James Ball's love of space is matched only by his love of the UK, so you can imagine his joy at combining the two. Now, if you find yourself thinking those two things can't possibly go together, Ball is more than happy to prove you wrong with his ongoing photo series Britain in Space.
The US and Russia may get all the glory, but Britain is no slouch at space---something Ball has made something of a personal mission to document. The project, which he started in 2012, takes you into the country's aerospace laboratories, satellite companies, and museums to reveal a thriving industry he's quite proud of. "I'm absolutely driven to make a series of work that talks about how strong and plucky we are as a space industry," says the photographer, who goes by the pseudonym Docubyte.
Plucky, but small. Britain started developing satellites in the 1960s, but always relied upon NASA and the European Space Agency to launch them. The first Briton in space, chemist Helen Sharman, hitched a ride to the Mir space station aboard the Soviet Soyuz TM-12 in 1991. The government created the United Kingdom Space Agency not quite seven years ago to bolster its efforts in space and create jobs. Today, Britain enjoys a $17-billion industry that includes satellite companies and commercial space programs.
Ball grew up watching space shuttle launches on television, his excitement tempered by a twinge of jealousy. "You were very aware that it wasn’t happening in your country,” he says. He knew the UK had a space program, and finally got a chance to see it up close when he met James Macfarlane, the managing director of the rocket testing company Airborne Engineering. Macfarlane invited him to watch a rocket launch. "Being a massive nerd, I couldn’t resist," Ball says.
He's since photographed 10 aerospace-related facilities throughout the country. He favors a clean, bright style, and often removes the background in Photoshop to highlight his subject. Ball saw a nighttime rocket launch, checked out a centrifuge that tests how changes in gravity affect astronauts, and saw all kinds of computers and robots. He even met astronaut Tim Peake, and managed to lock him out of a meeting when they stepped out to make a portrait. “I really got to see the calm, collected face of an astronaut under pressure, and he managed to pick the lock,” Ball says.
Ball plans to finish the project this year, something he finds bittersweet. But he's become friends with Macfarlane---and photographed his wedding---and plans to visit every once in a while. “He’d let me come back now and again,” says Ball. “It’s nerds unite.” United in their love of space, and of Britain.
