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Subcribe to comment rss feedAn Exhibition of Photographs from one of the Country's Finest Private Arboretums
Tim Parkin
Amateur Photographer who plays with big cameras and film when in between digital photographs.
Rod Bennington's exhibition comprises photographs resulting from more than fifty visits to Thorp Perrow Arboretum, displaying its remarkable appeal throughout the year.
Born in North Yorkshire and having spent most of his life in the area, Rod now lives near to Northallerton, a base he regards as ideal for landscape photography, being midway between the North York Moors and the Yorkshire Dales.
His interest and involvement in photography spans more than forty years, but it is only in the last five years that he has been able to dedicate significant time to his passion for landscape photography. Having always had a great affinity for water, woodland, plants and the special quality of light early and late in the day, photographing them is now something of an obsession for him.
Another of his passions is image quality, so, despite the vast quality improvements in digital cameras in recent years, he continues to shoot on transparency film using a 5"x4" large format camera to achieve astonishing levels of detail and tonal variation in his prints. In addition to superb quality, the format offers precise control of perspective/focal planes and a large ground-glass screen for image composition, features he considers indispensable to his contemplative style of photography.
This, his first major exhibition, combines each of these elements to depict the changing phases at Thorp Perrrow throughout the seasons and is the culmination of more than fifty visits to photograph the arboretum. It is not a catalogue of all that can be seen and enjoyed at Thorp Perrow. Rather, it is a highly intimate portrait of plants, shrubs and trees that have become his cherished favourites over many years. The exhibition seeks to reflect the diversity, splendour and, above all, tranquillity that lure him time and again to Thorp Perrow.
A Year at Thorp Perrow is on display at Richmond Station until May 13.
You can see more of Rod's work at his website www.rodbenningtonphotography.com.
