Industrial Decline Photo

Photographer’s Note

These are just three of the many disused cranes around Liverpool Docks. Whilst many of the docks are now regenerated into houses and shops etc (see my postings of Albert Dock), many more are in ruin. Whilst the new Liverpool dock is one of the busiest in the world, it is mostly automated. I love the old decaying docks, but they cause some ambiguity. On the one hand they symbolise a more simple time, when work was done by hand, real hard work, but also a time when Liverpool was central to the British Empire and all the bad things done in it's name, including slavery. Liverpool was a centre of the slave trade, the office in which I work was once the Confederate Embassy during the American civil war. This picture reminds me of this poem by Dee Rimbaud, writen about Glasgow, but the cities have many similarities.

Bloody river,
bloody river of this city’s undoing
with your bloody history
of shipbuilding and conquest,
of slavery and theft,

all dressed up
in the tarnished gilt
of imperial majesty:
your dereliction is a plague
visited by the gods
upon all your daughters and sons.

Thankfully Liverpool has mostly shed this plague, a regenerated city, European Capital of Culture 2008, and much of the city is a UNESCO world heritage site.

ballyna, limaz, Philippe, cobbydale, marknunnerley has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

ballyna (1689) 2006-10-21 10:46

david,
a different mood,an industrial look.good compo,
regards

limaz (406) 2006-10-23 7:55

Hi David.
I am allways impressed with the size of human bult machines, and this shot really does demonstrate the enormous size of these cranes. I like the effect of the overexposed sky. An effect that also might work well on a shot like this is to meter the sky then take the shot. It will make the sky normal and make the cranes shadowy silhouettes.

TFS

CAto

Mikos (4324) 2006-10-23 9:50

Hi David

this image has a very strong visual power. The colour you have achieved, this dark blue, and this three symetric "towers" give the result for this perfect composition you have chosen.
I live in an old indrustrian city, the most important in Spain, Barcelona, so I also recognise urban landscapes like these ones, a great heritage, which is starting to be recognised nowadays.

Grat job ;-)

Miguel

Philippe (11791) 2006-10-23 12:11

Hi, David. I like to see these cranes which look like giant insects that can't take off. I find there is a gloomy atmosphere in your picture which illustrates very well what you say in your note. You took the picture in difficult light conditions with the backlight and I think you sorted it out quite well.

bantonbuju (48858) 2006-10-23 16:19

hi david,
this is stunning, my friend - the cranes "staring" at the sky as if crying for more air while suffocating from that automated world that you mention in the note;
i was thinking about converting this image into b/w but i think that this prevailing blue equally well limits the "fancienest" of the image and creates a symbolic raw of the crying cranes;
good one,
bw, j.

RGatward (19751) 2006-10-24 5:34

Well worked compo, and very much my kind of scene. There must be cranes like this working somewhere in the world, since occassionally I see non-container cargo ship, but, apart from Havana, I've no idea where they are.

cobbydale (1928) 2006-10-24 18:16

Hi David

been looking thru the Lancashire section and I see you've posted a lot of great images.

In terms of posting critiques thought I'd start with this one as it really caught my eye. I love the lighting in particular. Also the composition and POV are excellent.

cheers
Leon

agnieszqa (954) 2006-10-25 1:51 [Comment]

Show Comment

sebcz (2345) 2006-10-30 3:40

Hi David!
I like this work of yours. The central composition works fine, the cranes seem to be reaching out to the sky. Some sun rays can be seen at the left crane. Few colours adds more 'raw' feel to that.
Regards
Seb

faubry (32521) 2007-01-15 8:48

i like this industrial landscape, perfect diagonale composition,may be in B an W will be also..
have a good day
francine

belido (17203) 2007-04-23 9:54

Hi david,

nice shot. Good silhouettes and color for the sky.
Regards,
Carlos

marknunnerley (2768) 2007-06-27 6:54

I like this one David. The light is just right with the cold blue of the night coming in. The cranes look a bit like dinosaurs strangely enough. Are you allowed into here then to photograph. Just love photographing the decaying parts of britain.
br
mark

brian1949 (196) 2007-06-30 5:42

David,
I really like the photo, it has a moody atmosphere about it and the almost silhouette of the cranes is great. It looks as if I am not the only one who mourns the loss of some great monuments to British engineering.
thenks

Brian

testmaniac (12344) 2007-07-30 4:59

Hi David!

Perfect composition and this colors make this photo very nice!

TFS

Philip