One of the truly remarkable things about my Spirit Of Brooklands project, was the realisation that nature is incredibly resilient, and, when left to its own devices, could prosper after apparent destruction. You would think that the laying of 3 miles of 6 inch concrete, would bring an end to the chance of anything growing there, but as this photo shows, nature can break through, and even thrive.
Continuing from my previous blog post Sunset OR Light Pollution.
Once I had decided that I wanted to continue with my Spirit Of Brooklands project, I then had to work out how to gain access. Now most of it is publicly accessible, but the land obviously belongs to someone, and if I wanted to publish the resulting photos, then I would need consent from the landowner.
As we enter 2023, I realised that it was 15 years ago that I took the first photo that formed the basis of my Spirit Of Brooklands project.
At the time, I had just bought a new camera which was meant to be good at long exposures, and I wanted to test it out. The darkest place I could think of was a banked section of the former Brooklands Motor Racing Circuit, where there was no artificial lighting, so would be pitch black after dark.
Brooklands Museum has its own TV show called Secrets Of The Transport Museum which is on Yesterday channel and is well worth a watch (it’s on catch up at UK Play TV too). Although my series of photographs, The Spirit Of Brooklands mainly focussed on its history as a motor racing circuit, Brooklands also played a significant part in the aircraft industry being a just in time manufacturing centre for aeroplanes during World War Two.
The hangar featured in this photo is a Bellman Hangar and was designed to be a temporary fixture when it was first located on the Finishing Straight of the racing circuit, but is now a grade II listed building. I shot this just before it was moved to another area of the site to become part of the aircraft factory.
With more places opening up as a result of the easing of lockdown restrictions I thought I should write about Brooklands, a local museum that is on the site of the former Brooklands Motor Racing Circuit, which regular readers will know is a place where I have spent many an hour, usually late at night, and for those of you who don’t know you can check out the photos here or search using the Brooklands tag on the right.
Brooklands Museum has received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to help towards their aim of re-engineering Brooklands. This involves moving the Bellman Hangar, which is currently… Read More »Back At Brooklands
I am delighted to announce that I have managed to produce a book about my Brooklands project. The book is available as a hard back… Read More »Brooklands Book Now Available
What with moving house (and wondering if the people in that industry really know what they’re doing), organising my first major solo exhibition, and coping… Read More »Art, moving house, an exhibition and the Beeb!
It’s been a good first couple of weeks for the exhibition at Brooklands Museum, with my prints being enthusiastically received. Many of the comments have… Read More »The Roar of the Engines
I’m very excited to announce that the Spirit of Brooklands project is is being exhibited at Brooklands Museum, officially opening this Saturday (June 15th) to… Read More »Exhibition at Brooklands Museum
You must be logged in to post a comment.