I haven't been able to bring myself to listen back to this one. It's the most in-depth interview I've ever done with anyone, on Radio New Zealand Nine to Noon with Kathryn Ryan. I probably should listen, but I cannot stand the sound of my own voice on tape.
This was recorded while I was still working full-time in between weekend urbex trips. The interview happened between two service jobs on the same day. We needed somewhere quiet for the phone call.
I parked at the end of an industrial area, walked across a couple of parks, and ended up on the edge of a football field waiting for the call to come through from New Zealand. By the time the phone rang, I was nervous enough that I had started walking laps to burn it off. I did not stop. Kathryn picked up on the rhythm of the audio almost immediately and asked, partway through, whether I was moving around. Cover blown.
It was a good conversation. Urban exploration, the history of the buildings, the communities around them, the photography itself. Worth doing for the substance even if I haven't been able to listen to the playback.
Listen to the full interview at radionz.co.nz.
"Photographers venture past the 'no trespass' signs to enter the sites of industrial buildings that have ceased to operate. Empty power stations that are monuments to hard manual labour, time capsules of urban decay, abandoned buildings, forgotten factories, where although the workers have long since exited the building, the structures themselves have a new life and leave a legacy. Australian Brett Patman launched his Lost Collective website last year. It features stunning pictures of predominantly Sydney buildings, no longer in use. These are buildings that were once bustling but are now left to rust away."
