video recce, London, Greenland Dock, 9 August 2010

Here at the west end of Greenland Dock, near Surrey Quays, the water is a little choppy in the steady wind; when the clouds move away and the sun shines the Canary Wharf complex is reflected quite well, albeit abstracted by the water. In future I should consult the weather forecast for the predicted wind speed. Wind speed can become an observable phenomenon contributing to the description of species of spaces and help me to assess good conditions for water video capture.  Should I look for the stillest and most sunny days?

Alternatively, I have also been considering capturing images in London at night, so that the reflections are of lit buildings; I imagine that the lights on the building would reflect quite spectacularly on the water. So Melbourne: diurnal, London: nocturnal, following time zone differences and following a pattern I used in Nightlight, but this time more precisely.


Walking along Cunard Walk on the south side of Greenland Dock, the names of the places are clearly a historical legacy detached from their original significance. What significance is attached to, or detached from, place names around the Docklands in Melbourne?


Greenland Dock is very much private water, containing a residential estate. The choppiness of the water is not helped by the use of it by recreational boating.

Walking around this place I feel as though I’m in an alien environment, as though like Thomas Jerome Newton I’ve fallen to earth, observing these peculiar places and phenomena that I’m finding.  During the day here it’s very quiet, just a few people around, some on the water in their little sailing boats, some sitting around the water, women with children in pushchairs, very little else.  A while ago I heard the sound of a vacuum cleaner in an apartment, and couldn’t help thinking that was probably the cleaner who was in, while the resident is out at work. Where?  Perhaps in the City, or just over there in the Canary Wharf complex that looms on the immediate horizon.