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Charlotte Parkin

Head of Marketing & Sub Editor for On Landscape. Dabble in digital photography, open water swimmer, cooking buff & yogi.

Although usually working behind the scenes for On Landscape, Charlotte has been convinced (and it took a while) that she should write an Endframe for us. Take it away Charlotte...

Although I have always accompanied Tim on his photography days out, I have only started dabbling in photography since I inherited Tim’s old Sony A7R in 2015 used with a 50mm Canon FD f/1.4 lens and tilt adapter. I’ve always been a keen hill walker as far back as I can remember and as a child I was always out in the back garden or down by the stream catching frogs. Being out in nature grounds me, restores my energy and resets my balance - letting go of the hustle and bustle and enjoying the tranquility that nature brings. I’ll have packed in the rucksack (apart from the extra lens’s, film and gadgets), butties, my Trangia and utensils to make a cup of tea and coffee.

Whilst I sit and drink my tea, I soak up the landscape, the light and enjoy the quiet time to reflect. I don’t remember the large landscapes when I’ve been out. In those moments of tranquility, it’s the small elements I remember - the light dancing through the leaves on the trees or the frost glistening on the grass in the sunrise. These capture the essence of the moment and for me evoke memories and emotions better than the larger views.

I have found Sandra Bartocha’s photography an inspiration for sometime and was lucky enough to meet her last year at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards dinner and to see her new book Lys.

This image reminds me of cold snowy days like when I was on holiday in Iceland in Myvatn with Tim and our friends, David and Angie Unsworth.

It inspires me to try new compositions and to get out in the landscape. Now, up in the Highlands, I’m looking forward to taking the opportunities to explore both the wilderness and my photography.

Notes from Sandra

Gespensterwald (ghostly forest) is an old beech forest near Nienhagen, Germany. It is buffeted by winds from the Baltic Sea, and these have contributed to the lack of ground cover and the forest's reputation as a spooky place.

For Sandra, however, the forest is 'utterly beautiful'. After a heavy snowfall in January, she spent the day alone in the forest. 'It was so silent,' she says, 'that I could hear my heart pounding.'

But it was only when it started to get dark and the snow began to fall again that she had the chance to create the surreal composition she hoped for, with the trees disappearing into snow and a curtain of large, magical flakes falling in the foreground.



Image: The magical forest by #WPYalumni Sandra Bartocha Photography, Germany.
Runner-up 2010, Creative Vision.