photography « Jo Dolby

Tagged: photography

Jul 27

Toneworks

I recently visited the old Toneworks factory in Wellington, Somerset, which has been decaying beautifully for over 20 years now. Somerset Council acquired the site in 2020 and since then have been doing essential repair and stabilisation works to make the site safe. As part of this they are offering guided tours for small groups at several points in the year, which always sell out. I was lucky enough to get a place on a tour so I could visit, and the results were well worth it as I’m really pleased with the images I’ve captured.

I would have loved longer in there to take more photos (sorry to the nice council lady who kept having to say “STAY WITH THE GROUP PLEASE” to me), and there are parts of the site that are too dangerous to access. In some ways limitations like this are often helpful to creativity. You have to prioritise what you want to capture, not overthink things, and be realistic about what you can do in the time you have.

Huge respect to Somerset Council and Wellington Town Council for putting the tours on! My top tip to get a place on the tour is to sign-up for their newsletter (it’s as thrilling as it sounds) as tours are announced there first. Click here to do that.

I hope you enjoy the images. Some of my favourites are below but you can see the full set on my Flickr page here.

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Posted in Ideas photography

Jan 03

Shepton Mallet Prison

It’s been a while since I’ve got my camera out and enjoyed a day just capturing something beautiful or interesting, so when I heard Shepton Mallet Prison was closing for good, I had to go! The prison closed as a working prison in 2013, but for the last few years has been open as a tourist attraction documenting its fascinating history, as well as offering tours and experiences such as escape rooms and even overnight stays.

Having spent most of my working life as a youth worker, some of which involved working in youth justice, I find some of the glamourising around prison and crime really uncomfortable. In my experience, working with young people in custody often meant working with very hurt and traumatised young people who had themselves often been victims of crime such as abuse or neglect.

That said, it’s important awareness is raised, stories are told and space is given to reflect, particularly around criminality and justice, and the urgent need for prison reform. There’s also something really powerful about entering a space you’re not normally allowed to enter. The vast majority of the population will never enter a prison, never see beyond its gates, walls and barbed wire. Stepping inside one and being able to wander, explore and visually document the space felt like a real privilege, a kind of ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity.

What I mostly felt walking around and taking photos, was sadness. Sadness at how much pain there has been in that place – the pain caused by the people in custody here, and the harm done to them through an ineffective and outdated system that does little to repair or rehabilitate. I also felt strangely hopeful, mostly through the little details of beauty I found in some of the decaying and neglected spaces, and through the powerful metaphor of a closed prison where no one is locked up and all are free. We all have parts of us that hold the potential for harm and evil, and we all have things in us that keep us bound and locked up. We all have ways in which we long to be free. These photos remind me of the ability we have to escape what binds us, to recover, restore and repair. You can see the full set here, and some of my favourites below.