An early start to the day with a stunning drive out of Edinburgh and straight North to the highlands in the distance..  The weather was still absolutely stunning with only the faintest wisps of cloud.  A quick meeting with the Hydro South manager Roger Twigg and some insider additions to my OS Map of the key spots.  The images that follow are from a quick recce around the Breadalbane Hydro Electric system where I will be working for the next 3 days. I chose my spot for the night to do a 12 hour Time Lapse and finally get the 5×4 camera out in the dark.  The Renewables Project starts here!

So a flying visit back to London and a chance to render some of the first Time Lapse work from my travels. Sadly this shows a view across the last night of Steel Production in Hartlepool.. The end of an era..

Hartlepool Time Lapse from Toby Smith on Vimeo.

SO.. After weeks of preparation and work on the truck (more about her later) I have finally left the vice-like clutch of London for my big project in Scotland. Typically London was pouring with rain on Thursday, there was snow forecast en-route and I didn’t finish packing till 11pm – however I was leaving! 3 friends had missed their flight to Edinburgh that day so by their misfortune I saw the first leg in with good company and a wonderful nights sleep in a farmhouse near Morpeth.

The next morning I had an opportunity to visit Hartlepool for a day and night. Hartlepool, Teeside and Middlesborough are dominated by heavy industry of steel and petrochemistry all stemming from the incredible legacy of ship bulding with a rich heritage lasting over 180 years. My recent desire to visit the area sadly stems from the imminent and now seemingly permanent closure of the Redcar Corus Steel Plant. The plant has been balancing on a knife edge for 7 years and with it the livelihoods of over 1800 workers and their families. Sadly this Friday marked the final mothballing (read closure) of the plant as the last ingot left the line and the blast furnace drained.

I am often caught in the strange limbo of working for environmental advocacy but by through sharing my passion for the visual of heavy industrial landscapes. Driving the perimeter of the site I looked for a vantage point of the huge plant in its final hours, wanting to avoid the picket lines of workers and photojournalists. A local ITV news crew had bagged the best clear view and were doing live interviews with begriefed workers. Hearing their words and talking to them was very moving, seeing such strong passionate engineers with the mood of a funeral procession. Such emotion I feel is lost when chopped together into news broadcasts we are so saturated with. I had followed the stories of the strikes, and the pleas to our government to Save Our Steel but now defeat hung in the air. What route of history and politics can lead a nation that pioneered the industrial revolution to such dire straits angers me intensely.

Being served the best Fish n Chips of the year didn’t seem to lift the mood of myself nor the 3 families waiting in line. I fled to the hills (literally) to attempt a big landscape shot across the landscape before the sodium lights and the blast furnace went cold for good.

Heading up hill in the dark I noticed a gate heading west leading towards the cliffs. Dam – Locked…. “Please ring 01784 XXXXXX” for access”. If you don’t ask you don’t get! David the shepherd exchanged the key for 2 laps of the field looking for birthing ewes and saving him the outing. Deal!

2 miles of cross-country later with thankfully no midwifery duties I was rewarded with an incredible view across the Mersey, the faltering pride of British Industry and beyond.

Here’s a digi-roid of the view before some 6×7 exposures. I also couldn’t resist shooting an all night Time Lapse from the ridge. I snatched a few hours sleep while the camera worked and the snow pelted the truck. The 6×7 processed and Time Lapse post-production will have to wait. Scotland will not…

I thought my project was ambitious enough – 2 months in the Scottish highlands in the bleak winter, documenting renewable energy, day and night, come wind, snow and horizontal rain. Seems not.  David de Rothschild (English banking heir) has certainly trumped me.  He’s designed an eco friendly catamaran made from thousands of recycled bottles, held together with cashew nut glue powered by solar panels and windmills!  The journey: San Francisco to Sydney.  He hasn’t yet left and the cynic in me says he wont but the optimist wishes him all the luck in the world.  If only we all had a small family fortune to play environmental daredevil with! Read more here.

In 2009 I visited North-East Madagascar on three separate assignments. My original intention was to use my skills as a photographer to document the effects of the illegal logging industry and the beauty of the landscape there. On my second trip I joined an international investigation and by my third trip was working undercover to expose the industry from the inside-out. This major project has now been released across 16 pages in the prestigious German GEO Magazine. Now the article has been published I am free to show the work and discuss the projects methodology.

I worked closely with the Environmental Investigation Agency in Washington who, in October, presented our evidence to US Federal Agents. The evidence has international reach and the process can be slow and methodical but the strength of our claims saw direct action against the world-famous Gibson Guitars in Nashville. The prosecution continues but the initial story was reported HERE.

Click the images to view a gallery of 40 selected images from the project which is now available for further English Language Publication. I also shot extensive HD video whilst on assignment. This incredible project saw for the first time my images going beyond visual advocacy into a new realm of direct action to not only promote but become a solid step towards sustainability and change.

I have also uploaded the extended written article HERE for those wanting more information.

In September 2010 I was interviewed by The Guardian and the audio slides-how was on the front page for 2 days it is archived HERE.