End frame: ‘A seat not taken’ by Lars van de Goor

Nicky Goodfellow

Nicky is a Medical/Landscape Photographer based in Perthshire Scotland. Brought up in the Perthshire countryside, Nicky has a natural affinity towards nature. In addition to capturing the wild and rugged landscapes of Scotland Nicky's true passion lies in portraying the unique beauty of trees and woodlands throughout the seasons. Nicky's detailed study of decaying holly leaves entitled 'Beauty in Decay' won her the 'Your View' category in the 'Landscape Photographer of the Year' 2018 awards. Nicky has also been shortlisted and commended in several major photography awards, including the 'International Images for Science' awards.

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I was extremely surprised and very humbled when approached by Charlotte to write this article. I enjoy writing and it would be a nice distraction from the woeful events of late, and also keep me occupied during the crippling lockdown conditions imposed on us all when escaping into the great outdoors on a weekend was not an option, and instead of climbing the hills, I was climbing the walls!

I gratefully accepted.

Choose a favourite image, oh that should be easy, or so I thought......!

When it came to the selection process, I was enveloped by a huge wave of panic....out of the vast array of stunning images I had viewed over the years, how on earth could I select just ONE?

As with other aspects in my life I set about the task with military precision. I had one particular photographer’s images in mind right from the start, but a lot of images had struck a chord with me throughout the years so I decided to take a 'process of elimination' approach.

When I started my landscape photography journey way back in my college days, (cough) 30 years ago, I was influenced by photographers such as Ansel Adams, Charlie Waite and Colin Prior. One of the first photography books I purchased (bar Michael Langford’s 'The Darkroom Handbook') was Charlie's 'The Making of Landscape Photographs'. A book, which I'm sure most of us have languishing on a dusty bookshelf somewhere! The images inspired me, as did the narrative behind them.

Further on in my landscape photography journey, I developed a penchant for collecting 'coffee table' photo books and stumbled across many diverse and talented photographers along the way, whose images were a source of inspiration for times where I was lacking motivation.

There had been many images in those books which had caught my eye, so I made a coffee (or two), put some relaxing Miles Davis on and settled down for the afternoon to pore through a selection of my books in search of that illusive 'favourite'.

From Monochrome genius Michael Kenna’s hauntingly beautiful images of France and Japan, to Bruce Percy’s minimalist style demonstrated in his Iceland series; Julian Calverley’s dark and dramatic images of the north of Scotland to Colin Bell’s delicate series of Tarn photographs.....I had my work cut out!

There was also the Landscape Photographer of the Year series of books, containing many imaginative images from well-known and not so well-known names, and not forgetting all the images that I had viewed in my vast collection of 'Outdoor Photography' Magazines.

Additionally, I had viewed copious amounts of stunning images online over the years, including Mark Littlejohn’s split-tone wonders; Valda Bailey’s cleverly crafted ICM/multiple exposure work; Paul Kenny’s brilliantly executed ‘Seaworks’ series and Paul Mitchell’s atmospheric woodland images, to name but a few.

I managed eventually (three days later) to narrow down some of my favourites, but ultimately, I kept returning to one photographer in particular whose images really stir something inside me, and that photographer is Lars van de Goor.

It was by chance that I stumbled upon Lars' work when I joined Flickr in 2008. I remember being astounded by the sheer beauty and power of his images and was in such awe of his talent to be able to convey the atmosphere of the woodland through his imagery. I also marvelled at his artistic approach to the subject.

Lars van de Goor was born in 1964 on a houseboat in the middle of farmland in the Netherlands where he grew up being 'virtually part of the nature that surrounded him'. His first passion was music, and then in 2007, he took up landscape photography. He used to live near Amsterdam and cycled around his local area looking for locations to photograph. He took some images of a tree-lined canal, which sparked a lot of interest when he posted the image online, and then his photography career developed from there. The main theme of his work is the trees of his native Gelderland.