Orford Ness, Suffolk - Hidden History

Secret atomic testing base still has secrets to tell…

Sleepy Orford Ness. In the background the multi£m US cold-war listening complex - Cobra Mist

I recently spent a day exploring the large area of essentially shingle and marsh off the coast of Suffolk, known as Orford Ness. A natural spit of land created as oblique waves slowly moved the beach into the sea and now a nature reserve under the control of the National Trust. But in between it was the site of cutting-edge military research and testing.

Boarding a small boat from the quaint seaside village of Orford, with its castle, agreeable restaurants and specialist food emporiums, the (literally) three minute water crossing takes you to another world.

Despite its quiet and desolate beauty, many of the part-destroyed buildings remain still largely intact but spread across acres of flat, but eerily wavy, shingle; an attraction for my interest in documenting shapes, details and textures.

All images shot with Fuji X-Pro2 and 23mm 1.2.

These Walls Tell Stories: Photography Exhibition and limited edition prints.

These Walls Tell Stories was a professionally curated exhibition of photography drawn from my 5-year documentary commission of the Hat District heritage regeneration project for The Culture Trust, Luton.

Luton in Bedfordshire was for many years since the 17th Century the centre of the UK’s hat-making industry. As trends, production techniques and global trade evolved, the industry eventually compacted.

Whilst Luton still has some specialised hat suppliers and manufacturers, many beautiful buildings were left in disrepair or under-utilised.

The Culture Trust Luton had the vision to continue this process of adaptation and reinvention with a focus on generating an eco-system of spaces to attract and support creative industries.

A programme of restorations and refurbishment, to be known as The Hat District, incorporated spaces to be known as Hat Factory, Hat House, Hat Works and in due course a new-build, Hat Studios.

My 5-year commission covered documenting the spaces before, during and after, alongside the process of specialised work and industries.

This exhibition, incorporating a mixture of framed images and wall-prints, presented in a Wolfgang Tillmans style, focuses on capturing details and abstract elements pre-restoration. The patterns created by the diverse materials and building layout as it starts to change

These Walls Tell Stories in collaboration with The Culture Trust and presented by Matthew Shaul of Departure Lounge, took place at The Storefront in Luton (an old hat factory showroom) between 30 Nov and 21 December 2018.

Buy limited edition signed A3 prints (6 to choose from) looking at the abstract details and patterns from these historic buildings

Buy the project book, containing over 120 of my images, plus a limited edition signed print, only available here.

Tate Modern - Pictures and Picasso

“Essentially there is only love. Whatever it may be” Pablo Picasso

Every artist or creative should make time to view the work of others, especially those who are successful in their chosen field and better still if not of the same genre. It stimulates new ideas and routes to more unique experimentation within your own skill-set. And for me, no visit to London is complete without a visit to Tate Modern where there is usually something interesting or challenging to see.

This visit gave an opportunity to see the “1932” exhibition of works by Pablo Picasso during this key year of creativity and output but also “SHAPE OF LIGHT : 100 Years of photography & abstract art” exploring the evolution of creative approaches to image creation.

Here are a few quotes I liked from Shape of Light :

“Why should the inspiration that comes from an artist’s manipulation of the hairs fo a brush be any different from that of the artist who bends at will the rays of light?”

Pierre Dubreuil

My only aim was to express reality, for there is nothing more surreal than reality itself. If reality fails to fill us with wonder, it is because we have fallen into the habit of seeing it as ordinary”

Brassaï

Whilst I enjoyed the Picasso retrospective , I found myself more intrigued by those viewing than the work itself. The photographer’s curse I guess; not really be able to be somewhere interesting without seeing images you want to capture…

People are just fascinating, so here are some moments of (indoor) street iphonography…

Visit Tate Modern

D-Day75 - Daks Over Duxford

Reportage photography from RAF Duxford as over 30 Douglas Dakota aircraft gathered ahead of a memorial parachute drop as part of the D-Day75 anniversary.

The events of D-Day have a poignant meaning for me.

My father served in the RAF during WWII having volunteered to join up in 1941 until enforced demob to help ‘rebuild Britain’ in 1945.

Whilst he did not take part directly in Operation Overlord, it was when I was on a trip to the Normandy beaches in 2008 when he suffered a tragic accident falling off a ladder picking apples at 86. He was unconscious on my return and died 10 minutes after I got to the hospital.

To mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day in 2019, I went to Imperial War Museum Duxford; ironically with the friend I was in France with in 2008. They were staging a special exhibition and global gathering of 35 Dakota C47’s, the planes that flew the first waves of parachutists into occupied France in the early hours of 6 June 1944. A feat that 220 parachutists, from around the world, were planning to recreate.

As in 1944, the days proceeding the event had been beset with bad weather and the planned practice jumps of 4 June had been cancelled. Many of the parachutists, wearing authentic gear and kit, had paid to take part, including many from USA who had travelled with their rig especially to do the commemorative jump. There was a risk it would all be for nothing if cancelled again today and tensions were high.

But the day had arrived and it saw men and machines go through their preparations; the previous day’s abort weighed heavy on reports of variable weather over Normandy where they would drop into that afternoon, after 22 Dakotas had flown in formation to France ahead of the June 6th.

By sheer luck, divine providence or ballsiness, I found myself out on the flight line as a group of US 101st Airborne ‘Screaming Eagles were gathered outside an in-period Dakota, to say some prayers. The emotion of this event, as I stood immediately behind the circle they had formed, with some WWII veterans in the middle, was intense. It really gave a sense of what the young men who were getting ready to face in 1944 for real, and with dire potential consequences, would have been going through.

I also had a walk around (not sure I should have been there but there you go) the pre-drop parachutist gathering in the main hanger. Flushed with my success with asking to take portraits at the V&A (see previous blog post) I had a chat with one young American as he was waiting.

Warren Johnson had been training specifically to take part in this event after he had found out his Great Uncle had parachuted into Normandy on D-Day and he just had to honour that memory. He had found other members of the original crew and had with him mementoes and original dog-tags from them which he was taking on the drop. On top of that, he’d managed to track down the original Dakota they flew on to Sweden and share the story of its history. Whilst converted to an airliner after the war (DC3), Warren would be making his drop from the same plane. Bloody amazing and a testament to what you can learn just by chatting with people…

We were also treated to a flypast of 12 Hercules and Osprey and other WWII warbirds in iconic black and white D-Day livery.

This all added to the anticipation as the crews climbed into the Dakotas and the planes started up to fly to France for a successful, if slightly delayed, drop over Caen, Normandy. Well done Warren.

The place was quite eery after they had all gone in a flurry or noise and activity, leaving me with thoughts of those who went to France and would not see their loved ones again…

WEC 6 Hours - Spa Francorchamps 2015

Reportage images from paddock, pit and race.