Memories of the Usk in the Newport Survey

Memories of the Usk in the Newport Survey

The river Usk has the largest recorded tidal range for a city anywhere in the world.

Adam Greene writes, 'This is a 1983 cover picture for the Newport Survey on The River Usk taken by myself. New digital image taken from the original negative.'

My Reflections of the 1983 Newport Survey and the cover picture

(By Adam Greene, a former student of the Documentary Photography Course)

The history of the Documentary Photography course based in Clarence Place and the students who passed through it have become part of the fabric of Newport culture and community. I remember most people who I photographed in various environments around the town would remark , ‘ You’re from the art college arn’t you. How would you like to photograph me?’ or words similar to that effect.

The yearly project of the Newport survey became a valued documentation of this city. In the final year of the course, our year group was given the brief to document various aspects of the River Usk, the people, businesses and activities related to it; as well as its place in the environment. I opted to investigate the open spaces and how they were used and as time progressed, I found other characteristics of the River Usk to present, such as the high and low tide differentials.

There were a number of students in my year group whose work I admired greatly so it came as a surprise to have one of my images chosen for the cover.

I present to you once again, the picture that made the cover of the 1983 Newport Survey, ‘The River Usk’. The Transporter Bridge is absolutely iconic; being one of only two left in the country, the other being in Middlesbrough.

I am a regular visitor to the city, having made lifelong friends and have seen the enormous changes over the years, it is still a joy to return and walk round some of the old haunts and have passing conversations. I always have the camera slung over my shoulder and there’s an anticipation someone will say, ‘you used to be at the art college didn’t you?’

Front cover of the Newport Survey 1983
Photographed by Adam Greene

Adam Greene: The Newport Survey 1983;
The River Usk; The Usk and the Town, Page 41

Glenn Edwards a former student in the 1980s writes about the River Usk and the Newport Survey

Glenn Edwards: The Newport Survey 1983;
The River Usk; The Usk and the Town p45.

Forty years ago I attended the Newport College of Art. I was a student on the renowned Documentary Photography Course led by Magnum photographer, and still friend after all these years, David Hurn.

In our final year we were asked to produce work for The Newport Survey, an annual book looking at all aspects of Newport. The first was The Family, the second Neighborhoods and we were lucky enough to work on The River Usk.

Throughout the course all I wanted to do was photograph people in their different situations but on this, and we all had to come up with our own ideas, I decided to photograph the landscape of the river from its source in the Brecon Beacons to its muddy mouth in Newport.

I must have been mad as the petrol costs became extortionate but despite the cost and the other issues I loved driving or being driven up the valley. From a small hole in the hills gushing out the water that started the Usk to the mud banks in Newport it was a wonderful experience using photography to learn more about the place I lived and the environment around me.

No way am I a landscape photographer. I was and always have been a people person but the lessons learned in those months were invaluable. Composition, mood, lighting and patience all became ingrained and used in my photography to this day and when I look back at the pictures of the Usk I don’t see pretty pictures but documents of a time and place.

I have been lucky to spend all of my life since leaving Newport Art College taking photographs all over the world for my living and the lessons learned from David Hurn and working on the long journey of The River Usk have been invaluable.

Mark Pepper Talks about the importance of his time as a student on the Newport School of Documentary Course and the importance of the course in shaping his career.

Photographs by Mark Pepper; The Newport Survey 1883;
The River Usk; The Usk and the Estuary; page 75

David Hurn and Newport

In 1973 David Hurn set up the influential School of Documentary Photography in Newport, Wales and remained director until 1989. He is a world renowned photographer who was Born in the UK, but of Welsh descent and spent part of his childhhood in Wales. He now lives in Tintern. David Hurn is a self-taught photographer who began his career in 1955 after serving in the army. He has donated part of his archive to National Museum Wales, alongside a unique collection of 700 photographs by other photographers, including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bill Brandt and Dorothea Lange. These were photographs he calls 'swaps'. It is a remarkable gift to the nation. However he did not forget Newport.

Oliver Blackmore (Collections and Engagement Officer of Newport Museum and Art Gallery) tells the story of the donation of art work to Newport's Collection

Magnum photographer, David Hurn established the widely acclaimed Documentary Photography course at Newport College of Art, in 1973. Despite exhibiting in the Art Gallery, his work was not represented in the collections of Newport Museum and Art Gallery. Recently, David invited retired Keeper of Art, Roger Cucksey and Oliver Blackmore (current Collections Officer) to his house to choose a selection of prints. David was incredibly generous and donated nearly 30 prints, which were representative of his career and time at Newport College of Art. The prints include examples from his seminal work during the Hungarian Revolution, iconic images of South Wales, David’s ‘Arizona Trips’ series and photographs from famous shoots with Jane Fonda and Sean Connery. ‘Sheep sheltering from the rain, Mynydd Eppynt’ is one of Roger Cucksey’s favourite David Hurn photographs. It seems fitting to feature this image, as Roger arranged the meeting with David.

‘Sheep sheltering from the rain, Mynydd Eppynt’ David Hurn
copyright: Newport Museum and Art Gallery

Photography Exhibition - 1980's Newport Survey

In march 2012 there was an exhibition of the pictures created for the Newport Survey of the 1980s. It was held at Newport's City Campus and in this video Dr Paul Cabuts talks about the survey.