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.
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
Another of my actor projects saw us in Peckham working with Michael who took on the role of an Urban Soldier, living on the woods… Read More »Urban Soldier
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
I’m very excited to announce that the Association of Photographers (AOP) will be showing my Spirit of Brooklands project as part of it’s online series… Read More »Brooklands Online at the AOP
I recently returned to Brooklands to photograph the Clubhouse as part of my Spirit of Brooklands Project. Whilst there I also took a photo of… Read More »More Brooklands Offerings
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