CETell us about your project ‘Caumont: The Caves’ and how you came to start it; what sparked your interest in this location?

NRAll the places in which I shoot have some personal connection to me and are places that I have come across through family, friends or acquaintances. This particular project evolved out of another ongoing set of work call The Liminal Points project.

My good friend and his family live at the foot of these private woods along the river Seine in Normandy, hidden within these woods are the caves. He first showed me them in 2008 when his sister and my partner’s brother were due to marry in the grounds of their home. One of the words that came to me when I first saw these caves was mesmeric, truly mesmeric. What struck me as unique and odd was the fact that these were landscapes encased within a landscape. The sensation of walking in the woods, approaching the caves and seeing the land open up inside was captivating. The feeling was almost cinematic, surreal; I was imagining music playing in the background of my thoughts as I walked around.

The fact that you can’t actually see anything inside the caves is very evocative, what you take inside with you are the first impressions as you enter. Odd clusters and stacks of mined rocks and dusty old wooden frames are littered with huge pieces of rock that have fallen from above. The light disappears and the transition completely grips you. These elements make up my work and are the seeds of my interest.

CECould you explain a little about the Liminal Points project and how the two projects relate?

NRThe Liminal Points Project is finishing up this year, it’s something I’ve been collaborating on with an illustration artist for the past 4 years. The London launch show for the exhibition and book is in November after showing at the Perth Centre of Photography in September with more to come hopefully!

The project is based on returning to a wood where I spent time during my childhood. This act of revisiting somewhere and exploring with new perspectives while reflecting upon the past really interests me. I’m also keen to take cues from woodland myth and family stories. The outcome is something betwixt, somewhere between thought and reality. This transitional moment is the crux of what I am exploring and the result is quite dramatic.

Visually its more vivid and experimental, but both projects use similar techniques and also explore the idea of disconnecting from the everyday. The images provide a place in which to escape and also to contemplate the wider world.

CECan you tell us about the experience of shooting in this environment; do you feel your experience of being immersed in an underground environment feeds into the work? How do you work in this environment devoid of light?

NRAbsolutely. Whatever preconceptions you have, the reality of walking under building sized rocks suspended in the ceilings and stepping out of your comfort zone really affects you. This is where past and present experiences mix, you are completely alone and all sorts of things start coming into your thoughts. I’m not afraid of the dark, but urban darkness doesn’t compare to this.

First and foremost, I went into these caves to explore and see how far they go. I don’t take any photographic equipment with me; this is how I approach all my work. I want to first experience the place and see how I react, then analyse this and set about planning to shoot. Everything changes when you go inside: the air, temperature, sound, moisture, and of course your ability to see. It’s even darker than say a Dark Park, so you have to go in with a head torch but I regularly turn off the lights for a while. When I’m actually shooting, I have the image completely thought out and I use several different lighting setups. The process is quite fluid and I tend to play around with things until I think I’ve got enough. I’ll also play music while I’m shooting (in my headphones).

CEIs your primary interest with this set of images concerned with the experience of being in this space? (I suppose the psychological connections as a pose to the historical, economical, social implications of these spaces)

NRI think so, but I feel this experience is connected to economical and social events in that it offers reflection upon them. Solitude and “un-plugging” from the increasingly digitised and unified world we live in is an important motivation for this work and, I think, a lot of people in general. In shooting this work I want to offer somewhere to lose them self for a time. The lighting is absolutely key as it forms my vision of the experience, discovering the unknown for the first time. I use the light and negative space as a counter weight to the slightly odd compositions. The blank canvas of darkness forces you to do this.

CEYou work commercially as an architectural photographer; do you feel this background influences the way in which you view and photograph these hidden spaces?

NRThe spaces can remind you of cathedrals or a cupboard spaced room, but the way they are photographed is quite different I think. Although there is much to relate in terms of its history with miners and munitions storage, there is also a clear disconnection. You are very much separated from human contact, the experience is raw and solitary it’s the kind of place you think you probably can’t escape. The same can’t be said for a lot of architecture. In that sense, it is more instinctive shooting in the caves. Referring back to your early question about what drew me to the caves, what is apparent is that these landscapes are confined within a space perhaps similar to a biome but without the natural diversity! I think that it’s a slightly odd concept; the caves are like the failed ideal of a utopian future, excavated in haste and then left to eternity and the elements.

CETell us about the photograph Untitled #2 that we have chosen for an edition; is there a story behind this particular image?

NRMy images never really carry individual titles, other than sequential numbering. Because my work involves visiting a site again and again, the overall project title is what is important and this in itself is generally informative too rather than anything grand or poetic. This particular image is from one of the largest caves in terms of a single space, there is regular slow erosion and so there is a thin layer of moon-like dust over everything.
The sense of scale and depth are distorted, the small rock is around thigh height. It’s also the first cave I approached (there is a series of around half a dozen caves, all very different) and it set the tone for the project. It was one of the main caves that was mined (for limestone) and there are actually other caves underneath it that are accessed through small entrances. My work involves constructing the landscape, using the shapes and spaces to evoke a feeling. Spending time in this environment allows you to contemplate a lot of things, the landscape has an affect on you psychologically and physically and this really interests me.