OCTOBER 2024 · PATINA
I know what you did
Bristol, England
The Flektogon 35mm is a Carl Zeiss Jena lens, East German, designed in the 1950s. It's not sharp the way modern glass is sharp. It finds the edge of a surface and holds it, then lets the background go soft in a way that modern lenses don't. Along the Avon New Cut in October it was the right tool.
The Cut is a canal dug in the 1820s to control tidal flooding in the city centre. Its south bank — Southville, Bedminster side — is lined with the backs of things. Garages with roller shutters painted orange and green, both colours buried under tags now. Corrugated metal sheds going rust.
The Flektogon gets close enough to read it.
Avon New Cut — October 2024
The Flektogon keeps the frame tight. You end up close. A metal railing with ivy grown through it, a white tag sprayed over the growth. Fallen autumn leaves on wet concrete in yellow, orange, brown — the lens renders them with a warmth that's slightly wrong for October, slightly right for the surface. A long steel footbridge over the Cut, white railings casting geometric shadows on the pavement. More tags visible on the abutment.
There's a shot of Millennium Square — people walking, a glass building, a puddle with sky in it. It's the odd one out. Too open for what the Flektogon wants to do. Everything else in the series is against a surface.
The title comes from the surfaces themselves. Graffiti over rust over brick. Ivy on shutters. Leaves on wet concrete. Each layer records something that happened here. The Flektogon gets close enough to read it.
Undergrowth fills the final frame — layers of green, dried ferns going gold. End of the path. The Cut is there. You can't see it from here.
Vibrant street art and graffiti on brick wall with pink and yellow tags, weathered concrete base
Urban plaza with puddle reflections, people walking, dramatic cloudy sky and glass building facade
Abandoned orange and green garage storefront with roller shutters covered in tags and graffiti
Weathered metal railing with ivy overgrowth and white graffiti tag against overgrown green foliage
Industrial corrugated metal buildings and wooden structures with rust patina in empty yard
Fallen autumn leaves scattered on dark wet ground in shades of yellow, orange and brown
Long steel footbridge with white railings creating geometric shadows on pavement, graffiti visible
Brick industrial building with ROBINSONS DEPOSITORIES lettering, dark windows, weathered facade
Dense woodland undergrowth with layered green foliage and warm-toned dried fern fronds