“Shoot an Answer” number 1 - week 2
Are we shooting in the dark? by David Collyer
I’d initially turn that question around, and say that rather than shooting in the dark, I’m shooting for the dark. My work is largely concerned with transition, whether that be in people, or the lived environment that mankind inhabits, or in the case of these photos, inhabited. I look for the beauty in the bleak. The subtle changes, or the gaping scars left behind, physical or emotional.
I live in rural South Wales, a stunning landscape shaped by rivers and glaciation, rendered yet more beautiful by the relics of long gone industry and the decaying dwellings of long gone farmers. It’s a hard landscape to tame, and a hard economy to survive in. A House is not a Home is a project I’ve been shooting over three years, recording the effects of the incursions of nature, and the visits of local children and passers through. It’s a dark place to shoot. Graphically sexual graffiti and the occasional detritus of drug use, provide negative snapshots of human darkness, juxtaposed with the positive image of the unfurling buds and flowers of a new spring. To everything there is a season.
So, are we shooting in the dark? Hell yes, but there’s a caveat. We are all looking for the light. Without it as photographers, what do we have? Nothing!
Photos were made on a Leica M6 and a Canon F1.
Film stock is Ilford HP5+ rated at ISO 800.