© Richard Chivers from the series 'Passing Time'

What about the places where you have grown up. Any memories? What about photography, when did you step into the visual world?

Richard Chivers: I grew up in a village called Overton in Hampshire England. A rural, fairly conservative place, that could be described as middle England. It was a nice place to grow up as a kid with enough freedom to explore the surrounding landscape and spend a lot of time outside. It’s close to the source of the River Test, a chalk stream known for its pure waters that runs 26 miles to the ocean in Southampton. The river is a source of inspiration for a new project that I am currently working on called Where Two Rivers Collide.

My dad is a keen photographer and had a darkroom in our loft when I was a kid. Photography has always been a part of family life, we would often sit down to family slide shows of holiday photos, etc. It wasn't until I came back from traveling many years later that I started to really enjoy taking photos and seeing their potential. Something clicked and I decided that I might be able to make a career from it. So I took a degree in photography at Brighton University. There were some interesting tutors there at the time, Xavier Ribas, Mark Power, and Jim Cooke to name a few.

© Richard Chivers from the series 'Passing Time'

© Richard Chivers from the series 'Passing Time'

© Richard Chivers from the series 'Passing Time'

How do you cope with fast interconnections and instant sharing? How this is affecting your practice?

RC: Most of my personal work is shot on a 5x4 large format camera, but with this project Passing Time, I made a decision to use a digital camera with shift lenses. The main reason for this was to be more spontaneous so I could capture people within a scene. I also wanted to walk further and explore urban spaces on foot, so a lighter camera helped with this.

When the first lockdown in the UK came into force I decided that I would go out and shoot and then edit the work quickly and often post an image on Instagram or Facebook on the same day. This has been an interesting way of working, it gives you some form of feedback on the photos, although I wouldn’t say that getting the most likes on Instagram indicates your best images. You have to also make sure you are not taking photos that you know are going to get loads of attention on Instagram and rather make work for the project.

© Richard Chivers from the series 'Passing Time'

How would you describe your approach to the medium? What does attract you to cities and urban spaces?

RC: I am not a photographer who thinks of an idea or concept and then goes out to specifically capture that idea. I tend to go out and explore places and photograph what interests me, hoping that as I go an idea will develop. I prefer a process of investigation.

Growing up in a village I think Urban spaces and cities have always interested me and felt slightly alien. Visiting London when I was a kid was always a massive adventure. Capturing the built environment has always felt like a natural thing to do and the relationship between architecture and photography has been intertwined ever since photography was invented. The city and its architecture seem to exude unconscious energy, revealing the history and evoking memory. Architecture can often seem unnaturally large and foreboding but also exciting and inspiring. All these things make urban spaces interesting for me.

© Richard Chivers from the series 'Passing Time'

© Richard Chivers from the series 'Passing Time'

Can you briefly introduce what motivated you to start 'Passing Time'? This series was much influenced by the pandemic which is still running after a long year. What have you learned through this time?

RC: I started the project Passing Time, about 3 or 4 years ago, so initially, it was never going to be a project about a pandemic. I wanted to take on a project that looked at how Architecture and urban spaces affect the people that use them and how these spaces can reveal history and evoke memory. I wanted to capture an individual in these spaces, often dwarfed by their surroundings or lost within them. I made a few photos that I liked but never felt like the project had a real focus. Then when the pandemic hit and the first lockdown came into force in the UK I realized this was a great opportunity to capture fairly empty urban spaces but with the sort of atmosphere I was looking for.

It felt like the psychology of using these spaces had changed with fewer people using them. Run down areas of the city take on more heightened meaning and homes have become more of a fortress, a safe place to hide from the world outside. Some of the photos also focus on the fabric of the city, the scars of everyday activity. I'm interested in how this can affect the way we feel about a place and what can it reveal about the history and memory of a place?

I feel like I have learned a lot about capturing these types of spaces, what works for me and what doesn’t. The city has a different atmosphere every day, and of course, my own mood affects the way I see the city.

© Richard Chivers from the series 'Passing Time'

How does this project differentiate from other series you developed in the past? You mention Psychogeography. Can you comment on this thought here "My work studying these urban spaces has taken on more of a role of the Flaneur, drifting through the city without any pre-determined route”...

RC: For this project unlike other projects, I have spent more time walking and observing my local city of Brighton. I've been slower in taking photos and spent more time in one particular area, I have often gone back to the same place on numerous occasions to try and get something different from a particular space.

I have always been intrigued by the concept of the Flaneur, drifting through the city without any particular route in mind, objectively observing what you find. It sounds romantic but there is definitely something meditative about the process of walking and observing.

I have read books by Ian Sinclair and more recently Will Self who seem to take on the role of the modern day Flaneur. I don't see myself as a true Flaneur but the act of walking and photographing takes on some of the characteristics. With the various lockdowns, it has been easier to take on such a role as all of sudden the world has slowed down and you are not rushing to be somewhere.

© Richard Chivers from the series 'Passing Time'

© Richard Chivers from the series 'Passing Time'

© Richard Chivers from the series 'Passing Time'

You wrote, 'Looking at the fabric of a city can reveal wider truths about society and reveal layers of history and evoke memory'. Urban photography has grown over the decades, has offered different interpretations, has shown possibilities for investigation. From a personal point of life, what attracts you now to the city, to look at the city?

RC: I have always been interested in how architecture can potentially shape our lives, I work as a commercial Architectural photographer so spend a fair bit of time with architects. It's interesting hearing their views on design and what good architecture can achieve. Brighton as a city doesn’t have a lot of room to expand, as it is surrounded by the South Downs National park. So every bit of space in the city is utilised, this can often lead to a clash of architectural styles, a weird juxtaposition of infrastructure, housing, and commercial spaces.

Cities in England have hundreds of years worth of history so this layering of time is something I find fascinating. It is also an interesting aspect to photograph. My project deals with different durations of time and how photography can convey these different timescales. So from the hundreds of years of history seen through the architecture, to changes within the city over weeks and months. Then there are smaller moments in time that I have captured with 2 or 3 photographs of the same area just a few moments apart.

© Richard Chivers from the series 'Passing Time'

There is always a solitary figure that arises in space. There is a sense of loneliness of course, but also a different question about space. A more humanist look?

RC: Within the project I want to try and convey how it feels for the individual moving through these urban spaces, or even spending a few moments in them. So to do this it seemed to be a benefit to have people in some of the photos. I dont think it is necessary to have a solitary person in each photo as I'm aware it may become too monotonous. I think it gives a sense of loneliness, maybe a feeling of melancholy. It also gives a sense of scale and I'm interested in how the individual is often dwarfed by the architecture that surrounds them, almost like a feeling of the urban sublime. It could be described as capturing an alienation to modern day places, especially in a time of the pandemic. Artists such as Edward Hopper spring to mind for capturing lone figures in the landscape.

I also think that having a solitary figure moving through the space gives a sense of immediate time passing. Although slow, the person, in their own existential bubble, wandering through time and space is experiencing the modern world. During the lockdown, I have been watching films that I hadn’t watched for a while, which I think have influenced the project. I've been particularly captivated by Wim Wenders Paris Texas and some of Jim Jarmusch early films like Mystery Train.

© Richard Chivers from the series 'Passing Time' 

I see represented differently from your other projects more a spatial condition than a description. A sense of place. I feel like a need to let oneself be carried away by situations, and an even more mature presence of the photographer. What do you see portrayed in this series?

I think the photographs create a feeling or atmosphere that moves beyond an objective description of a place. I would often find myself shooting during the last hour of the day so the light was quite gloomy, or when it was raining or misty.

I wanted the photos to feel visually contained and a bit claustrophobic. Architecture is filling the frame without much sky or view of the horizon. Within this I wanted to create a sense of depth, highlighting the visual complexity that often reveals itself within a typical UK city. There are a few photos that step away from this, I've allowed them to become more landscape in structure and more outwardly looking. A release from the claustrophobic feeling but they still have a certain atmosphere to them. As well as capturing a sense of place, I think the project captures a sense of time. The city changing over time, people moving through time and space. It is also a period of time that will have historic resonance when looked back on in years to come. 

© Richard Chivers from the series 'Passing Time' 

© Richard Chivers from the series 'Passing Time' 

© Richard Chivers from the series 'Passing Time' 

UK is facing a new political landscape through Brexit. How this is affecting your focus and attention in photography? If any...

The Uk over the last few years since the Brexit debacle and with Boris Johnson as a leader has started to feel more draconian and insular. I guess when viewing urban spaces and cities you cannot help but think of how this affects people's lives.

Could you mention 3 books that are meaningful with respect to the project and your work in general? 

London by Patrick Keiller came out as a book in 2020. Published by Fuel, the book is based on the seminal film by the same name which came out in 1994. John Davies. The British Landscape 2006. Publisher Chris Boot. A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain by Owen Hatherley. 2010 Verso Books.

Richard Chivers (website)