Grainy Gates

I’m staying on the gate theme, although this time in a purely visual art sense rather than anything controversial.  At least I don’t think the removal of these interesting looking temporary gates, from what is now the main car park entrance at Astle Park retail park in West Bromwich, was a controversial act.  Indeed, passing people probably thought the gates were a bit unsightly, but I quite liked the wood grain on the plywood sheets, especially when they were damp.

If anyone likes the picture (possibly even in a Facebook sense), then that will make up for the quizzical looks I got when I was taking the photo!  At least “quizzical looks” are better than “Oi mate, you can’t take photographs here!”, which is a comment I usually counter with “Yes I can, I’m in a public area.” By the way, the image was originated a few years ago on black and white film, scanned then digitally enhanced….hopefully in a way that might reflect traditional darkroom technique.

It’s surprising to note that these gates, which formed part of a hoarding around a retail development site, remained unpainted etc with no message about what the site would soon be offering to people….ie, more traffic and more space given over to parking cars.  Oh dear, there I go again.