The art of Connection
Introducing my new zine project
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.
Last week I put the finishing touches to my latest zine project, checked and double checked my print files and finally sent the PDF to the printers. It is always nerve wracking sending a project to print and I am never fully relaxed until I have a final copy in my hand, particularly as there always seem to be so many things that can go wrong at the last minute!
Back in March I took a three week break in Assynt, a landscape I have visited many times but one that I feel a real affinity with. I wanted to explore the idea of connection; my connection to a place but also the idea that everything in nature is linked.
"Study the science of art. Study the art of science... Realise that everything connects to everything else,” Leonardo da Vinci
At the beginning of the year I set myself a theme to work by so that my photography would have a focus. I chose connection as I feel this is something we have forgotten in the modern world, particularly where nature is concerned.
In January I set up the connection project (not a very original title, I know) which is a collaboration with 8 other photographers and will culminate in a book and exhibition at the end of the year. At the moment (fingers crossed) the work is all coming together really well and I am looking forward to seeing it all hanging on the walls in one gallery space in December.
I was keen to use my connection theme while I was in Assynt and after much thought I came up with an idea for a project that I could photograph over a 3 week period and print as a limited edition zine. The result is ‘Coalescence’ - a visual journey around Assynt focusing on the landscape and all the smaller details that caught my eye.
Coalescence is the joining, combining or uniting of things to become one mass or community and I like to think of nature as a great example of this. I love the idea that all parts of a landscape come together to make a united whole - the mountains are connected to the coast and the rivers to the sea and if something happens in one place it will eventually affect another.
For this project I chose to work with one of my favourite aspects of photography - colour. I decided that I wanted to photograph different landscapes in series and present them in their colours as they appeared to me in spring 2025. For the zine I chose to mix up places and details so that the defining connection and the thing that linked every image wasn’t the geography, but the colours of nature.
Several years ago I came across the work of Niall Benvie and was particularly inspired by his colour transect work. He describes a colour transect as ‘consisting of a photograph and colour swatches presented as a single piece of work. The swatches are sampled from the photograph, sometimes highlighting the diversity of colours in the image, sometimes the variety of different hues of one colour. The object is to simplify and clarify the image’s colour content for the viewer - and to cause them to examine the photograph for a little longer.’
I decided that this was how I wanted to link my images, by sampling colours and finding the commonalities between disparate places. This was the method I used to sequence my images and tell my story of connection through the landscapes of Assynt.
I selected 42 images for the zine and divided them into 10 groups separated by an image of a smaller scene or detail and linked by colour. The images were taken during a period when the UK was experiencing its sunniest April on record and its driest spring in over a century. During this time wild fires burned around Stac Pollaidh creating a landscape of blacks and tans that I have included within the work.
I see the images within this project as expressions of belonging and of love, born from listening to the landscape when it speaks. They are my way of tracing the invisible lines that bind the mountains to the sea, the light to the shadows, and my soul to this magical place.
Coalescence can be ordered from my website and each copy will come with a complimentary fine art print from a choice of the three above.
The idea behind the theme for all this years projects is to try and promote a greater connection to the landscape and nature. I would like to tailor my workshops and personal projects around this but I am unsure if it is a realistic aim and would be really interested in your opinions.
Do you think it is possible to use photography to foster a deeper connection to nature? I am thinking about my audience rather than myself - is it possible to help others connect to nature through my own photography projects or by offering experiences such as workshops or collaborative projects? This is something I have pondered for a long time and would be really interested to hear your thoughts.
Thank you very much for reading and until next time enjoy your photography.
Gill
Gill, I found this piece very inspiring and must re-read over another cup of coffee! There is something about Scotland that stops you in your tracks, maybe the understated, awesome beauty. I don’t know. But it draws you in, even on a wild day. …..
Your eye for a colour palette is very much in evidence with the images used in this blog. As Kay says, well worth reading again.