The North

Upon arriving in northern England, I was immediately captivated by the amazing landscapes of the moors, dales and upland areas of the region.  I was later drawn down into the valleys toward the built environment. My predisposed ideas of the English countryside, where expansive country estates steeped in history, wealth and order dotted the landscape were subverted. Instead of manors, I was greeted with the decay of proud Industrial Revolution structures such as mining villages, old mills and transportation infrastructure. As an engineer, I was transfixed by these remnants of past growth and technology. In completing this project, I observed the intrinsic connection between the built environment in northern England and the society that inhabited it. I found that in order to honestly portray northern England, I had to observe the built environment as a reflection of the society. I was interested in showing the built environment within its wider context of day-to-day imperfections and vestiges of the past. I believe photos of the region's houses, shops, street furniture, dining venues, places of work and crumbling mills symbolise the population's effort to balance between tradition and contemporary influences. I observed how the population of Northern England reconciles the world they inherited from the Industrial Revolution, with their consumer-oriented, technology-driven and at times laissez-faire outlook. In my photos, I hope to accurately portray some of the idiosyncrasies within the society of northern England, and challenge the conventional homogeneous image of England.