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Conclusion
This module got off to a tough start for me, I knew before coming into it that I was going to struggle to develop and idea to begin with. This is exactly what ended up happening because I’m just so used to working to the briefs of others that it’s hard for me to break out from that and do a project for myself. I think that can be seen in my initial student living idea, I just ran with the first thing that came into my head rather than considering other options which ended up wasting a lot of my time. However, I feel like I recovered from this quite well with the help of lectures and starting to think about the parts of photography that I enjoy I could come up with a concept for a project that I was interested in shooting. I have never been great at documentary photography but I had so much inspiration to try a project like this from the things that I had been doing and researching that I felt like I could do this project justice despite not having much experience doing work of the sort. I also feel like in my initial two shoots that my faith in my own ability was justified as I produced some great work despite so many problems with the trains and people unwilling to talk to me those first two shoots fill up most of my final book. I do however think that I lost my confidence in this project after shoot 2 as the whole journey to the valleys began to get tedious to do and it was irritating to go on shoots and not come back with anything, there being three trips that didn’t even make it into the blog because of people being unwilling to even speak to me. Eventually however I did grind out this project to its finish, I would have liked to have had more people in it at times and just more images to choose from in general but I am happy with the final selection that I ended up making for this book. I think that in the past my editing ability has been poor but I had a clear idea of the themes I wanted to explore when it came around to making the book this time. I knew the project was about poverty and had strong influences from New Topographic while also showing the togetherness in the valleys, it was just a matter of making these themes work inside of one book and I think I did an excellent job of achieving this coming out with a book that details several different themes about the Rhymney valleys and is open in its assignment of them allowing the viewer to draw their own conclusions from what they see in the images. I feel as though this is very different from the work I normally produce in that regard because I’m so used to shooting a news based style where every picture must tell an elaborate story but I think I was able to turn to documentary photography with ease (I think it’s seen best in the style used during the rugby shoot). On top of this I also really just enjoyed trying a different challenge and although I had a number of problems overall I did enjoy this project and I’m glad I had confidence and inspiration to try something different because it’s given me so new ideas for third year that I am looking to explore that I would never have considered before this module.
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Final Book
Online PDF link to how the book looks
http://www.blurb.com/pdf_book/1684811/download?expires=1494661580&signature=cc963fbc14f6379265983f2ffcc044f618e8d9b0
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Writing an introduction to a Book
Before being done with this project I needed to write an introduction to the book. I forgot about this if I’m being honest so before I published the book I added another page to the front for the intro and started to look at other book intoductions that I’d seen.
I would post the intro of Stoke’s book however it’s 4 pages long and doesn’t really say much about the project other than it being abstract art rather than photography. I respect Stoke’s view of his own work but I don’t see my own work in that way so I see little point in using that as inspiration.
Dan Wood’s Gap in the Hedge does however provide me with some interesting information
I mentioned a few times that our projects are quite similar bar the part that he’s travelling via road and I travelled via train. My own project dealing with issues like Brexit and the future of the valleys however I mentioned in the final edit of my book that I didn’t really want to force my viewer to have an opinion on the work before seeing it. I think too often now photography books force you to see work in the way the photographer saw it but that doesn’t fit this project because I have no agenda I just documenting the things i saw and threw them in a book.
I think in my first attempt at an intro you can see that I’m being quite emotive and detailed about my opinions but actually what I think and feel don’t matter in this project. So after getting it back I considered just presenting the facts without emotion in the introduction and seeing how that looked.
I also used the Arvo font on Blurb as I felt it looked quite nice for the title of the book in the sky over the houses and looks nice on the page by itself it flows quite nicely. I also decided not to title my introduction pretty much because I didn’t know what to call this intro so untitled was more fitting. I do however think that my font might be a little bit too big after it had been point out to me but I don’t think it’s massive deal in the grand scheme of things just a minor problem. Next time I will put the font size to 12 as suggested.
This is what I ended up with and I quite like it if im honest. It presents the facts of the region of Wales and why I’m shooting the project but it leaves the conclusion to the viewer rather than the artist. I think this works well for a project in the documentary style as im not presenting facts in my pictures im documenting what i’ve seen and that can be viewed differently. Furthermore I think this intro fits the project and the way I feel about it.
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Final Image Layout
CaHaving sorted through all of my images and pairing up all of the images as seen below (I paired up the images in ways in which they complemented eachother)
I then moved on to put the pairs into an order in which they would be seen in the final book as shown and explained below
I’ve known of a while that this was going to be my cover for the book however I did have to remove the wire over the top of the street in order to fit the title in which is a shame as I liked the wire but I think it’s fine even without it. I also decided to use the Arvo font for my title I feel like it looks clear in the white shy I do however regret calling this project by It’s English Name in hindsight calling it The Rhymni Line would have been better but hindsight is like that.
After editing through the book as a start to the inside of the book this seemed like a good starting point and it was clear that this image sat on the page better by itself rather than sitting with others it also has the same sort of themes as the final image of the good in regards to the community elements
Starting with the rugby images early in the book as I think their a core part of life in valleys and of course the old road together they are two very strong images sitting close to the start to keep people interested
When I first mentioned that this sign might have a place in the book provided an image complements it I had the women patrolling her garden in mind and they do work really well together both comparing to eachother quite closely
I started the book with a lot of light imagery so I think have the next two as dark imagery is a jump back to reality for the book and I think it shows the reader that this books isn’t going to be idolising life in the valleys it’s going to actually dig into some issues. Also I haven’t shown it yet but I like the first picture of these two I hadn’t considered it before but the colours work so well with the cig packet.
Bright colours to push back from the dark in the last image but there still isn’t a happy message here with the closed down club and the EU sign. I wanted to have the EU sign in here early I just think it’s a shame that in the image you can’t really tell that the club is closed down although these two do complement each other
Colours of the bins link between the pages plus the garage doors
I like the colour similarities in these two and the caravan almost acts as the missing goal post between the pages. Speaking of the caravan it was a throwaway image I edited but it works well with the posts as the trees are very similar in the back ground
These two are the weakest together I think but the colours do help them match slightly I just think there wasn’t much that went with fish and chips perhaps if i’d shot more I would have found it
The blacks in the sign match with the shadows of the car and we get a sense of neglect in both images.
Funnily I managed to match the colours of the camel to the shirt of the rugby player in frong and they work really well together. The sign and camel leading the eye into the rugby.
These two work together really well
Two old people getting run over by a train what more do you want? But in seriousness the colours match in the bag and the front of the train and the two converge nicely through the space in both frames.
The shadows match nicely in this image and the lines follow eachother nicely. Would have maybe liked to have straighten image one a little more.
I mentioned that these two held important messages so it was important to me that they ended up next to eachother because the lyric “How many special people change” links well with this family not wanting a new mine to open given the history of mining in the area so maybe things can change. It provides a little bit of hope to the project I think.
These two really fancy having a sit down on the sofa.
There is nice symmetry in the colours in the centre of the pictures and at the top
Colours match and contrast quite nicely with the blues seeming similar but the red of the bench drawing you in
I ended up flipping the picture of the house the other way as it helped lead into the picture of the rugby a little more and I just like the shadows being on the right side of the image for some reason.
One mundane shot next to an image with a lot in it works quite well but these two do show the effect that humans have had on the place.
Derelict buildings go together and the colours match in a lot of places.
Cars go with a no parking sign
The colours match in most parts of this image including with the green truck matching the man on the floor
A lot of colour matches in this image and the windows are in just about the same area of the frame in each
Really wanted people walking towards the bench and was able to get it with this
Two New topographic images beside each others
Winding down the project with more mellow images and my favourite picture of a train that I’ve taken and never remember to talk about. It was an image that I’d wanted since my first shoot and I was eventually able to capture it in the right angle and it works really well with the flood because they match the ones on the tracks
Finally I think this is the strongest single image in the set and it’s at the end because it is simply a good end. Players leaving the rugby pitch symbolising the end of this project but also symbolising life in the valleys in a small way (A strong and gritty community of people)
I’m very happy with the eventual layout of this book I think after seeing everyone layed out like this I am a lot happier with his project than I was before I think I’ve actually created a project with a decent amount of substance and there is a strong story about the valleys here through a number of different themes. I’d like the viewer to make their own minds up on the project and things in it however for the purpose of this evaluation of the book I think there are strong themes of community, unity, poverty, urban decay and strong influences from the new topographic movement. These are all things I wanted to present and I think that in the eventual outcome of the book none of them come across as forced themes they seem to run through the book naturally and I think they allow the viewer to come to a multitude of conclusions depending on their outlook and opinion.
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Final Creative decisions and reasoning's
Having finished the shooting process for this project I thought it best to go back and look at the pictures that I had rejected in the past. You’ll notice by a lot of my contact sheets that I’ve circled a lot of images and never actually spoken about them. My reasoning for this has been that the photos are good but don’t fit the project however now Im at the end there is no harm in going back and taking a second look it also provided me a good amount of time to start thinking about book order while I pick out new pictures.
This first was an attempt at panning during the rugby game. At first I didn’t even consider it but I never actually looked at it for to long but it’s actually a really nice pan and it continues to show the way I was able to adapt to the rugby without shooting it in the usual action way that I would. Either way I think this image deserves it’s place in my book.
A rubbish image alone but I think it goes quite nicely with the picture I have of the bun they compare really well.
This needed to have the highlights pulled down slightly but once I did that is is a disgusting close up and I like it.
Not sure why I didn’t consider this image sooner there is a really nice story to this image between the horrid eyesore that is the stand the mountains in the background and of course the rugby game
I feel like the pub I nearly got beaten up in needs a place in this project.
Another derelict club/pub from the region I also really like the colours of it
I forgot I even took this picture but I feel like the message in the song lyrics could be used next to another picture to create a message of sorts
This image is visually appealing to me
There were quite a number of images I had discarded that are now going into this project in fact there are even more than whats in this list but I will explain their reasons for being in the book when I make my final decision on layout
Also I think that it’s important to mention here that Im no longer going to be using any of my portrait images during the book. Simply I didn’t take enough portraits shots that warranted entry to the project and when it comes to a book in my design consistency is key so having two random portraits mixed in with the landscapes would not be right even if they are good images.
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A Short Shoot
I didn’t think I had it in me to shoot again but I had a free few hours so I went up to rhymney again and walked around for about an hour and took this picture. After an hour however it was clear to me that I no longer had the desire to shoot this project. At times it has been really fun to do this project but at other points it’s been a real struggle and I’ve battled with my own confidence for the project and the direction in which I want the project to go. All of this has culminated in me getting really burnt out on this project and I think this marks the end of the shooting im going to do for this project as I simply don’t have a desire to shoot anymore.
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My Book Design
After coming to the conclusions of my design these are some early examples of what it might look like in practice. During this design time I was still editing the book so these are not final position yet
I really like the spacing of the images in this design I don’t need the pictures to fill the frame of the book and I think that if they did they wouldn’t have the same impact because they’d get lost in eachother. In this layout each image is shown to be important to the narrative.
During this time I do however know that the final image in the book is going to be this one. The cocky attitude plus the mud and the walking off of the rugby pitch signify and ending to me and it works well on it’s own single last page
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Book Designs
Up until this point I’d only ever consider a book as my final project idea but I’d not consider the kind of book I wanted for this project so with that in mind I went back to my research and looked at some of the books these people had made from their projects
Surprisingly enough I really liked the way Stokes layed out his book it’s a standard landscape size and all of the images in it are landscape shots and fill up about half of the page with the other half white space. I like this style and I think it lends itself to my own giving that our work is quite similar and I think it’s worked very well for Stokes and has aged well considering the book came out about 10 years ago.
I think Rob Hornstra’s book on Sochi is one of the best reads I’ve gotten out of a photobook but it doesn’t fit my work in any way. I don;t have a writer writing things for me and I don’t have quotes from anyone anywhere so although layout works it doesn’t for my own work.
Of the David hurn books that I’ve seen I think Living In Wales is the good that best fits the project I’ve done now in terms of book layout. Although a portrait book it’s design is simple with a portrait on the page and a small amount of text beneath telling a viewer whos in the frame and when it was taken. For my own work I’ve considered having the locations of the shoots underneath the pictures so this style could work with that just in landscape form rather than portrait.
After considering a few options I think I prefer the idea of having a Stokes style book ultimately I don’t think the locations of the images matter at all and by putting them in Im only about 5 place names so they’re irrelevant to the project and because I have no names of people I don’t need the feature for that. The pictures are all that matter for this project so thats how the book will present them.
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How to make a book
I came to the conclusion on a book a little while ago now but now I need to begin the process of making the book as the deadline edged closer. In my eyes I have two options for this. I can make the book myself using InDesgin and have it printed in treeforest or I can get the book made more me using Blurb. Of the two options I've got I’ve sided with using Blurb simply because I’m bad as in design and ultimately I’d rather pay for the qulaity of a professional book print.
Blurb in itself is easy to use, having clicked on the website you’re greeted by options after clicking photo book you get a screen like this after selecting the setting you’d like you’re given a choice of uploading images direct to the page or designing your own pdf to send back. Of course downloading a pdf and sending it back is the best option as it gives you the most creative control over your work which is the main reason I didn’t want treeforest printing and ruining my book.
After this you can open up bookwright which is the pdf maker and the settings are easy you have a different tab for different things and in this you can lay things out just like in design just without all the hassle and for me personally I think it’s just a safer bet moving forward.
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Shoot six Images
This picture came about by chance having left the pub this house was just down the street and having looked up for a moment I saw the sign suggesting that the family living here didn’t want an open cast mine in the area. This is important to the narrative of my project as 30 years ago a sign like this would be unthinkable but now there are actually people here who don’t want mines. This will add a lot to my book and I really like the lines in building they make a boring window with a sigh some what interesting.
I shot this camel on a previous shoot and I didn’t like my picture going back I knew what I wanted from the image and my project a little more so putting the shed in the frame in the background works way better and the whole image just feels surreal maybe a little out of place overall in the project but it’s a fun image.
Tried to shoot some symmetry and I like the picture but it isn’t setting the world on fire or winning any awards it just is what it is two boring looking sheds made interesting by sitting next to eachother
This is the shot I really wanted from this shoot and I really like it probably because it took half an hours wait for a train to get it but it’s everything I wanted from it and it tells the story I mentioned in my last post. It did need a little bit of editting however as I had to spot focus the image to get this to work and I worked out my settings beforehand but by the time the train got here the settings changed and because the train flew past in about 3 seconds I just had to shoot. They were all over exposed but all able to save in most through reducing exposure and whites in bridge. In fact this is the only major edit I’ve really had to do apart from the postman image and my rugby image on this project everything else has been slight tweaks like adding contrast or vibration. I feel like with this kind of documentary project a lot of editing would kill the pictures in a lot of ways and Im tired of seeing so many over editting pictures popping up all over the place. Even with the pictures in stokes book he over saturates alot and I think this more natural and gritty style to my pictures works better with the themes of the project.
Overall this shoot was just to get shots I’d missed in the past I achieved that and I’ll be glad not to come back here again
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Plan for Shoot 6 and Contacts
This was a shoot planned to get the rest of the images I’d miss in pontlottyn the first time round I knew the train times this time for the bench shot and I knew the locations of everything else I needed to take pictures of so this was an hour shoot at most.
Despite this shoot seeming easy I faced more hostility upon entering a pub in the village. For a while during the shoot I’d wanted a shot of people in a pub however in the pub I entered I swiftly told to leave after one of the men in the pub decided that he didn’t like me despite that fact that I didn’t have my camera out and I’d only order a pint. This wasn’t a problem however as I didn’t fancy staying in that dump of a pub for long and I swiftly went about my business before leaving never to come back here again.
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Failed Shoot
Since last posting about the wedding I’ve attempted to do three shoots. Having gone over things with Becky I thought that perhaps I needed a few more shots of people in my work and during my time travelling around I few places I wouldn’t mind shooting just like the way David Hurn had done it a long time ago. The first place as a night club named Blisters (Yes thats a thing) I thought this would be fun to provide some night life to my project however after sending my CV to blisters they made it clear that they had a photographer who was “More qualified than me” and subsequently didn’t reply to any emails after this point. I could still go up to bargoed and shoot outside the club but Im not going up to bargoed and staying over night for a few pictures outside a club, also they would need flash and I’ve already seen how flash looks with the pictures from this project.
I also found a camera club in Bargoed and I thought this could be fun to shoot and it would be something different for my project but I went to one of their gathering in the main hall and it was a group of middle/ old aged men. Upon entering the room I was stared down and asked to present my camera. Pulling my D810 from my bag I was met with disgust and kindly asked to leave. After trying to attempt to bargain my way into shooting their meeting for a bit I was told to leave again and I did not wanting to cause more of a fuss
Finally I found a church in Brithdir that is pretty much a converted terrace house and of all the places I’ve been turned down from this was the most fair. Turning up I spoke with the vicar for a few moments he suggested that the people who attended church wouldn’t be happy with him if they let im. He offered to have a few photos with me but having him as the only posed photo in the book would look out of place so I see no reason for them to be in the project.
What I can draw from these experiences is that I’m no David Hurn when it comes to talking to people but it’s also clear that the people in this area are very private and untrusting of outsiders which is fair enough but it’s further backing up my reasoning for not shooting people in this project not only is it uncomfortable to do it’s also near impossible with the hostility I’ve faced. I’m starting to wonder if it’s my face that puts them off!
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The Wedding?
As I start to wrap up with my shooting I consider including a wedding that I shot in Ystrad Mynch one of the places on my train line. I shot the wedding a while ago but Becky and Glenn suggested I see how it looked in the project.
Having opened up the files after a few months it was clear to me that right away these pictures would not work in this project. I mentioned it during my piece on Miechowski that flash worked mixed in with the none flash work I’d been shooting so far just wouldn’t work and I was right with that though I just don’t see how these images could ever work together in the same project see below for example
Simple these images won’t fit well together the wedding feels close and intimate in it’s feeling while my project seems very detached and the colours are far different and in a book the wedding stands out a mile away.
Yeah these images simply won’t sit with the others even with the rugby there is a sense of detachment and isolation in the way they look these images are too personal and it’s clear that I know the people in the pictures where as with the rugby and the pictures like them that I don’t. Also no posed portraits!!!
After explaining this to Glenn and Becky they seemd to agree with my reasoning.
This post may seem a little pointless having drawn the conclusion that I did but actually it’s helped me quite a bit because I was concerned that my images didn’t sit well with each other but after comparing them to my wedding work it’s clear that the pictures do have a style and that they do sit well together and this is a big relief to me as before this point I really wasn’t sure but seeing them next to something different I can see that they fit together.
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Shoot 5 Images
I really like this picture it was a strange sight when I saw it and I had to take a picture of it. However despite this im not really sure what it says for the project I mentioned a few times during my research about being abstract but I don’t know what this picture adds to my work overall . But I do like it, it might end up being an Instagram post one day!
I really like the colours in this image from the greys in the foreground to the colours in the background and just the strange nature of a sign saying patrol is has little meaning but could provide something when pared in a book.
I’ve not explored religious symbols all that much during this project but it’s a big part of the valleys and to have a sold sign next to the old church tells a good story but I don’t like this picture. I tried saving the sky in the image but it’s way too burnt out and there was no good angle on the cross and the sold sign without tampering with the landscape and ethically I didn’t want to go down that road
In my research on stokes I really had a desire to get some sort of industrial shot in the project. I felt like it was important to the narrative of my project and for my luck I found an old factory on the main road in hengoed after trying toe break in I gave up and took this shot of the industrial landscaped silhouetted by the trees. I really like how both fill their sides of the frame and it’s very much in the new topographic style of shooting and the silhouetted building highlights to the viewer that this building is in the valleys past and doesn’t seem to have much of a future in the region.
I still want to keep these new topographic themes of having man made objects reflected in the landscape a sign asking of access overshadowed by a vast valley and a dreadful red brick house contrasted in the same valley. I love the lighting in these two days it was such a great day to shoot and it contrasts some of the gloomy pictures in some of my shoots so far
I feel like this sign is important for the project as I mentioned in my quick history on the region the EU won’t be apart of the region for much longer and it will kill off a lot of major projects to rebuild the region and I think in some ways this is represented by the vines beginning to creep in from the left of the screen, it’s also a nice colour scheme for one image.
Continuing to shoot urban decay and poverty because these are things that I simply cannot avoid while walking around and the project isn’t about how great the valleys are it’s about showing it for what it is and a part of that is this.
Really liking the colours in these two images again fitting in with that topographic style thats really become the major part of this project and as mentioned previously it’s images like these two that make it clear to me that this project could never be in black in white as the project just wouldn’t work the same. In the same way the colours pop in Steven Shores work they pop in mine and are important in keeping viewer interest in the work.
Overall I think this shoot has helped rekindle my enjoyment for this project but im finding that this is coinciding in my move away from people photography. Im not sure way but I feel happier in this style than forcing myself into more street work this is work I can do without the fear of begin attacked by random strangers which has happen twice so far while doing street work. Either way I think they are still adding to the project but I think my next few shoots are just going to be shoots to wrap up some shots I still want and need as I don’t see many more places on the line as important to shoot having now travelled the whole thing and not bothering to shoot anything in about 4 locations past Caerphilly.
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Shoot 5 Plan and Contacts
For this shoot I didn’t want to wait for the hour train again as I was getting sick of it so I decided that I was going to get the train to tir-phil another small mining town then get off in as many of the stops pre bargoed as I could where the trains run every 15 minutes meaning I could catch one pretty often and not have to worry about long tiresome waits. In terms of what Im looking for it’s the same things as usual interesting landscapes light another things of the kind.
In coming to Tir-phil I had forgotten that this train was infact every hour however I managed to catch the train I had gotten off on but I feel that I missed a lot of pictures by doing this however I wasn’t willing to spend an hour here for no good reason.
I moved down to Pengam and Hengoed two places I have never been and two places I will likely not go to again
I feel like I’ve recaptured a little bit of my initial interest in the project in these shoots I think it’s also come with the fact that the weather has been nice giving me more motivation to actually go out and shoot. I still think there are shots missing from this project that I need but I think im starting to grind to the end slowly and painfully but I’m getting there.
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Anthony Stokes
I found Anthony Stoke’s book online when first looking into this project and I think it’s a book that fits my idea on the region so far.
I really like the simplistic to a lot of the pictures none are necessarily amazing on their own but together as a collection in a book they create a sense for the valleys as a place and the things that are common place there. I think in terms of my own work I’d really like to get a picture like the one above for my own project however there aren’t any active collieries or remains of collieries on my route but I do like this image it links back to the valleys past as I’ve mentioned before.
I think Welsh people always have a strong sense of nationalist pride and I think in my own work it can be seen through the rugby images but here in Stoke’s book we see it through the flags and the blending of colours in the image all being green white or red. It’s made what is a simple image quite interesting by just composing it right.
I get the same feeling from this image as I do from mine of the street in brithdir in that this feels like a picture out of the 60′s not one of current day simply because of how uncommon this type of building it is. I think it’s confirmed to me that a general public in Cardiff will want to see these kind of images as I personally want to see them. I’m not suggesting that I know what everyone wants to see but I think the picture draws people in so perhaps it’s worth using as a cover. I think the one thing I don’t like about stoke’s work is the cover of his book, I like the layout and the pictures inside but the cover is boring and doesn’t draw you in.
Never the less stokes as just helped to confirm to me what needs to be done moving forward and seeing a new look at this type of project has given me more motivation to go back and shoot again
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The history of the Rhymney valley
Given that I haven’t got long left in this project I think it’s time I start considering what this project is going to end up being. At the moment in my mind I’ve only ever considered this project being a book. I don’t think it fits the print style because of the fact that there are so many pictures that need to be included that money wise it needs to be a book for me to afford it. On top of that there is too much effort needed at this point to get a multimedia project done over easter. On top of that I’ve spoken to Glenn and Becky who think the same that my images lend themselves to a book more than everything else.
With this in mind I need to consider the history of the valleys to try and get a better understanding for how I want these images to be layed out.
I’m not going to post a load of screenshots into this post but I am going to ive a simple overview for the history of the valleys
Before the industrial era the Rhymney valley was a sparsely populated area of Wales with very few people living in it other than farmers and land owners. However as the industrial era started it was discovered that the welsh valleys had some of the largest deposits of coal and other precious metals in the country. With this discovery came large investment in the region of Wales with a train line built to ship coal out from the region and into tiger bay where it would be shipped around the world. Along with this game to building of the mines themselves and towns up and down the valley for miners to live close.
At it’s peak 270,000 people worked in the mines of Wales and for most of the 19th and 20th century it was Wales’ biggest employer but as time went on the worlds desire for coal began to dwindle and with it came a number of miners strikes and unhappy people in back the end of world war 1 there were only 140000 people working in the mines of wales. By the 80′s this number would be zero with Margret thatcher closing all of the mines in Wales leaving large parts of the Valleys with thousands of homes for people who couldn’t get jobs. It led to high levels of poverty still seen today and an area of wales dependant on hand outs from the government and the EU.
Moving forward to present day the region is still in the same kind of poverty still with houses without any jobs to serve the people living in them. In fact the valleys of wales has the lowest average GDP then anywhere else in the UK and is on par with some parts of eastern Europe which is shocking considering it’s history and with the valleys of Wales voting in favour of leaving the EU by 60% there are fears once more the the future of the valleys as millions of pounds have been spent by the Eu to reinvigorate the area including building a new train and improved train line.
I think with this short history of the area it’s clear to see how much pictures like to it but also I think I’m seeing my book almost as Rob Hornstra did in his in a way that I want to shed light onto the issues hounding the people who live in the rhymney valley and their need for help now and in the future without the EU
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