Category: Journal

A406/A quick thought on division.

deanbelcherLeave a comment

I have travelled this road and seen both ends many times and recently I was considering how much it as been a part of my life.For twenty years I have travelled it to get to my studio or to the big supermarkets,to get to the M4 West to see my folks or maybe the M11 to the airport or on my way to a shoot location,recently instead of using it to take my kids somewhere,swimming lessons,football practice,ballet I’m using it visit my kids houses,soon i’m sure the full circle will happen and i’ll be taking the next generation to swimming lessons,football practice or ballet.

Ongoing of course I plan to photograph and ask other people what their thoughts are.Some of my relations will remember when at least part of it was not there,in fact I can vaguely remember how pleased my dad was with the time saved when they built the Southend Rd extension that runs nearby my house now.I must of been under ten years old but I can still remember when we came off the waterworks junction and went over the cattle grids towards my posh aunts house,those cattle grids are still there and drive over them most days I must record the sound! Before I head on to my point I must just tell you that cows were grazing just next to the road right up until the 1990s and it was not uncommon to find a stray cow in your front garden eating your prize dahlias,there was a few dairies nearby (one of which as only just shut down recently) and back in teh day they kept their own cows up on the common ground then drove them down the main street my street comes off towards the dairy.No kidding and I live in a London postcode….amazing eh!

I digress,that very extension my dad loved so much actually divided a community, where once it gelled nicely from where Epping Forest started there now is a huge 6 lane road.Two whole streets were demolished connected now by two bridges only.I must ask some of the older relatives and people I know what impact it had. Imagine being part of a community looking out across the street a t a row of terrace houses then a couple of years later your front gate is 4 feet from a busy road and you are cut off by this physical barrier from the streets beyond.

A406/Thames

deanbelcherLeave a comment

The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in
Meltdown expected, the wheat is growin’ thin
Engines stop running, but I have no fear
‘Cause London is drowning, and I, I live by the river . London Calling/The Clash

I don’t as it goes (although anybody living in London is never too far away) but like the rush of the Thames and flow of the water my road,the road at the end of my road the A406 is a constant,even as I type this with my window open I can hear the rush of traffic,only on some days when the wind blows in the right direction is it audible but none the less it’s there,i’ve not paid it much heed in the past but it’s like a ever present being,quiet at times slumbering,quietly humming at others,never a noisy distraction more a gentle quite pleasant,reassuring hum.On occasion in the early hours of the morning I’ve heard powerful cars and motorcycles hurtle round around noisily presumably free from the usual traffic.I must photograph them.

I keep coming back to this idea of it as a modern day version of the river,but instead of a nautical highway around which man from Roman times onwards built a major city over 2 thousand years this is a river of tarmac slithering through neighbourhoods providing for the communities that have built around it who take what they need and pollute like a Victorian version of the Thames.Stretches of the road are amongst the most polluted in the UK.

Despite the fact the river flows through the middle of our city the road at no point meets it,ironically though during my research I have found evidence that by 2050 the river may actually come to the road,joining up roughly where the A406 at present ends.Nature taking over and reclaiming where the town planners have failed,if I survive that long I will in fact be living very much closer to the Thames.

One day on the banks much like the mudlarkers of today they will find the detritus that befalls the roadside,evidence of lorry drivers caught short,old mattresses that have fallen off the van on its way to the dump or flytipping site,odd shoes,cigarette packets and old soda cans,along side the fall out of teenagers who may well have spent many a night drinking cheap beer,sniffing nitrous from balloons whilst discussing the meaning of life or maybe just who they fancy and reciting Grime lyrics into their imaginary microphones,all whilst sat on dilapidated benches that have been placed facing the most boring parts of the road a mere 4 feet away from the rush of traffic.

Dean Belcher

A 406/Oral history and soundscapes.

deanbelcherLeave a comment

At this juncture (see what I did there) having had a few technical issues setting up this CRJ I have manages to copy over many of my posts other’s I am re entering from memory,thankfully from now on that will not be an issue but unfortunately a few will be running out of sync,I hope they will none the less inform and entertain.

Following a recent 1 to 1 with my head tutor Clare she as been encouraging about the start I have made on this project and the direction it is going,we discussed the work of Tim Bowditch and his project Hind land thats explores the dead transient spaces under the bridges and underpasses of the M25 motorway.It resonated well with me partly because we are both looking at the transient space and world around a major artery but also like him he is interested in the sound and as paired up with a sound recordist called Matthew de Kersaint Giraudeu to create these soundscapes to compliment what would be very silent images.Without the sound the images themselves being devoid of life and shot at night look quiet and almost quite tranquil whilst overhead the endless traffic is moving creating beats and whooshes,shown as an installation and whilst I have not seen it in the flesh I can imagine an immersive experience that may not have been possible with the images alone or at least it would have been a totally different experience. I’m very much interested in Oral histories and keen to incorporate soundscape and oral history into my work,this is a great example of the mix of the two media and one I intend to pursue further.From the outset I intended to include an oral history ,(possibly moving image along with the stills,the use of a drone and topography)in the form of short interviews of people I met whilst photographing the locations,this as not come to pass yet but can see it forming part of future modules as the project progresses.I am particulary keen to research and find people who live alongside the A406 and how they feel about it,for instance when it as been extended in the past and cut through communities such as where live.The worries they have with pollution and noise but also the positives of the communities that have built up around it over the past 100 years or so.

With this in mind on practical terms Clare and I decided it was a good idea to create a plan of action to include a shoot schedule and a target to meet regards blogging and recording them.

https://www.timbowditch.com/hind-land/ . https://www.timbowditch.com/exhibitions/

Hind Land as part of Soft Estate at Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool, UK – 2013 Tim Bowditch

POSITIONS AND PRACTICE PHO701 18/19 WEEK 4 COLLABORATION

deanbelcherLeave a comment

Week 4 Postions ans Practice is Collaboration week. We spoke about the process of collaboration then set out to fulfil the task of colaborating in groups of 2-3. Our task set was to post a piece of poetry,prose or lyric,some words that meant something to us.I’m not much of a expert on petry per se but I do like a good lyric,poetry to me !  I posted ‘Life is just a bowl of cornflakes,you wake up every morning and its there” not too profound but it lends it self well to interpretation.In my case and so it seems Juanita who joined me it explores the ordinary,the stuff thats always there but you never see.Like a lot of photographers,I see a lot more pictures than I actually take,I think Henri Cartier Bresson said something along these lines and I agree.So Juanita and I set out to photograph our surroundings,me in suburban London her in suburban Bristol.I think what surprised us both the most was the way we had without knowing it mimicked each others work,all be it hers was a bit more ornate and perhaps gentler and mine was very brutal and a little angrier in aethestic but interestingly both exploring the same thing.Which as with lots of collaborative projects deviated a little from the original plan and ended up exploring more about Humans effect and relationship with nature and how now matter how much concrete and bricks we lay down nature seems to always win through.I think you may see that in the zine we produced,where we laid out one image from my work alongside Juanitas and vise versa. Above from the top you will see my images followed by Juanitas followed at the bottom by the zine.Hope you enjoy it.