'From artisans to the woodsmen, all life is here'

PHOTOGRAPHER Anne Purkiss has been fascinated with the South Downs ever since her first visit.
She spent hours trekking the lengths of the countryside after being commissioned to take a number of environmental portraits after the area was designated a national park.
She admired the landscape and the views as millions do each year. But she was also intrigued by the people she met through her work. 
She wanted to capture a snapshot in time of their life and their work. She wondered how living and working in such a place influenced them, why they loved it there and what challenges they faced. 
The German-born photojournalist, whose work has been published in works like Nature magazine and The New York Times, began to chronicle the lives of craftsmen, traders, farmers and anyone else she came across over the course of a decade. 
Her 50 or so pictures have been the subject of a handful of exhibitions and a portrait book. 
The latest display of her work, launched yesterday, at Portslade's Foredown Tower, an Edwardian water tower now popular for its camera obscura and viewing room.
The 56-year-old travels from Richmond, London, to capture the scenes which she shoots in black and white film to add another dimension of beauty and drama to the image. 
Faces of the South Downs was on display at the Foredown Tower, Foredown Road, Portslade, until March 31 but has been extended until April 17 due to popular demand. The centre is open Monday to Friday from 10am to 3pm as well as Saturday, March 26.
Argus readers can receive a free pdf download portrait book of Ms Purkiss' work on the South Downs. Email flora.thompson@theargus.co.uk to receive a copy.

Read a previous article on the exhibition here

The charcoal burner:
Alan Waters is fulfilling a lifelong passion of working with natural products of the countryside. 
He fell in love with coppicing aged 14 and has been charcoal burning since 1978. 
The 70-year-old, who learnt traditional methods from famous families in the trade now works with his wife and an apprentice.
Photographed at his workshop on the West Dean Estate, this picture taken in 2010 was designed to illustrate an oral history recording for the South Downs National Authority. 
He has since had the honour of being headhunted from Europe for his work.
He said: "Where we are right on the South Downs it is just nice to be out in the countryside. A vineyard is next to us now so we get a lot of visitors. I find charcoal burning still fascinates me."

The artist: 
John Hitchens' work is abstract and influenced by the landscape. 
Born in Hove, he created his first painting at the age of ten. It has been his passion and career ever since. 
Now 75, he works from a South Downs studio as well as outdoors and has a particular interest in using aerial pictures looking down on the land. 
He said: "I have been blessed with more ideas than I can get through. It becomes your life."
Captured in Petworth in July last year, the large painting behind him is still a work in progress. 
This will be his second appearance in one of Ms Purkiss' exhibited photos.

The woodsman:
Mervyn Mewis studied his craft for years, gaining a number of qualifications and has taught at the museum for five years.
The 50-year-old regularly demonstrates traditional and historic woodwork like chair making and plays his own songs on musical instruments he has made with his partner. 
His designs are inspired by the shapes of the trees. 
He is keen that his work uses sustainable methods and he cares a great deal for the environment, with all timber coming from a woodland restoration project. 
He posed with two chairs he made in August last year at the Weald and Downland Museum for this picture when a collection of South Downs portraits was on show.

The history enthusiast:
Mike Feist is a champion of the Foredown Tower's camera obscura - the largest of its kind in the South East.
This picture was taken in 2004 for Ms Purkiss' first exhibition of South Downs portraits. 
Born in Brighton in 1943, Mr Feist became fascinated when he saw the eclipse of the sun in 1954 from the playground of Balfour Road Primary School. Later when living in Mile Oak he saw the Foredown Tower open, complete with the installation of the camera obscura.
In 1991 he became a volunteer and then a fully pledged staff member. 
This year marks his 25th anniversary at the tower. He explains the device - a telescopic lens and mirror reflecting 360 degrees views onto a screening dish - to visitors. 
Mr Feist said it was an ideal way of watching an eclipse.

The smokery: 
June Gee, Jane Hook, and Kitty Gretton are pictured proudly holding up a plate of smoked salmon. 
The women were slicing and packing the fish at Springs Smoked Salmon in Edburton when Ms Purkiss caught up with them last year. 
She first took a group picture there 12 years earlier. 
Just two of the woman featured in the first photograph but the company has developed a great deal since. 
It offers salmon yards from where it is smoked, with the scent of Sussex oak having first come from the kilns half a century ago. 
Word started to spread and the company received orders from British Airways for its first class cabins.
Harrods also came calling for smoked chicken, Selfridges asked for wild smoked salmon and Delia Smith is also a fan.

The farmer:
Zoe Stanistreet and her husband have been farming in Exceat for nearly 30 years. 
The couple, who lease the farm from Eastbourne Borough Council, have around a thousand lambing ewes and have kept Sussex cattle in the past before taking on a herd of Aberdeen Angus using traditional farming methods.
In 2007 Ms Purkiss was asked to photograph local food producers for Action in Rural Sussex and met Ms Stanistreet. As well as a number of set up shots, she captured this unplanned photo of Mrs Stanistreet as she checked a sheep's hoof. 
The land reaches right up to the chalky cliffs by the first of the Seven Sisters, which Mrs Stanistreet, 40, says is a particularly windy place to farm. 
She said the position and the type of soil means it is relatively protected from flooding but some water has collected in the lower areas of the farm recently.