Tuesday 10 May 2016

Kennall Vale - Photography Week 3 (2016)

Kennall Vale is a nature reserve on the site of a 19th century gunpowder factory. Some of the original granite buildings still exist in various states of ruin.

The River Kennall which flows through the valley provided power for the factory via stone leats and waterwheels. This was required to drive the millstones which ground, saltpetre, charcoal and sulphur into gunpowder. (1)

The gunpowder when then used in the surrounding Gwennap mines. (1)

The construction of the site including the thickness of the walls, the planting of trees, and its out-of-the-way location was designed to minimise the impact of an explosion. In 1838, five buildings were accidentally blown up with debris spread up to a mile away (1,2) .

The factory eventually closed in 1910 after nearly 100 years of productivity. The demand for gunpowder reduced as new explosives, like dynamite, were developed. In 1919 quarrying for granite began at the site which was used to build memorials at the end of World War 1 (ref: site information board).

Knowing a little about the historical context made the photography more interesting. I aimed to record the various features in a panel of photographs that conveyed some of the atmosphere given from the past. To achieve this I selected an aperture of f5.6 and had a mono finish in mind.

The f5.6 aperture was chosen as a creative tool to focus on key details whilst using the narrow depth of field to soften the surroundings. I later added a sepia tone to the black and white conversion. Initially, I felt this was a little clichéd but it seemed to work better than the straight black and white.

These are the results and as there are many images I have displayed them as thumbnails. A larger view can be gained by clicking on the individual images.






      

     




     


  
    

   



   

   




     






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