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Subcribe to comment rss feedMatt Oliver chooses one of his favourite images
Matt Oliver
I've been a professional photographer for the past 20 years and enjoy the Landscape as a balance to my day to day commercial work. Living on the edge of the Peak District allows me time to explore the beautiful countryside and what this stunning part of the UK has to offer.
When asked to write for On Landscapes’ end frame feature, I jumped at the chance, a fantastic opportunity to share and talk about a favourite image and photographer of mine! Then the reality of the challenge set in, actually narrowing down the choice to one image, hugely difficult.
As I have explored photographers’ work over the years, obvious choices stood out.
Joe Cornish's images have always inspired me. My bookshelf is littered with his amazing work, along with Bruce Percy, David Ward, and Hans Strand.
More recently Neil Burnell and Dylan Nardini have been regular views in my browser. Both of these photographers have a real fresh and original take on photography with images taken in dramatic light, in unique and creative ways.
Viewing and becoming absorbed in other photographers’ work has definitely helped me improve my creative journey. I feel it’s a must to learn and be inspired. Watching others follow their path has eventually led to me finding my own.
In the process of thinking about the article it reminded me of the earlier days of taking landscape pictures.
Back then, the online gallery Flickr was a popular resource. There was a group of photographers that all ventured out into the Peak District who used this platform and it became quite a community sharing and commenting across each other’s pictures.
One of these photographers is called Jeremy Barrett. I had admired his work for a while, his pictures often muted in colour and packed full of brooding moodiness. His woodland images always stood out, organising the chaos into constructive and beautiful ways, capturing fantastic scenes in stunning light.
The image of Jeremy's I've chosen is from a popular spot for walkers and photographers alike. An ancient woodland, full of history. Trees that have stood probably for hundreds of years, intertwined, creating relationships of shapes, patterns and textures.
It's an amazing location but is notoriously difficult to produce balanced and coherent pictures.
Jeremy cleverly captures photographs of this area using a wide field of view whilst maintaining a compressed depth of field. This gives a wonderful perspective to the pictures. You are pulled into the image, giving your eye a magical journey through the photograph
This image called "Dance off" is a great example. It is a photograph that immediately caught my eye. The composition is very dynamic; the wonderful branches on the left lead the eye to the centre of the image, along to the twisted bark of the opposing tree, tying both sides of the view together perfectly. Using the bank of the ravine beyond offers more textures to view and explore. The more you look the more the image reveals itself. You begin to see the mossy boulders and the old stonewall, the history of the place, it is a picture you really want to take time to view.
I admire the way Jeremy uses the contrast and luminosity, such an important element, often overlooked. The picture packs a punch of deep blacks, but still retains subtle tones through the grasses and leaves, it gives the image a real depth from front to back. The toning and subtle hues are very familiar to Jeremy's work and sit perfectly with this photograph giving it a wonderful mood and atmosphere.
Finally, the use of panoramic crop on this picture makes you feel as if you were stood in that exact spot, sharing the view; you can almost hear the woodland sounds and smell the crisp air. It surely is the next best thing to actually being there, and for me that's a sign of a great picture.