Grimebridge Colliery, Lancashire, 1998. The last working coal mine in Lancashire.

 

 

IAN BEESLEY:

HUMANE SOCIAL DOCUMENTATION

 

I got to know about the English photographer Ian Beesley in 1999, when I visited the National Coal Mining Museum for England, in Wakefield. At that time there was an 125 anniversary exhibition of The Protector Lamp and Lighting Company, a company that was formed in 1873 and still manufactures miners' safety lamps. Ian Beesley's photographs were telling about the contemporary mining industry. The photos affected me a lot.

Ian Beesley was born in Bradford in 1954. After school he realized that there was only two possible places to work: the cemetery or Esholt Sewage Works. Ian was too slender to become a grave-digger, so ..

The Bradford based Esholt Sewage Works had a big influence on Ian's future.

 

 

Hydraulic presses at the presshouse, Esholt Sewage Works, Bradford 1977. With superheated steam and pressure the grease was extracted from the boiled sewage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Besides treating domestic sewage Esholt was specializing in extracting wool grease from woollen mills' waste waters. The grease together with some other inpurities had emanated from dirty wool in scouring process. At Esholt the sewage was lead to big hydraulic presses. With superheated steam and pressure the grease was removed from the boiled sewage. The clear grease, lanolin, was used for making, for example soaps and different kind of lubricants. In its heyday of the operation, Esholt was the only profit making sewage works maybe in the whole world.

Ian couldn't believe his eyes when he started works at Esholt: the traffic was still transported by two steam locomotives Elizabeth and Nellie, both designed to run on the wool grease. Ian enjoyed his time at Esholt. And it was there, where he was encouraged to continue his studies and become a photographer.
 

 

"Elizabeth", end of the shift, engine shed at Esholt Sewage Works, Bradford 1977. This 0-4-0 saddle tank locomotive was built by Hudswell, Clarke & Co. in Leeds in 1958 and it was in service at the sewage works from that year until 1978. Nowadays she can be seen in Armley Mills Industrial Museum in Leeds.

ressmen at Esholt Sewage Works, Bradford 1977.vv

 

 

FROM ESHOLT TO A NEW CAREER

During the time in Esholt Ian applied to an art school. After the basic photography course in Bradford Art College he continued to study at Bournemouth & Poole College of Arts in order to become a film maker. One year was used for photography studies. Ian became more interested in photography and so graduated as a photographer.

During his undergraduate days he got to know about the threat of closure to Esholt. Most of the local people didn't even know how valuable place there was in the area concerning industrial history. Ian wanted to document it as it was. During the last year of his studies Ian went back to Esholt, to photograph his first working place now for his thesis.

- A lot of people said that the conditions in there were really bad. But the thing that interested me was just how much people who worked there actually quite liked working there. And there was a great comradely and great sense of humour in a work force that I wanted to capture. That was the first big project I ever did.

Ian was photographing in Esholt during several years in the latter part of the seventies. But because of the recession in 1978-80 and the decline in the wool trade, extracting the grease was not any more profitable and Esholt ceased the processes and the place was modernized and re-developed by Yorkshire Water. Later in his exhibition Steam Steel Sewage Ian was comparing the life of the works in the seventies and in modern days.

This project tells one essential matter in Ian's work as a photographer: documenting vanishing industry has a big part in his work. You can talk about devotion. For example a project about the history of Yorkshire wool industry, Through the Mill, which was to become an exhibition and a book, had its origin in Ian's own activity. In the evenings and weekends he was photographing the buildings, work and the process of change, in an industry which at this time was rapidly vanishing. After showing his pictures in the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in 1984 he was provided by a fund for the full-time working in the project.
 

 


Interior in disused block, Lister's Mill, Bradford 1987.

 

A MAN'S RELATION TO HIS ENVIRONMENT

After graduating Ian was able to work the next year by a grant from Kodak for documenting the dying industries in Northern England. After that Ian has worked as a freelancer.

Little by little Ian gained a reputation where he could himself choose the projects. And he chooses subjects which he really likes. After getting an idea he contacts those who may be interested in the project. Sometimes he is contacted. Ian tells that for example the project Warwickshire Hatters came about when the owners of one of the last felt hat factories in England contacted him after seeing his exhibition A Place of Work. Because the factory would close down they asked Ian to document the last days of the factory. Many of Ian's projects have lead to others.

When you are listening to Ian, it's obvious that he is really enthusiastic over his work and has a true interest towards his subjects. One theme is emerging all the time: a man himself and his relationship to his environment.

- I am interested in people around me and the things, which affect their lives and how they react to different situations.

We didn't discuss about influential persons, but Ian mentioned names like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Billy Brandt and Robert Doisneau, who have affected Ian's own interest towards documentary photography after "finding" these photographers. These photographers were photographing people, and their dwelling and working conditions, matters, which also interest Ian.

- I have always been interest in what's happening around me and he continues that even though he is doing documentary photography it's not necessarily objective.

Ian tells that lots of the pictures are telling as much about him as about people in the photos and about the relationships that he is having with them. For example the project about the football club Bradford City is telling about his relationship to the fans and about his own relationship to the club as a fan.

In his football photos the people, the fans, stewards, and the players are more important than the events on the field. In honour of the anniversary year of Bradford town Ian took 100 portraits in a way, where one decade is represented by 10 portraits. Thus in the exhibition there were 10 portraits of people over 100 years and in the other end 10 photos of newborn babies. This work lead to the project called The Last Victorians, where he photographed people who were born before the year 1901. Ian has photographed the veterans of the Burmese war, boxers, bull fighters in Spain, but also architecture, abroad and in nearby cities. He has photographed landscapes and ... ghosts. The last-mentioned project was an exhibition directed towards children and it was realized by trick photography. Ian has also recorded the great Victorian cemetery in Bradford during the time of its decline, a decline, which made it even more mysterious. And he really could capture the atmosphere.

 

 

 

Flacks Mine near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire 1998. Miners are having their lunch break underground. Ian tried to capture the strange dark underground world by using only available light

 

 

 

 

RECORDER OF A CHANGE

Ian has had plenty of exhibitions and published several books. He wants to keep himself busy and he always has projects for the near future. During the time of the interview, in the spring 2001 he had just started a project for Leeds Industrial Museum (Armley Mills Industrial Museum) and the theme was the relationship between the city's residents and the buildings which are important to them. When I visited the museum in July same year, the exhibition was already on display and the book published.

Ian is interested in changes and he says that he has an urge to document the things that change for future generations. What is the essential idea in his work?

- Mainly I like people to have a second look. A lot of people walk around and they don't perhaps notice what is happening around them.

The main area for Ian's work is Northern England, but occasionally he has also worked abroad, like in Germany, France, Poland and Sweden. Usually these projects have been architecture photography commissioned by book publishers.

One of the latest projects has been documenting an orphanage in Belarus. Ian participated a one week trip in September 2001 to there with the volunteer workers from NESN (Nationwide Electronic Service Network). There they adjusted the decayed shower and laundry rooms. All the profits from Ian's book Orphans of the Fallout have been used for the project. There are many pictures under a topic "Meet the Children" in address www.operationbelarus.co.uk/main2.htm

 

In the fall 2002 was published the latest book, Heavy Metal. Images of the Kirkstall Forge. As so many before, Ian was recording the last days of one industrial plant. On this site in Leeds, there has been forged iron (and later steel) continuously over 850 years. In the end of the year 2001 the owner of the forge, the Ohio based Dana Corporation, decided to close Kirkstall Forge, which had specialized on manufacturing axles and employed over 300 people. The forge was closed in 2002. These pictures are also on display on the exhibition now touring in Finland.

 

(The text is based on the article published in Kamera-lehti 8/2001, © Katriina Etholén)

A typical scene in the forge shop at Kirkstall Forge, Leeds 2002. Steel billets are heated to 1250 degrees (C.) before being forged on the hammers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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IAN BEESLEY'S EXHIBITION IN FINLAND

The idea to obtain the Ian Beesley exhibition to Finland came from the Steam Engine Society of Finland thanks for personal relations. The original idea was to have it as part of the programme in Old Porvoo's Steam Festival. But before too long the idea was presented to different places and The Central Museum of Labour was almost immediately involved with the idea of touring exhibition. Because Ian has photographed mining industry during all his career, Outokumpu was a natural place to contact. They also became interested in the exhibition.

In Porvoo, the exhibition A Place of Work - Ian Beesley's photographs of English industrial environments is organized by the Steam Engine Society. In Porvoo the exhibition is divided between two places, Art Factory (Thanks to the Art Factory Trust which is supporting the exhibition by giving the venue for the use of exhibition free of charge) and one of the railway station storehouses. All in all there are 56 images in the exhibition, the main themes being the images from the Esholt Sewage Works, mining, textile and iron and steel industries.

The exhibition has already been on display in Tampere in The Central Museum of Labour. At present it can be seen in Outokumpu Old Mine.

 

INFORMATION AND CONTACTS:

 

Outokumpu

Outokumpu Old Mine, Vanhan Kaivoksen mäki, 83500 Outokumpu

15 May to 31 May, open to groups by appointment

1 June to 15 June, daily 11.00 to 18.00

Organizer Outokummun Matkailu Oy, Asemakatu 1, 83500 Outokumpu

t. (013) 554 793, matkailu@outokummunkaupunki.fi

 

Porvoo

Porvoo Art Factory, Kokonniementie 6, t. (019) 582 255

18 July to 7 September, Tuesdays to Sundays 12.00 to 19.00

Porvoo Railway Station storehouse, Vanha Hämeenlinnantie

1 August to 31 August, Tuesdays to Saturdays 10.00 to 17.00, Sundays 10.00 to 15.00

During the Old Porvoo Steam Festival (16 and 17 August) 10.00 to 18.00

Organizer The Steam Engine Society of Finland

 

General information and all the questions concerning the exhibition in Porvoo venues, please contact

Katriina Etholén, ketholen@saunalahti.fi

 

"Whiston", Bold Colliery, Lancashire 1978. Most pits had steam engines up until the 1980's, because they were still an economical form of transport around the pitheads.