Contestable Terrain

SOPLEY

A piece of land near Sopley, Christchurch. These are the images from my first visit; it is a work in progress begun on the way home from a visit to my parents.

ACCIDENTAL PHOTOGRAPHS

A series made by inadvertently setting off the camera on my phone when taking it out of my back pocket; it ended when I got a new phone.

ST. CLEMENT’S LANE

St. Clement’s Lane in Poole Old Town is a path from the modern quayside opposite the multi-million pound business which is Sunseeker, the manufacturer of luxury motor yachts, to a street which evidences life from the 13th century. Along its length it passes the rear of a restaurant and the remains of a medieval water gate; the latter the boundary of the old docks.

Part of the lane was once a smugglers’ rat-run, a path along which contraband was moved out of sight of the customs men, and would have been one of many along the docks and in the old town. Today, tourists use the lane to move between sights, locals go to and from work, and the young hang out.

MAKING IT HOME

As a commitment to walking rather than driving to locations to photograph, Making It Home records the same location as the Pathways project but with a more metaphoric agenda. The work resulted from a series of interviews about the nature of modern family life and how economic trends affect it. Interviewees discussed the changing nature of personal relationships as families were restructured due to divorce, job losses, and having adult children return home.

PATHWAYS

Pathways takes as its subject a small piece of urban landscape between a residential area where I lived and a major trunk road which bisects the community. Detailed studies of pathways across this land reflect upon actions resisting the imposition of a structure which seeks to control freedom of movement; whether the actions are conscious, as evidenced by foot and cycle paths, or intuitive, resulting in tracks made by urban foxes.

DIARY

BOURNEMOUTH CHURCHES

WALSINGHAM

A day trip for a religious pilgrimage offers the opportunity for the collision of rituals; secular and religious. The Roman Catholic National Shrine of Washingham in Norfolk is the focus of pilgrimage for individual churches and religious organisations. Many come to process along the Holy Mile, do the Stations of the Cross, take the sacrament, or be blessed with a holy relic. In between the periods of worship are the shopping for mementoes, the perfect picnic, and the recording of the trip.

MOTORWAY LANDSCAPES

The landscaping of the embankments, woods, and fields besides Britain’s motorways and trunk roads is designed and initially controlled by the Highways Agency before self seeding and other natural growth takes over. The trees offer an array of leaf colours at different times of the year to create driver interest and to mark out the curve of the road and major junctions. Efforts are made to preserve and protect wildlife, and to encourage the settling and re-emerging of endangered species. All this work can be appreciated while travelling at approximately 70mph and watching the vehicles in front and behind.