Excepting the centre of London, and maybe a couple of southern tourist traps I doubt anywhere in the UK has been photographed more often than the Lake District – that’s why I’ve resisted using it as the basis for much of the work I’ve done of this course – I couldn’t see how I would do it differently or better.
But on a visit to a little local gallery/craft outlet (Thornthwaite Gallery) yesterday I came across the work of two people, Angie and David Unsworth, who seem to have achieved just that. Their website is full of amazing images of the Lake District which for the most part avoid the obvious views and sweeping vistas to give a very personal take on the area. Many of the shots are right up my street – concentrating on the details of the countryside that give it its character – the flow of rivers, the grain and colour of the native rock, the play of light on plants and the multitude of greens.
Overall their work reminds me of the works of Shinzo Maeda and seem to be born of a deep understanding of, and familiarity with, their patch. This provides me with some reassurance that I’m not just being parochial by focussing on the area immediately around my home for most of the shots for my assignments and portfolios – I genuinely feel that working a patch I know is likely to give more interesting results.
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