We were studio number 5 in TAP 2007 Open Studios and my idea was to compare and contrast the rivers in Essex and Toride (Ibaraki county of Japan). I'd been photographing the Essex coastline and rivers for some years and felt it would be interesting to extend this project to Japan. The regions have superficial similarities. They're both low-lying with wide rivers behind sea-walls, and this provided the hook.
For a few hours on two sundays in mid-October I walked along a stretch of the River Blackwater at Heybridge, near Maldon. Both Sundays turned out to be beautiful autumn days. The first Sunday I went in the morning to Heybridge Basin where there's always plenty to see. The day started quite foggy but the sun burnt it away. I took 3 rolls of 35mm film on that day.
The next Sunday I went over to Heybridge in the late afternoon with the intention of catching a different quality of light; first to the creek where there are some decaying house boats and then back to the basin. I took one roll of film.
Photos from the river Blackwater.
Some more background about Maldon, Heybridge and the River Blackwater.
At the start of November we flew to Toride and I had to set up a temporary darkroom. I took a developing tank and some graduates and other small items. The enlarger, lens and timer were lent to me.
Almost everything else was improvised, kitchenware from the nearby ¥100 shop, blackout material from pieces of old curtain. The printing easel was made from 2 pieces of mount board with an aperture in one piece cut using a mount cutter. This actually was a limitation because every print had to be made to the same proportion (approx 3:2) which suited the majority of negatives but not all.
A sheet of plywood and a tarpaulin allowed the solution trays to be placed over a baby's cot. The enlarger bench was made from stacked storage boxes with an old white-board across the top. A plastic storage box was used to store clean water.
It was a bit Heath-Robinson but worked and by restricting myself to 10"x8" resin coated paper (for ease of handling) it was surprising how little specialised equipment was required for a black & white darkroom. It was fun and I imagined a little like it must have been in the days of photo-journalism with hotel rooms converted into simple darkrooms.
We ordered darkroom supplies (Ilford and Kodak) in advance to be delivered from Tokyo. Due to problems of translation, packaging and availability, some chemistry we bought was not what was expected but I was resupplied.
Having been kindly lent a bicycle; over several days I cycled out to the two local rivers the Tone and the Kokai (translates as the "Small Shellfish River") to take photos. These rivers were much quieter than the stretch of the Blackwater at Heybridge although there is a ferry on the Tone. The weather was extremely good, better than you could reasonably expect in November and I took a total of 4 rolls of film.
Printing took several days. I had a wall on which to stick the photos and it steadily got filled. The small print size meant that I could fit many photos on the wall and have an opportunity to give viewers a flavour of what the Blackwater looks like and the activities of the people on it as well as the two Toride rivers as viewed by an outsider.
We opened the studio to the public for all three weekends and had quite a range of visitors. My wife was on hand to act as translator and tell the "story" of the Blackwater.
Finally, many thanks to Mr & Mrs Moriyama, Chie, Rika, Takeshi and Yuko for all their assistance.