Producing images with traditional analogue technologies fascinates me and is a huge inspiration for my photography. For my FdA Final Major Project, I have been documenting the now redundant and abandoned Octel bromine factory in Amlwch. As a resident of the island of Anglesey with generations of family who have lived here, I am keen to document this loss, and to consider the impact on the local community and also the broader more general decline of the industry in Anglesey over recent decades.
The loss of the factory meant that hundreds of people were made redundant with many of them still out of a job. The site of the factory itself is now an eye-soar that casts a darkening shadow or stain on the community and the island.
It saddens me that these sorts of losses seem to be becoming more and more frequent, with unemployment figures rising and the indigenous communities declining in numbers. The property market for these communities is also tumbling in value, and it angers me, that elsewhere on the island, single secluded properties or beach side apartments are bought as second homes and fetch prices that is utterly out of reach for the locals.
Lastly, the process of making this work offers a peculiar irony that I can’t escape from. Bromine is also a key chemical in the manufacture of photographic emulsion. Traditionally, certain photographic papers were actually referred to as bromide. Walking around the factory with my analogue camera in hand, looking through the viewfinder and making the decision to record the latent image onto film, makes me wonder, if I am also documenting the painful and slow death of the process that brought me here in the first place.