New Arrivals

                                                            “New arrivals”

Having grown up in what can accurately be described as a chocolate box village in the

heart of the English countryside, somewhere shaped by centuries of moving and centuries of land owning - Harlow offers a uniquely different reality. A slice of Urban life in the Essex rural landscape. A new town shaped by planners. By thinkers. By philosophy.

I have always found Harlow both an interesting concept as well as an interesting visual landscape. The mix of vernacular concrete, pedestrianized areas, and green spaces characterised uniquely in contrast to its stark, new presence in the Essex countryside. 

The sharp hard structures cutting in to the soft natural forms create a jarring visual mix.

Yet the solid, sculptural materiality of concrete creates dramatic interplay between light

and shadow, giving buildings a dynamic and ever-changing appearance throughout

the day. On the surface banal, but Harlow offers an architecturally varied selection of mid century architecture. Which include Britain’s first pedestrian precinct, and first modern-style residential tower block, The Lawn. And the first purpose built post war cinema. The Odeon on The High. 

Harlow has recently become my home and I am developing a series of photographs looking at the town from the perspective of a new arrival.

By using a pinhole camera, I have been experimenting with light, contrast, depth and perception. The crude and almost primitive camera contrasting with the mechanical facades of the engineered concrete. 

I feel there is a visual link between the look and feel of pinhole with its stark contrast and

the new town aesthetic. The purity and simplicity to this technique results in an image which appears to present itself as a photographic negative of reality, as if viewed through a portal to an alternate dimension where day and night, light and shadow, have traded roles.

Being colour blind means, although I can see all colours, I have a narrowed colour perception which possibly explains why I am drawn to more muted colours, flat scenes and black and white photography.