Wild Futures 2: Cam Edgelands

I have been photographing along the River Cam since 2009 for various amateur photography courses and projects. Some of these are colour film and transparency images, most are low resolution digital images on a compact camera or early DSLR.

• what I thought ‘picturesque’ and ‘good photography’ meant at the time.
• Use of Photoshop, DxO FX and Topaz Studio filters to produce ‘art photography’ images.
• How the places have changed over time linked to images of the same scenes in ‘Anglia Safaris’.

The River Cam is part of a longer term body of environmental and social documentary work in different media about ‘Cam Edgelands’ that is central to my practice going forward. The river is just down the road from my house and an area where in normal times I walk nearly everyday for exercise.

The A14 road bridge is one of a number of bridges across the river. On one side the bridge underpass dissects two areas of land that are used by travellers and migrant workers living on a Traveller site relegated to the margins of Cambridge. There is a well-established traveller community that has been there for very many years. Living on one side of the bridge, they use fields on the other side to keep their horses, using the underpass as a transit between the two. Before Brexit they were joined by migrant workers – particularly men – from Eastern Europe. It is unclear how much of the graffiti, litter and broken glass is created by either of these communities, and how much by other walkers passing under the bridge. Graffiti is certainly not confined to this bridge, but is evident in a range of styles also under the other bridges along the river.

The river itself is part of the University rowing Bumps course, and used by town rowers and also leisure boats.