Our meeting on September 11th was a presentation by the Hertfordshire based photographer, Simon Turnbull. He specialises in intimate landscape, nature and travel photography and has won numerous awards including Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society. Although now living and working in the south of England he was brought up in Keswick and still visits regularly. As a consequence we were able to see several images of locations well known to us but from a new perspective. These included some beautifully evocative woodland photographs taken in Borrowdale.
Simon described what the term “intimate landscapes” means to him. This involves photographing only a portion of a landscape scene in a particular way, often to try and create a feeling of narrative. The subject may be a single leaf or rock or tree. Simon showed us several panels of these images each of which were carefully curated, often to help enhance a narrative.
We were given valuable practical advice and tips which would apply to all forms of photography. Planning ahead, having a check list of equipment (Simon recalled an instance which must have happened to all of us at some time, of arriving at a shoot having left the camera battery charging at home!), preparing your equipment in advance, making notes of ideas and suggestions.
More importantly perhaps, he described his thought processes and working methods when out on a shoot. These included working slowly with careful attention to the composition of his images, “dawdling” to allow time to see what actually may be in a location, trying to adopt a child like view of the surroundings, trying to create a sense of mindfulness. He showed many beautiful, ethereal, intriguing images which I am sure inspired all those present to look at their own photography in a new light.
Richard Jakobson