Photographing Eyesores (polishing turds??)
While doing some research on local architecture, I came across a wonderfully clickbaity article titled ‘Seven of the worst eyesores in Bedfordshire and the stories behind them’. As I read through the article, four were from Bedford and I realised that I’ve photographed three of them. One of them, the Oasis Swimming Pool, is actually one of my favourite buildings to photograph! A Brutalist Prymaid with outbuildings and exposed pipes. It’s glorious!
As you’ll notice from the images, the fact I shoot them in black and white at night, may help hide some of their sins…
1. Borough Hall
Alongside the Oasis Swimming Pool, this building is a wonderful example of Brutalist Architecture and is great to shoot at night. There are lots of different shapes and variations of textured concrete (yes, you did read that right. Textured concrete) that really come into play when working with artificial light.
2. Mercure Hotel
So far I’ve only made a single image of the Mercure Hotel. There aren’t many great angles that show off the beauty of this one, but I’ll take that as a challenge.
3. Oasis Swimming Pool
As I mentioned at the top of the article, the Oasis Swimming Pool is one of my favourite buildings to photograph, and I’ve been visiting regularly for the last 3 years or so. Here’s a small collection of my favourites.
I’m now determined to tackle the fourth eyesore on the list, the ‘Reflections of Bedford’ sculpture, and see what I can do with it. If you live in Bedford, I’d love to hear about any other buildings that you think I should check out and worthy of adding to my gallery of ‘eyesores’.
As always, thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment to join in the discussion or share on social media.
Related Galleries
If you like the images in this blog, then do also check out my Nightwalk and Architecture and Industry galleries
Featuring 36 colour images from three areas of local heathland through the seasons, Heathland | Rejuvenation covers my exploration of three heathlands in Bedfordshire over the last 6 years.