England

I took my first photographs in England in 1977 and my most recent a quarter of a century later, in 2002. I think it is time to go back and take more. To me, England is a black and white place, as in the work of Bill Brandt, and the majority of those I have taken are black and white, except in Cardiff, where I went in 1977 to take a picture for a record cover, Brixham, where I found myself in 1981, and in 2002, when I finished up my project at Highgate Cemetery.

The Highgate project, one of only two sustained projects I’ve undertaken in England, was the result of my search for a statue of an angel with a broken wing I needed for my All The King’s Men project. In 1989 I was in London and a friend suggested I could easily find one at Highgate Cemetery. I visited the cemetery, found the angel I needed and went back two times to take more photographs.

My other project in England was based on six days in Brixham on the Cornish coast in November 1981. It was winter, the colors were muted and the days were raw and cold. But on the days when the sun burst through and warmed things a little, it was possible to capture the charm of a tourist spot without the tourists.