I’ve started experimenting with an idea I’ve had for a while. One of my many on going projects has been ‘A Road Petrol Stations at Night’, a study of the non-place and world of the night time service area. My initial interest in these places came about after reading ‘Non-Places’ by Marc Auge but what is a non-place? A non-place is anywhere we as people occupy for a temporary amount of time, they are built and made for us but we don’t live there. Examples of non-places include supermarkets, airports, hotels and, of course, service stations.
The A Road service area at night is very much a non-place and emerge from the deep darkness that comes from night time driving. The visual style of the photographs was to create this expanse of negative space using the dark of the night, isolating the subject and making it feel both secluded but also welcoming and safe.
Although distinctly less isolated, my attention has shifted in this side project to similar service areas found in and around where we live. Set aside from the A Road service stations, these images are a documentary exploration. The original series of images can be found here.
