A Beat­ing Heart Stilled

by Alex Hewitt

On hear­ing that Cocken­zie Power Sta­tion was to close my first thought as a por­trait pho­tog­ra­pher went to the peo­ple who had kept the plant run­ning for the last 40 years. Who were these men and women? How were they feel­ing about mov­ing on to pas­tures new?

A call to Scot­tish Power and a few nego­ti­a­tions later I was kindly granted access to come in and pho­to­graph the final oper­a­tions of the plant.

By plac­ing the sub­jects in their work envi­ro­ment I hope to put across a visual rep­re­sen­ta­tion of the pride these unsung heroes had in their posi­tions at the plant and the feel­ings they har­boured as they stilled the heart of power gen­er­a­tion in East Lothian

Love it or Loath it, Cocken­zie Power Sta­tion remains an icon of East Loth­ian. Pro­vid­ing jobs for the com­mu­nity and an indus­trial back­drop for many land­scape pho­tographs it will be remem­bered as an inte­gral part of the coast­line for many years.

With an added fas­ci­na­tion with indus­trial archi­tec­ture it was a priv­i­lege to be given such great access to the site and pho­to­graph the grand and the grimy within. I hope these pho­tographs of peo­ple and place show an inter­est­ing glimpse into the cav­ernous shell and cap­ture an ele­ment of the lives that have been lived in the shadow of the impos­ing cool­ing towers

This exhi­bi­tion would not have been pos­si­ble with­out the help of Scot­tish Power, The Employ­ees of Cocken­zie Power Sta­tion, (spe­cial thanks to Bill Flem­ing). My wife Charis Hewitt and my mother Heather Hewitt.
Thankyou!

All these pho­tographs and more are avail­able for pur­chase through an extended Cocken­zie Gallery on my web­site www.alexhewitt.co.uk/gallery-collection/Cockenzie/C0000Z5fGQJmKipc
I can be reached on 07789 871 540