Imagine this… It’s the early 1990s and you’re a budding young photographer, inspired by the work of the Magnum Collective.
You grab your 35mm film camera and head to one of Wales’ last coal mines to document the lives of the men who earn their bread there.
You capture the soot and the sweat, the scratching and scraping in the dark, the pit ponies pulling drams of black gold to the surface.
And imagine, thirty-two years later, you publish these images in a zine. Sharing with the world a glimpse of a bygone time, and a relic of your younger self.
Pentwyn No.3 Colliery is a photography zine published by Martin Ellard, a south Wales based photographer who I have become friendly with in recent years.
The work is world-class and transcends the realms of art and history. It would be equally at home on the shelves of the Martin Parr Foundation or among the priceless artefacts at any of the Welsh history museums.
It also looks right at home on my own bookshelves, among my prized photobooks by David Hurn, Alex Webb and Steve McCurry.
A truly inspiring piece of work and an object I’m very happy to say I own – mine is copy 9/50.
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Camera Gear Talk
Martin shot all of these photos on a Leica M2 with a 35mm and 50mm lens, and a Nikon FG with a 28-70 Tokina zoom.
Find out more about Martin Ellard and get your copy (if there are any left) here: www.instagram.com/martinellardstreet