Jack Lowe’s love of photography began at the age of eight when his grandmother gave him an Instamatic camera and he has never looked back
After a career in photography, Jack was looking for a change in direction and came up with the idea of combining his love of photography, the sea and lifeboats: The Lifeboat Station Project was born on 12 January 2015. However, there is a twist because Jack works as the Victorian photographers used to do by making the photographs on glass. He travels in his mobile darkroom, a decommissioned ambulance called Neena. Jack’s aiming to visit all 238 lifeboat stations around the coastline of the UK and Ireland. On Tuesday, September 18, he visited Rye Harbour where he received a very warm welcome. Commenting on the experience Tim Dickinson, volunteer designate helm said, “Having my photograph taken by Jack Lowe was an amazing and informative experience. It was great to be a small part of such a big project. I was fascinated to be shown the process from beginning to end.”
He explained to KT Bruce, Rye Harbour RNLI Press Officer, that he is doing something he believes in, following his heart and turning his childhood passion for photography and the RNLI into a meaningful and engaging body of work for all to enjoy.
The camera he uses was made around 1905 by Thornton Pickard in Altrincham. The process used to produce the plates is even older, dating from 1851.
When asked why he uses such old technology, Jack explained, “By learning how to use wet plate collodion, I wanted to work just like the early pioneers of photography. I knew that if I could bring it to life on the coast, it would really engage the lifeboat volunteers too.”
Each glass plate – known as an ambrotype – is a unique stand-alone piece of artwork. Jack’s ultimate vision is to show the photographs in geographical order around a huge gallery.
As Jack described further, “It’s an unprecedented journey. Since its inception, nobody has ever made a uniform body of work that unites the entire RNLI family.”
You can see all the work and learn how to support Jack at lifeboatstationproject.com and you can follow the journey on his social media channels:
Instagram: @lordlowe
Twitter: @ProjectLifeboat
Facebook: fb.com/LifeboatStationProject
Image Credits: kt Bruce .