This weekend, having shot a wedding on Saturday, I decided I would have a Sunday Funday to myself. Deciding to stay local, I took a stroll up to Walthamstow Village and God’s Own Junkyard. I took my crystal lens ball which was a Christmas present from my other half, and which I haven’t practiced with for a while. After a wedding the day before, I took a day off from my Canon and went out with my Fuji X-T2.
Walthamstow is about a 45 minute walk from my house, via Epping Forest. I took that walk as an opportunity to listen to a podcast and practice with my lens ball. I found it didn’t quite work in the forest for me. You need to find the right kind of landscape or item to reflect, so I definitely need to practice more!
En route to Walthamstow Village is God’s Own Junkyard, a group of breweries and the Gin Palace. Sadly the breweries and palace were still shut as it was before midday, but I always love God’s Own Junkyard for a coffee stop. It may become one of my editing spots soon!
I had some breakfast and a coffee with my book, then decided to play around with my crystal ball. Sadly you can’t use cameras in there but phones are fine and my Samsung did pretty well! Turns out God’s Own Junkyard is the PERFECT place for the ball! I got some awesome reflections with it. Neon overload!
After getting my neon fill, I took a wander through to Walthamstow village. It’s literally a 5 minute walk from God’s Own Junkyard to an utter contrast – the Ancient House of Walthamstow.
Look at all those wildflowers! Beautiful! From there, I wandered up towards Walthamstow High Street to take in the Farmer’s Market. It’s a lovely village-y walk, through the churchyard, passing the Almhouses and the girl’s school.
The Farmer’s Market was ace and I almost wish I hadn’t eaten at God’s Own Junkyard as there were even vegan cheese toasties! After a mooch around the shops and the market I headed home back through, passing pretty residential streets and back through the Forest.
Walthamstow is a great way to spend some time at the weekend!