Simon Roberts: We English

'We English' describes the project of which Simon Roberts has documented much of the English heritage and lifestyle held within a large exhibition, with the focus mainly being with landscapes and their incredible visuals that they behold. He would photograph people at a distance, almost as a tip of the hat towards classical painting, but in a modern and contemporary manner. His objective almost clear way of photographing is inspirational for a documentary type landscape, and it encourages me not to worry too much about creating a photographs individualism so much, whether that is intention or not.

The image above is a classic example of such a British photograph, showing many people gathered for a fairly overcast day, a few making BBQs for food - which is all fairly British. The real image in question I choose to dissect out of its collection to show separately, as I feel its significance to my project cannot go unheard. Simon Roberts, who came and spoke at UCA last year, showed a diligence to complete his work for this project and keep the method the same running throughout, which I think is something important to remember.

I have spoken about this image before as a very influential piece for those concerned with tackling the subject of climate change in general, but it feels that there's a certain ignorance with these golfers that cannot go unnoticed. The dull, grey subject matter of the background has become like a numb pain to all those surrounding, people have become accustomed to the smoke rising from the towers commonly known as chimneys, although I feel this misrepresents their size. Visually, I feel there is a divide between the foreground and background, much like Mitch Epstein's work before - the green grass and edge of the tall tree shows nature blossoming, with a few trees in the background next to the cascading grey matter which proceeds afterwards. There are definite binary opposites at work - you could cut the image in half and wouldn't expect to see either subject matter featuring on both images.

The place of which this was taken is Ratcliffe-on-Soar, which is in Nottinghamshire. Such a place like this cannot go unnoticed, and I plan to make a trip to see the facility as soon as I possibly can, along with a few others. Once I have accumulated 3 or 4 places to see, I shall do a little tour around a few places in UK so that I may too gather my own material.

BBC Documentary: When Coal Was King

I've taken it upon myself to watch the BBC documentary about Coal miners back in the 1950s, where they would decidedly record every moment they could of the social, economical, and industrial differences and advances as they were happening. On the January 1st, 1947, signs were affixed to all collieries to say that they were to be managed by the National Coal Board, something that was born out of the labour government on behalf of the people. The declaration of focus upon Coal was a way in which the country publicly declared it's social renewal after World War 2. This then prompted the NCB to set up the film unit so that they can document every happening of the coal industry.

This is a screenshot taken of the BBC programme in which they hung the signs declaring the newfound existence of the NCB. Every month, 'The Mining Review' was a reel of film or a cine-magazine at a fairly short length of 10 minutes which was sent out to cinemas for all the millions of people within the public to keep up-to-date with the happenings of the mining world. One particular place it was shown was London's West End theatre, among 800 other cinemas. This was all to make sure that the public were all kept informed of the mining as they were now partly paying for it through their tax contributions, but it was also to show the mining communities at work and at play, and how those two things converged in such a thriving industry. 

Each mining review often followed a formula; firstly it would show technical information highlighting the latest developments within the mining industry. The rest of the short film would show arts or music, showing content created by the mining community in their spare time, finishing off with a story that usually promoted the benefits of mining. These fascinating archives were a truly successful way for the general public to give approval to mining coal. The labouring hours that were put into a typical worker's day kept many people employed during the few decades in which it thrived, but thanks to Margaret Thatcher's conservative party being in power during the UK miner's strike, many were turned by the success of Coal, and it's popularity decreased considerably. This was probably a good thing in the larger scheme of things, as it brought Coal under a more critical light, proving to many that it wasn't going to be a sustainable source, and the mining review films showed that desperation.

As the mining review clips were nearing their end, you could see the signifiant resounding words to be true, where it was mentioned that Coal would "not only power us for the next 40 years, but also for the next 400 years", which was the truth, but it failed to mention that there were other forces in play. The environment certainly took its toll during this period, and the implications from current modern ideas investing in wind farming and solar panels are a clear sign that many people are acknowledging the problem that exists.