As a teenager I loved these kinds of odd
spaces. Can I remember why, almost 60 years later? Not with the same clarity
and intensity. But there was a sense of quiet rebellion, of finding beauty in
unexpected places, of anti-beauty perhaps.
The Romantic period had a concept of “the sublime”… Natural beauty
that is almost frightening. Perhaps I was inspired by that idea, but seeing it
in the harsh industrial fabric of South Yorkshire around 1965. Harsh but
ageing, stained, dark, mysterious. That’s part of it.
Another part was defiance. Subverting conventional pictorial composition.
Instead of a central focus, divide attention to left and right. Maybe twist and
turn, hint at a focal point out of sight around the corner.
This image is two separate photos side by side, but it triggered an instant
flashback to an earlier me, full of hope and creativity. Hungry for life’s
experiences which stretched out endlessly, intriguingly into the distance.
This is me using Revit in…