Chasing the Boats
From a childhood beside the Black Country canals to a lifelong passion behind the lens, photographer Kev Maslin shares the journey that led him to document Britain’s historic narrowboats
Former horse-boat England/Germany is the cover star of the 2026 Historic Narrow Boats calendar.
I imagine most of us have a family album stashed away somewhere. Our own collection has several black-and-white prints – mainly holiday snaps taken by my dad on a 1950s Coronet box camera made in Birmingham. I remember playing with it as a child, and maybe, just maybe, it made a subconscious impression.
A boating backdrop
I was born and raised in the industrial Black Country of the 1960s and we lived just a stone’s throw from the mighty Round Oak Steelworks. Canals were always there, of course, but in those days I didn’t care. All I knew was that there were sticklebacks to be caught from the murky waters of our local cut down at the Delph ‘Nine’ Locks.
An elevated view of Small Woolwich Corolla at Bratch Locks.
The photography came much later, although previous canal encounters were no more than distant memories. It took a work colleague to point me in the right direction. He was the most laid-back bloke I’d ever met, although quite eccentric, I thought. He’d go off at weekends taking black-and-white pictures of derelict waterways and encouraged me to visit a local canal event where, he said, the colourful boats on display would make great subjects for my camera. It’s fair to say that the Titford 150 rally completely changed my outlook on photography and also marked something of a turning point in my life generally.
Rich on fuel boat Roach approaching Tardebigge Tunnel.
I can vividly recall my first sighting of a Birmingham Canal Navigations map in slight bewilderment, but thinking what a marvellous adventure exploring it might be. There was a sense of intrigue as I studied the fingerpost at Windmill End Junction and pondered what mysteries this impressive-sounding BCN Main Line through the long, dark tunnel could hold. Canal-wise the BCN was undoubtedly my first love and my fondness for its complexity and sheer variety still remains. After all, now living in Tipton – affectionately known as ‘the Venice of the Midlands’ – it’s difficult to go anywhere without passing either over or under some part of it, with or without water.
