The Collected Works of Alex Bamford
Alex Bamford was brought up in Cornwall and it was the lure of the sea that brought him to Brighton from London over 20 years ago. He made his first photographic ‘collection’ in 2006, systematically recording every VW badge on the split screen camper vans at that year’s rally on Madeira Drive. As an advertising art director with a background in Graphic Design, laying images out in grids came as second nature.
‘Like all avid collectors, one was never going to be enough. VW’s were followed by vintage Minis, Land Rovers, Morris Minors and any classic vehicle that drove on mass from London to Brighton. What fascinated me were the subtle differences between the badges; almost imperceptible design changes over the years, weathered crackles in the enamel or sometimes customisations by the proud owners. I’ve always hated the use of generalisations and these collections seemed like a metaphor for that. A celebration of the tiny differences between things we assume to be identical.
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Some collections take years to collate, others can be completed in minutes. The beach huts in Whitby, East Yorkshire are in a single row, alternating in blue, yellow, red and green. It took 45 minutes to walk along them, lining up the same composition on each. You can see the weather change in the finished layout as the sun came out. I’ve always reckoned there’s a bit of obsessiveness in all photographers. Mine is evidenced here.
Also available framed, please get in touch to enquire.
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Fire hydrant signs collected from trips to Cornwall, Scotland and everywhere inbetween over a couple of years. Once you start looking for these signs, you can’t stop seeing them.
‘Yellow “H” hydrant signs indicate the location of the hydrants. Mounted on a small post or nearby wall etc., the two numbers indicate the size of the water main (top number) and the distance from the sign (lower number).’ -Wikipedia
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168 VW split screens - A photographic montage of classic Volkswagen camper van badges.
‘These VW split screens were part of a huge annual London to Brighton rally, The Brighton Breeze, which ends near where I live. I was fascinated by the range of colours and at how much love had gone into personalising the camper vans. I shot each badge separately, making sure that it was the same size and position in camera and, once processed, arranged them so that the colours flowed like a rainbow’.
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Belisha beacons are defiitely one of those things that I thought would be totally standardised, but thankfully aren’t. These were photographed in my commuting days when I used to pop a bicycle on the train. I took a different route each day from Victoria to Camden, getting strange looks for stopping at pedestrian crossings with no pedestrians in sight
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My friend was selling her collection of Super hero figures on eBay so I offered to photograph them for her so she would have something to remember them by. I underestimated how many Marvel characters there were.
Also available framed, please get in touch to enquire.
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Also available framed, please get in touch to enquire.
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Like my buoys collection, these ropes are from St Ives. They span from the harbour wall to the flotilla of fishing boats in the harbour and at low tide, come to rest on the sand. My mother worked as a studio potter in St Ives for 25 years and still lives there now. There is always a challenge to photograph it in a fresh way whenever I visit. Having ongoing projects like my Collections gives me a much easier starting point.
Also available framed, please get in touch to enquire.
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This collection is edited from an afternoon spent photographing the 470 beach huts that span the seafront in Hove, focussing on the decorative flourishes at the top of the green gables. There is so much character put into each of these huts, they really sum up the people and the place.
Also available framed, please get in touch to enquire.
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The 14th century harbour in Clovelly, North Devon lies at the bottom of 400 foot, cobbled main street. It is so steep that deliveries are made using donkeys and sledges. It’s wonderfully picturesque. It also boasts a fine colllection of chains to stop it’s fleet of small fishing boats being washed away in the North Atlantic storms.
Also available framed, please get in touch to enquire.
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This project started with the systematic documentation of a Volkswagen rally from London to Brighton which ended up near my home.
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A photographic montage of bicycle lane markers.
‘I've been riding a bike for over 50 years, to work, to the shops and for general exercise. This collection was photographed on my way to work over a couple of months. I love how, in the UK, there doesn't seem to be a standardised stencil for these bicycle lane markers. They are mainly painted freehand with a vast array of skill levels. A bicycle isn't an easy thing to draw, especially on a road with a fat brush’.
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54 Land Rovers - A photographic montage of Series 1 and 2 Land Rover car badges
‘These Land Rovers badges were photographed in Brighton, at the end of a car rally from London. It is one of the many car runs organised each year that end up on the South Coast where I live. Being a car fan with a background in graphic design, I am fascinated by the badges, the small changes to the logos over the years, and the way that owners customise them’.
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Plastic promotional Ice Creams are a common sight in any seaside town. And as our love for ice cream has become more exotic than the staple Mr Whippy, so have the signs. These have been collected over the last 10 years from every holiday, day trip and business trip that I’ve been on. I have to give thanks to my long suffering wife who has had to wait for me while I squat down a photograph most of these .
Also available framed, please get in touch to enquire.