I’ve been sitting on photos and a few videos for just over a year now, and I think they mean a lot more to me now than they did when I first took them.

At the time I was mostly just trying to document Kelburn before it disappeared. Did go back and take a few more photos, but by then I already felt like I was a bit too late.

Now it’s fenced off, you can’t really get near it anymore, and I’ve got this feeling of regret that I didn’t spend more time there, take more photos or just explore it a bit more when I had the chance.

Since then I’ve heard stories from people who lived there, grew up there or knew people who did, and it’s made me look at the photos completely differently.

There’s something quite sad about knowing I can’t really go back and photograph it properly again now.

So I suppose this is just a little record of Kelburn as I saw it, before it disappears completely.

Kelburn is a photographic project exploring a sense of place, absence and loss through a mix of digital and film photography.

Rather than focusing on people, the work looks at the traces they leave behind empty spaces, objects, textures, structures and small details that can suggest memory, change and what is no longer there.

Using both digital and analogue photography helped shape the project in different ways, balancing immediate observation with a slower, more reflective approach. Together, the images build a quiet visual study of Kelburn, centred on atmosphere, memory and the feeling of a place carrying its own history.

Owen Black