Photographer of the month: Jeff Lucas

Photographer Jeff Lucas,63, lived in Bristol for 25 years, but last year moved out to Portishead “which is, of course, Bristol’s best unknown suburb”. 

“I have been interested in photography since my teens. When I went to university and had access to a darkroom I spent many happy hours developing my own film, often helped by my girlfriend who later became my wife (which had nothing to do with the hours in a hot darkroom – well, only tangentially).   

“I then lost contact with the hobby for the next 35 years – just snapping on “auto” like most people until I did a course in architecture 6 years ago and realised how using a camera was helping me to really “see” things, rather than just looking.  So then I bought my first DSLR and began to take my photography “seriously” once again. 

Watershed

This is part of the buildings close to the Watershed Cinema during a major refit for a night-club. The contractors had set up temporary lighting in the bays , and alternated the colour…the reflection in the still water of a balmy summer evening resembles a strip of film. Very appropriate!

Cabot Circus – as a deconstructivist artwork

Cumberland Basin flyover is a great haunt for BMX’ers

Harbourside

“Here is a good example of ambiguity, mystery and abstraction all rolled into one.  It’s one of the harbourside cranes – I am on my back looking straight up.”

Clementine and Dexter

“This lady was out cycling with her dog one morning around the tobacco bonds.  With her caped dog, her jacket and paint splashed trousers (she was in the middle of doing some decorating).

“I just had to get a photo.  She kindly agreed to pose for me in front of some graffiti which seemed to chime with her outfit.”

Nightshift

“A quiet night at the burger bar St Augustines Reach and my Edward Hopper moment.  Who is she calling?  Why does she look so wistful?

“Would she prefer to be busy?”

The entrance lock  

“The dock had just been renovated and the patchwork colours of the new work caught my eye. As I was taking some shots, the bright yellow petrol tanker shot past to complete the composition –  I just caught it in time.” 

Tree

“This one is just to show that I do green stuff as well sometimes.   This is the gorgeous willow tree next to one of the blocks of flats on North Street Bedminster. Another lying on my back shot.  I like the contrast here between nature and the made environment.

“I have had some successes in competitions, a couple of exhibitions and I have been shortlisted several times for the RWA autumn exhibition. I sell my prints, phototablemats and coasters in local art trails and craft fairs, which helps to fund my hobby.  I definitely don’t do weddings – happy to leave that to the pros.”  

“Having just moved to a house overlooking the Severn Estuary, my current preoccupation is weather, light, air and water, and I am relishing the thought that (hopefully) have many happy days to come exploring the coastal environment which is something entirely new to me.  Quite a change from the urban “grunge” I have been photographing for the last 5 years or so.

If you are a photographer based in Bristol who would like to be featured email pamela@bristol247.com

Read more: Photographer of the month Lee Ramsey