Owen Hurscombe spent his Geography Lessons at school staring out the window at Chorley gasometer which was near the school. A decade or so on and his horizons have changed; now he's photographing them all over the North West...

Farnborough Gas Tank

Owen always thought (based on his mother's imaginative reasoning) that if a gas tank exploded it would destroy everything in a two mile radius. Food for thought while gazing out of a school window at the nearby Chorley gas tank.

Owen now believes that they actually implode. Still, perhaps that dramatic image inspired his dissertation. During his 2nd year at Goldsmiths University where he was studying photography, Owen decided to base his portfolio project on gas tanks.

His family and friends have been surprisingly enthusiastic about the project. He has spent two years photographing all the gas tanks in the North West, (around 47 of them) taking his sister, mum or a friend to chat to and look after his stuff while he’s taking the photos. His mother is very keen on his photography, and would happily hang his photos of gas tanks all over the place. He has sold a few of the photos at around £250 each.

Morcambe

But not all experiences have been so positive. In Liverpool a couple of guys came up and started telling him about their experiences of gas tanks which left him a little unnerved. And gasometer 'anorak' though he is, he feels left far behind by the subscribers to 'Historic Gas Times'.

A lot of German and Dutch photography is based on industrial architecture. Could his future lie in a glossy coffee table book for the European market? John thinks so and adds that there's a story to be told in Finnish sheds when he's ready to move on.