How to capture canals and docks

Wendy Evans investigates the watery arteries of the Industrial Revolution

- Wendy Evans

While canal-building has been around since Roman times, when the Fossdyke was built to connect Lincoln to the River Trent, it wasn't until the Industrial Revolution that it really took off in the UK. Burgeoning industry needed a better method of transporting goods and raw materials than by road, and canals offered the solution. A horse could tow up to 50 tons of cargo in a boat, connecting mines with factories and factories with cities. From 1759 to the end of the 18th century, there was a frenzy of canal building but it was to be short-lived as a competing form of transport the railways - took off by the middle of the 19th century. The profit in canal building disappeared and the waterways slowly fell out of use. It took nationalisation in 1947 to save the remnants of the canal network but, these days, it is mainly used for leisure activities rather than industry.

What, when and where to shoot canals and locks

Canals can be found in the countryside, complete with pleasant towpaths used for leisure pursuits, but their original purpose was industrial transportation, so they are present in cities, with buildings and artificial lighting as backdrops. There are also associated elements, such as bridges, docks or marinas for the boats, toll houses and, of course, locks - these feats of engineering enable the canal to climb over elevated stretches of terrain.