The Seasons

This is my final portfolio and is all set in the 'Lincolnshire Wolds', an area just on my doorstep. I decided to include one or two views from gardens in the area as the subject is an interest of mine. I see gardens as manmade landscapes in miniature and works of art in their own right, often with just a bigger canvas. As I view the images I have taken in Lincolnshire I realise that almost all are manmade landscape. Where I live is heavily farmed and all of my images are of manmade landscapes albeit farmland. There are no areas of natural, original landscape in the county - nothing untouched by man.

The UK is predominantly farmed and this has a great effect on the landscape around us, and none more so than the east of the country where I am based. Liz Wells alludes to this fact in her book ‘Land Matters’ in which she notes. “In principle, land is a natural phenomenon. Britain offers a particularly interesting case as all land has been mapped and subjected to human intervention,” (Liz Wells, Land Matters, Landscape Photography, Culture and Identity p.162 Published I.B.Tauris).

The style of my work has been influenced somewhat by Joe Cornish, not so much the equipment he uses but his principle “First, light. Everything else follows,” (First Light, Joe Cornish, Argentum) Although the subjects I have photographed look great, no matter the light or weather I hope to photograph the views the warm light and colours to lift the pictures beyond the mundane and ordinary. I am trying to broaden my concept of what landscape photography is (for me I confess it was the most aesthetically pleasing or dramatic picture I could take), especially after viewing the work of Jem Southam and John Davies, whose work involves landscapes but their use is to document and attempt to tell a story rather than simply to preserve the beauty of an area at a particular point in time. I have used landscapes in my documentary work (Bosnia, 10 Years After The War) but it was part of a story making process rather than the specific photographic discipline of landscapes. I am hopefully learning not to see the disciplines of landscape, portraiture, documentary in such ‘absolute’ terms.

Lincolnshire is a farming county and the landscape is a mixture of fen and the gently rolling hills of the ‘Lincolnshire Wolds’ these pictures were taken predominately in the sunlit ‘uplands’ of the ‘Wolds.’ My preference, as I was born in the ‘Fens’ and believe me you can just have too much sky and not enough hills. This never ending vista of sky, especially on a winters day can at times leave you with a distinct feeling of melancholy.

Above is a typical Lincolnshire Fenland scene with pylons breaking the skyline. This flatness carries on for miles in every direction with little to interest the eye, apart form the sky.

The pictures I have taken reflect the seasons in this area, especially the crops that are grown, the summer corn, the bales of straw, the oil seed rape, the flowers in the garden, the leaves on the trees or the snow on the ground, the changing light from season to season, bright and vibrant in spring, watery and cold in the winter. This set typifies the year in the Lincolnshire Wolds. The Lincolnshire Fens are another project entirely.

If you wish to see larger images please click on the link below.

http://www.nick-johnson.co.uk/The_Seasons/

Picture Captions

1 Growing Crops & Unfurling Trees

2 Spring in the Woods

3 Spring Crops in the Lincolnshire Wolds

4 Summer in a Lincolnshire Garden

5 Ripening Crops and Sky

6 Rolling Fields and Straw Bales

7 Autumn Flower Border in a Lincolnshire Garden

8 Autumn Leaves at Sunrise

9 Changing Leaves