AV News 196 - May 2014
M a k in g 'T h e P o w e r o f M e m o rie s '
Richard Brown FRPS
Many of my sequences, certainly the factual ones, tend to arrive more or less
fully formed in my mind before I start work on their production. Having a firm
idea and perhaps an outline of the script certainly helps with the planning and
photography as I have a fairly clear idea of what I will need to find. Unusually
for me, 'The Power of Memories' followed a different course entirely.
I have a long-standing interest in genealogy which has taken me all over the
country, visiting archives and locations associated with my family history. As
part of this research, in 2012 I came across a website called Midlands Heritage
Forum, which is a resource for people involved in urban exploration. These are
folk who essentially break into abandoned buildings of all kinds and take
photographs. There are a number of stunning books that have been published
on this theme, which appealed to me greatly since I seem to share a similar
predilection towards decay and dereliction. Anyway, one of the buildings that
featured on the website was the former Gamma Rays Limited factory in
Smethwick.
This was where my
grandmother used to
work in the 1950s and I
remembered her taking
me there once as a
small child after she had
retired. I was intrigued
by the photos and so out
of interest, I went to look
at the factory, which I
was sure was soon to be
demolished.
It proved very easy to gain access and wandering around, it occurred to me that
it would be worthwhile to take some pictures myself as a record for my family
history file.
So I went back a couple
of times with my camera.
At that stage I had no
intention of making an AV.
But looking at the photos
at home, I decided they
might make a nice photo
harmony type sequence,
so I found a really
haunting piece of music
that I thought would work
well with them.
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