Diamond Cove – 01
The first trip took me to the southern coast; from a base in Channel Port-aux-Basques, I investigated sites from Rose Blanche to Cape Ray. Though I usually have a good sense of which communities have fish plants, I am sometimes surprised by what I find while exploring.
In this case the surprise was Diamond Cove, oddly enough even when I speak to people, I often hear that they have never heard of this place. The fish plant here is large and visually quite impressive. It is also here that I noticed that fish plant installations are not always situated in a community but rather at a slight remove (I’ll speak more to this when we get to Rocky Harbour). There is a fascinating mirroring effect as one gazes at the community from the wharf or vice versa. Their positioning at either end of a medium sized cove makes them ever present to each other but never visible together, there is a metaphor there that I will keep in mind as the project moves forward.
My working process involves gathering images, glances and impressions as I work an idea through. I never truly know how a project will come together until a sufficient database is amassed. I am attempting to print the photographs chronologically as I originally shot them. This seems important at this point. This is not my usual manner of working; my printing process usually takes me from an image that sparks an idea to the next image that will support that thought. The blog will develop chronologically but at a time-space remove from the pint where the original decisions were made. This actually mimics the process of photographing using analogue technologies and underpins my rationale for using film and wet lab techniques to create this work.
March 5th, 2009
