Ian has been shooting Industrial Landscapes since 1986, and classical archaeological landscapes in Turkey & Greece since 2006
the Lost labours website contains the landscape photography of Ian Grant, a Worcestershire (UK) born and based artist. He has specialised in Industrial Landscapes across the United Kingdom for over 30 years and more recently also Classical Archaeological Landscapes around the shores of the Aegean & Mediterranean coastline.
A qualified Industrial Archaeologist, with an MA in Photography, Ian's images combine art with a timeless sense of history.
Ian worked as a photo/emulsion chemist
for over a decade before switching to precious metal recovery and also setting up and later running a specialist analytical laboratory.
Back in the late 1980's Ian was photographing around the borders of Worcestershire, Hereford, and Shropshire and stumbled on the remains of a Canal Aqueduct over the River Teme. Talking to a friend he was told it was on their families land.
Intrigued because he knew it wasn't he soon realised he'd stumbled on the last remains of the abandoned Kington, Leominster and Stourport Canal, only ever partially completed. In fact there was indeed a second Aqueduct. just in a different location and over the River Rhea.
An Exhibition entitled "Lost Labours" was a tribute to what was left of the hard work that had built such a short lived Canal. It was first shown at the Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) in Birmingham in 1990/91.
As the Lost Labours project drew drew towards completion around 1989 a friends suggestion Ian spent an evening photographing in the Industrial Black Country to the South west of Birmingham on the way home from work. After some images were made that evening Ian decided there and then while sat on a slag heap (coal tip) to spend five years photographing in the Stour Valley southern part of the area with a view to a major exhibition.
The exhibition of this work was first shown in 1994 as "In Search of Agenoria" at Wednesbury Museum & Art Gallery.
Ian has many ongoing projects and some is previewed on this website. some projects have been ongoing for over 30 years, others are more recent.
This website is currently being re-written to become fully responsive and provide a better experience on a variety of devices. Many of the original image scans date back to the mid 1990's and the JPEGs were optimised for 1440K routers. The site will be upgraded in stages
