John Davies

Respected British photographer John Davies has his first-ever solo exhibition in the US at L Parker Stephenson Photographs

“The British Landscape…is a long-term ongoing project about the enormous changes that have taken place in the UK – the world’s first industrial society and the first to de-industrialise,” says John Davies.

Landscape photographer John Davies takes a series of pictures in the northwest of England inspired by the work of LS Lowry

The photographs here show three popular forests in north-west England, all managed by the commission. Whinlatter Forest is the only mountain forest in England and popular with bikers and walkers. Grizedale Forest includes ancient woodland and a sculpture trail. Parts of Delamere Forest, the largest area of woodland in Cheshire, date back to the 11th century. Its name means "forest of lakes", reflecting its rare quaking bog.

On display at the Michael Hoppen Gallery, London, is ‘House’ by Rachel Whiteread, documented by John Davies. Rachel whiteread is known for creating sculptures taking the form of casts. In 1993 Whiteread created the ‘House’ series by spraying liquid concrete into the building’s empty shell before its walls were removed. The work became a temporary monument to lost communities and a focus for public debate before it was demolished in January 1994. The images are now all that remain of the house, the site and the sculpture.

Many are the photographers attracted to depicting the natural beauties of Britain and its picture-perfect sites and scenes. Few, however, are drawn to John Davies's favoured subject matter: Britain's industrial and post-industrial landscape. Master of the atmospheric topographical study, his black-and-white pictures seem to invite the viewer to speculate on what went before, and what might come after.

How pleasantly surprised I was, then, to walk through the doors of the Museum last week and be greeted in the foyer itself by six large-scale, contemporary photographs of London.  Highways: Photographs by John Davies is on display until mid-June and represents part of a commission that Davies undertook for the Museum of London in 2001-02 to document the major arterial roads of the capital city prior to the introduction of the congestion charging zone in February 2003.