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River Business(30 images)
"The corridors of industry and landscape along the estuaries of the changing Thames Gateway, in Essex and Kent."

These 30 images are from the book The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain de Botton, published by Penguin in April 2009.

This gallery is part of a short series relating to this book, though their titles have in some cases been adapted for this...
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  • A  Hapag-Lloyd container cargo ship navigates past two fishermen on the southern shores of the River Thames at Gravesend, Kent England. Pausing from their fishing, the two men lean over the sea defence wall to watch the traffic to-and-fro as one giant vessel after another departs from Tilbury Docks towards open sea. The Thames has historically long been a route for shipping that kept the capital supplied and although the docks have seen huge decreases in traffic and volume since the second world war, Tilbury remains a busy hub for containerized vessels arrivng from all over the world. There are 133 Hapag-Lloyd containerships with a capacity of around 499.000 TEU (Twenty foot containers), Container capacity exceeds 1,1 million (TEU) containers. By photographer Richard Baker
    river_busin...jpg
  • Abandoned trail bike covered in river weed and mud is exposed by low-tide Thames waters at Greenhithe, Kent By photographer Richard Baker
    river_busin...jpg
  • Following UK commercial driving law, a lorry driver relaxes by reading in a window at the M40 motorway services in Warwickshire, England. Leaning back while engrossed in his book, the man is sitting in sunlight on this summer's day. Outside is a poster advertising the premium ice cream brand, Magnum. A girl is shown also lounging about enjoying a Magnum on a beautiful sun-kissed beach, with the sun reflecting on a calm sea. We see Magnum's web site and their products of Classic and White chocolate snacks in their wrappers. The man is oblivious to the nature of the ad but it lends a sense of paradise versus reality, between the fantasy of youth, natural beauty and the reality of an older working man on the road. By photographer Richard Baker
    truck_stop4...jpg
  • A lorry driver is handed his change after buying a burger at a fast food trailer in Grays, Essex England. The large man has parked his vehicle in a truck stop car park for an early evening food snack. The lady serving him works in an outside mobile burger bar that stands at this popular spot for working men as they pass-by this industrial corridor on the River Thames. Meanwhile, the serving woman's friend sits sunning himself and scratching his head beneath a film poster for the British comedy 'Run Fat Boy, Run' with actor Simon Pegg. Further in the distance, the English Cross of St George flutters and a line of electricity pylons take a transmission cables into central London, taking power into the capital. This south Essex town in the Thames Gateway, is the location for dramatic increases of new housing developments. By photographer Richard Baker
    river_busin...jpg
  • A greasy spoon cafe fry-up breakfast for a worker surrounded by dirty crockery left by his mates in industrial Grays, Essex By photographer Richard Baker
    river_busin...jpg
  • The Hamburg-registered Mol Caledon ship passes the giant dredging machinery at npower's Tilbury power station on the  River Thames northern shore, Essex England. Having just departed from Tilbury Docks with the evening sun glinting off the stern's reflective surfaces, stacks of tall containers are heaped high but evenly spread for stability along the massive vessel. They head out towards open sea, navigating through deeper water channels that naturally get shallower as silt chokes the waterways. Historically, the Thames has long been a route for shipping that kept the capital supplied and although the docks have seen huge decreases in traffic and volume since the second world war, Tilbury remains a busy hub for containerized vessels arrivng from all over the world. By photographer Richard Baker
    thames_ship...jpg
  • Refracted and broken lines of a dock crane shimmering on the waters of the River Thames at Industrial Northfleet, Kent By photographer Richard Baker
    river_busin...jpg
  • Industrial pipes and red gate valve situated on the River Thames mud at low-tide on an overcast day at Grays, Essex By photographer Richard Baker
    river_busin...jpg
  • An Ibis motel sign on an industrial roadside advertises rooms from £44 weekdays in West Thurrock, Thames gateway By photographer Richard Baker
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  • The Protor & Gamble detergents factory complex dominates the pre-Norman but restored St Clement's church at West Thurrock By photographer Richard Baker
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  • Assorted shipping on the River Thames: Container vessel in the background, two tugs, a floating grey pier and supply boat By photographer Richard Baker
    river_busin...jpg
  • Fading name of the Ship and Lobster, an 1832 Dickensian pub reflecting the Victorian shellfish trade on the Thames By photographer Richard Baker
    river_busin...jpg
  • Racist references to the ethnic black race sprayed in blue aerosol on a River Thames defence wall at Grays, Essex By photographer Richard Baker
    river_busin...jpg
  • Weeds have grown over a bus stop sign near a business selling stacked pallets on an industrial roadside West Thurrock, Essex By photographer Richard Baker
    river_busin...jpg
  • A Coke can lies in a gutter below a sign wanting pallets on an industrial roadside in West Thurrock, Thames gateway By photographer Richard Baker
    river_busin...jpg
  • With cute tissue puppies on its side HGV arrives to collect paper-based goods from manufacturer Kimberly Clark's Northfleet Mill By photographer Richard Baker
    river_busin...jpg
  • Maersk Sealand, P &O shipping container and security fence landscape at Tilbury Docks, Thames Gateway By photographer Richard Baker
    river_busin...jpg
  • Sign on lamp post telling HGV drivers to Park Tidy in an overnight lorry park on the A126 in industrial Grays, Thames Gateway By photographer Richard Baker
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  • An inconguous landscape of modern industrial warehousing architecture and poorly-made road at Kimberly Clark's Northfleet Mill By photographer Richard Baker
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  • Nazi swastika and BNP graffiti scrawled on a grubby lorry drivers' toilet wall in Grays, Thames Gateway By photographer Richard Baker
    river_busin...jpg
  • Office table and bucket chairs furniture on empty wasteland in an industrial estate, Northfleet, Thames Gateway By photographer Richard Baker
    river_busin...jpg
  • In the Thames estuary, cargo shipping destined for Tilbury Docks approaches with closer grazing cows on sea defence levee By photographer Richard Baker
    thames_ship...jpg
  • Teenage love graffiti has been written in chalk on the Thames flood wall located on the Saxon Shore Way at Gravesend By photographer Richard Baker
    river_busin...jpg
  • As winter fog lifts, the waters of the River Thames clear to reveal an eerie landscape of industrial river life and architecture at Gravesend, Kent England. It is late-morning and in the hazy distance on the northern river bank, steam clouds near the double twin chimneys of npower's 1400MW coal fired Tilbury power station (powering 1.4 million homes using ?biomass? fuels and low-sulphur coal) which rise above the passing ghostly bulk of a cargo freighter on its last miles of its voyage from open sea into the Thames Estuary and on to Tilbury Docks. Historically, the Thames has long been a route for shipping that kept the capital supplied and although the docks have seen huge decreases in traffic and volume since the second world war, Tilbury remains a busy hub for containerized vessels arrivng from all over the world. By photographer Richard Baker
    river_busin...jpg
  • Three bygone era dockside cranes stand motionless in early morning fog, redundant after decades of handling shipping freight By photographer Richard Baker
    river_busin...jpg


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