Initial brainstorming for the project New Frontiers went in the direction of “new ways of seeing” and “new ways of sensing”. I am always interested in things that can’t be found directly with our eyes, and using analogue photography as a tool to see the unseen is fascinating to me. 

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The attraction I have to parking lots references this seen/unseen idea, as they are of non-place. A place of transience, like airports and train stations. Spending time listening and contemplating these spaces, I thought could allow for personal insights. On a location scout I was moved to investigate an inner city warehouse that acted as a parking lot. Graffiti covered its internal surfaces, broken windows and gaping holes in the roof gave reason for its semi-abandoned presence. It evoked within me an urge to photograph it before it vanished into complete ruin. 

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The process of using medium format film has a tactile sensibility to it, and I was motivated to research ways to increase this hands-on approach. I experimented with practical effects including intentional camera movement, glass fogged with vaseline, and the manipulation/damaging of negatives, but in the end I let the process itself reveal something to me. 

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Testing different films was a major part of this project and below I have shared the contact prints that were created in the process, as well as some of the images that I used in an experiment to see what would happen if I physically destroyed parts of the negative. I tried two different methods to create this sense of something being erased, first using household cleaning solutions and secondly burying the negative in dirt. I left the negative soaking overnight in the acidic soil, hoping to see some effect of this interaction with the layers of film emulsion.

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The final image containing light leaks that were out of my control feels completely relevant to the idea of something being 'erased', creating a new way of seeing the space. 

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