How to pour concrete

Posted on September 3, 2018September 3, 2018 by carlotta

How to pour concrete

I am in the saddle again after a needed break over the summer. Two days after I returned from holiday I was back photographing the Arndale Shopping Centre in Eastbourne where I am documenting a large-scale new build project.

I love seeing the process of concrete being poured. It is so satisfying watching skilled workers transform what looks like muck into a perfect finish that dries looking just the same but is as hard as rock. It’s like magic.

You can see all stages of the action here: the concrete mix comes out of the hose and fills the metal grid, directed by the man using the purple strap; the man behind him shifts the main weight of the hose; the other three workers level and smooth the surface to get it to look like the beautiful finish of the top left corner of the photo. They all wear wellies and are usually almost up to their knees in the stuff. You can find more of my working portraits here and my new build projects can be found here.

If you have a workplace, project or event that you are thinking of having documented, please get in touch. I deliver photographs that can make your business shine.

Saved by the bell

Posted on July 13, 2018July 13, 2018 by carlotta

Saved by the bell

This week I was contacted about a shoot I did over 25 years ago. The UK Historic Building Preservation Trust wanted to use two of my photos in a proposal for the preservation of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in East London. The foundry had been in operation from 1570 to 2017 and made some of the most famous bells in the world during that time, including Big Ben, the Liberty Bell and the Bow Bells. It is very gratifying for me that my photos documenting this historic foundry are useful so many years later, and may even help to preserve it.

This shot shows a man tuning a large, upturned bell using a tuning fork and wooden mallet. I photographed this in 1991 on black and white film but it looks like it could have been shot any time within the last century. You can see more of my photographs of the foundry here. More of my photos of people at work can be found here.

If you have a workplace, project or event that you are thinking of having documented, please get in touch. Professional photographs are so useful to have now and you never know how important they might be in years to come.

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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Happy Thanksgiving

Posted on November 22, 2017June 1, 2018 by photograph

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing all of you a very happy Thanksgiving. For those of you who are not familiar with the holiday, it has a very simple premise: to spend the day and share a meal with people you love. To this, you can choose to add special food (traditionally roast turkey, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie…), and some time to appreciate what you have and those you love. And that’s about it. So eat up and enjoy the day.

Last year I spent Thanksgiving on Cape Cod, close to where the Pilgrims first landed (the holiday commemorates their first harvest), and home to abundant wild cranberry bogs. Photos of this beautiful landscape in autumn can be found here.

Photographs of local food producers in Sussex can be found here.

2017 harvest at Breaky Bottom

Posted on October 19, 2017June 1, 2018 by photograph

2017 harvest at Breaky Bottom

Several years ago I worked on a project photographing local food producers around the South Downs area. I really enjoyed the subject matter and was pleased to return to it last weekend when I went to Breaky Bottom Winery to help with the final harvest of the season.

You couldn’t find a more idyllic setting for a vineyard, nestled into a small valley (or

‘bottom’) in the middle of the South Downs, just a few miles from Lewes. In contrast to the pastoral rolling hills, and sheep wandering amongst the grape vines, the ancient barn is fitted out with large metal containers. I always love the chance to photograph people working with shiny industrial equipment. This is Peter Hall, the owner, cleaning the inside of the pressing machine before the last grapes of the 2017 harvest are placed inside. More photographs from this shoot can be found here.

Thanksgiving turkey

Posted on November 23, 2016September 25, 2018 by photograph

Thanksgiving turkey

Happy Thanksgiving to us all. If you have never celebrated Thanksgiving, or are not really sure what it means, here it is in a nutshell: a day to spend time and share a meal with people you love. As simple as that. It also helps the proceedings to have some specific food such as turkey, pumpkin pie and cranberries in some form or other. With all that is going on in the world right now, I am feeling very appreciative of this holiday.

This colourful, and sort of strange-looking, turkey comes from a nearby farm called Townings that I photographed as part of a project on local food producers.

If you have a workplace, project or event that you are thinking of photographing, please get in touch. I deliver photographs that delve deeper than showing just the surface of things. Subscribe to my blog to receive my photo of the week directly to your inbox.

Category: working environments