FAY GODWIN
Fay Godwin (1931 – 2005) was a British photographer known for her black and white landscapes of the British countryside and coast. She produced portraits of dozens of well-known writers, photographing almost every significant literary figure in 1970s and 1980s England, as well as numerous visiting foreign authors. After the publication of her first books he was a prolific publisher, working mainly in the landscape tradition to great acclaim and becoming the nation’s most well-known landscape photographer. Her early and mature work was informed by the sense of ecological crisis present in late 1970s and 1980s England.
IMAGE ANALYSIS
Godwin has used utilised the natural lighting available to her in this photograph, and has avoided using any form of artificial lighting as the image was captured in an outdoor environment. There is a range of tones in the image, varying from dark and almost black in the grass, and much brighter ones in the sky and clouds. Additionally, the photograph being captured in black and white adds to the contrast between them. However, the colours in this image are not entirely black and white as they fall somewhere in the middle, which still leaves the photograph feeling natural and untouched. Godwin has positioned herself in the middle of the pathway in the photograph, which has lead to leading lines being presented to the viewer, drawing their eyes to a singular focal point (where the pathway meets the hill in the background). This focal point is also in the centre and the middle ground of the photograph, which again draws the viewer’s eye to this particular point. We can see that there is repetition present in the photograph in the grass in the foreground as they are all positioned in the same way. The texture of the grass is also still clearly visible through the image, and the rough surface contrasts to the soft look of the clouds in the sky as well as the smooth look of the hill in the background.
CLASSWORK – EVALUATING A PHOTOGRAPH
This photograph is of a path leading to a reservoir in the countryside and is aptly named ‘Path and Reservoir’. It was captured in Yorkshire in 1977 by Fay Godwin. Godwin was known for being a part of The Ramblers, which is Great Britain’s leading walking charity that celebrates the pleasures of walking and aims to protect the places people love to walk. They believe everyone, everywhere should be able to experience the joy of walking and have access to green spaces to walk close to home. It is very possible that Godwin took photographs such as this as a way to show her love for the countryside and her evident disdain at the growing privatisation of the environment by big businesses. In the foreground of the image there is a wooden path which leads to the middle ground of the photograph and draws the viewer’s eye to the dividing line in the middle of the image. Perhaps it was her intention to use the edges of the pathway as leading lines towards the middle of the photograph, thus creating a focal point for the viewer. which is the edge of the hill that the path is on. She appears to have kept the photograph as natural as possible, probably as a way to give the viewer a realistic depiction of the countryside that she is seeing. She has also captured this image in black and white, which may have been an artistic choice; this was taken in 1977 when, although coloured cameras were available, many photographers still chose to shoot in black and white. However, the photograph is not completely black and white, as different hues of tones can be seen in the grass and the hills in the background. We can tell she has used natural lighting as the photograph is of the outdoor environment. Godwin most probably placed herself in an intentional position when she took the image. There are multiple curvy and natural lines in the image, shown by the dividing lines of the fields in the background and the clouds in the sky. This could emphasise Godwin’s intention to show the natural landscape in an organic and raw way, as it has not been made straight, rigid or repetitive by humans. I think that Godwin wanted the viewer of this photograph to feel inspired and in awe of the natural beauty of the countryside.