DORWEN, Cwmtwrch, Brecknock 2019

Notes on DORWEN, Cwmtwrch, Brecknock 2019
Another visit, only a year apart. The crack on gable end a little larger. The walk to the ruins still a pleasant one but less rewarding than the first but that's, naturally, always the case. Only a few exposures were made, why repeat those of only a year previous? The second visit always allows a little more thought, perhaps take images that I wouldn't have thought about taking the first time around. It forces me to look a little harder, to find something of character, something sculptural, textured, whole. This sort of photography I find hit or miss. Time will tell. I've had a break recently from photographing, nothing serious in months and then it dawns on me that months have passed and these months are precious and better not live them with regret. So, out come the maps. As I've spoken about before these trips to old buildings mostly start by map. I search maps for remote place, or places without obvious roads or tracks. Some of my maps are over 25 years old. Sometimes new tracks/driveways are laid. Sometimes not. I circle a few potential sites, around the same area and then I search on Googlemaps. Most times these so-called remote areas are well-developed. You can see buildings with roofs, cars parked beside, ponds, swimming pools, greenhouses etc etc... But I always zoom out a little further and then scan the surrounding area, return to the maps, try here, try there and sooner or later, more often than not, a roofless building will be found, standing within a group of trees, barely legible on map or computer screen. It's a good feeling; to know that there was a home, most likely forgotten, out of view, worthy of visiting and documenting. If only more information could be gathered by a visit alone, but if a house is small then nothing will be found in books. I will need to wait, and hope, someone comes across it on this website and adds a comment. These comments sometimes cascade and more people add their recollections, always a pleasure to read. They give a ruin a roof, furniture, occupiers and life. So often these houses and homes have only been empty thirty, forty years - well within living memory. This is the prevailing thought at all times, with every visit. That and the physical decay each of these houses have passed through as the years pass. The two go hand in hand. I suppose it is this I attempt to capture on film.
Another visit, only a year apart. The crack on gable end a little larger. The walk to the ruins still a pleasant one but less rewarding than the first but that's, naturally, always the case. Only a few exposures were made, why repeat those of only a year previous? The second visit always allows a little more thought, perhaps take images that I wouldn't have thought about taking the first time around. It forces me to look a little harder, to find something of character, something sculptural, textured, whole. This sort of photography I find hit or miss. Time will tell. I've had a break recently from photographing, nothing serious in months and then it dawns on me that months have passed and these months are precious and better not live them with regret. So, out come the maps. As I've spoken about before these trips to old buildings mostly start by map. I search maps for remote place, or places without obvious roads or tracks. Some of my maps are over 25 years old. Sometimes new tracks/driveways are laid. Sometimes not. I circle a few potential sites, around the same area and then I search on Googlemaps. Most times these so-called remote areas are well-developed. You can see buildings with roofs, cars parked beside, ponds, swimming pools, greenhouses etc etc... But I always zoom out a little further and then scan the surrounding area, return to the maps, try here, try there and sooner or later, more often than not, a roofless building will be found, standing within a group of trees, barely legible on map or computer screen. It's a good feeling; to know that there was a home, most likely forgotten, out of view, worthy of visiting and documenting. If only more information could be gathered by a visit alone, but if a house is small then nothing will be found in books. I will need to wait, and hope, someone comes across it on this website and adds a comment. These comments sometimes cascade and more people add their recollections, always a pleasure to read. They give a ruin a roof, furniture, occupiers and life. So often these houses and homes have only been empty thirty, forty years - well within living memory. This is the prevailing thought at all times, with every visit. That and the physical decay each of these houses have passed through as the years pass. The two go hand in hand. I suppose it is this I attempt to capture on film.
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