A team effort is required to install windows

Posted on June 8, 2018June 20, 2018 by carlotta

A team effort is required to install windows

Another section of my new website is a gallery of working portraits. This week’s photograph shows a group of builders installing plate glass windows onto the exterior of an office block. This is a skilled and complicated manoeuvre taking place high above the ground.

What interests me particularly in photographing workers in any line of business is the fact of documenting and honouring processes that often go unnoticed or become invisible once a project is complete.

Where buildings are concerned, we live, shop, work and relax in them, usually with little thought of the human endeavour responsible for making them possible. I like being able to show glimpses into this world that many people know little about.

More galleries of work environments can be found here, including local food producers and the RNLI on an air-to-sea rescue mission.

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Sideways rainbow found in Eastbourne

Posted on June 1, 2018June 20, 2018 by carlotta

Sideways rainbow found in Eastbourne

Following the ‘new’ theme of my previous photo of the week, here is a shot from the new build construction section of my website. As well as photographing the renovation of heritage buildings, I also document all kinds of construction sites. This is the Arndale Centre, a shopping mall going up in Eastbourne. Every month I chart the progress being made for my clients to share with their stakeholders.

I am sure I have said this before in my blog but finding interesting colours on building sites always makes me happy. Getting both colour and reflective puddles at a shoot makes me doubly so. I have found some beautiful, unexpected colours and light at the Arndale Centre during my visits. It is surprising what you can see on a construction site if your eyes are open to it.

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the grain store: my new documentary project

Posted on May 18, 2018June 20, 2018 by carlotta

the grain store: my new documentary project

I always enjoy starting on a new project. I am documenting the change of use of an old grain store to a holiday apartment and studio with disabled access. One of the interesting things about this project is that it is right smack in the midst of the South Downs outside Lewes. The South Downs Way used to go straight past the building and now runs up on the hillside above the site.

I started photographing the building in January, with howling winds and freezing hands.

On my third visit, in March, the surrounding fields were covered in snow. Last week, the skeleton of the building was revealed under a warm afternoon sun. I like this stage of a renovation, when the blue of the sky looks like it is the roof of the building. Do have a look at the earlier photos as well, you can find them here. I was very tempted to use one from the beginning of the project that was dark and atmospheric and wintery, but I thought a warm spring one was probably more appropriate.

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Dappled light of the Stephen Lawrence Trust Centre

Posted on May 8, 2018June 20, 2018 by carlotta

Dappled light of the Stephen Lawrence Trust Centre

The construction work at the Stephen Lawrence Trust Centre is complete, so my part in the project is finished and the blossoming of the Centre into a co-working hub for up-and-coming architects has now begun. It has been a joy to photograph this building and to watch it spring to life. I come away feeling grateful that my skills could have a very practical application in helping a charity that I believe in deeply. What more can one ask for.

For my final shoot, I needed a particular light to capture the sense of welcome of the building. When the sun comes into the foyer in the early evening there is a

transformation of the space. The shadows cast by the Chris Ofili window screen onto the white walls are reminiscent of sun filtering through a forest canopy. This dappled light also helps to define the volume of the space, increasing an awareness of the unusual triangular shape and high ceiling of the room. The new orange corridor that welcomes you through to the back of the building is even more vibrant in this light. The combination of great architecture (David Adjaye), great art (Chris Ofili) and great design (Gensler’s interior design team) have coalesced to create magic. You can see more photographs of this project, and how far it has come in the past year, by using this link.

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Colourful progress at the Brighton Dome Corn Exchange

Posted on March 23, 2018June 20, 2018 by photograph

Colourful progress at the Brighton Dome Corn Exchange

I am currently documenting the 200-year-old Brighton Dome Corn Exchange where a major refurbishment is under way. I make regular visits with my camera, photographing both the building process and the people working there. It is always a pleasure to find interesting colours on site.

In fact, construction areas are often filled with unexpected colour. It made my day to spot this geometric pattern of yellow, pink, red, blue, brown and grey. More photos from this project can be found here.

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Snow swirls around the Stephen Lawrence Trust Centre

Posted on March 2, 2018June 1, 2018 by photograph

Snow swirls around the Stephen Lawrence Trust Centre

Last week I spoke too soon about snow-less Old England versus snow-bound New England because we have had the icy white stuff around all week. I am pleased that this included my site visit to the Stephen Lawrence Trust. There can be magic in photographing snow and its transformation of the familiar into something almost etherial. My colleague at the Trust pointed out that I have now

been documenting the renovation of the Centre over a full year (and in all weather). That is a satisfying thought and at the heart of my aim to capture the essence of a place through how it both changes and remains constant over time.

More photographs from this snowy shoot can be found here. Use this link for information about the new co-working hub for start-ups in the built environment that will be based inside the Stephen Lawrence Centre.

Category: architecture and renovation