Photographs, 2019 to now

The looms still run on the river.

The series

Eleven mills, four of them still turning

I have been photographing water-driven weaving sheds since a foreman in Nadiad let me stand on the walkway for an afternoon. Seven of the eleven have closed since. The work is a record of rooms that will not be there in ten years.

How I shoot

Available light, and a tripod nobody trips over

No flash near running machinery, no asking anyone to pose, and nothing moved. A shed at six in the morning gives about forty minutes of usable light coming through the roof vents, so I plan around that and wait.

Prints

Printed in Ahmedabad, signed, editioned to twelve

Archival pigment on cotton rag, 16 by 20 inches, from the scanned negative rather than a file. Twelve of each, numbered on the back, and when the twelve are gone the image is retired rather than reprinted at another size.

Licensing

Editorial use, with the mill named

Magazines and books can license single frames. The one condition is that the caption names the mill and the year, because an unattributed photograph of a working shed becomes decoration the moment it loses its address.

What I do not take on

No weddings, and no restaging

I am asked about both every month. Weddings are somebody else's craft, and a shed cleared of people and lit for the camera is an illustration, not a document. Saying so early saves us both a meeting.

Enquiries

Prints, licensing, or a shed I should see.

If you know a mill still running on water, I would rather hear about that than anything else. Replies in a few days, from me, not an assistant.