1.What’s your name and where do you come from?
My name is David Cowlard and I live in London.

2. Tell us about the pieces you’ll be putting on display…
The photographs are of the Stratford ‘Box’, a 12m deep cut into the old railway lands at Stratford. The ‘Box’ now forms the base for the new Stratford International highspeed rail station that will be used by Eurostar trains. It will come into operation for the 2012 Olympics.

The series of pictures were taken in April 2004 just after all tunneling and major civil engineering had been completed but before the tracks and cables were laid. They show a hidden part of London at a moment in time that will never be repeated.

The images are part of a larger body of work that documents the construction of the new Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), which at the time was one of the largest civil engineering projects in Europe.

3. How long have you been doing this for?
I have been working as a photographer since 1995. I worked on the CTRL project between 2001 and 2007.

4. How do you make them - any special techniques?
I spent the day following the light around and concentrating on the different textures of the concrete. I wanted to show the contrast between the highly polished columns and the rougher walls of the structure.

5.Who, what or where do you find inspiration for your work?
I would look to photographers such as Gabrielle Basilico and Robert Polidori. But I think more general humanist ideas play an important part in guiding my work too. The inspiration of the engineers and architects that worked on the CTRL project was also hard to beat. For instance one of the main engineers on the project, Mike Glover from Arup, had said that “infrastructure is one of the greatest gifts we can give to the next generation”. I would agree with that.

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