This is neither an ad nor a puff but a brief note on a small, independent publisher, based near Inverness, that I have come across relatively recently, that fits very well with the way I have come to think of landscape photography.
My first encounter with this press was through a book by Frances Scott, titled Undertow, photographs taken around her home in Orkney. I was attracted partly by the connection with Orkney – my wife had a friend who used to live on Shapinsay, whom we visited some few years ago, and provided a stepping off point to visit a number (but by no means all) of the islands over a couple of trips. (We had planned to visit Papa Westray a couple of years ago, but were prevented by bad weather – we were due to land by Gemini from a larger boat but the approach was more than a mile and at the time the weather conditions made it unsafe.) More importantly, it deals with the connections between people, landscape, and the act of photography.
One of the striking elements of her book is the combination of photographs with maps of the walks that she undertook while taking the photographs. Whilst not in itself a direct, conscious, influence, this echoes with the work that I did for Assignment 2. It also resonates with the work of Zoe Childerley (The Debatable Lands) that has had a much more direct impact, as I have discussed in previous posts, not least on the book that I made for that assignment. I am, by the way, delighted to see that Zoe’s book, Dinosaur Dust – shot in Joshua Tree National Park in California, somewhere I have been a number of times and love for its otherworldliness – is at last making it into print courtesy of another | place. A copy is naturally on order!
The series of Field Notes is of particular interest and relevance to my own recent practice, focusing as it does, on the relationship between people and place, not least because of their affordability – but beware the short print runs, blink and you might miss them!
While much of publishing is beset with difficulties, notwithstanding – or perhaps because of? – the huge number of new titles that continue to appear, it is encouraging to see that there are smaller imprints out there producing work of the highest quality and evidently thriving (as much as anyone can in the current climate).
Childerley, Z, (2016) The Debatable Lands. High Green: VARC
Scott, F, (2020). Undertow. Jamestown: another | place
Mark Robinson's OCA Landscape, Place & Environment Blog 