Jim Gollan @ OCA Landscape: Assignment 5 (Final)

Introduction

I reviewed the choice of images used in my tutor assignment and decided to replace one of them (New Buildings - 3rd image), in response to feedback that Robert Adams favoured the wide angle approach whereas on occasions I had used a telephoto lens - too directed.

Also, I removed dust marks and any other blemishes that I could find. (I hadn't realised how dirty the sensor had become on my Nikon, so I sent that for cleaning as well).

I also edited the text supporting the assignment after further reflection.

Images

SALISBURY PLAIN

Like most people, when I photograph land with which I have a connection, it is a richer experience than when nit. The act of raising the camera to my eye also lets me see detail that you have not noticed before.

My connection to Salisbury Plain goes back 35 years, mainly as a place through which I have driven on the way to see relatives and less often stopped to walk its paths. What has struck me over the years is how human intrusion on Salisbury Plain has also marked the land.

Robert Adams' The New West - Landscapes along the Colorado Front Range' is an outstanding expression of how man's activities encroach upon land, some of it rapacious, much of it thoughtless. So, following Adams style was a strong choice to communicate this phenomenon on Salisbury Plain.

Nevertheless, as Adams said, this is the only land we have so we must also see in it as much beauty as we can.

ARMY

The maps of the area show numerous camps and ranges supporting the army's activities. Seen from the civilian side its presence is mostly a series of warning signs that mark its territory off . Mostly tidy symbols not in keeping with the scale of the stated threat.

Signs near Bulford Camp

Tank crossing on the road to Collingbourne Ducis

Unexploded ordnance near Rushall

PYLONS AND MASTS

The area bristles with electricity pylons, telephone lines, mobile phone masts and military communication towers. Scars, yes, but also oddly beautiful at times.

Pylons near Larkhill

Communication towers, telephone lines and
lamp posts on the road to Bulford

Mobile phone masts in a field near Upavon

THE ROAD

The A303, the one of the main highways running between the South East and South West, runs through the heart of the Plain, an artery of commercial, commuting and tourist traffic. This creates demand for roadside services. Here no expediency is spared.

Solstice Park Services with mock Neanderthal man
in front of the Holiday Inn

The Road on a quiet morning in May

Waste ground left by developer at Solstice Park

NEW BUILDINGS

Land gets consumed for new development, the factory and the house, with the help of the bulldozer and the crane. What will this space look like in 50 or 100 years' time? Not promising.