As I've said before, using Zoom to enable our society to continue to function has a lot of benefits in these 'lockdown' times. Not least of which is the ability to engage with speakers outside our usual geographical area. We've had speakers from the south coast of England, from the north east, Northern Ireland and further afield from Switzerland.
Our latest speaker, however, highlighted a slight drawback - from their perspective at least! James Kerwin is currently based in Balumi on the Black Sea coast of Georgia - a mere 4 hours ahead of the the UK in time. So a 7:30pm start for us became a 11:30pm start for James! Fortunately he has now become used to this and proceeded to give us a very enlightening talk on the subject of Abandoned Architecture.
It is surprising how many derelict buildings there are to be found and the easiest way is to wonder around any town or city and you are sure to find a good selection - so it's probably not that surprising after all. The only problem is getting access - which is probably not going to be easy! If you find there is a security service you might be able to blag or bribe your way in - or the more adventurous (or foolhardy ... ) among us might try and sneak in, with it's obvious consequences ... ! Not least of which is the safety issues because, let's face it, these buildings by their very definition of being 'derelict' are probably not going to be the safest of places so extreme caution should be observed under any circumstance.
Some building owners, however, play on their run down state and allow people in for among other occasions wedding shoots. A sort of 'beauty and the beast' type shot if you will (and, no I don't mean the 'bride and groom' - honestly I don't).
There is a certain beauty in dereliction, or is the beauty in the imagination of how the buildings, along with their grandiose interiors, looked when they were first built? This is not restricted to stately homes but extends to industrial buildings as well. Who would have thought that part of a now defunct power station in Hungary would have been designed in an Art Deco style! The control room at Kelenföld Power Station in Budapest is just that with it's oval shaped, rather than an angular square, room and a magnificent glass skylight glazed in the same style. Even the light fittings are arranged in the same oval proportions around the skylight. Engineering and art juxtaposed in an elegant yet functional manner. (Juxtaposed - now there's a word!)
Oops, I'm dropping into an appreciation of architecture here. But isn't that what photographing architecture is all about - appreciating it's form irrespective of it's age, old or new? But then again that is photography all over. A photographer takes a photograph of something (anything) that is pleasing to their eye. It might not be pleasing to all who view it but it doesn't matter, if the photographer gets pleasure from taking the picture and viewing it then his job is done.
We are told that for a photograph to be considered good (certainly when we have our competition images judged) the viewer has to be able to see a story. When seeing the images James shared with us, I found myself imagining these buildings in their former glory, and the people who must have lived - or worked in these places. These stories are limited only by my imagination and would probably be different to anyone else. Therefore there is probably an infinite number of stories to be gleaned from these images - which can be no bad thing and the image has achieved it's goal.
07 February 2021