Phil Bartlett, Polzeath. 

A local lifeguard I met cycling the circumference of Cornwall in April. 

Graham Henderson looking out at his bees, Whitstone. 

Hello. I’ve officially updated my website so you can check out all my shots from my new work, Stacks. Click the picture for more! 

Chris works maintenance at Warrens pasty factory, St Just. 

I met him while cycling the circumference of Cornwall as a documentary project. 

Barry, Mikey and Jessie the Collie, Millook. 

I met these two on a road towards Bude overlooking a point break called Milook. Barry told stories of American Liberty ships lining the shores of Cornwall during WW2. We had quite an amazing chat. Also Jessie was the friendliest collie ever!

benrutherford:

Heres a shot from my Diaspora Diaries Project

A scene during an overnight Apostolic mass gathering inside the Hillsborough Football stadium in Sheffield. Around 500 Zimbabweans attended the gathering which happens monthly. Apostolicism is a widely practiced version of christianity in Southern Africa, many have converted to the religion after coming to the UK. Not only does it help to connect socially with other Zimbabweans, it also provides escapism from the harsh reality of living as an asylum seeker. At its peak, the UKBA received around 18,500 asylum cases in 2006 from Zimbabwe alone, making it the number one asylum seeking community in the UK. These numbers have fallen, yet the situation in Zimbabwe is far from improvement and the backlog of legacy asylum cases is still unacceptably large, the longest running human rights case now sits at 24 years.

Image by ©Benjamin Rutherford

I love this scene from Benjamin Rutherfords work, Diaspora Diaries 

John ‘Breezy’ Breezy

A busker in Padstow that we met while searching for a campsite. He sang and played so beautifully we sat and listened to him for a good while. After we chatted, and I got his picture he even gave us some flapjack and bananas. 

Part of my journey cycling the circumference of Cornwall.

Connie, Mousehole. 

I met connie outside a bus stop in Mousehole. She had just finished work early and was waiting for her parents to pick her up. While I was taking her picture they turned up, it was kind of an awkward moment, but also one I remember fondly! 

Mullion Cricket Club. Club members gather together every year to renovate the grounds. 

A picture from my recent cyclings around the circumference of Cornwall. 

I met Gerald while cycling some of the steeper hills we encountered over our ride in Boscastle. Although originally from a village on the outskirts of Exeter in Devon, he’s now the local postman in this beautiful North Cornwall village, but struggles living here. He says,

“I can’t wait to go back, I came with the intention of doing up a property and selling it on, but due to the property market crash I’ve been unable to do so. The problem is here that theres no real community. 80% of the houses are second homes or holiday lets, I’d say 25% of my round is empty houses. They are saying the local school will be closed within the next 2 years because there’s not enough kids to fill it. Don’t get me wrong it’s a beautiful place, and the locals are great - very friendly and I have a good laugh with them, but the rest of the population don’t really give much back to the community. They have no idea of what village life should look like. “

Badger from Polzeath. 

What a rad guy. He lives in this massive Heritage bus overlooking Polzeath. I met him at the Tubestation church where he was playing harmonica in the band. We got chatting and he took me up to his pad. What a place, and what a guy. He’s got stories involving lions, near drownings and prison sentences. If you’ve ever seen the movie Surf’s Up, he’s pretty much Big Z. Nuff Said. 

Taken as part of my project cycling the circumference of Cornwall.

Bottalack Mine, Allen’s Shaft. St Just, Cornwall. 

Part of my new series on the circumference of Cornwall. 

Graham and Gill. Posing with their tandem bicycle which they used to cycle around Northern France 20 years ago. Now retired they live in Whitstone, on the boarder between Cornwall and Devon.

This is work from a trip cycling the circumference of Cornwall.