pete mcgovern

 

Canwick is a tiny village of 300 people that rests on the limestone escarpement south of Lincoln. Sometimes of a summer evening I cycle up there and take a breather at the far end, on the bench positioned beneath plane trees facing the stone mansion of Canwick Hall. It's quite an ascent up Canwick Hill to that village and only achievable by me without having to get off and walk part of the way is when I have all 18 gears working and haven't had a particularly fatiguing day at work prior. It's a very peaceful spot to aim for. From even my modest bit of research I now know that Canwick Hall, along with the surrounding 250-300 acres, was once home to the wealthy Sibthorpe family for over two centuries, from 1730 - 1939. Subsequently the estate was purchased by Jesus College, Oxford and, curiously, a British  resistance  unit was briefly established there, in 1940, with invasion seemingly imminent. While there have been occasional signs that one or two people may have been livi

London based photographer Richard Ansett recently spent a week in my hometown, undertaking a self-initiated residency.  His typical areas of interest are, broadly speaking, portraiture and documentary, so hearing that he was coming up for a few days of street photography was a bit perplexing. Lincoln has a relatively small population with few areas of high footfall. I did the maths, and all things considered, I figured the chances of him getting even one exceptional street image seemed extremely low. As in nil.  Turns out when he showed up he had more than just a camera and flash, he brought some ideas. Day one, and we washed up in front of a Costcutter, situated just around the corner from the Usher gallery where his Man Up men's mental health project was being exhibited. My part in this undertaking was to hold aloft a stand with a high powered flash-head. It was a studio-type unit which discharged with a thud felt through the stand. My instructions were to keep it up high, aim i