As you can see from the dates on my blog posts, I have taken some time away from this project. For two reasons, one being the fact I needed to spend time on the modules that I handed in last week. But also because I felt like I needed some time to subconsciously think about this body of work away from the pressure of making photographs pulling direction out of research that I might not have found so relevant. In this time, I have not put the camera down, perhaps not shooting as often as I would have liked to. However, I have been shooting over the past 6 weeks, maybe with little intentions and not that much thought in the reasoning as to why I was taking them. While looking in my Lightroom at the photographs that I have been taking, I have realised that there are some patterns and an emerging aesthetic to the images that I have been making. Mostly shot on digital and documenting the people that I have been exploring this part of the world with over the past month and a half. Hiking on Dartmoor with my Mum and friends while exploring Devon and Cornwall with my girlfriend Mary. All of these places that I find myself in are places which not only am I drawn to, but some of the closest people in my life are also drawn to.
A lot of unconscious thought has been bubbling away in the back of my head over the past few weeks. I did not question myself when I was taking these photographs, however, looking at them I can break down the why. Being in the landscape and natural world is my happy place. A place and happiness that I share with the people around me and that is expressed in the smiles that I have captured while out and about exploring. The “why” for me, is that I feel most alive when I am in the land, I feel like this is what life is about and all of the unnecessary stresses of life fall away. This feeling of finding contentment, happiness and silence is something that I have photographed before however failed to convey the reasoning behind the work. Going forward I am going to dig deeper into my personal philosophy of the land and the reasons why I feel most alive in the landscape as well as researching landscape photographers and their reasons for why they produce the work they do.