A foreman contract worker working a night shift on the blast furnace, 1983
The houseboats, blast furnaces and shipbuilding are gone. Ian Macdonald’s photographs are portraits of times past. These pictures cover three of the photographer’s major bodies of work from the late 1960s to the mid 1980s: Greatham Creek; the Redcar blast furnace and Smith’s Dock Shipyard. ‘These places have existed on the horizon of my life for as long as I can remember,” he says.
Smith’s Dock outfitting berth, 1986
“Swans, seen for the first time in my memory, on the river Tees”
– Ian MacDonald
A shipyard worker handling a heavy wire hawser, Smith’s Dock, 1986. Photograph: Ian Macdonald
“Early photographs were made with a Rolleicord 6 x 6 and a Pentax K1000, but took on a greater sense of purpose when I started using a 4 x 5 inch camera. Using a it brought challenges that were both taxing and inspirational. They forced me to slow down and give greater consideration to what I was looking at. The tripod and the dark cloth created a barrier, offering physical detachment from what I was photographing, but at the same time, it also intensified what I was viewing
…
“I developed a rhythm of using the 4 x 5 camera, of ensuring the dark slides containing the film were kept dust-free, of developing a repetition of operations, everything necessary to eliminate mistakes”
– Ian MacDonald
Portrait of Ian Macdonald by his son, Jamie Macdonald, 1975
“My ability to draw has always been key to my photography. Making detailed drawings of a landscape, which took time – perhaps four, five or six hours on one drawing – engendered an alternative experience of my environment. The “looking” was deepened by the sensation of changing light and weather, of sounds, wind and bird cries, but most importantly, the passage of time. Often, after drawing for long periods, photographs would simply appear, I did not need to look for them’”
– Ian MacDonald
2am on the morning of launch day for 1360 ship, to be named North Islands, the last ship to be built on the river Tees, 1986
“When making portraits, which is my favourite occupation, the encumbrances of 4 x 5 seemed to stimulate a sense of seriousness in the person sitting for me. This seemed to relax each individual allowing them to become more themselves”
– Ian MacDonald
A front-side blast furnace worker settling a freshly cast furnace using vermiculite to calm the flow of molten iron from the furnace tap hole, 1975
A striking block used in the manufacture of wire-made hawsers in the Sail Loft at Smith’s Dock shipyard, 1986
Canteen staff at Redcar Blast Furnace Site at the end of their shift before going home, 1983
Cote Hill Island, equinox flood tide, autumn, 1974
Ice on the ponds in front of the Coke making plant on the Redcar blast furnace site, 1986
Lad in Middlesbrough FC ‘Boro’ hat, leaning against Tom Hatton’s houseboat, 1973
Mark Dewse, a burner at Smith’s Dock, 1986
Paddy’s Hole at the South Gare Teesmouth, 1986
Smith’s Dock outfitting berth, 1986
Snow on the beach, looking south-east along Coatham sands from the South Gare Tees Bay, 1986
Tony Burke, a shipwright, standing beneath the stern of 1360 Ship, 1986
Young John Allison after a fishing trip standing beside Blackwell’s houseboat, 1973
Via Flow photographic gallery All photographs: Ian Macdonald
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