County Census - South West, UK, 2003
Photos : Adrian WM Jones
Photo Documentary : County Census South West 2003
When Morrisey wrote that 'Every Day Is Like Sunday' in reference to British coastal towns he wasn't kidding. I spent my art college days down on the south coast of England and several years after that too. It's something I find very hard to contextualise since it is uniquely English, it's pleasant when sunny, it's twee and quaint in the villages dotted all around, it's a rabbits warren of beautiful country lanes across Devon, yet that Sunday feeling lurks, it's that thought of school the next day hanging over a young mind, an endlessly compounded lonely feeling in a country even when it is at it's most beautiful. I have always been at odds with it and struggled to find words to describe it so I put it into pictures, pictures I wanted as a reference as to why I did not want to return. I had made my decision very early on that I did not want to spend my life in England, probably as early as 5 years old. I had the luxury of family in Greece and being exposed to that life at such an early age, a 180 degree flip of culture and coastlines that did not make you feel a a cloud was always looming, a place where school wouldn't matter when the sky was so blue, abundance not loneliness, expression not reservation. Armed with these trips at such a young age I could seen any reason for committing myself to a place which made me feel mostly dank. There are many things I do love about England, I am not beating on it for the sake of it, I did my time, I knew what suited me better, and I left, and as a personal reminder to myself I needed a visual reference to keep me from residing to the fact that where I were born and grew must essentially end up being my home too. This similar thread is noticeable throughout my images and projects I shot in England but this was my motivation here. Don't let me put you off, it is a wonderful place in many ways, it just wasn't the place for me.
Adrian WM Jones
Adrian Jones is a Connecticut based architectural photographer & documentary photographer. With over 20 years in the field he has worked in many areas of the film and photography industry and now uses his vast experience to focus on photographing architecture for architects and personal documentary projects.
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