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Jon Brock
As well as holding down a busy job, I am a landscape photographer in my spare time. I am based in Yorkshire, England. My photography practice has evolved over more than thirty years from 35mm film, through a long period using exclusively large format cameras and sheet film and finally transitioning to digital cameras. In terms of vision, there are two distinct sides to my work - the representational and the non representational - and I enjoy both.
Just under a year ago, I penned an article here presenting my first impressions of the GFX Cambo Actus MV technical camera. Whilst it was in part a camera review, it was primarily about the importance of finding and mastering a stable digital camera system which aligns well to realising your vision. Over the next few months, I was able to enjoy a period of sustained photography with the camera as I took a sabbatical from work visiting Wales, The Lakes, Scotland, Northumberland and Iceland. That time also included two photographic workshops.
The success of my shift to the Actus MV over the last 12 months has been pleasing, but it got me thinking. It was time for a retrospective. Why was I feeling so good about my image making and photographic development over the last year in a way that was similar to my large format heyday of 2009-2015. Equally, why do I dislike most of my output from the moment I switched to digital in 2017 until last year?
It dawned on me that I have made more changes in the last 12 months than just swapping my camera - I have finally rebuilt the photographic process I had running in my film days.