Richmond Hill
In part 2 of this series we stay in the South West suburb of Richmond, moving a few hundred yards from Richmond Park to Richmond Hill and the Terrace Gardens.
The gardens have remained little changed for 200 years since being formally laid down on the site of an old brickworks.
This stretch has one of the most celebrated views in England and is home or has been to several celebrities over the years: Mick Jagger and Jerry hall had their marital home here, Ronnie Wood lived here also, plus a smattering of celebs from TV and Film.
Richmond has also been home to Several Kings of England starting with Edward I in 1299.
Petersham Meadow
Enough of the celebrities, as mentioned earlier the real treat of Richmond hill is the views that can be seen, The image above is looking South-West over Petersham Meadow and the meandering Thames. This view has been celebrated by writers, poets and Painters through the ages and save for Twickenham Rugby ground and planes landing at Heathrow Airport has changed little over the centuries.
William Wordsworth described the view in his Sonnet 1820, Turner painted it in his celebrated work England: Richmond Hill on the Prince Regent’s Birthday which now hangs in the Tate Gallery. Heckle, Farington, Reynolds and recently Kokoschka have also painted the famous views.
Richmond Hill Sunset
Looking to the West, Windsor castle is visible in the distance on a clear day and as the sun drops below the horizon the lucky photographer can witness the scene transform from tranquillity to a fiery maelstrom as shown above.
Thanks for looking, the next instalment will be moving to the East End of London, historically known for its docks, Cockneys and East End spirit.
A Brief Moment in Time 
Lovely shots, especially the sunset!
thanks Kristi, appreciated.
Like your comp in the last one. That sky is pretty cool.
Thanks Jan. I thought the sunset was going to be a washout as there was a lot of cloud around, I gave it a few minutes and the sun started to burn through the clouds.
There was so much sky detail I had to do a vertical comp as the layers of cloud and the layers of trees in the foreground were screaming out for it
Love that fiery sky in the last shot.
thanks Chris. I can’t believe how lucky I was to catch it, the sun was behind clouds and I was about to pack up and go home
I love the sky in the second picture! Looks like Fire!
Thanks Adam, it felt that way to a degree when I was taking the shots and I think that came out in the processing
Awesome post!
Love the images, really outstanding work. That sky in the 2nd shot is totally off the hook.
~Thanks Jimi, you’d be surprised to hear that processing was limited to Photomatix (smooth sky) and a little tonal adjustment in PS and nothing else. The sky really was that colour, I expected it to be a wash out with the cloud and then it just burst.