SUSAN ALLAN A B A N D O N E D B E AU T Y
Abandoned Beauty BIPP member Susan Allan embarked on a project to capture landscapes that challenge conventional notions of beauty, focusing on abandoned and derelict sites set against stunning natural backdrops. Beautifully composed with expertly controlled tonality, the images demonstrate the natural beauty of light and nature against forgotten structures, creating scenes entrenched with narrative. In this piece, Susan reveals her process and motivation behind the project.
I began this project with the aim of creating images which would be a personal challenge for me, to capture landscapes which are not the usual interpretation of beauty but whose imagery evokes an immediate interest and draws the viewer in. It occurred to me that there are many beautiful landscapes, but equally many places which could be termed ‘ugly’ – abandoned and derelict sites, sometimes sitting within a stunning backdrop of hills and lochs. This juxtaposition was exactly what I wanted to capture, and so I began the project in early January this year to capture some winter scenes.
Bogside Explosives Factory, Irvine © Susan Allan
My first shoot at the abandoned Bogside Explosives Factory near Irvine was surprisingly difficult to find. Set in deep undergrowth, as with many of the sites I visited it was not signposted. The imagery on the What3Words app was really useful, clearly showing the buildings in their grounds near the golf course. Temperatures of minus 4 used two batteries in as many hours, but I was fortunate on the way back to be able to shoot the snowy mountains on the Isle of Arran, complete with a beautiful inversion layer over the Firth of Clyde; it is days like these that make landscape photography worthwhile. View to Arran from Bogside Explosives Factory, Irvine © Susan Allan
16 the PHOTOGRAPHER / 2023 / Issue Two
Issue Two / 2023 / the PHOTOGRAPHER 17
