The Metropolitan Police Specialist Training Centre (MPSTC) in Gravesend is a surreal space. It’s a ghost town built as a backdrop for organised chaos, a stage set for practicing scenarios for protest, riots, and even crowd control at sports events. When I visited with a group of journalists, my two main goals were to research public order tactics for a book and to document this uniquely uncanny environment. While I’ve written about the day’s broader context on my own blog, this is a breakdown of the specific photographic choices and challenges that shaped my visual account.
There was only a brief window where photographing made sense, but I had mapped out the potential frames I was expecting in advance as best as possible, mapping my lens choice to those expectations. I haven’t used a two-body combo in a while, and have been getting by with simple primes on my M for the majority of my work. This remained a constant, and I had a 50mm on rangefinder for the wider scenes, and for the longer lens I had my Nikon F3 with 200 f/4 macro, an outstanding lens I don’t think I’ve talked a lot about before.
Light was expected to be bright while overcast, so I optimistically loaded FP4 Type 517 Cine into both cameras. About halfway through the day the light became a little darker, which slowed my shutter to about 1/15ths on the Nikon with the f/4 maximum aperture, although I had more leeway with an f/2 maximum aperture on the 50mm. I was creative with a few of the wider images, slowing the shutter right down and panning for the motion below me.
A higher ISO film would have been preferable in retrospect, and given me more of a safety net, but I’m happy working within constraints, and doing my best to stay creative as a result of those restrictions.
The majority of the approximately 40 frames I shot in this space happened from the vantage point above the town, which meant I was mostly using the 200mm. Although I accepted the possibility of camera shake I was able to support myself quite well on the edge of the railing of the vantage position, which meant I could lean quite far forward and shoot.
That helped me with focus and clean frames, but there were still some obstructions from where I was standing, which meant I was waiting a while for the situation to move into a position where I could make an image I was happy with. For a few frames I was able to make the obstructions work to my benefit, as foreground framing a lone officer behind the destroyed remains of the traffic lights.
It was difficult to track the trajectory of the petrol bombs, which are the most striking moments of the day, but my images just don’t do them justice.
I filmed a few clips of the day on my phone, which show the frenetic activity as it unfolds, and gives a sense of what I was working with and trying to pick out details from so far away. Obviously ideally I would be in the midst of it with a wide angle lens, but this wasn’t possible for the clear safety and liability concerns. I have enough imagery from the “real-world” similar stories I have covered, but it still would have been incredible to have that extra access. I totally understand why it isn’t possible as I said, and I’m grateful to the NUJ and Metropolitan Police for arranging it at any level whatsoever.
Moving down into the town itself after the training session was concluded was a fascinating, and as expected surreal scenario. I took as straightforward a reportage approach as possible, framing to show the angles where edges emerged from nothing, revealing the facade. Some of the walls and doorways were more scorched than others, and these were strong focal points to highlight the damage routinely inflicted by the various exercises.
As I mentioned in my blog article about the day, I discovered that another photographer had worked on a project here just over a decade prior to my own visit. His work is in colour, and has a strong aesthetic, with much broader coverage than I was able to manage in my brief half-day it turned out to be.
If you’ve enjoyed my work here then you might be interested in the book I was working on researching as part of this visit. For updates to that, follow New Exit Group on Instagram. My own Instagram can be found here, where I share a rolling feed of works from my archive.
Share this post:
Comments
No comments found