions so hopefully you would be happy to be involved in this process.

I am planning to organise the trips sometime in July and August, (and hopefully have a lovely time by the sea if the sun ever comes to visit!)

If you have any questions, please get in touch. You can email me on hello@photosbytomtom.com or call me on 07939 250935.

Thank you and see you soon in Clacton-on-Sea / Camberwell!

Tom Leighton

 

36 Reasons to Love Camberwell is back. Bus Stop K

I've been mulling over the idea of an update to my 2012 series 36 Reasons To Love Camberwell for a while and now I'm getting down to it. I feel the area changing more rapidly than ever.

With that in mind, I want to document not just my favourite places, but Camberwell as a whole. I've been out and about experimenting and with the sun out yesterday evening, what better excuse than to go out with my camera! Hanging out at Bus Stop K on Camberwell Green is a good start.

I'm no mug...but I do love these Camberwell Beauties.

Very exciting stuff in PhotosByTomTom towers today. I've been shooting some product and still life shots of the brand new Mini Moderns designed 20th birthday mugs for the Camberwell Arts festival. They are gorgeous, and will SO be a regular feature in the studio. Mugs will be on sale this weekend but they are a limited edition, so be quick if you want one. 

16th May. A wee update for you. Mugs are on sale at the Camberwell Arts Etsy Page. But be very, very quick. The first lot went in less than 48 hours and the second batch are flying too! 

Camberwell Mugs

New Camera, New Styles: Part 1

New camera, new styles: Part 1

 

I got my new Nikon D800 a few weeks ago, but as is always the case when you buy new equipment, I discovered that I also needed a new computer, new hard-drives and software updates to use it properly. My retirement plan to become a monk in the mountains will have to wait a little longer!

Yesterday was one of the first days I’ve had to really try out photos and I thought it was about time I tried something different. I don’t normally get to shoot in black and white so it was refreshing to have a go. I’m also more comfortable shooting with a 50mm lens so I thought I’d use my emergency 24-85mm lens wide out for a change. This ain’t the best lens in the world by any count- I’m known to be accident prone, so lucky for me this lens is indestructible!- but I wanted to see if Lightroom 5 can really do what it says it can when it comes to lens correction. Judge for yourselves, but I’m pretty impressed.