Hello, I’m Gill and I write a photography blog inspired by the landscapes of Suffolk and beyond. Please subscribe to read more of my writing and visit my website to view my images.
This is the first piece of writing I have produced for nearly a month and it is good to be back with some slightly different content.
At the end of October I ran a week long residential workshop in Suffolk which was great fun and was attended by a lovely diverse group of people who had travelled from as far north as Scotland to attend. I love meeting new people and getting the opportunity to show them around my favourite parts of the Suffolk coast is always a joy. The weather even behaved itself for most of the week until storm Babet rolled in on the Friday morning putting an end to our photography and making the journey home for some really challenging.
After the workshop had finished I had one day at home before heading north to Ardnamurchan (Scotlands most westerly point) in search of some autumn colour. As much as I love Suffolk I think I needed a change of scene to re-energise my photography. Local landscapes are a joy to photograph, the familiarity makes compositions easier and shooting less pressured. But there is no doubt that photographing the same locations can lead to complacency and laziness and this is when I find my creativity suffers.
For me a trip away in the camper van to take photos is always about the journey rather than the destination so it was good to stop in the beautiful Trossachs National Park to see what autumn had to offer in a location that I am getting to know quite well. If you read any Scottish photography books you will see that there are several well known locations featured in the Trossachs and while these are all lovely I usually prefer to find my own quieter spots to take a few images.
When I go away with the camera it is always about seeking something different. I am never going with the intention of chasing the light or creating stunning images (although obviously that would be nice) I am always travelling to be inspired. Photography holidays for me a source of inspiration, they help me clear my mind and I always feel more creative when I am away.
Travelling is also a time to think and plan new projects and I find Scotland particularly inspiring for this. It goes without saying that the landscape is awesome and there are photographs to be had around every corner. I spent quite a bit of time on the coast just south of Arisaig shooting across the sea towards the small isles of Eigg, Muck and Rum, and these are views that I will never tire of exploring.
Sometimes, however, it is good to look beyond the obvious and focus on things that are more challenging or different.
I love photographing landscapes, but sometimes I find smaller scenes even more fascinating and during my time away I spent a while photographing lichens on gravestones, sand patterns on the beach and leaves in the water.
I always feel less pressured to produce images when I am travelling and this allows me the freedom to experiment with different subjects which is great.
Being in Scotland it was a foregone conclusion that it would rain for some portion of our stay and when the heavens eventually opened I had great fun experimenting with some black and white photography which I thought suited the moody atmosphere really well.
I have been inspired by black and white photographer Adrian Vila (if you don’t know him I would encourage you to check out his work and his YouTube Channel)
I am never going to be a black and white photographer (I love colour too much) but sometimes it is good to indulge and head out with the intention of shooting only in monochrome. I was inspired by Adrian’s work and wanted to try his style of shooting for myself, and whilst I quite like the image below the best part of this experiment was understanding how someone else approached their photography and then trying it out for myself. I found I was turning my camera towards subjects I would have overlooked in colour and I had great fun seeing the world in a slightly different way.
My time in Scotland wasn’t all holiday, I had actually gone to reacquaint myself with the landscapes of the West Highland Peninsulas before my autumn workshop next October. I had a list of locations I had visited several times but never in October so it was good to check out the conditions before next autumn.
I am now back at home catching up with work and all that Suffolk has to offer in the autumn. After my time away I feel ready to explore my local landscape again with fresh eyes and enthusiasm and am looking forward to creating some new work.
A change really is as good as a rest.
LOVE your work!
Nothing like a road trip for a bit of inspiration and motivation. Beautiful images Gill