2-667-936 - Historic England Archive/Heritage Images

Consett Steelworks, County Durham, 1945-1980. Cellulose acetate negative. Steel-making dominated Consett for 140 years from 1840, and the steelworks, employing 6000 workers in the 1960s, loomed over rows of terraced houses. Eric de Mare's elevated view of Consett Steel Works captures their gargantuan scale, echoing the work of pre-war photographers such as Albert Renger-Patzsch in Germany and Charles Sheeler in the United States who emphasised the strong forms of industrial structures. De Mare used colour photography here, recognising that this required a 'different vision' from black-and-white film. The massive tube in the foreground reflects his view that a close shot filling or 'well filling' the frame will usually be more effective and more interesting'.