Under the Motorway Project
These are the first images that don’t feature musicians that I have put on this site. I intend gradually adding some more from other projects I have undertaken.
These images, which are split into three Galleries in a Collection named “Under the Motorway” come from a project I worked on between May 2007 and June 2009. Some years ago I took some Black and White images under Spaghetti Junction and always meant to go back and take more. Having gone back there in May 2007 I remembered just what an interesting space it is. There is a whole world underneath there that the vast majority of the thousands of motorists who drive over it each day don’t realise exists. There are canals, paths, graffiti art, rubbish, buildings, bridges and lots of concrete pillars, amongst other things.
Looking at a map of Birmingham you see that it is surrounded by Motorways. A closer look revealed that there are around 14 different spots around this network where there are canals, rivers and footpaths that go underneath the motorway. I resolved to photograph all of these spots. Eventually I visited them all and found that a few didn’t actually meet my criteria or yield any interesting images. there was also one spot, that is possible to see from a train coming into Birmingham from Leicester, that I failed to find a way to get through the fences surrounding it in order to get the images I wanted. I tried from various points but could find no way in. However I took over 800 images at the remaining sites and 106 of them are now on this website. In taking them I was trying to do a number of things. I wanted to record life and the human activity that goes on under the motorway. I also wanted to try and show the way that nature and human intervention has changed the spaces and created much more interesting visual images. I tried to photograph the areas in the way that I might photograph rural landscapes. I believe that there is a beauty in a lot of urban landscapes that mirrors the beauty one sees in traditional landscapes. i have a number of Black and White images where I first explored the idea of trying to bring out the beauty in urban areas that many might say are just ugly. Some of these images will be posted on this site when I have time.
In some of the images in this project you can almost see a history of transport in the midlands. In Galton Valley in Smethwick there is a canal which is crossed by a canal, which is crossed by a railway and all of them are crossed by the M5. A number of images from this area appear on this site. Some show joggers and cyclists on the towpaths but I’m afraid I failed to capture any images of planes above everything!
I have recorded images from around the year and in different weather conditions, I intended to complete the project in a year but the demands of other things like a day job and photographing Jazz Musicians meant it took two years before I thought I had got enough to finish. However having stopped work on it I, from time to time, get ideas for how to add to this series and so I may yet go back and take more.