A platform for observation

How one photographer turned a single train station into a year's worth of stories.

- Peter Dench

Photographing the same location every day for a year might sound repetitive – but not if you're Oliver Bennett, whose People on a Platform series transforms a single railway station into a compelling study of British life. For 12 months, Bennett embedded himself at Bristol Temple Meads, capturing the shifting moods, characters and quiet dramas that pass through its platforms.

'I've always loved railway stations,' he tells me. 'There's a real sense of drama to them. On a Friday night, the mood is electric – people are excited, heading off for the weekend. But come Sunday afternoon, there's this melancholy. Monday mornings? It's all about anxiety.'

Zen-like

That emotional texture became the guiding current of the project. Initially, Bennett worked intuitively – waiting, watching, slipping into what he describes as a Zen-like state. As the months passed, and he got the more obvious shots out of his system, he says, '...I started to notice the quieter, more unusual things. One of my favourite images came halfway through – the lady emerging from the stairwell, just her head appearing. It had a surreal, painterly quality I hadn't seen before.'