Photo

I Was a Teenage Farmboy

By Henry Gorse

Before I moved to London to become a photographer, I used to spend the summers off uni working at an old Cheshire dairy farm called The Blackhurst, just outside my hometown of Crewe. The farm was stuck in its old ways, unwilling to accept technology and contemporary methods. Similarly, the farmers operated on a real grafter mentality; everything was done on a budget and driven by determination. If they had to fix something, they would use whatever was around them and improvise, instead of paying someone else to do it for them or buying in new gear. It wasn't a place where health and safety had much of a remit.

Throughout the four years I spent working there, I photographed the different seasons, on and off. What I wanted to capture was how run down the farm was, but also the resolve that kept the owners going. At times, things were pretty fucking grim, but overall, to me, it was a life-shifting experience, which only helped me become less of a bad person and, I like to think, a better photographer, too.

Check out Henry's work here.