reFrame (Illuminate) (2013)

 

For this project we would be working dually with the Pontypool Townscape Community, who would primarily fund this endeavour in Pontypool. We were told by our lecturers that within this project we would have free range and could look at a variety of potential topics for culture led regeneration of the area.

 

While walking i was drawn  into Pontypool park, as the project started it was Fall and the leaves were just coming off the trees casting the Park into a wonderful golden glow in the afternoons. I decided to focus on this and try something that was both familiar and not; Night photography and landscape photography.

 

Landscape photography has never been my strongest point, therefore i felt this was potentially the time to do a project with it. I photographed every point of the parkland from the Folly to the Italian gardens.

I wanted to choose areas that were often looked at and walked by but never given that much consideration, after looking at some of the other photographers who were also photographing the park I narrowed down my photography to the following places: The Band Stand, Nant-y-Gollen Ponds and the Welsh Oak trees leading to the ponds.

 

By photographing the images at night I wanted to expose the park, known and not so know and bring them to the forefront to the public mind and make them realise that the park can be just as beautiful during the night as well as in the daytime.

Pontypool has a high crime rate* in the centre of town and I feel that this paranoia that crime is everywhere was deep set in the hearts of most Pontypool citizens. So by showing this beautiful landscape images I wanted to show that the night-time can be beautiful and not as dangerous as everyone seems to think.

*The online crime maps show 172 crimes were committed in Pontypool in December 2010 and the level of crime and anti-social behaviour in the area is high compared with the rest of England and Wales]