Nick Barkworth Empty Streets

Foxhall

Night 4

Crossroads

Jodrell Street

CNV00034

We leave our mark across the land, no more so in the urban environment, designed and created solely for our use be that to work, to play or to simply live. The nature and culture of the urban environment, the lines, the patterns and shapes are all purposeful and with meaning. In this selection of photographs the lack of casual organic evolution is replaced by a man-made development, sometimes an interrupted sprawl and other times a more fluid vista, but nothing left to chance.

For me the urban topography of a city tells a story of the people who live there, who inhabit its space, use its roads, light up its windows at night. Only when the people leave the scene can we really see the scene.

The side streets and alleyways, as opposed to the boulevards and main roads, provide a unique insight into the people who live there. They tell a tale of bolted gates and high fences a well place lack of trust in the pedestrians who travel through them, although not present in the photograph, their presence is always felt.

I have found myself increasingly drawn to the empty street, waiting for occupants to leave an area, not wanting them to dilute the scene. A subtle filtering of the scene, I would hate the viewer’s eye to be drawn unintentionally to a shadowy figure in the scene instead of the lit window.

Its a dichotomy of my photography that I find myself increasingly comfortable with and drawn towards. Nothing should deflect the shabby glory of a north of England alleyway on a rainy day, the cobblestones and ramshackle walls are the centrepiece of the shot, the eye should not be interrupted as it is drawn along the row of street lights in the evening, nor distracted from the vertical façade of an urban car park.

I’d like the viewer to consider the environment first and then the people who inhabit it, which is at odds with its development where the people are considered first and then the landscape built around them…..if they are lucky!

Empty Streets Melbourne Revisited by Martin Rowland

Melbourne was established in the early 1850’s after the discovery of gold. It grew very quickly and became one of the richest cities in the world. As time has passed however, Melbourne has continued to grow and instead of the compact urban form enjoyed by many European cities it is dominated by sprawl. Continuous growth in population has seen huge demand for residential land. As land values have increased so too has pressure on industrial land to be redeveloped for housing. It is a compelling problem because the displacement of employment for residential purposes begs the question “where will people work and how will they get there?”.  And surely it isn’t just the architecture that is being displaced… These are empty streets.

Empty Streets – Shawn Hoke NYC

See more at http://www.shawnhoke.com/

Empty Streets 4 – Gerard Dominguez

Empty Streets 3 – By Dominic Bugatto

Empty Streets 2 – By Alexis Gerard

The Empty Streets by Nick Barkworth

The fascination with a city deserted, devoid of all life, not a soul around comes from a love of sci-fi movies. From ‘I Am Legend’ to ‘Walking Dead’ the city is quiet and the streets empty (aside the occasional zombie).

A photographer wanting empty streets can opt for the simple approach of getting up early in the morning or staying up late into the night, but I prefer the waiting game. Waiting for the frame to be empty and then….click….everything changes as the empty street is caught in the lens.

 

From being a vibrant city street, full of people and life….in the blink of the eye….it is empty, not a soul around. Sometimes not even a trace they were once there…maybe a lone car.

The shadows cast in a morning light give the feeling the city is waking from its slumber, the creatures of the night scurrying back into the dark recesses away from the good people of the world starting their business of the day.

Between the modern day canyon sides and valley floors the quiet sides streets lie, away from the glare of the busy thoroughfares, their corners and cul-de-sac’s confuse the unwary traveller.

Have a look at my other photographs in this collection here.

Many thanks for your time

Nick Barkworth

Empty Streets 1 – Melbourne by Andrew Wurster

About ten years ago, I lived in the city centre of Melbourne. I used to get up early on weekend mornings and I quickly noticed the lack of people around. At the time in Melbourne city living was just beginning to take off, there were relatively few people who lived  in the cbd. I would be able to walk a good part of my downtown street without seeing a single person, I found this quite fascinating and a contrast to the busy city feeling which had drawn me to live in that area. I started documenting it and started a flickr group called Deserted Melbourne: Postcode 3000.

I don’t work regular hours, I start and finish work well before most people do, I find often that there are so few people in my shots, this was coincidental initially but became more deliberate as time went one. The mood created by the empty city really works for me as I delved into flickr I found many people who obviously felt similarly.

I’m starting this as a new series of posts focusing on various cities and their streets without people.