Junction of Round Croft and Field Street, Willenhall, West Midlands, April 2015
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Terrace houses and bungalows, Willenhall, West Midlands, April 2015
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Wolverhampton Street, Willenhall, West Midlands, April 2015
Smoking shelter in corner of car park, Willenhall, West Midlands, September 2013
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Empty car park, Willenhall, West Midlands, Septemner 2013
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Roadside and empty plot of land. Photographed in Wednesfield, West Midlands, September, 2013
Yellow door and industrial shed, Willenhall, West Midlands, September 2013
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Darlaston Road, Sandwell, West Midlands, November 2002
Ocker Hill electricirty substation, Sandwell, West Midlands, April 2015
Industrial units and gasworks at night, Sandwell, West Midlands, UK, April 2015
Telecommunications mast, Sandwell, West Midlands, October 2002
Beneath A41 flyover, Ocker Hill, Sandwell, West Midlands, September 2017
Beneath A41 flyover, Ocker Hill, Sandwell, West Midlands, September 2017
Works entrance, Telford, Shropshire, August 2013
Access road to industrial park,Telford, Shropshire, August 2013
Chain hotel, Teford, Shropshire, 2003
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Post with step-down transformer, Deeside, Flintshire, Wales, September 2013
Single track railway crossing road, Deeside, Flintshire, Wales, September 2013
Weighbridge Road, Shotton, Deesside, North Wales, 2001
View across the Mersey from Riverside Drive towards Wirral, Liverpool, UK, April 2015
Ruins of former Littlewoods factory, Edge Lane, Liverpool, October 2011
Garston docks, Liverpool, April 2015
Locked gate with wilderness beyond, Speke, Liverpool, 2010.
Vacant land, Speke, Liverpool, October 2010
Utility building surrounded by green fence, Garston, Liverpool, April 2015
Two No Entry signs, Liverpool, April 2015
North side of the Thames. Photographed in West Thurrock, Essex, February 2013
Stockyard, West Thurrock, Essex, February 2013
North side of the Thames, West Thurrock, Essex, February 2013
North side of the Thames, West Thurrock, Essex
Rapeseed processing plant, Erith, Bexley, London, 2013
Mobile phone base station, Erith, Bexley, London, 2013
Switched-off streetlights on industrial estate, Wrexham, Wales, March 2012
Parked trucks at night, Wrexham industrial estate, Wales, March 2012
Road junction on Wrexham industrial estate, Wales, March 2012
Locked gates of industrial compound with 'no entry' sign, Wrexham, Wales, March 2012
Fowlers Park, Wolverhampton, October 2013
Fowlers Park, Wolverhampton, October 2013
Ruins of former brewery, Wolverhampton, September 2013
Steel bending works, with Santa Claus on roof, Bilston, Wolverhampton, December 2002
Chemical factory and pylon, Stockton-on-Tees, 2001
Locked gates and view of Liverpool on the far side of the Mersey, Birkenhead, Wirral, 2010
Mersey Estuary looking across to Bootle docks, New Brighton, Wirral, 2012
Sewage pumping station, New Brighton, Wallasy, 2012
Clock tower and toilets on sea front, Seaton Carew, Hartlepool, 2008
Two footpaths near Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, 2011
Refuse incinerator chimney, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, 2011
Pavement, metal fence and road sign, Walsall, West Midlands, 2013
Street, illuminated by streetlight, running through empty land, formerly a housing estate, Walsall, West Midlands, 2014
Street, illuminated by streetlight, running through empty land, formerly a housing estate, Walsall, West Midlands, 2014
After some years working in education and as a part-time artist and film-maker (with one award), Robert Brook has worked principally in still photography since 1990. In the early years he exhibited in many group exhibitions including a Serpentine Summer show (1977) and work was bought for various collections including the Contemporary Art Society. He then abandoned personal work for a period to concentrate purely on selling to editorial and commercial markets, adopting a documentary style, and specialising in industry, environmental issues and night photography, only recently returning to a more experimental approach.
Has studied at Derby College of Art, Goldsmiths - University of London, and the Polytechnic of North London
Representation: Gallerique, Getty Images, London Art, Science Photo Library. Collections of work in numerous editorial, press and commercial agencies around the world.
Has been commissioned/purchased by, published/exhibited in:
BBC, Black Rock, Bloomberg, Blue Circle (Lafarge), Brian Duffy, British Medical Journal, Candid Arts, Carnegie Orr, Centuar Communications, Chadwick House Group, CIPFA, Contemporary Art Society, Corbis, Corriere della Sera, Cambridge University Press, Daily Express, Design Group Ltd, Discovery Museum, Dorling Kindersley, Edco, Elsevier, Environment Agency, Environmental Times, ERF Lorries, Evans Brothers, Evening Standard, Funny or Die, Gallerique, Geographical Magazine, Goldsmiths, Green Futures Magazine, Greenpeace Communications, Grundy Art Gallery, GWS Interactive, Hachette, HarperCollins, Haymarket, Hearst Communications, Heinmann, Hodder, Institute of Physics, IO Donna, John Peel, La Croix, la Repubblica, Liberation, Lincoln Museum, London Art, Macmillan, McCann, Midland Group Gallery, New Scientist, NRC Media, Oldham Art Gallery, Open University, Oxford University Press, PE Magazine, Penguin Books, PH21 Gallery, Pocket Books, PHP Institute, RCNi, Reactions, Royal Society of Chemistry, RPS Group, SCI, Science Museum, Serpentine Gallery, Sunday Telegraph, The Guardian, The Lancet, The Observer, The Times, Whalerock, Whitechapel Gallery, Zooid Pictures, and many others.
The first time I did any outdoors night photography was back in the summer of 1989 in the fringes of East London. I was experimenting with a high resolution technical film using a medium format camera. I had intended dusk, but the light continued to fall, and it became night. There wasn't much to see where I was: just rows of sodium lights and then nothing, except the sound of the Thames. It struck me that you don't need much when you are photographing at night.
During the 1990s I found myself visiting areas of heavy industry, trying to negotiate the conflicting demands of corporate PR and the press, at a time that there was a demand, sometimes rather simplistic, for stories and images of environmental damage, as well positive views. Often I found myself working at night, and for this project I have visited many of the same areas, now with a more low-key approach, taking in ordinary streets and urban areas, trading estates, fragments of infrastructure and occasional industry.
In 2002 I created a website called 'UK Nights' (a Yahoo Pick of the Day) which incorporated some of the early work together with pictures of London at night by John May. I shot in square format black and white, and it was not until I went wholly digital in 2010 that I began to work mainly in colour, and it was at this point that I started the current site, although after three major revisions, the latest in 2018, it now has a very different look.