The New Year has arrived with gifts of ice; not always welcome as I try my best to stay upright on the flooded path that is now doing a passing imitation of black ice rink. In the wood it is more photogenic and I’ve been fascinated to see just how quickly the overabundance of water has drained down into the moss, leaving fragile sheets of ice suspended around the birch. At the moment high pressure is giving us an over dose of grey and the days feel cold.
I’ve slipped from one writing rabbit hole into another, joining the first cohort for The Word, a new course on writing and photography run by Rob Knight and Ian Hill. I’m having to adjust to the idea of assignments (yikes!) but less than a week in I can already see that it is going to be both stimulating and valuable. There are always more stones that can be polished, and I’m curious about whether I can further weave together my words and images.
One of our early tasks has been to select and talk about favourite images - both our own and by other photographers; the latter sparked a little realisation that I’ll share with you.
Before that I have a few short phrases and images to share from the week.
Fragments from my week in word and image: noticing
Wednesday:
Today is modest,
dressed in grey
skirt worn long,
just below hill line
Thursday. I watch from a moving window: a heron with meccano legs stalks in a new field puddle. Water is everywhere; fluid lines of rolling land lie under folds of cloud.
Friday. Rain on ice. Soft slippy saturated soils. Afternoon sun lights the gathered raindrops offset against the mist developing on the moss. There are signs of shepherd’s delight reflected in the floodwater as I return.
Saturday. Surfaces are slick, black and slippery. A cold wind. The wood shows signs of struggle; trees, branches and lichen cast about. Stories of the night are written in ice. Circles of feathers mark unhappy endings. The afternoon sun points long fingers between the trees.
Sunday.
Monday. Silvered bloom of frost, first flicker of sun through the pine as I pass. I rarely get far before the light pulls me off the path. No quiet steps today as ice crunches underfoot. The sparkling sun on iced birch branch is elusive and it’s only when I’m down low to the ground that I start to find the magic amid heather and grass. There is a story of this place waiting to be told.
Tuesday. Seven female pheasants are tidying up beneath the bird feeders as I make my mid-morning tea. The frost and ice stays the day. On my walk I find even the moss is frozen. The night sees snow flurries whiten roofs.
Wednesday. I rehearse words to share: ‘Fluid Effects’, a presentation for the friendly group at the Edinburgh Photographic Society, and begin writing this.
The stories told by photographs: thinking
Asked at the outset of The Word to choose 4-5 photographs by others that I especially like, I pull books off the shelf. With the constraint of time I find I’m more decisive than usual.
First Paul Kenny’s ‘Seaworks 1998-2013’, then Meghann Riepenhoff’s ‘Littoral Drift / Ecotone’, followed by Susan Derges’ ‘Elemental’ and Linda Lashford’s ‘From the Seahouse’.
I notice that while the visual is important it is the story they tell that draws me. My selection is determined by the artist as much as the individual image. As with much of my own photography the images are abstract and connected to water. Several are the result of camera-less processes, and do not necessarily look like photographs.
Different ways of working; images that contain memories of water, record its movement and the passage of time; and employ nature’s mark making. They encourage you to look more closely, and to think and ask questions. I realise they hold clues about both where I am and where I want to go.
Putting them together online I find I do need a fifth image. I look through my likes and saves on Instagram. I’m drawn to two images of egg wrack; one in colour, the other black and white. Monochrome wins. I’m struck by the visual parallel between the flowing lines of wrack and the movement of light on water in my series ‘A Memory of Water’. The image reflects the patterns I am drawn to and the recurrence of fluid forms in my art practice.
The images I chose were:
Paul Kenny Caught by the Tide, Beach Study No.2. Page 136 if you have the book ‘Seaworks 1998-2013’. The circle held within, the colour, the traces of evaporating water, the imagination.
Meghann Riepenhoff Ecotone #44, Bainbridge Island - Plate 2 if you have the book ‘Littoral Drift / Ecotone’ - “Two and a half hours, draped on rocks in snow and rain.” A record of the presence of water, where it lay and where it went.
Susan Derges Eden 16 - Plate 81 in ‘Elemental’. Colour, pattern, abstraction, luminosity.
Linda Lashford ‘From the Seahouse’ - Image How could I not like this? Softly fluid, a subtle palette from nature.
Raymond Besant - Egg wrack. An image that effectively holds a memory of water.
Raymond’s image made me think of ‘Patterns of Flow’ from my series ‘A Memory of Water’.
Thank you for joining me and for reading. If you’ve enjoyed this, a like or a comment, a recommendation for FLOW, or a restack on the Substack app would all be greatly appreciated. There is an option to become a paid subscriber if you value and would like to further support my writing.
You’ll find more image rich writing in previous posts on FLOW’s home page.
My photography and mixed media art live here on my website.
Lovely images, all of them. I find the soft-light images so compelling, there's such depth of feeling there, I keep returning to them!
Thanks once again for sharing your words and images ...