These are a series of images taken on one location that was found after I had given a talk at a local photography club. This small collection of light industry buildings is hidden in the middle of a prominently residential area, I probably would never had found it were it not for the fact that I was searching for parking before doing my talk. While many lanes and back alleys in the valleys are simply a straight route between the houses, the layout of the factories meant that this particular passage was of an odd shape and layout, leading to many different interest shapes and angles. Working earlier in the day than I normally would mean that there was more light in the sky and while the main lighting in most of these scenes comes from the factory windows and streetlights, the ambient natural light lifts the shadows and adds more detail. The soft blues and purples of the ambient light compliment and contrast against the orange and yellow hues of the factory lights, adding drama and tension to the images. The shapes and textures create geometric lines, and led to some interesting compositions.
The atmosphere of the location was brilliant, as soon as I walked down I knew this was somewhere I needed to photograph, it seems Breton's Psychic Automatism was at work here. While no other people were present (save for the last exposure), there was a clear sense of other people nearby, initiated by the presence of the lighting from inside the buildings. The possibility of being watched was strong and kept me on my toes, I wasn't on private land but I was behind peoples houses with clear views into their gardens and I was taking pictures of private property so it wouldn't be out of the realms of possibility for someone to be suspicious, at worst confrontational. This was one of the reasons my pictures are from low angles, I didn't want to undo my tripod fully in case I needed to move suddenly. However, combined with the my use of a wide angle focal length (24mm), the low angle has helped the compositions and made them stronger by emphasising the odd shapes and angles of the buildings and the passageway.
The first photo I took was of the windows from the factory and the light shining across onto the other unit. The pathway into the dark was synonymous with my usual work, but the lighter tone of the image made this transition all the more ominous.
The burst of light from the streetlight, again similar to previous work, but here it shows the path way out of the darkness. The light in the sky illuminates the mountain in the background overshadowing the area.
Possibly my favourite shot from this excursion. The light from before but from the darkness looking down the alley way. The colours are strong and the lines of the building and path lead to the light cast upon the wall from the window hinting at an other world inside the building that we are not a part of. The mix of light and dark in this liminal space seems balanced to me, but as we move down the path we only glance the light for a second before moving back into the darkness.
This last image received praise in my recent online seminar that mostly centred around an element that I hadn't counted on, namely the driver in the buss to the left of the frame. This figure waiting in his own liminal space as I look out from my own is possibly my first ever image with a figure that is not me. It was during this seminar that I realised I could include figures without them dominating the overall subject of the image. The figure in a way, represents a double, but also the other. As I said, he is a double in that from this liminal space in witch our viewpoint resides, we see him from afar in his own as he awaits the passage of time to bring him his next journey, unable to connect to him or even make our selfs known. The idea of the double fits well with the concept of the uncanny, though this image does not display that kind of eeriness that the uncanny gives across. This could be because my reading of it as the double is perhaps a bit forced, I have been reading about the double and about uncanny, and this is what I see here but probably not what others would gleam from the photo. In that regard this image is a failure, but an important part of progress as it tells me the inclusion of figures in my work is important.
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