We are delighted to welcome our first guest blog, someone who has become an enormous, supporter, critical friend and I might even suggest a patron of Studio B.a.d. Andrew is a hugely talented architect and photographer documenting Southsea in all its glory!
Challenging times for us all & opportunities for extended photography trips have been very limited, so naturally this has led me to look a little closer to home. I’m lucky enough to work in a studio within a few hundred metres of a wonderful Victorian Park as well as some of the city’s finest modern architecture.
I’ve been trying to reflect photographically on how different things have felt, how we’ve had to adapt to a ‘new normal’ over the past few months; so most of my photography has been quick phone photos on the way in or home from work reflecting on distance & isolation, but also the peace of a city with (virtually) no traffic & how quickly the Solent has become very clear, how vibrant all the leaves look without the coating of pollution that usually dulls the edge of an urban spring.
For this first image I’ve chosen one taken with my phone, rather than any more sophisticated photographic equipment; low point of view, converted to monochrome in the phone & cropped slightly, no filter.
The (enormous) puddle in this empty carpark gave not only a great reflection but also the hint of transparency, ambiguity & layering that is so attractive to architects; the lack of cars reminded me of what this complex must have felt like after it was completed in the 1970s & it’s the only time I’ve seen the puddle so clear.
Andrew Malbon
@fivearchitects