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Hilary Barton
I've always taken "snaps" on holiday, but I fell in love with "real" photography 8 years ago on an expedition through the New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Islands to Mawson's Huts in Antarctica. I also fell in love with the polar regions and I return whenever I can.
The end frame series of articles has always been one of my favourite parts of On Landscape. All the agonising about which photographer to choose, which of their images to select, all the possible alternatives, how to explain the emotional impact of the chosen image, etc., etc.
It didn’t take me long to select my favourite photographer: the work of Niall Benvie has been inspiring and challenging me since I took up photography about 12 years ago. My fascination started when a photographic society colleague and I experimented with Niall’s “Meet your neighbours” techniques as part of a worldwide network of people using the same protocols. The technique was valuable again during lockdown when we all reacquainted ourselves with our neighbours.
His work ranges, from what he terms “Classic Wild” through to his more recent deeply thoughtful and disturbing “Despatches from the Collapse”, is breathtaking. He features frequently in On Landscape, and deservedly so. It is hard to keep up with him, his imagination, technical skill, teaching ability, aesthetic sensibility, thoughtfulness, care for the planet…
Choosing a single image from such a catalogue is an order of magnitude more difficult. In the end, I decided it almost didn’t matter which image I chose. They are all my favourites, and any one would be wonderful. So here is “Colour transect #19, 57.868º N”.