May Day Fair

May Day Fair in Lloyds Park, Walthamstow, London E17, UK (6 May 2013)

Donna Maria’s Maypole Extravaganza



Lilian Dalton, who was May Queen of the former borough of West Ham (now part of the London borough of Newham) over 80 years ago in 1931, watches the May Day Fair in Lloyds Park with her great granddaughter.
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Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorised use.

Vaisakhi

The legendary Heera Group perform at the Vaisakhi Festival, Trafalgar Square, London, UK (5 May 2013). Vaisakhi is one of the most important days in the Sikh religion, and also marks the beginning of the New Year. Heera Group formed in 1980 and are one of the pioneers of British Bhangra music.

To license this image or view more images from the Vaisakhi Festival in London click here.
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Photo © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorised use.

Cowboy Junkies

Cowboy Junkies live at the Barbican, London, earlier tonight (Friday 25 January), performing songs from the four CDs that make up their ‘Nomad Series’.


Click here for more photos of the Cowboy Junkies.
Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.

New Year’s Day Couple

Turbine Hall, Tate Modern, London (1 January 2013)

Photo © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.

London snow (2)

Little girl with snowman (20 January 2013)

Photo © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.

Curzon Street

G. Heywood Hill Ltd, a bookshop in Curzon Street, Mayfair, London

Photo © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.

Rouge Nez

German naval observation tower at Rouge Nez, on the northwest coast of Jersey – part of the German system of fortifications built on the Channel Islands during the Second World War. Jersey, Channel Islands, UK




This is one of three such observation towers built on Jersey (several more were planned), and along with bunkers, gun batteries and anti-tank walls on the island forms part of Hitler’s ‘Atlantic Wall’ – an extensive string of fortifications stretching from Norway to Spain. The German fortifications on Jersey were out of all proportion both to the island’s size (it’s only 9 miles wide) and its strategic value, but for Hitler the Channel Islands represented a great propaganda coup, with German troops occupying British soil. Around 10% of Hitler’s entire ‘Atlantic Wall’ is concentrated on the little island of Jersey.
For more information on Jersey’s WWII fortifications, see the Jersey Heritage website (you can even stay in one of the other observation towers, at La Corbière on the island’s southwest point) and www.jersey.com. A guide to Jersey’s ‘Occupation Trail’ can be downloaded here.
For more images of Jersey visit Rudolf Abraham photography.
Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.

La Hougue Bie

Entrance to the Neolithic burial chamber at La Hougue Bie, one of the largest and best-preserved passage graves in Europe, in the eastern half of Jersey, Channel Islands. The burial chamber dates from around 4,000 BC, and would also have served as a sacred or ritual site – crouching (almost crawling) to the far end of the 9m long, 1.4m high passage reveals a series of chambers which would have formed the focus of ritual activity, and the alignment of the passage is such that the chambers were illuminated by the sun’s rays at dawn on the equinox. Above the passage and chambers stands a 9m high burial mound faced with dry stone walling (which can still be seen around the entrance to the passage).

A small chapel was built on top of the mound in the 12th century, which was then converted into a Gothic tower in the late 18th century.

The Gothic tower was, unfortunately, demolished in the early 20th century, and the chapel restored to what may, or may not, have been its original state.

La Hougue Bie was also the site of a command bunker during the German occupation of Jersey in WWII, now converted into a Memorial Centre to the prisoners and forced labourers who worked (and frequently died) here during the occupation, often in appalling conditions. A walk down through the concrete cells of the former bunker, hung with photographs of those who worked here, and the words of those who witnessed the conditions, is a sobering experience indeed. A sculpture by Maurice Blik struggles out of the earth above the former command bunker. Blik was himself a survivor of the concentration camp at Belsen in Germany.
Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.

Seymour Tower

A walk out to Seymour Tower, around 2 miles (3km) offshore from Jersey’s southeast coast, at low tide. Jersey has one of the largest tidal ranges in the world (the island almost doubles in size at low tide), with the water racing out – and back in, a few hours later – at an alarming rate. The tide rises at speeds of up to 3 inches (~7.5cm) per minute; and large rocks attached to clumps of seaweed are dragged along the seabed by the rushing water, their tracks through the sand clearly visible at low tide.

Walking out to Seymour Tower from La Rocque harbour.

Oyster beds near La Rocque Point. Oysters have been an important part of the island’s economy for centuries, and there are over 25 hectares of oyster beds in this area.


Collecting shells

Exploring the seabed and massive inter-tidal reef near Seymour Tower at low tide. The ‘P’ was carved into the rock in the 18th century and refers to the Payne family, denoting their right to collect seaweed in this area.

Trail on the seabed where a rock, attached to a clump of seaweed, has been dragged along by the tide.

Trudie Trox of Jersey Walk Adventures explains culinary uses for different types of seaweed.

Seymour Tower, built in the late 18th century as part of the island’s defences against attacks by the French, rises from a rocky outcrop on the seabed and is completely surrounded by water (reaching depths of up to 40 feet or 12m) twice a day. It’s now possible to stay overnight in the tower, which has beds for up to eight people, including a mandatory guide.
More images of Jersey and the Seymour Tower walk here.
Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.

Kite surfing

Kite surfing off St Ouen’s Bay on the west coast of Jersey, Channel Islands, UK

Photo © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.