This photograph, taken June 2010 from alongside the River Thames, near Westminster Pier, is remarkable for its vivid color, unique perspective, and wonderful portrayal of the key elements of empire: a vast, modern (for the time) communications network, and an unrivaled technological superiority, here represented by the British Empire's clock at Westminster, seat of government. When it was unveiled in 1859, this clock was the most accurate large-scale timepiece ever conceived, engineered and built, demonstrating that the industrious British had conquered even time itself. Commonly known as Big Ben, that name actually refers to the 14-ton bell housed in the tower above the clock, not the clock itself--although each of the four clock faces on the tower is 23 feet in diameter. I like the way the tree branches reflect in the glass window of the phone booth at right (almost appearing to be inside the booth), and how the tree blocks, partially, one's view of the clock tower. There's a suggestion of nature beyond our control, imposing, on-the-move, reclaiming, perhaps, some of the space occupied by the man-made objects of empire, of human will.
Photo by Dana Angotti-Novick
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