Ruths Press Cuttings
Taking the Waters | The Restorative Effects of Outdoor Swimming
TOAST Magazine – 26 March 2022
Elizabeth Metcalfe on her gravitation to cold water and the allure of Hampstead Ladies Ponds.
Bathing Shoot
Camden New Journal – 22 July 2019
Photographer Ruth Corney is known for her stunning pictures of the Kenwood Ladies Pond and the Parliament Hill Lido has snapped a year in the life of an open-air swimming pool.
It has been providing a refreshing dip for nine decades and now a year in the life of an open-air swimming pool is being chronicled to mark its 90th birthday.
Why Highgate Ponds are the perfect getaway
The Kentish Towner – 22 July 2016
An award-winning photographer based in north London, Ruth Corney explains her love for the Ponds. “There is something so giving about the ponds. I have been going on a weekly basis for the past 20 years and I feel so lucky to have them. I love the bustle of London. Its such an energetic and exciting place to be, however I do need to escape to the tranquillity of nature. The ponds are the perfect getaway: natures ability to restore and reinvigorate never ceases to amaze me.”
Praise for What Women Believe
Ham & High – 25 February 2016
‘There used to be a hoarding in Harlesden in the 1970s which recorded the ever-escalating amounts rightfully due for the unpaid labour, mostly by women, that underpins waged employment: housework, childcare and smiling’.
10 of the best walks with a swim near London – Chilworth to Guildford, Surrey
The Guardian – 2 June 2015
‘This eight-mile walk crosses heathland dotted with pretty villages before dropping down to follow the Wey Navigation, where there are many swimming places. The route from Chilworth station, starts by crossing a strange area of wild and rather forbidding scrub and gorse, but soon gives way to gentle pastures, small woods and cosy commuter villages’.
An Aussie’s view of bathing on Hampstead Heath
The Kentish Towner – 7 July 2014
‘Im on my holidays in London, spending two weeks with my sister-in-law, her partner and child in Kentish Town. I enjoy pretending to be a local, getting to know the rhythms of the community, and allowing the layers of my surroundings to reveal themselves.’
‘Being an Aussie, I enjoy swimming.’
‘Ive got my mini micro fibre travelling towel and my budgie smugglers tucked under my arm and am heading for the mens bathing at one of a series of spring-fed ponds fringing the northern edge of the park. From a distance it looks quaint, inviting and very cold’.
Taking the Waters by Caitlin Davies and Ruth Corney review
The Guardian – 20 May 2012
Swimming here, writes Davies, is “magical, even biblical” and the book, with its archive photos of men performing swallow dives, and women winter swimmers cavorting in the snow (the Times in the 19th century noted these winter bathers were “an inoffensive kind of lunatic”), is the work of a passionate hobbyist’.
Ruth’s prizewinning exhibition of images to treasure
Ham & High – 21 January 2008
‘Wedding photographers bear a heavy responsibility – to capture images to treasure at an event which can’t be restaged. Dartmouth Park photographer Ruth Corney wears this “hat” as lightly, indeed gaily, as her many others. Her picture of a bride in a ’50s outfit, chatting to her aunties aboard a boat on the Thames, has won the Lauderdale House Photography Competition’.
Taking the Plunge -Exhibition review
Time Off – 7 January 2008
From kite-flying in spring and summer picnics on the top of Parliament Hill, to autumnal rambles and wintry dips in the lido, Hampstead Heath is a year-round refuge for nature-starved city slickers. “Taking the Plunge”, a new exhibition of photographs by Ruth Corney, captures the life of the Heath through the seasons and is on display at nearby Lauderdale House.
The title refers to Corney’s focus on the 791 acre siteswatering holes at the art deco lido and the traditionally segregated ladies, mens and mixed ponds. Among the details captured, the artist picks out the architecture and wonderful reflective qualities of the water at the lido, and the unique stillness of the ladies bathing ponds, from among the 50 or so images.
A shot of a subdued, snow-dusted lido is also particularly striking, while a summer downpour on the women’s swimming corner, and the Christmas Day race at the mens pond illustrate the all-weather commitment of Hampstead Heath swimming fans.
“Women & Health wish to extend their deep gratitude and heartfelt thanks to Ruth Corney for her generous donation of £855.00 to the Housebound Scheme. The money that Ruth raised has gone towards subsidising 70 home visits, where isolated women in the community will be visited by a practitioner and given treatments in their home. The receipt of this money will enable Women & Health to expand this service by 40%. We would also like to thank Metro Imaging for their contribution.”
Claire Floyd (Centre manager, Women & Health)
