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The UK steel industry is fighting for its survival and has been since Tata Steel announced in March that it was considering selling its UK steel business, putting thousands of jobs at risk. Photographer Tom Tapolczay decided to investigate.
Tapolczay took an oblique view of the subject, concentrating his lens on the landscape around what he sees as the most influential steelworks from the past 50 years.
"I spent seven months visiting Port Talbot, Redcar, Scunthorpe and Sheffield, speaking to locals, steelworkers, attending rallies and protests and speaking to MPs. Yet most importantly I captured how these magnificent constructions impose themselves on their native landscapes.
"That these iconic constructions could all too soon be erased is a chilling thought considering nearly all of the local towns and cities were built upon and thrived due to steel. If the steel industry is lost, it will not just be the loss of an industry but the loss of the heart of such communities."
He photographed the project on 120 film, using a Hasselblad 500c and a Rolleiflex Automat, both built before 1965.
"I feel the subconscious process you go through when working manually is completely lost when a computer can do it for you in a fraction of the time. These small decisions at the inception and during your work can have a huge effect on the end result," he says.
Tapolczay's dedication to the work shines through in each picture. He notes that the hours spent waiting for the right light gave him time to think about the narrative of the piece.
The work is presented in an exquisite handmade book, lovingly stitched together by Tapolczay himself, for the final project on his course.