David Severn

David Severn is a social documentary photographer who came to talk to us one afternoon about him and his work. 
He believes that the internet and social media sites such as Twitter help show off his work and other peoples work and he takes part in many online photography projects.

'Thanks Maggie' is one of the internet photography projects he took part in. David Severn's summary of this project - 'This series of photographs explores the reinvented uses of ex colliery sites in and around the former coal mining stronghold of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. The project also seeks to examine the current milieu of the area, particularly in relation to its post-industrial recovery.'
David grew up in the town of Mansfield and came from a mining family His father worked at the pits and his Grandfather was a Deputy at Sutton Colliery. This project means a lot to him due to being very personal as it includes his memories, cultural background and experienced perception of Mansfield.

The first image from this series is a photograph of his Grandfathers belongings which was taken just before he passed away. His Grandfathers Deputy stick is shown in the photograph which was used for measuring and picking.

The next image from the series shows many people in Boothy's Working Mens Club in Mansfield playing Bingo. The focal point of this image is the man playing bingo alone at the front. David said that once he got talking to this man, he told him that his wife had recently passed away and he continued to play bingo every week to carry on the tradition that he and his wife had.

The next image if of David Severn's father, Jack Daniels, preparing to go on stage as an Elvis Presley impersonator. He told us that this image was special to him as he never saw his father getting ready to do what he does best. 

The image below is of Old Pit housing all boarded up ready to be demolished. These houses were just outside of Mansfield and David had many memories there. The houses were being demolished so a shopping centre could be built on the land. 

This image is one that David took of a homeless mans house which is a tent that the man made himself. He took this photograph to show the different between how people live.

This image is of the Derelict Headstocks from a mine which were also being demolished. 

David's caption for this image is 'Ex miner and miners rescue serviceman turned performance poet and storyteller'  This man told David a moving story about a man that turned out to be himself.

This photograph is of some school pupils in a minibus who were part of a village sos team in Newstead Village.

This is a portrait of a mother and her two sons in Sutton Coldfield.

This image is a portrait of a girl named Briony, who David met whilst out taking photographs. She was sat on this fence waiting for her friends. Since this photo was taken, David had inspired Briony to take on photography herself. 

David told us that on the day of taking this image, it was a very stressful day for him. He was out looking for something perfect to photograph but was not having any luck. When he was about to give up, he found this green area with a light shining through the leaves and this beautiful image was taken. David said it was worth the bad day to get such a good image at the end of it. 

This image is of some poachers on 'Rabbit Hill'. David went along with the guys one day to see what they got up to and he said that it was strange how such people were willing to be photographed and they wanted to model for him.

This next photograph from the 'Thanks Maggie' series if of Pleasley Pit Nature Reserve and some people participating there. Here they were foraging for different types of fungi. 

This is the collection of fungi that was foraged at the Pleasley Pit Nature Reserve. 

This is another image that David Severn had taken on a day that he was not having much photographers luck. This landscape picture of Pleasley reminded David of Lawry's work which is why he loves this image so much. 

Whilst David was at our college talking to us he gave us a few websites to look at to search for photographer inspriration. He told us that he regularly checks Flakphoto.com due to all the wonderful images he sees on there everyday. He also informed us of the Night Contact Festival which is taking place in London.