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Brian Northmore

I have been taking photographs for nearly 30 years, tackling most subjects during this time. But for the last 20 years monochrome and landscape photography have remained close companions. Living on the edge of the Dartmoor National Park, is great giving very easy access to some great subject matter. Photography for me regardless of the subject is as much about the process as the finished photograph. The act of concentrating all your senses on the subject and excluding everything else is a great escape from a normally very busy life.

dartmoor20.co.uk

I’m delighted that I was asked by On Landscape to write this End Frame article. It's not often that you are given the chance to share your views with such a knowledgeable and passionate readership. It’s daunting to comment on a photograph made by a true master of the genre. So, thank you Simon Baxter for agreeing to this.

When I was asked to write this piece and given the freedom to choose any photograph, I chose the photographer first. It's the photographer who makes the image never the other way around. I admire Simon’s approach to photography. It is clear in what he says, how he works, and in the photographs that he makes the subject come first. His connection to the woodland landscape has deep roots, from childhood adventures to more recent rejuvenating and therapeutic strolls with Meg - his four-legged companion. His subject-first, photograph-second approach leads him to take images that are deeply satisfying to him, and his photographs are highly regarded by the landscape photography community,  something to aspire to for all woodland photographers.

Choosing the photograph wasn’t so easy. If you have never visited Simon’s website I urge you to look as soon as possible. It's not easy to skim through the portfolios as each photograph draws you in. So, out of the many possibilities, why did I choose Flow? There are many reasons I felt a strong connection to this photograph; I kept returning time and again. For me, that is the mark of a great image. But it wouldn’t be an end frame article without gently peeling the layers back; to do this, I had to spend a good few hours with the photograph. 

Technical excellence is evident in all of Simon’s photographs. In Flow it can be seen in the careful and clever use of colour, the subtle and gradual desaturation of the greens as the woodland is consumed by the blanket of mist. With so much green it would be easy for the photograph to have taken on a very monochromatic feel.  But the dusting of coppery tones adds enough interest to strengthen the base of the image, leaving a resting place for your eyes.  It's not restricted to just the colour, the handling of shadows and highlights, or maybe, I should say, the absence of any deep shadows or highlights adds to the gentle ethereal feel that this photograph has. The subtle lighting of the centre of this image invokes a sense of depth, a classic technique skillfully done to draw the viewer in. Is this why I chose Flow for my end frame? Partly.

Mastery of the technical allows the photographer to bring their creative vision to life. Surrounded by the chaos of woodland, being able to pick out complementary shapes and combining them into a cohesive composition is one of the hardest sub-genres of Landscape photography. Flow works on many levels; the repetitive motion of the trees from right to left mimics the slope of the ground and the way the branches gently exit stage right, none of them connect with the top corner; how many photographers would have had the branches exit here as a powerful compositional element? But here it would have caused a point of visual tension capturing the viewer's eye. The natural vignetting of the corners using the tree canopy is enough to ask the viewer to return to the lighter centre of the frame. Subtle detail can be drawn out by peering through the mist, inviting you to linger a little longer. Notice how the centre is underlined by the subtle, unbroken carpet of autumnal ferns. The subtle vignette, depth, use of colour and gentle flow from left to right would be enough on its own to choose the photograph.

But there is one more visual delight, a compositional stroke of genius that disrupts the flow. The upright broken branch in the distant centre frame is mimicked and powerfully matched by its closer cousin,  top and centre. They share a compelling connection and play off each other, bouncing the viewer back and forth until there is no choice but to look away. This is what kept me coming back and why I chose Flow as my end frame.

Now, I dare you to look at the photograph again.