Richard Baker » Galleries »
next
Display Options
The Landscapes of Electricity(30 images)
"Crossing English landscapes from the south coast to the capital, 542 pylons carrying 40,000 electric kilovolts cross housing estates and a wildlife sanctuary to reach power-hungry consumers of London's West End."

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

This gallery is part...
more »
  • Patriotic pensioner Ivor Dowling attaches the Welsh flag beneath the Union Jack to fly in his back Somerset garden. By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • An adult business window displays the naughty underwear worn by five mannequin models of a Soho sex shop on Old Compton Street in London's West End. Tilted slightly to the left, we see the 5 models posing in various positions of suggestive stances, all demonstrating the shop's array of erotic clothing for the Good Time Girl! On the far right is the artwork of a topless woman, wearing only knee-length stockings. See from behind, the line-drawing of the female suggests a dancer on a Parisian stage act such as the Folies Bergere or Paradis Latin - variety performances for the male admirer. She looks over her left shoulder as if to wink in our direction, all part of the illusion of coquettish desire and greedy eroticism. Old Compton Street is known for cafes, bars and especially the gay, trans-gender scene and for sellers of erotic toy 'accessories'! By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • An electricity pylon is seen through a bedroom window where a pillow By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • A clothes line merges with the lines of an electricity pylon near flats on the Hales Place estate in Canterbury By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • An electricity pylon stands amongst bare trees on a gloomy winter day in woodland near Wrington, North Somerset England. By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • Electricity cables stretch into early morning mist above Swanscombe, Kent, London England. In the foreground we see a stack of discs called Insulators which stop the electricity carried in the conductor (the wires strung between each pylon) from jumping to the pylon and then down to earth. The cables disappear into the winter fog creating a Sci-Fi scene of 21st technology. Diagonally, the cables travel across the picture but they are part of a line of 542 pylons that have already crossed 110 miles of English countryside, carrying 40,000 Volts along this network of aluminium cables from Dungeness coal-fired power station to West Ham sub station in London's East End - to power the West End's high energy supply demands. By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • Dropped during construction of electricity pylons, a bolt and its nut lies on a forest floor, Clowes Wood, Chestfield, Kent By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • Electricity cables stretch into early morning mist above Swanscombe, Kent, London England. In the foreground we see a stack of discs called Insulators which stop the electricity carried in the conductor (the wires strung between each pylon) from jumping to the pylon and then down to earth. The cables disappear into the winter fog creating a Sci-Fi scene of 21st technology. Diagonally, the cables travel across the picture but they are part of a line of 542 pylons that have already crossed 110 miles of English countryside, carrying 40,000 Volts along this network of aluminium cables from Dungeness coal-fired power station to West Ham sub station in London's East End - to power the West End's high supply demands. By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • Thorny twig in the foreground near an electricity pylon behind one foggy morning on Botany Marshes, Swanscombe, Kent By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • The leg of an electricity pylon carrying lines 1.3km over the Thames from Botany Marshes, Swanscombe, Kent to Thurrock, Essex. By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • Billy Cocklin has painted woz ere on the aluminium leg of an electricity pylon near a housing estate in Beckton. By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • The entrance to the RSPB's bird and wildlife reserve at Rainham Marshes, Essex. By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • Hidden in a wooden hut, a group of bird-spotting ornithologists peer through binoculars at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) rreserve at Rainham Marshes, Essex England. Watching dozens of wintering birds, the group are intensely looking through their optical equipment in anticipation of seeing rare breeds at this Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a wetland alongside the River Thames, 20 miles from Central London. A narrow slit is open to keep them hidden from sight so leaning on elbows and with a guide sheet in front to identify particular species, they concentrate on their hobby. The RSPB has 200 nature reserves covering almost 130,000 hectares, home to 80% of Britain's rarest or most threatened bird species. Its role is to speak out for birds and wildlife, tackling the problems that threaten the environment. By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • Daily information board and wildlife film provided for RSPB bird ornithologists at Rainham Marshes, reserve. By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • Camouflaged birdspotters peer through binoculars for wildlife at the RSPB's bird and wildlife reserve at Rainham Marshes, Essex By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • Lady visitor to London's Theatreland gets directions from a passer-by beneath a Freddy Mercury  outside the Dominion Theatre By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • Left-turn traffic arrow and double-yellow no parking lines shine during rain on a wet street in London's West End. By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • A lorry driver reads a newspaper and eats an apple for lunch in his cab at a drivers' layby on the A229 near Whitstable, Kent By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • A boarded-up derelict cafe that once served All Day Breakfasts, now on wasteland in Canning Town, Newham.. By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • A young lady texts a friend outside an electronic shop in London's Tottenham Court Road, where TVs show the King Kong film. By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • Pensioner Jim Burrows cuts leaks by his shed overlooked by a giant eletricity pylon at Leys Road allotments, East London. By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • The dark outline of an electricity pylon stands over a gloomy winter sky in woodland near Wrington, North Somerset England. By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • Tangled tricycle hangs in barbed wire of an electricity pylon on an estate in Beckton, East London. By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • A tangle of electric lights are strung together on the ceiling of a West End construction site in London's Soho. By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg
  • Insulator discs and pylon at the electricity substation, South Bromley, seen from the Pylon Industrial Estate, London. By photographer Richard Baker
    electricity...jpg


next