Fast forward to August 2010. I’d taken photos at various Leeds events – Light Night, the film festival, open days etc. It’s not enough and I am thinking of starting a Leeds-centric blog to share stories, photos and maps of the lesser known bits of the city. I’m in a library, idly browsing a stack of bound booklets. Most are quite specific and not really to my taste but there, buried in amongst them, is a book that changed my photography for good and convinced me that I needed to create Exploring Leeds.

Titled Leeds’ Lost Opportunities (LLO), it looked innocent enough but it quickly sucked me into my first ‘proper’ photography project. The LLO report was originally printed in 1986 and looked at thirty buildings around Leeds that were, at the time, under threat from neglect or demolition. Quite bleak stuff but it was the photos that snagged my attention.

I moved to Leeds in the late 1980s and here was a time capsule showing me exactly what the city looked like for a very brief period before I arrived, complete with discussion of current concerns and planning proposals. A real snapshot of the city’s past and future at the moment of writing.

Straight away I knew I had to share the original findings and update the stories of the buildings. So that’s what I did. The Exploring Leeds blog was created in September 2010 and over the next eight months I shared the project I called Leeds’ Lost Opportunities – Revisited, building by building. In the twenty five years that have passed since the original report was published some had been demolished, some are still at risk, some have been transformed and put back into active use.

The list included Kirkgate Markets, a disused mill, a medieval building no one knows what to do with, former churches and two entire streets. Every single location and building had a story to tell.

In some ways the Revisited project was the strangest un-tour of a city possible. Here I was, going to thirty places that I would never have grouped together if I was planning the route myself. I half suspected it would only be of interest to me and there would be no readers! And yet, there were readers. Lots of them. And they commented and recommended my project to others and one even called it ‘important social commentary’ (which both delighted and terrified me!). Guardian Leeds featured me as a blogger, Save Britain’s Heritage who published the original report did a follow up and I had dozens of conversations about how cityscapes change and how best to document those changes.

Over the months of doing the project I realised I’d tapped into the urge that lies in a lot of us – to be taken on an unexpected un-tour and told stories we genuinely don’t know anything about.

I’d also managed to find the ideal way to start with bigger/proper photo projects, responding to an existing one. It gave me the chance to try new techniques, play with different styles and learn what works for me. It opened up conversations with people who could offer advice on shooting urban decay, buildings and landscapes. I learnt what I would do again and what I would do differently.

And now I have a time capsule of my own.

Not just a snapshot of the buildings I worked with for this project but a snapshot of myself. I can see in this set of photos exactly where my photography was at in the winter and spring of 2010/2011. I have a benchmark now; I know what skills I need to work on. I know a bit more about sharing stories. I know a little bit better what the next project should achieve.

I’m very grateful to that first photocamp for showing me that a good photo project can begin, develop and feed into the next project. For showing me that a completed project doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to get started.

You can keep up with Exploring Leeds’ activities on the blog and the Lost Opportunities – Revisited images can also be found on Flickr.

Image © Alex / Exploring Leeds. All rights reserved.