A subjective voice

14th December 2015

A subjective voice

"To help develop a personal voice as an independent practitioner, it is important to acknowledge your subjective attitude towards the subjects you're researching and photographing. 

Write an entry in your learning log  (around 300 words) reflecting on any current and previous circumstances and experiences that you think may influence, or may have influenced, your view of the landscape. Describe how you think these factors might inform your ideas about landscape photography or related themes." OCA course material

I spent my early childhood den-building and climbing trees in a rural village in Lincolnshire with a small group of friends. Everyone had (what seemed like) a wilderness for a garden. Endless days were spent playing out in the safety of the garden, or picnicking on the wide verges of country roads and walking in the countryside with the family. Lincolnshire was full of disused airbases and derelict buildings which established my interest in abandoned buildings. My father drove everywhere taking the "scenic route" so I developed an interest in the changing landscapes from the car window.

When I was 10 we moved to a village in Nottinghamshire with so many "twitchells" or footpaths that my younger brother and I felt like adventurers. We learnt the village layout by drawing maps. It was always possible to go from one end of the village to the other using a variety of different routes. This freedom of exploration also extended to family holidays, spending the 6 weeks holiday on the Isle of Wight visiting family and exploring the island by foot and bus. Our annual family holiday was a week on the Norfolk Broads (out of season) messing around in a dinghy exploring dykes and derelict windpumps.  Visits to Belton House in Grantham allowed me to appreciate the work of Capability Brown.

It was only as I became older and an incident in the village became local news that my individual freedom became more restricted. Living in the centre of England I missed the sea - choosing a seaside town for my nurse training. I loved being able to walk on the uncrowded beaches and spent the summers learning to avoid the tourists, trying to find the "wilderness" of my childhood. I could associate with the landscape, but had to move back to urban landscapes to progress my career. Affordable housing was only possible in ex-coalmining areas, which started to challenge my view on landscapes. The area I lived in was no longer picturesque but flat and easy to cycle around so I now spend hours in the saddle exploring the landscape by bike with my family. Exploring at night has given me a different perspective but I am uncomfortable doing this on my own.

As a child, the traditional picturesque landscapes learnt about at school were similar to rural Lincolnshire and I was too far away from the industrialized midlands to appreciate the political and social effects on the landscape. Cooling towers and sugar beet factories were architectural landmarks like cathedrals. As a result I associated with the topographical work of the Bechers because it fitted into my view of the landscape.

I had always been interested in cameras and taking photographs, although most of my early landscape experimentation pictured family and friends in a documentary style, looking at how people associate with place. Up until now, I have associated landscape photography with male photographers and am currently challenging this perception through reading and coursework and 2 books edited by Liz Wells (Shifting Horizons) and (Viewfindings). As a female, I found that the Landscape genre didn't fit with family life. It tended to be my husband that went off exploring with a camera whilst I looked after the children. These books supported my views but also encouraged me that landscape is on the doorstep and that it just needs looking at from a different angle. Psychologically, they almost give permission to do things differently from men based on the time limits of school runs and after school activities.

My passion is that access fought for (by Fay Godwin) should remain accessible without the fear of coming across wire blocking the route or glass strewn across the tracks or unauthorised motor vehicles churning up the land so I am supportive of multi-user routes and diversions for mountain bikers to separate them from walkers. I am protective of walkers using the wrong trails in the forest and will direct them back onto the right tracks at busy times. I believe that landmarks should be preserved (such as the headstocks at Clipstone, Pleasley pit or Papplewick pumping station) and will support causes to preserve the architectural past. However, the idea of a zip wire between the headstocks as a tourist attraction is one that challenges my opinions on heritage landscape. I watched with interest the BBC 4 TV programme "Tales from the National Parks" (2011) which put forward the plan for a zip wire at Honister Pass in the Lake District National Park which was challenged a few times (by walkers) and eventually went ahead. I do believe that to attract tourists the planners have to move with the times and that activists should be able to have their say before plans go ahead.