During the Summer of 2025 Kitchen Table Photo Club was lucky enough to raise funds from a raffle. From this we organised trips to urban waters running through East Bristol. With a basked of props and a few ideas, youth aged between 7 – 18 from around the city took part. 

Each trip we played hard, made images and ate snacks. We asked ourselves if the streams we walked with were our waters? We wondered what waters our ancestors came from? If we did not know the answers, we paid attention to the brooks and streams, taking an inventory of everything we found – cans, coins, insects, worms. We imagined how it would be if the waterways had feelings, thoughts and needs. We counted the plastics in a stream, mimicked the dance of a cormorant and performed gestures that revealed a feeling! Keep your fingers off the lens. Find out where this river flows from. Is this the same waters the dinosaurs drank? Why is it red? Tattoo a river on your hands and arms. 'This is the most beautiful water my hand has ever touched' one child called! We told stories of the brooks. These got crazily abstract and improvised. You can see elements of these tales in the photos. We look thoughtful & wild, having serious fun can be like that.

The waterways looked unhealthy, testament to how little these sources of life are respected. However being by them elevated each trip to epic degrees and lifted our spirits. You can see that too. Bemoaning the sadness of the river, one child then said 'but look at all the life around it!'

Words and pictures: Kitchen Table Photo Club
Photographs here come from Easton, Clay Bottom, Coombe Brook, Nightingale Valley and Snuff Mills.

Raffle donations warmly appreciated from: Martin Parr, Photographique, Jack’s Lab, Chris Hoare, Garry Fabian Miller, Sian Davey, Nuthatch Retreat, Joff Winterhart, G*RLS Camera Club Bristol, Cibomatto @ Bricks, Bug Brand, Black + White Photography & Outdoor Photography, Here Shop, My Two Toms, Lady Lucy.