parkes-and-wrecks - Tumblr blog

[parkes-and-wrecks]

The Brooklyn Bridge, New York, 2000.

As I started to walk across the bridge on this crisp and cold day, these four women, all dressed head to toe in black and tightly arm in arm, walked past me. I fancied myself as Cartier Bresson when I took this, and while I don’t think it really clears that bar (...) it’s still a moment I’m glad I captured.

[parkes-and-wrecks]

The Brooklyn Bridge, New York, 2000.

As a foreigner, the Brooklyn Bridge is an iconic New York landmark. I set aside a morning to give myself time to cross it. There’s always that feeling you carry with you on a first visit like this: a sense of wonder and wanting to let everyone know you’re just excited to be here. I walked from the lower east side of the bridge across to Brooklyn and back again. It was a crisp day, so clear my polariser almost rendered parts of the sky black. 

I still like this photo. I had to sit in one spot for a while so the walkway wasn’t full of people... I wanted this sense it was just me and the bridge in the world.

[parkes-and-wrecks]

Ideogram (1972) by James Rosati , New York, 2000

“Commissioned by the Port Authority Art Committee in 1969 for the World Trade Center site. The sculpture underwent wind tunnel testing before being placed in the plaza between the two towers of the World Trade Center. Saul Wenegrat, former director of the art program for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, notes that it may have been the most photographed piece at the Trade Center, due to its use by fashion photographers for advertisements. Unlike Fritz Koenig's bronze Sphere, Ideogram's stainless steel pieces were likely indistinguishable from the remnants of the collapse of the Trade Center during the tragedy of September 11, 2001, and have not been recovered.”

I’m still very proud of this photo shot on my little Pentax K1000 and a simple wide angle lens when I was 21 years old and still very much a budding artist. I had no idea what Ideogram was when I photographed it slotting into the sky next to the twin towers. It would be destroyed when the weight of the towers collapsed on top of on September 11. One of the most photographed pieces of art in the world, even Michael Bay used it in Armageddon in a similar composition. 

[parkes-and-wrecks]

An A6 Intruder on the USS Intrepid Air and Sea Museum, New York, 2000.

On my first visit to New York, I was trying to evoke the Americana I’d been nurtured on grwing up: Robert Frank, Winston Link, Tony Scott, Michael Bay. America’s fetishisation of its military might had become my own, and seeing these huge pieces of hardware on the massive USS Intrepid with the star and stripes flapping in the wind was a juxtaposition I could not resist.

[parkes-and-wrecks]

San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2001

A crepuscular ray breaks over Castillo San Cristóbal, Puerto Rico in the late afternoon. 

I would use the time we were docked in port to walk around San Juan with my camera. I spent a lot of time in the Old Town of San Juan, where the Castillo San Cristóbal sat next to the sea, a huge cemetery and a slum. That intersecetion of the ocean, these old forts, the intense Roman Catholicism and the poverty of San Juan all next to each other was something I found alluring and intimidating at the same time.

[parkes-and-wrecks]

Crew of the M/S Explorer of the Seas watch its huge azipod thrusters push it away from the dock in St Thomas, USVI, 2001. 

The vast majority of the crew on cruise ships, the engineers, the kitchen staff, laundry and housekeeping, were Filipino. They would often be separated from their families for months and year, sending home US dollars which helped buld homes and support their children’s education.

[parkes-and-wrecks]

Valdez, Alaska, 1999. The oil from the Exxon Valdez is sold in small bottles in Valdez gift shops. This small, flat and unassuming town was one of our stops in my cruise ship photographer days. I can’t say what it’s like to live there-all the white people in Alaska seem to have come there to get away from something-but as an outsider I was captivated by its austere aesthetic backdropped by snow capped mountains and the sea-otters which hopped out of the way of the ship as it steers around the mast of Exxon, still sticking out of the water. *Fun fact: as the cruise ships only had colour processors at the time, these were shot on Kodak C400 which used colour film dyes to emulate a sort of sepia-tone look in colour prints.

[parkes-and-wrecks]

Bhutanese Guitar Player, Pharo, Bhutan, 2018

Bhutan is unusual country in many ways; it is the first country to have a carbon negative economy. It is home to the world’s largest pocket, a feature of the traditional clothes men wear in their professional lives. It’s international airport has one of the most difficult landings in the world, with only 8 pilots qualified to make it. You also can’t just rock up in Bhutan as a tourist: you have to apply with one of its many local companies, who will accompany you at all times for a daily stipend which covers all your expenses like accomodation and food. This means this ia much more guided (and controlled) experience than most travellers will be used to, but also one that leaves you steeped in the country’s traditions and culture. Here, a Bhutanese guitarist poses with his exquisitely detailed Bhutanese guitar, the neck crested by a dragon, a creature that holds place in Bhutanese myth.

[parkes-and-wrecks]

Kerlingarfjöll, Iceland, 2017

Kerlingarfjöll, situated in the centre of Iceland, is a mountain rainge punctated by hot mineral springs. The earth is a mixture of orange rocks and pockets of snow and grass, creating this unearthly landscape. It has a very distinct smell-sulphuric- and the blasts of hot air from the earth contrast with the wintery temperatures. 

[parkes-and-wrecks]

Flour mill worker, Nyaungshwe, Myanmar

The white paste on this young worker’s face is Thanakha paste from the Thanakha tree. It is used cosmetically and as protection from the sun.

[parkes-and-wrecks]

London, 2018. The view from The Shard.

London’s ever-shifting, ever growing skyline under the hues of a golden sunset.

[parkes-and-wrecks]

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, M/S Ryndam, 1999.

The shallow waters at Cabo meant we had to tender (take little boats from the ship to shore), so the ships would just sit there looming on the horizon. I really liked all the criss cross white lines the local boats and taxis created across the green/blue sea you find here. 

[parkes-and-wrecks]

World Trade Centre, New York, 2000.

Photo by Chris Parkes

[parkes-and-wrecks]

Beth, London, 2016

Concept and makeup by Tom Fraser 

Model: Beth Ogden

[parkes-and-wrecks]

Sculpture

Tom, Essex, 2016

Tom’s back lit by the late afternoon sun on his farm in Essex. I had done multiple shoots over the years with Tom, and in this moment he really reminded me of a statue...

[parkes-and-wrecks]

Trapezius (Axel, London, 2016).

The original idea here was to create the effect that the dye was bleeding out from Axel’s blue hair, but instead it just looked wet. I still like the effect it had on his traps though.

[parkes-and-wrecks]

Joshua, London, 2015

I was totally channeling Yousuf Karsh on this portrait of Joshua, especially his photo of Ernest Hemingway. 

Joshua was a muse for me for a couple of years: a charismatic, hyper-intelligent young man with incredibly long hair, and a willingness to be part of any creative effort.