Dead men

Llechwedd slate caverns has been open to the public since 1972 and is a really popular tourist attraction (well worth a visit if you're in the area!). Dummies are staged underground as part of the tours to illustrate the former mining activities. The interesting thing is that although some look like they've come out of Topman recently, others have been there since 1972 and really show the ageing process of being underground. Their faces have cracked and worn with age. Miners rarely worked past 35 years old underground due to the harsh conditions and dust and some of these dummies are a strange visual metaphor of the harsh reality of the lives of those miners. Below are a few examples of what's down there but I think I'm gonnna do something more on this... they were shot with an off-camera flash but I might take some proper lighting down there... I've got a few ideas so watch this space!