Back in the early to mid 90s, legitimate skateparks here in the UK were few and far between. As a result, we were constantly on the hunt for accessible concrete structures. That’s a nice thing about skateboarding, it encourages a keen eye for your surrounding environment.

It was around this time that I bought my first real camera, a second hand Canon SLR that was as old as I was. My intention was to photograph friends, skateboarding or otherwise, but I’d also increasingly find myself using it to capture the structural forms that made up these suburban spots we’d come to frequent.

One such location was the multi-storey car park (pictured below) that was built on top of our local shopping centre. It wasn’t a great place to skate and security were typically pretty quick to kick us out, but being covered made it a solid option in the rain, which added nicely to the atmosphere especially when the place was empty on a Sunday afternoon.

Jump forward to 1998 when as a student, I ‘acquired’ my first copy of Photoshop. Armed with a scanner and a random collection of previously shot 35mm photos, technically I had no clue what I was doing but set out trying to create something ‘futuristic’. A number of questionable experiments followed but one in particular (pictured below) would resonate enough to provide me with sufficient motivation to keep pushing forward with the computer.

Around a decade and a half later and at rather short notice prior to a conference, I would find myself in need of an image for a run of new business cards. Liking the idea of something abstract but personal, I decided I’d revisit my original process of alternating symmetry and repetition using the same 35mm source photos. The first images at the very top of this post are the final result.