For the last 8 weeks normal service has been disrupted by events beyond my control.
During the late summer I got a call from University of Suffolk to undertake a commission for the newly refurbished Atrium building. The resulting two images were made digitally and ended up being 11.9m and 8.1m in length. It turned out that time was of the essence and digital took over but on the day I was given the commission I sallied forth to Harwich to take a different view of things as the commission fitted in with my long term study of the Docklands of the Orwell. I had originally thought of shooting film so the Bronica went with me and although it presents a different view of the world when I make an image compared to my large format gear, it forces me into a constraint that affects all image makers namely the framing of the tool in hand.

As it happens, Trinity Pier in Harwich is one place I used to moor up on in my old Revenue Cutter days. My memories of the times spent on the pier were of constant rope minding as the tide surged out beneath us and it was never as sunny as it was on this bright August day – never I can assure you.

On seeing Galatea alongside, I was minded of Eddie Osborne who shared our last year at UCS with us and his time on a different Galatea, plus this was right opposite Ganges where he trained as a cadet. In some ways they were latent images brought to the fore, triggered by a name and a vessel plus the busyness of the harbour and the very place itself. The other latency was the fact that this roll laid stored for 3 months and it yielded 12 perfectly exposed negatives when the developed film popped through the letterbox last week.