Welcome, my name is Jack Lowe. I’m a documentarist using Victorian photographic techniques, digital audio recordings and social media to tell the story of The Lifeboat Station Project, an idea I first conceived in 2012.
As you can imagine, I’m regularly asked lots of questions, so I’ve made this special page collating a selection of them with my answers below.
I hope it’s useful!
WHO CAME UP WITH THE IDEA FOR THE LIFEBOAT STATION PROJECT?
I came up with the idea and first presented it to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in 2012.
My proposal was initially turned down while the RNLI worked on photographer Nigel Millard’s fine book, Courage on our Coasts.
Over the following year or two, I honed and refined the idea further before presenting it again in the Spring of 2014. I was invited to RNLI HQ in Poole for further talks and my idea was then approved by the charity, giving me their blessing to photograph their crews.
I haven’t been commissioned to make The Lifeboat Station Project.
Click here for further reading
HOW BIG IS THE PROJECT?
There are some 700 glass plates in the archive featuring around 2500 lifeboat volunteers.
I originally aimed to visit and document all 238 RNLI lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland. Sadly, I had to make the difficult decision in September 2024 to stop making new work on the project.
Click here to see the Mission Map
WHY ARE YOU DOING IT?
In a topsy-turvy world, I endeavoured to share a good news story and to shine a light on the greatness of others — in this case, the lifeboat volunteers around our shores.
I did something I believed in, following my heart and turning my childhood passions for photography and the RNLI into a meaningful, engaging and life-enriching body of work for all to enjoy.
Click here for further reading
DID COVID-19 AFFECT THE PROJECT?
Yes, it certainly did! Click here for the public post I wrote at the time.
You can now also find the video I originally posted from Dart (my 150th station) on the Films page in the Members’ Area.
The final station I visited was Barrow in April 2022.
The repercussions of Covid, Brexit and the deepening economic crisis ultimately brought an end to my journey.
WHAT’S YOUR NORMAL JOB?
This is my normal job!
I’ve worked in photography for as long as I can remember — since taking photographs of my schoolmates on Sports Day, processing the films at home overnight and selling prints at school the next morning.
In 2014, I brought my previous photographic chapters to a close and threw everything into The LSP.
It’s been a high risk strategy but the only way to attempt to achieve my original vision was to commit wholeheartedly.
I found myself in the midst of a classic scenario: I’d gone too far to turn back, and nor would I have wanted to.
There was no Plan B.
I utterly believed in The Lifeboat Station Project, but making such a huge commitment was rarely easy!
Click here to read All or Nothing
CAN I PICK YOUR BRAINS?
Yes, you can…
If you like my approach and would like to discuss the progression of your own creative path, use the Mentoring page to book an audio or video call with me.
WHERE AND WHEN DID YOU START THE LSP?
Logistical preparations for the first mission (LSP1) began in the winter of 2014. I hit the road for the first time on 11th January 2015, ready to photograph my first station on 12th January 2015.
The first station was Southwold on the East Anglian coast in Suffolk.
Click here to read the blog post I wrote at the time
DID YOU GO TO EVERY RNLI LIFEBOAT STATION?
Documenting every station was may original vision. There are 238 operational RNLI lifeboat stations and in the end I managed to document two-thirds of the network.
Click here to see the task in hand
HOW LONG DID IT TAKE?
On average, I managed to document around 30 lifeboat stations per year.
If I’d completed my original vision it would have taken…
238 divided by 30 = 7.9 years
…and I’d have finished by September 2022.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic paused my journey. I sadly never recovered from the lifeboat stations being closed for two years and I made the difficult decision to stop making new work on the project in September 2024.
HOW IS THE PROJECT FUNDED?
For the first two years of its life, I entirely self-funded the project with money raised through the The LSP Shop — in essence, my own form of crowdfunding.
In November 2017, there was a turning point for the project when I launched my Patreon page.
It was incredibly successful and a real milestone in offering my online community a way to support my project whilst providing a more sustainable, predictable income for me.
However, after three years of using Patreon to help fund my project, I felt I’d become too reliant on a platform that is growing increasingly dominant…and expensive!
So, during the lockdown of November 2020 — and in my quest to be independent from that kind of scenario — I worked out how to build my own membership platform, an environment which I feel is much more suited to The Lifeboat Station Project.
And here it is, The LSP Society:
HOW ELSE CAN I SUPPORT THE LSP?
The financial peaks and troughs of this journey have sometimes been terrifying. It would not be an exaggeration to say that, at times, I felt completely despondent and wondered if I could continue.
However, I was buoyed by the support of the amazing people who loved following the journey and appreciated what it took to keep it (and me!) on the road.
Even though the journey itself has come to an end, you can still purchase limited edition prints, postcards and join The LSP Society to help me bring the book to fruition.
Whether it’s a one-off purchase in The LSP Shop or a monthly donation, every little helps. I’m very aware that we all have different financial commitments, so I’ve tried to offer something suitable for everyone.
Click here to find out how to become a supporter
WILL THERE BE AN EXHIBITION?
In 2024, The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London, hosted a hugely successful exhibition of my work called Women of the RNLI in association with the RNLI for their 200th anniversary.
In 2019, over 50 prints from my project were displayed as part of the Calm Before the Storm exhibition at Poole Museum in conjunction with the RNLI.
In 2018, 20 prints were exhibited by the National Library of Wales to commemorate The Year of the Sea.
My work has also been displayed in several other prestigious venues over the years.
Ultimately, I dream of presenting a wider range of the photographs, films and sound recordings. I imagine the photographs will be displayed in geographic order around the exhibition space with Neena (my mobile darkroom) as a centrepiece along with an all-weather lifeboat.
In the meantime have a look at the Events page for regional events and exhibitions as my work is regularly shown around the country.
WILL THERE BE A BOOK?
Yes. I’m intending to publish a stunning book of The Lifeboat Station Project.
Due to the sheer scale of the project, it will likely need to be more than one volume, hopefully including some of the sound recordings along with fold-out maps and a foreword by someone special.
HAVE ANY FILMS BEEN MADE ABOUT YOUR WORK?
Three short films have been made about my work by Peter Naylor (filmmaker and RNLI crew member at Hunstanton), the RNLI Film and Image Team and the latest film (made in 2022) is by Sean Tucker.
Click here to see them all along with some other offerings on the Films page.
DO YOU GIVE TALKS ABOUT THE LSP?
I regularly give talks all round the country. Previous venues have included photographic societies, sailing clubs, RNLI events, institutions, festivals, cinemas and even Apple Stores.
You can find upcoming and current events on this page.
Previous media and event highlights can be found here.
If you’d like to book me for a talk, please click here to get in touch.
DO YOU HAVE AN ONLINE SHOP?
Yes, indeed. Sales through the shop form part of the project’s lifeblood.
Click here for prints, postcards and more.
CAN I BUY PRINTS OF YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS?
You certainly can. I sell Limited Edition Prints of every photograph featured in the Galleries.
Only 50 prints will ever be made from each photograph, making them truly historic artworks to be treasured for generations.
DO YOU OFFER DISCOUNTS AND SPECIAL OFFER SALES?
A lot of creators like me offer seasonal flash sales and discounts.
The topic of discounts comes up regularly within the artist community and I’m often asked from many directions if I’ll be doing the same.
The short answer is “No.”
The price of the things I offer — from mugs to postcards to limited edition prints — have been carefully considered from the outset, and there are already various ways to save money which I’ve outlined on the website.
Therefore, I only offer a hefty discount to the people that help me make the work — the lifeboat volunteers.
If you’d like to make a purchase, please don’t postpone for the potential of a seasonal sale because it won’t be happening!
WILL YOU BE GETTING INTO NFTs?
NFTs [non-fungible tokens] have been a hot topic in the art world.
If you’ve heard them mentioned but don’t understand them, that tells you much of what you need to know. Think of a house of cards or the emperor’s new clothes and you’re most of the way there!
On the question of whether or not I will be “getting into them” with The LSP, the answer is “No.”
They are the antithesis of everything the project stands for. I’ll stick to tangible objects that can be treasured for generations — like my limited edition prints and, one day, the glass plates themselves.
MAY I COPY YOUR WORK?
No, you may not.
As things stand, I am the only person allowed to reproduce my work.
Whether viewing my images online or as a print you have purchased, please understand the love, sweat and tears involved in making such a unique project since first conceiving the idea in 2012.
If my work is copied, it is not only illegal and immoral but it also jeopardises the project.
DID YOU HAVE ANY STAFF?
I wish! I’d have loved to have had one or two people helping me full-time on my journey.
In the meantime, I looked after social media, admin, communications, logistics, this website, product development, marketing, fulfilling orders, scanning, printing, packaging, shipping, archiving, driving, washing up, vacuuming…oh, and photography!
WHO HELPED YOU ON THE COAST?
A pool of kind friends volunteered their time to help me on the road. I worked alone if they weren’t available and LSP fans who simply come along to say hello often got roped in as well!
YOU MADE SOUND RECORDINGS TOO?
That’s right. I love making sound recordings as much as photography — they’re both great ways of story-telling and picture-making. Combine the two and the results can be very powerful indeed.
Click here to listen to some of my audio recordings.
HOW OLD IS YOUR CAMERA?
The 12×10 inch camera I used was made in 1905 by Thornton Pickard in Altrincham.
However, the wet collodion process I used is even older, dating from 1851. So, the camera is Edwardian and the process is Victorian.
I used the same camera and lens to make every single plate on The Lifeboat Station Project!
Click here to see all the plates I’ve made.
HOW DO YOU MAKE PRINTS FROM THE GLASS PLATES?
The photographic plates I made are known as wet collodion positives on glass or the term ambrotype is sometimes used as a shorthand, though it’s not technically accurate.
This means the photographs weren’t intended to be viewed as negatives (from which many prints could be made) but the intention was/is to place a black surface behind them (like cotton velvet, for example) so that they can be displayed as a positive rather than a negative.
The glass plate would have been given to the person commissioning the photograph ‘back in the day’.
These photographs are like one-off sculptures, so the only practical way to reproduce them in the modern era is to scan them and make digital prints. And that’s exactly what I do.
Incidentally, you may or may not know that my previous chapter in photography involved working within the very highest standards of digital imaging. I spent twelve years as a printmaker and retoucher to other photographers, designers and artists. So, I see this project as the culmination of many skills learnt over the years.
DOES THE RNLI GET ANY MONEY FROM YOU?
Not directly. The RNLI enjoyed an enormous positive impact from The LSP including national media coverage, prestigious exhibitions, events and public engagement.
Outside of the institution, The Lifeboat Station Project is one of their biggest allies when it comes to spreading the word, engaging the lifeboat volunteers on the coast and garnering support for the charity.
The RNLI paid me a small license fee so that they can use my images to promote their work. In turn, that helped me to keep going.
By way of thanks for the volunteers’ efforts, Print No.1 of the crew photograph and Print No.1 of the Coxswain/Helm portrait are donated to each lifeboat station.
At the time of writing (March 2024), I’ve donated well over 300 limited edition prints to the lifeboat stations who have helped me make this body of work, so an exhibition-at-large has essentially been created around the coast on the walls of RNLI lifeboat stations!
Click here to read a message from the RNLI published in May 2018.
DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR PEOPLE NEW TO ART COLLECTING?
I do indeed. I soon became very aware that many of my followers had never purchased limited edition prints before, so they might need a little guidance.
With that in mind, I came up with a few tips for buying my work.
I WOULD LIKE TO GET MY PRINT FRAMED. ANY SUGGESTIONS?
If you’ve bought a lovely new print, you might now be wondering how to frame it.
Click here for my framing suggestion
WHERE DID YOU GET THE AMBULANCE?
I bought my decommissioned NHS ambulance in 2014 on eBay!
DID YOU SLEEP IN THE AMBULANCE WHEN YOU WERE ON THE COAST?
Absolutely not — Neena’s a mobile darkroom rather than a motorhome, so I might wake up with a headache at best.
When I’m not carrying photographic materials on board, she’s very comfortable to sleep in, though!
WHAT IS WET COLLODION?
Wet collodion is one of the very early photographic processes and was invented by a clever chap called Frederick Scott Archer in 1851.
Although the process isn’t very convenient — certainly by modern standards — it was the first ‘mainstream’ photographic process, popular until the 1880s.
Very simply put, the process involves using a piece of glass or metal (the plate) to carry various chemicals that have combined to make a light sensitive film on the plate.
The sensitised plate is carried from the darkroom (the converted ambulance in my case) to the camera in a light-tight plate holder. The plate is then exposed in the camera and immediately carried back to the darkroom for processing.
Time is of the essence as the whole process has to be started and completed within a 10 to 15 minute window…this digital thing will never catch on!
This video from George Eastman House sums it up well.
WHY DID YOU USE SUCH AN OLD PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESS?
After a long time working at the highest level in digital photography, I started using wet collodion so that I could get back in touch with what it takes to make a photograph. After all, that’s what I really loved about photography as a youngster.
Although the finished plates are extraordinarily beautiful, that’s not the primary reason I used this old process: wet collodion proved to be a key to unlocking engagement with the lifeboat volunteers as well as my online followers, enabling me to tell the story that was waiting to be told in a compelling way.
In short, I feel it’s important to remember that every good project starts with the story, not with the way it’s made.
Click here to learn more about the project
HOW DID YOU LEARN TO USE THIS PROCESS?
Like most things in life, I’m self taught. I read lots of books and watched lots of videos.
Once I felt I was ready to make a plate, I reached out to a couple of people I knew in the community. Jonathan Keys kindly filled in the gaps and helped me to make my very first plate in December 2013.
Tony Richards and Mark Voce have helped me since and the rest is down to experience — after making hundreds and hundreds of plates, I’ve certainly learnt a thing or two about what it might have been like to work as a photographer in the 1800s!
HAVE YOU GOT ANY TIPS FOR USING WET PLATE COLLODION?
I reckon I could probably write a book on all the things I’ve learned about using wet collodion (hmmm…there’s a thought).
In the meantime, here are five rules I’ve made for my journey that you might find helpful too:
- Method and cleanliness: Always be disciplined with the process and never cut corners. Ever.
- Always be in the task: If you’re in the middle of doing something, never be distracted while you’re doing it. Wait until you’ve safely finished the task before doing the next thing.
- Lean, sit or both: People must always be leaning against or sitting on something to ensure stability when being photographed. With the best will in the world, a person is very unlikely to stay absolutely still for the duration of a long exposure if they’re free-standing.
- Stay outside: When making portraits using available light, never position people more than a metre or so inside the threshold of a building, no matter how large the opening (the roll up doors of a lifeboat station, in my case). Although you may think there’s plenty of light, there won’t be enough for wet plate collodion once venturing into the depths of a UV shadow that’s imperceptible to humans.
- Never use pontoons: No matter how still you think the water is, it’s highly unlikely that a floating pontoon will be a stable enough platform on which to make a long exposure. They twist and yaw with the slightest waves, making a long exposure almost impossible!
If you’d like to ask Jack a question or you think something should be added to this list, please get in touch: