‘I wondered if the two couples were part of the same family, and if it was the men or women who were going away. There’s a lot of ambiguity’
I could never pick a favourite shot, or a best one. This is actually a photograph that almost didn’t make it into my current exhibition, but I was looking at it while I was preparing for the opening and asked a few visitors what they thought. One of them, an elderly lady, said: “Is it a greeting, or is it parting?” The more she looked at the picture the more she thought it didn’t show some casual separation – someone going away for the weekend – it seemed to be more than that. Another woman said: “It’s ageless love, basically, isn’t it? Ageless love is what’s there.” I wondered myself if the two couples were part of the same family, and if it was the women who were going away; they’re the ones with the bags. There’s a lot of ambiguity.
I have a camera with me all the time. When I made this picture, in around 2017, I’d been teaching in Colwyn Bay and was at the train station on my way home. It was evening, and the camera was in my hand as I waited on the platform. As the train came in, rather than just jumping on, I was still paying attention to what was happening nearby. I wandered around and took a few pictures, trying to be invisible, and then carried on once I was on board, photographing landscapes out the window.
