The Hikes That Didn’t Happen
Field Notes - Issue 2
I signed off from work on Friday 23rd December and would not be returning to work until January 3rd. I began final preparations for the season’s gift-giving and festivities. I was excited to spend time with friends and family. In the back of my mind, I also felt anticipation for the post-Christmas week. As well as catching up on some long-finger jobs around the house, I hoped to be able to get a couple of hikes in. I hadn’t been in the mountains in weeks. Maybe longer.
Unfortunately, once Christmas Day and St. Stephen’s Day had come and gone, I began to feel ill. As with much of the country (it seemed), I picked up some kind of cold or flu virus over Christmas. I’m still feeling sick as I write this, but not as bad as I felt a couple of days ago. Sickness, coupled with some bad weather, made hiking impossible for the majority of the holidays, but even still I had earmarked New Year’s Day (or possibly even Monday 2nd - today, as I write this) as potential days to get out. The weather forecast looked bright and dry.
I woke up yesterday (New Year’s Day) feeling pretty unwell. It didn’t help that when I opened the curtains in the sitting room the sun was glowing on the Galtee mountains, its harsh light softened by some low cloud cushioned into the hills. A fantastic day for landscape photography, and a lovely day for hiking.
The day was spent at home.
With the passing of 2022, and the coming of 2023, I began to reflect on what I had done in the past year, and what kind of changes I wanted to make in 2023.
Within the context of my life (of safety and privilege), 2022 was relatively turbulent. Changing career after a 7 year stint in one organisation. Walking away from friends I had worked with for a long time. Walking away from students I had worked with, the amazing people I met. It was a hard thing to do.
2022 was also the best year of my life. I started a new kind of role in a new area which I’m passionate about. I got to know new people. I rediscovered a drive and career focus that I had lost. I became a better person.
I made some lifestyle changes too. In early January, almost exactly a year ago, I became vegetarian. I lost weight - a process which had begun the previous year, but I “completed” in 2022, reaching my desired (and a healthy) weight. Two or three years ago, I was around two stone heavier. Now, as 2022 comes to a close, I feel fitter than I’ve ever been. Despite the grey hairs… Besides calorie counting and a little bit of nutritional planning, 6-a-side football, running and hiking have all played a role in that. Playing football twice a week is a basic joy to me. It’s a release of tension.
Hiking and photography, however, are more therapeutic. They allow me to engage with the world around me. That’s why it was disappointing not to be able to get out during the holidays. It’s that feeling of missing out on an opportunity. But there is a year of opportunity ahead, and staying at home gave me time to think about that. It’s during these opening weeks of 2023 that I am trying to define exactly what my photographic process will look like this year.
I’ve made a list of the things I want to do with my photography in 2023. Everyone loves a list (right?), and I am no different! Here are my Top 3 Plans for 2023:
Tell stories
I want this blog to be the centre of everything I do. I want to show you where I’ve been, why I went there, what it smelled like, what I photographed there, and so on… I want to show you the process, the trips, the thoughts - not just the resulting images. That will mean writing this blog a hell of a lot more regularly. I’m going to build a diary of sorts here, which I hope will document my next project from start to finish in a way that’s more interesting and engaging for viewers/readers than merely looking at a final series of images.
Business takes a back seat
As mentioned earlier, I have a full-time job. I’m not reliant on photography for income. I really enjoyed selling my prints of the Galtee Mountains last year - especially at Christmas markets where I met such lovely people in the local area - and I will continue to sell at a few markets throughout this year. My online shop will remain open while stock remains, but I will not be pushing it. In 2023, I want to share with you more openly and more intimately. I’m in the process of rethinking the way I practice photography (more on that below) and I’d love to share that journey with you.
Rethink how I’m engaging with landscape
I’ve been reading a blog. It’s called Where will the frogs sing? The blog follows an ongoing collaboration between two Canadian artists - Vera Saltzman and Sue Bland - living in Saskatchewan, Western Canada. The theme of their collaboration is a creative response to the destruction of wild spaces by human beings, particularly colonial settlers in Saskatchewan, and how we might alter our approach to engage with the land in a more authentic, more environmentally conscious way. The blog posts and the conversations that have generated around them have spurred me into thinking more deeply about how I engage with the mountains on my doorstep.
Firstly, I’d like to educate myself on how humans have altered the landscape over time. Sometimes the evidence of this is so subtle that you may think you’re looking at something totally natural. A dyke may be a drain, for instance, to clear water off the hills. Vera and Sue reference the author Amitav Ghosh’s adoption of the word “terraforming” from science fiction to explain this idea of humans shaping and arranging wild places for their own use. I’m not interested in completely changing direction in my photography and becoming an eco-activist, but it’s just something to be mindful of when spending time in the hills. To be conscious of what I’m photographing.
Secondly, I want to push myself to engage with landscapes more directly, without classifying them. Vera and Sue consider this act to be part of the colonial tradition, to classify wild places and neatly order them in a way that suits new settlers. There are other cultures around the world that respond to and respect nature as it is, without having to yield it, or present it in any way. To be honest, I am very much unsure about how exactly to go about this, but I really want to try.
Finally, tying in with the points made above, I’m going to strive towards narrative, and story, and history, geology - rather than simply trying to beautify the landscapes I photograph. I want to get to the very soul of the mountains.
Should be an easy enough task, right? :)
Here is a link to the blog mentioned above:
Thanks for reading!
If you have any thoughts on what I’ve laid out above (I really hope it made some kind of sense), any recommendations for further reading or listening, I’d love to hear them. Please drop me a comment or message either on Instagram (@alantobinphoto) or by email (hello@alantobinphotography.com).
Happy New Year!
Alan
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