St. Lawrence Didmarton, Gloucestershire.
The photograph above is the result of seeking out photographer, Edwin Smith's photo locations and copying his compositions.
The method of working through his process, over and over again gave me a curious feeling of having him there with me - as a guide and teacher. By moving my camera and tripod into the space that he had chosen, I was able to gain access to the reasoning behind his composition which was governed as much by what he had chosen to leave out as much as what he had chosen to include.
I went away from Didmarton with a new and profound understanding of space and light but I also held a nagging feeling that there was something left unfinished. I later realised that I had to let go of the bonds of my teacher and find my own way and style of photography.
Much later I went back to Didmarton and worked through a composition on my own terms.
Looking back, I realise that following in Edwin Smith’s footsteps was never really about copying a photograph. It was about learning how to see. By standing where he stood, working through what he included and what he left out, I began to understand composition as a form of relationship between the self and place.
Imitation can only take us so far. At some point the teacher has to fall away, and the place itself has to speak. Returning to Didmarton allowed me to do that - to move from borrowed sight to my own, and to understand that influence is most valuable when it eventually gives us the confidence to depart from it.
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What stays with readers
That aura, those echoes - the muted light is transporting. What a space to feel rooted in history. I'd love to make that journey myself; you've stirred the opera lover and architectural dreamer in me.
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