Wild Comfort

“Do not be surprised that the return of the light lifts your spirits. Do not be surprised that warmth on your back calms you and makes you glad…this is part of who you have been for a million years. Find the warm places; do not expect them to come to you. When you find them, stay there and be still.” (A passage from ‘Wild Comfort – The Solace of Nature,’ by Kathleen Dean Moore).

Recently I started re-reading a book that I previously stopped reading after a few chapters. I didn’t stop reading it for any other reason than not finding the time to continue, but re-reading the initial chapters now, however, reminded me of why I bought the book the above passage is taken from. So much of the book and the author’s experiences and thoughts chime with something in me – a something that I find has been growing year upon year for the last few years and even more so now that I have learned to ‘hear’ the feelings within me. It’s as if I have somehow found the frequency that my inner mind broadcasts on from the depths that tend to stay buried and hidden under the detritus from the activities of modern daily life.

Last December we returned to Canada. As always with my personal work, I used only film. I have come to realise just how much shooting film fits in with the ethos of the passage above; aesthetics of the finished image aside, the process allows me to feel much more from the moment than I ever can when I have a digital camera in my hand, LCD screen glowing away to show you what you can see better in your own mind if you allow it. I’ve not done anything ‘formal’ with the photographs from this recent trip, partly out of busy-ness but partly out of wanting to give them the attention they deserve and not rushing into anything. Aside from having shared single images here and there, this is the first ‘mini collection’ that I’ve put together. I put them together based on the feelings they evoked within me both at the time I took them as well as when I look at them now. For me, implicit in this collection is a sense of wonder, wilderness, nature and peace.

For the technical among you they are all shot on either my Pentax 67ii or Leica M6, using either Fuji 400H or Portra 800, and of course they’re all developed and scanned at UK Film Lab. I think that takes care of all the information people tend to ask, but what I would really love to know is what sense you get from these photos. How do they make you feel?