A Day with Dickens with a 21st Century Camera Part 1

                         Charles Dickens frontispiece from a book on my bookshelf.

 I come from Tunbridge Wells where Thackeray has a blue plaque on a house where he stayed which is now a restaurant in his name. Here in The Dickens Museum he has a blue plate, there is a certain synchronicity in this and I feel at home.

                    What a place to absorb the atmosphere. To listen to ghosts past .

To climb the stairs and enter the study, and see a full waste paper basket.

 Dress in Character for the day ahead. For today was not just a day at The Dickens Museum it had an added dimension. It was a chance to go beyond 48 Doughty Street into the London that Dickens paced and view some of the sights that he saw but with a 21st Century perspective with the talented photographer Andrea Artz.

 But, before I show how my photography has changed because of this master-class with The Magic Lantern I feel it is important to absorb the atmosphere.

                 Wallpaper from Dickens's Bedroom, where some of his children were born.

 Mary Hogarth's bedroom, Dickens's sister-in-law, who tragically died at aged 17.The guide book states:

 
          'Young, beautiful and good, God numbered her with His Angels....'

  And up into the servants' bedrooms to stand in front of a famous quote from the master himself.

 Oh look, a copy of Our Mutual Friend is on the piano and so I decided to write this post in two episodes to follow a Dickensian tradition.

So enjoy looking at the books for what better way to think about Dickens before picking up a camera and exploring the streets that he walked.

The Charles Dickens Museum

The Magic Lantern

Andrea Artz