Welcome to the first of my #photowalk posts, of which there will be zillions (if that is humanly possible). There will be a few of them let's say!
On this occasion we find ourselves in the North of Hampshire, very nearly in neighbouring Berkshire exploring the historic Roman Town of Silchester. Not many Romans there now, but it must have been a hive (pun intended) of activity in the year of 45AD.
Silchester was originally the centre of the Iron Age Kingdom of the Atrebates from around the 1st century BC. Then after the Roman conquest in 43 AD, the town became Calleva Atrebatum. Two years on it had become a thriving large town.
Over the years we have spent a lot of time there. I've always lived in the area, albeit in different locations and in 2022 we will be moving. It just so happens we will be closer to Silchester when we do and thats fantastic. There is a lot to love in the area. I've been scouting a little bit and have a number of ideas for photography projects.
I had the place to myself, it was surreal, all I could hear was the whisper of the wind, I felt truly at ease and it was fine to stop and absorb my surroundings. You become hyper aware, to the point of being part of it. You hear everything, your senses are on another level. I feel that we don't do enough of this in this world, which is a shame.
The light wasn't good at all but I thought "sod it" and on my way over to the location I had decided on doing some black & white work.
I can remember before the pandemic kicked in, literally February 2020, we visited Don McCullin's exhibition "The Stillness in Time" over at Hauser & Wirth, Bruton in Somerset. I was very much inspired by the selection of documentary photos spanning his career; however it was his landscape photos created close to his home in the same county that took my breath away. I'd never seen those before.
The first of these two photos, I took whilst looking into the area where the Roman town once stood. The land nowadays used for livestock grazing. Some of the concrete blocks I guess would have been used for propping up troughs for animal feed and water.
It's moments like this when you can imagine what the place must have been like around 2000 years ago, the smells, the sounds, the people, the atmosphere. Nowadays it is very still, almost haunting, in a tranquil sense of the word. The atmosphere felt brittle, as if the flap of a bird's wing could shatter it.
In the second of the two photos, I introduce the star of the show, the wall itself! It is incredible to note how well preserved it is, in places especially well. You can spot the layers of materials used over the course of time, from Iron Age, to Roman, to now.
I would like to introduce my #churches project which I started a little while back and I'll introduce you to it properly soon. It's an ambitious one, that's all I can say.
So whilst out on this walk today, I thought it would be a great chance to gather some more images for it.
Since the light levels outside had dropped even further, I stepped inside, cranked up the ISO to 3200 and gave it a go basically. I was happy with the outcome. It is just as much fun to work with little light than lots of it. Modern cameras are simply amazing in these circumstances.
I did a little bit of tonal editing on the last two to enhance the atmosphere. I used two different methods to create quite different styles of photo.
Thanks for reading everyone, I am looking forward to publishing more. I have a plenty in the archives to write about and loads of ideas for future projects. Catch you soon!
