I spent three years with Toby at University. I spent countless hours being obsessed with dust in the colour darkroom with him. Our hate for dust floated into the ‘finishing area’ where we would view each others prints and remark on the slight colour casts! Toby is a photographer who, I firstly love the work of, and secondly very much enjoy the company of. I am really happy with this interview because I can finally understand what ‘Allaleigh’ is all about - after three years of University somehow I forgot to ask.

JONATHAN CHERRY: Can you give some examples of artists who have recently influenced your own practice?

TOBY COULSON: I recently saw Robert Frank’s show at the Met, which was a great inspiration - very melancholy thought provoking imagery.

James Ravilous is a photographer I have recently discovered who has often gone unrecognised. His life long work on rural ways of life in Devon goes far beyond being merely editorial. He had a certain respect and tenderness for his subjects: his work has been a big influence to me.

As for more contemporary photographers; to name a few, Taryn Simon, Clare Richardson, Rob Smith, Spencer Murphy, Doug Dubois, Toby Glanville, and Edmund Clark come to mind.

JC: What is your most recent body of work, ‘Allaleigh’ all about?

TC: ‘Allaleigh’ is an ongoing project that I am still working on, it is focused on a hamlet in South West Devon, England which is near to where I grew up.

I became interested in the area because of Phillip, a man who seemed trapped in a bygone time. I met Phillip a couple of years ago whilst working at a house nearby and was instantly fascinated by him. He is someone who despite all the change going on around him defiantly lives life his own way. There was a certain pride to him that I was attracted to.

Farming in Devon and southwest England has changed dramatically in the past fifty years. The once prosperous small farms are no longer economically feasible. Much of England’s farming has now moved to the intensively farmed plains of the east so I suppose the project is about these changes and how they manifest on this small hamlet. As I started to photograph more of his surroundings, I noticed how the once utilitarian landscape was being transformed into ponds and gardens as a different class of people moved in, converting the barns and farmhouses into dwellings to create their own different forms of utopia.

JC: Did you find making portraits an easy or difficult process with regards to the Allaleigh Project?

TC: What was different with this project from portraiture I had previously done was that I was working with a particular area and its residents as opposed to people I had seen and found interesting but might not see again. This gave me the opportunity to keep going back to photograph the same people and show them the photographs. This process of repeated visits alongside the slow process of using 5x4 allowed me to build a connection with the subjects and in a sense collaborate between myself and the subject. In almost all of the images shown on my website the portraits are the results of multiple sitting, so I think in that sense the process was made easier because it took the pressure off having to get the shot first time.

JC: What equipment are you using at the moment? And is there anything you are looking into buying?

TC: Most of my work is made using a Wista 5x4 camera but I have recently bought a Mamiya 7 II which I am really enjoying the freedom of using.

JC: What do you enjoy the most about the experience of taking a picture?

TC: The thing I most enjoy about taking pictures is the places it takes you and the people you meet. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t go to these places otherwise but somehow having a camera makes you look at things differently. I think with the hectic life-styles a lot of us lead now being able to wander off with a camera and just look at things, and think, is the experience I enjoy most about taking a picture.

JC: What is next in the pipeline photographically?

TC: I was awarded a scholarship to travel to India to photograph workers in garment factories and cotton plantations, so I’m off to do that in December. I’m going to try and approach this project with an open mind so as not to apply too many preconceptions to the imagery so it should be interesting to see how it turns out. I’m also continuing to work on the ‘Allaleigh’ project and have a couple of projects in the pipeline locally but they are still in the early stages.