Tell us when you grow up in St. Davids. What kind of place it was?
Alex Ingram (AI): St David’s is an unusual little place right on the most South Westerly tip of Wales. It’s surrounded on 3 sides by the Irish Sea that batters the coastline for 8 months of the year, and is 15 miles away from the nearest supermarket, and nearly 2 hours away from the nearest motorway, so at times it can feel quite isolated from the rest of the UK. It is technically a city, due to the 12th Century cathedral that lies in the valley, but with a population of just 1841, it feels more like a small village. Buses run once every 2 hours, finishing at 6pm and not running at all on Sundays. Everyone knows everyone, which as you can imagine, has it’s good and it’s bad points. And I didn’t get internet at my parents house until 2011.
Growing up in a place like this has quite an interesting experience, and a whole world away from the childhoods of my friends who live in much larger cities like Cardiff, Bristol or London. But it had it’s own charm, and was something that you had to adjust and get used to. At the time, I really took advantage of the place and everything that came with it, and didn’t appreciate what a lucky upbringing I had and how fortunate I was. Looking back on it now that I live in London, I love all the little unique qualities that come from living in a place like that, and I really enjoy going back to visit my parents, although I have no intentions of ever moving back there for good.
© Alex Ingram, from the series 'David's House'
© Alex Ingram, from the series 'David's House'
© Alex Ingram, from the series 'David's House'
© Alex Ingram, from the series 'David's House'
And then photography. How it all started? Any memories of your first shots?
AI: When you grow up in a place as beautiful as Pembrokeshire, you are spoilt for choice when it comes to places to go and explore. I’m quite a nosey person, and I love exploring places I’ve never been before, experiencing new things and meeting new people. This is something that I’ve always been fascinated with, and I feel that photography is the tool that enables me to do this. My photography life started off by just wandering around the Pembrokeshire coast path with my mate growing up, photographing the landscapes that we explored and the things that we got up to. Looking back at the images now I’m embarrassed by how they look, but it was a big part of my life and I think it shaped me into the photographer I am now.
You graduated in Photography from Bristol UWE? Any take aways? Any meaningful courses? Any professor or teacher you remember well?
AI: I absolutely loved uni, and I can’t praise the Photography course enough! Like all arts courses, you get out what you put in. If you’re one of these people who will just sit around at home all day and not put the effort in, then it’s definitely not the course for you. But if you’re really interested and excited about creating pictures and experimenting, then you will love it. The lecturers and technical staff were great, and I still see a lot of them on quite a regular basis.
What do you think about photography in the era of digital and social networking? How is the language evolving and impacting daily life of people and communities in your opinion?
AI: This is something I see written about online every single day. “Social media is killing photography...blah, blah, blah...”. These are the same people that were saying that digital was going to be the end of photography 20 years ago. I think it’s all rubbish. Yes, perhaps there are too many selfies and pictures of people’s food being uploaded to Instagram, and there are issues with body image and mental health with people comparing themselves to models that they see online. But as I whole I think it is a good thing. Social media is a very visual platform and it enables people to share snippets on their life with a very wide audience quickly and easily, and I can see why so many photographers are taking full advantage of it. In the past, to get your work seen you had to be fortunate enough to get people along to an exhibition, or show prints of your images to picture editors and art directors, or manage to get people to end up on your website. With Instagram, you can post your work and instantly get seen by a much wider audience. You can interact, like, comment, and engage with people in a way that you never could before, and I have met photographers and artists through social media whose work I would have never come across otherwise. We can’t get too fixated on the number of followers we have or how many likes a picture is getting, but on a whole, I think it’s a great thing!
About your work now. How would you introduce yourself as an author or described your personal methodology? Your visual exploration...
AI: Like I said before, I’m a very nosey person, and my photography is just a way of me documenting the people and things that I encounter throughout my life. I’m not too philosophical about it or look to create a deep meaning behind anything, I just want to tell a story through my imagery. Whether that be the story of my journey, the story of a place, or the story of people that I have met.
Again about Wales and St. David's, how you ended up doing a project about the smallest town in UK.
AI: I had lived in St Davids since the age of three, but having spent four years away whilst at University, I came back to the area as if with a brand new pair of eyes. I was revisiting the places that I had grown up and had completely taken for granted, with a new sense of understanding and appreciation. Growing up in such a secluded part of the world had its positives and its negatives, and for me it didn’t really offer what I wanted out of life. The project all started with my neighbour Dai and my relationship with him. He has spent his entire life living within a three-mile radius of where he grew up, with no real interest of living anywhere else. For him, St Davids offered everything he wanted in life, and he used to tell me all about his life and his experiences growing up here. I wanted to question this, and explore his patriotism he had with the place, and while I didn’t quite feel the same. This project was an exploration of my relationship with the place that I grew up, and how it has impacted not just my life, but the lives of every individual that lives there, and my changed perception that came as a result.
© Alex Ingram, from the series 'David's House'
© Alex Ingram, from the series 'David's House'
© Alex Ingram, from the series 'David's House'
'The Gatekeepers'. An ongoing travel and exploration of small islands in UK. How have you developed your documentary so far? How much do you plan your investigations? Talk about your methodology?
AI: 'The Gatkepeers' is a project that I’ve been working on for the past year, that sees me travelling around the tiny islands that surround the UK, spending at least a week on each and exploring the lives of the wardens that live on these remote landscapes in the middle of the ocean. Logistically, getting to these islands is a bit of a challenge, and has seen me cross the water on a variety of things, from fishing boats to helicopters! However, once I am there I tend to let things evolve organically and document what happens in front of me. The first day that I spend on each island, I tend to just leave my camera in the accommodation and I just go and explore the landscape, perhaps taking some recce shots on my phone as references of interesting places. I think this is an amazing way of really understanding the landscape and environment that I’m in. By not fixating too much about making pictures of everything you see, you become much more absorbed within the landscape and I get a much better connection and understanding of the place.
© Alex Ingram, from the series 'Gatekeepers', Lundy Island
© Alex Ingram, from the series 'Gatekeepers', Lundy Island
© Alex Ingram, from the series 'Gatekeepers', Lundy Island
You wrote «I want to question how this simplistic way of life fits within our modern world». How different are the people in your journey? How do they react to your work?
AI: Everyone that I have met on the project so far has been incredibly accommodating and welcoming. I had this idea in my head before starting the project that people living on these tiny islands would be very introverted, but in reality they are quite the opposite. Their way of life is very different to our own and they have to approach things that we take for granted in a much more conservative way, but they still appreciate the same things and enjoy the same pastimes. The fact that there are sometimes only about 4 people on the island makes them very social, and in the evenings they seem to do everything together. They cook big meals together and have movie nights, play games and quizzes, and drink lots of alcohol!
They all seem very interested in the project and what I a wanting to explore, and I think they are all quite flattered about the fact that I want to visit these islands and focus on them. A lot of the islands are filmed quite often for various TV documentaries that focus on the wildlife that lives there. The fact I am focusing on the people that live there is something completely different that I don’t think they’ve experienced before.
© Alex Ingram, from the series 'Gatekeepers', Bardsey Island
© Alex Ingram, from the series 'Gatekeepers', Bardsey Island
© Alex Ingram, from the series 'Gatekeepers', Bardsey Island
Skomer Island is a Marine Reserve. Only 2 people live there. At times people feel so lonely in crowded cities. This people look more isolated than alone. Maybe they are more integrated with those strong natures...
AI: Yes absolutely! Just because the wardens that live on the islands live in isolated communities, I certainly don’t think they are lonely. I find photography can be quite a lonely job at times. You may be working with different people every day, but you don’t have the same sort of working relationship that people have when they work in offices. You don’t really form that bond with people after working with them for a day or so, and so at times it can be quite lonely. However, these wardens spend almost every waking minute with each other. You create such a close bond with one another that I don’t think you could ever really feel alone there. You also create a very strong relationship with the island itself. It almost becomes a person in its own right , and when you surround yourself with the world in this way, you become at one with nature.
© Alex Ingram, from the series 'Gatekeepers', Skomer Island
© Alex Ingram, from the series 'Gatekeepers', Skomer Island
© Alex Ingram, from the series 'Gatekeepers', Skomer Island
Three books (not only of photography) that you recommend?
AI: 'Empire' byJon Tonks. 'For Every Minute You Are Sad You Lose 60 Seconds of Happiness' byJulian Germain. 'The Night Manager' byJohn le CarreĢ.
Is there any show you’ve seen recently that you find inspiring?
AI: I recently watched the new David Attenborough documentary, 'Dynasties', and I found it really amazing watching these wild animals and the companionship and comradery they have formed living in the wild. I couldn’t help but draw comparisons between this and the islands that I am visiting, and the people that I have met.
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