My Early Connection with Photography and the Land

I took my first photo in 1970 using a strip of black and white film “sellotaped” to the inside of a shoe box. I poked a hole with a pin at the opposite side to the film to let the light in for a few seconds, and then covered up the hole with some brown packing tape.

One of a dozen 9 year old boarding school boys at Orley Farm, out on location in a centuries old graveyard doing a Physics experiment. A week later my photo came back from Boots Chemist. Nobody knew if our experiment would work. It was a tense moment. Fortunately mine did - a blurry photo of a crooked tombstone with the church spire in the background.

I was instantly hooked on the science and the possibilities that came with this fantastic invention. I wish I still had that picture. I have the memory as clear as day, which is good enough.

I majored in The Arts and Languages at Westminster, and as a boarder, had easy access to The National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, The Tate, Haywood Gallery and loads of independents from Petticoat Lane to Hampstead Heath. I spent so much time at the National Gallery, that the guard would often let me in ten minutes or so before the official opening time so I could sit in front of Monet’s Lillies or Leonardo’s chiaroscuro cartoon. I was in heaven!

If I wasn’t studying, and it wasn’t raining, I’d load a roll of Ilford FP4 and wander through St. James’ Park. To be completely absorbed by nature in the center of London was remarkable to me. After a few minutes of acclimation the sound of traffic and the occasional siren dissipated. I’d sit and watch pelicans gifted from the Russian Ambassador to King Charles II, marvel at the intricately laid out flower beds, and watch the trees sway in the wind. If I was lucky, the Queen’s Royal Guards might fly by on horseback, or I’d hear the pomp of a marching band practice at Buckingham Palace.

My love of nature and the land has been with me ever since those early days. Photography has been silent partner all along.