Body of Work: Assignment 3 First Thoughts.

As most of my images for assignment 2 were postcard picturesque I was keen to balance this with some less picturesque shots.  Whilst photographing and researching the River Witham for assignment 2 I was reminded of the fact that there is an unusual concentration of abbeys in the Witham Valley.  It is thought that the reason for this is fourfold.  Firstly the medieval monks may have retained through myth and memory the knowledge that the Iron Age Celts regarded the Witham as a sacred river. Secondly the abbeys were close to the river which was already an important transport link between Lincoln and the sea at Boston and also close to the Limewoods from which they earned a livelihood. Finally all these abbeys were in sight of the mother house of Lincoln Cathedral.  For this assignment I decided to walk from the cathedral along the Viking Way long distance footpath to my childhood home in the village of Woodhall spa visiting all of the abbeys on the east bank on the way.  As I walked I couldn't help but wonder if medieval pilgrims had also travelled this route.

Why walk, apart from the fact that I enjoy walking and people in medieval times and the Middle Ages may well have travelled between the abbeys and Lincoln on foot?  Liz Wells (2011) reminds us that in the early years of photography, the photographer would travel on foot to reach his desired location, but during the second half of the 20th century and into the 21st car ownership has become widespread, rail travel is faster and we have cheap air travel.  Travel has become associated with speed of access.  She argues that walking is different, with a slower pace and an increased experience of the environment.  Walking, she points out, is a reflective experience and all of the senses are brought to bear.  She suggests that walking is a whole body experience and integrates the sensual and the cerebral.  Walking is also sequential.  Also in favour of walking is Anna Pavord (2016) who argues that speed diminishes the gifts that a journey can give such as moving through a landscape slowly in order to be able to watch it and take in its characteristics.  She suggests that she wants to slow down the whole process and stay in touch with moving over the landscape. Pavord (2016) also quotes William Cobbett who reported to the Board of Agriculture in 1821 and said that a coach goes too quickly and you can see nothing; he actually rode, stating that on foot "the fatigue was too great!"  For these reasons, as well as a natural enjoyment of the process, both in my native Lincolnshire and in mountain environments, I decided to complete this assignment by walking, recording what I saw during my perambulations.

I have looked at four photographer artists while researching this part of my body of work: Richard Long, Hamish Fulton and Paul Gaffney and and Chris Friel. Links to the relevant blogs are indicated.  All four base their work on walking. Richard Long began his work by photographing his walks, often the 'footpath' that he had created by walking back and forth along it. Some of my images of actual paths were taken because of that inspiration.  Long has since expanded his work to include sculpture both in the land, which he photographs, and in the studio/gallery and also the use of text.  Unlike Long who alters the landscapes he passes through, Fulton treads softly and leaves no indication of his passing.  Like Long, however, Fulton began with photography, but gradually text has taken over more and more.  His aim was to engage with the land and nature and he feels that walking is a meditative experience.  He says that a walk has a life of its own and does not need to be materialized into an artwork.  He also says that an artwork may be purchased but a walk cannot be sold.  Unlike Richard Long and Hamish Fulton, contemporary photographer Paul Gaffney still relies totally on his photography.  In fact, he chooses not to add text to his images as he feels that it would distract the viewer from the photograph and he argues that lack of caption adds mystery to the pictures.  He agrees with Hamish Fulton, though, in that he believes fervently that walking is a meditative experience and part of his PhD work is to develop a process of photography which will help other photographers to combine art and meditation.

Another photographer studied is Chris Friel who makes inspirational ICM images.  In an interview by Tim Parkin (2010) he says that one consistent theme in his technique is walking long distances.

Like both Hamish Fulton and Paul Gaffney I have long found walking (and running) to be a meditative experience, especially in mountain landscapes.  When walking in mountains, especially when on my own, I have a very strong sensation that I never want to come down.  Walking is very definitely a very special experience and while taking the photographs for this part of my body of work it enabled me to meditate on the memories and myths of past ages that the land and people hold as Simon Schama describes in his book Landscape and Memory.

References and Bibliography

Bowditch, T and Rochowski, N. (2016) Paul Gaffney Global Archive Photography Available from: http://globalarchivephotography.com/project/paul-gaffney/  [Accessed 23.2.16]

Deakin, R. (2007) Wildwood, A Journey Through Trees 2nd Edition London Penguin Books Ltd

Fulton, H. (1991) Wind Through the Pines [photograph] [online image] Tate. Available from: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/images/work/P/P77/P77621_10.jpg [Accessed 23.2.16]

Fulton,H. An Object Cannot Be Complete Without an Experience [colour photograph] [online image] Available from: http://www.clarkgoldsberry.com/uploads/7/4/3/0/7430824/3391149_orig.jpg [Accessed 23.2.16]

Gaffney, P. 92016) Paul Gaffney [online] Available from: http://www.paulgaffneyphotography.com/About [Accessed 23.2.16]

Long, R. (1967) A Line Made By Walking [photograph] [online image] Tate. Available from: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/long-a-line-made-by-walking-ar00142 [Accessed 23.2.16]

MacFarlane, R. (2013) The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot. London. Penguin

Padley, G. (2013) We Make the Path by Walking by Paul Gaffney. British Journal of Photography [online]. Available from: http://www.bjp-online.com/2013/11/we-make-the-path-by-walking-by-paul-gaffney-book-review/ [Accessed 23.2.16]

Parkin, T. (2010) Chris Friel On Landscape [online] Available from: https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2010/12/featured-photographer-chris-friel/ Accessed [10.2.16]

Pavord.A. (2016) Landskipping: Painters, Ploughmen and Places. London. Bloomsbury 

Turner Contemporary (2012) Hamish Fulton: Walk  [online] Available from: https://www.turnercontemporary.org/media/documents/Hamish-Fulton-background-resource.pdf [Accessed 21.02.16]

Schama, S. (1995) Landscape and Memory London, Harper Collins

Shepherd, N. 2011. The Living Mountain London, Canongate Books

Wells, L. (2011) Land Matters: Landscape Photography, Culture and Identity. London, I.B.Tauris
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