Shortly before leaving for India in January, I asked if anyone was interested in hearing more about a specific photograph from my collection. @jeremesanders kindly got in touch and picked out one of my favourite photographs from a two-part gallery from 2009 entitled ‘Brutalism’.

The Brutalism gallery came together as a result of six shoots spread over a period of 2 years. One was at Vauxhall, the rest at an estate in east London that I had driven past a load of times before finally investigating further. No one had done parkour at this location before; most of the training spots frequented by London traceurs are west. This was deepest, darkest east.

For my final visit to the estate I invited Thomas Couetdic with whom I had become good friends during our trip to Italy in 2008. Previous shoots at this location had involved lighting equipment and/or a big crowd of us, and while I had a large collection of images, I didn’t feel that I had a complete set that did the architecture justice. Even when I added some photographs from the shoot at Vauxhall, it still felt incomplete. Another visit was needed. This time, I went on my bicycle with the bare minimum (no lights and just one lens) and Thomas came alone.

Starting out, we were able to move freely, warming up and capturing this shot. Whilst previous visits had gone uninterrupted, we were stopped by one of the estate’s caretakers who warned us that we were on private property and couldn’t continue without permission. Not wishing to cause a disturbance, Thomas and I happily agreed to stop but wandered off only a short distance, determined to finish what we came for even if that meant changing our approach.

Instead of pursuing big jumps in full view of anyone passing, we started to explore the lower levels of the estate, picking out small climbs and balances, away from prying eyes. Of course it was frustrating to have to stop what we were doing, but sometimes it is necessary to adapt to the conditions. Plus, Thomas shares my love of climbing so searching out potential routes with him was good fun.

The shot of Thomas climbing shows him completing a relatively simple route. Initially I had asked him to ascend up the left-hand side of the pillar but realised that if he climbed up the right-hand side, I could frame him against the sky and create a stronger body position. The weather played a large role; this was late September and whilst it was bright sunshine and the middle of the day, it did not have the harsh contrast of mid-summer. The concrete was working as a giant reflector, creating a gentle radiance that with a touch of post-production, gave everything a golden glow.

Sometimes I’m never happy with a shot and work almost endlessly to perfect it. Sometimes, time is against me and I have to compromise with it being almost right and hope that it is good enough for me once I’ve returned home and played with it in post-production. On this occasion, we were both confident that we had got what we came for. We wandered a little more, snapping at the architecture that was now gleaming in the autumnal sunshine, before calling it a day and heading home.

The gallery was complete. I remember reading some guys chatting about the gallery on a forum shortly after I published it on kiell.com. One mentioned that the shots were great but that anyone could get great photos at such a location. This annoyed me a little as most of the hard work involved in putting this collection together was finding the estate and obsessing about it, visiting time and again in different weather and under different circumstances. I fought my urge to respond to their comments. For me at least, photography isn’t about composition and the timing of my right forefinger; much more important is hard work and persistence, two things that will hopefully result in me putting myself in the right place with the right people at the right time.

Thanks again to Jereme for picking out this photo. If you’d like to choose a photo, please get in touch via twitter or just drop me an email: photos at kiell dot com.