of the land & us

a certain slant of light • Trish Morrissey

This is Nowhere

by Fabrizio Musu

"This is nowhere is a photographic diary dedicated to the northern tip of the peninsula of Sinis in Sardinia, where I grew up.”

Sea Shanties • Natalija Gormalova

Lanzarote • Giovanna Petrocchi

Flower Flower Water Light

by Nicola Jane Maskrey

"A travel diary of chaotic beauty and colourful abstraction. Documenting a road trip through the landscapes of the United Kingdom, France and Spain. Avoiding deliberate regional classification, images formed chronologically throughout my journey, unifying the three countries into one emotional state... I am interested in the perceived dichotomy between the transient and the permanent, and the fluidity of the experiential relationship with these states.”

Kolkata Blue • David Lurvey

Don’t make me look like the kids on TV • Dawit N. M.

“Weaving new photographs together with the old made it seem as if time was never linear. Without knowing it, this project became a personal journey through space and time in Ethiopia; a self-reflection on my life and identity while contrasting the outdated and awfully misleading images of Ethiopia.

It is unfortunate to know that many people are constantly being shown a false depiction of Ethiopia and other foreign countries. I hope with this project I can play a part in changing the thoughts and assumptions of Ethiopia and Africa as a whole.”

Kuçedra: Life on Europe’s last wild river 

Featured on of the land & us today is California-born photographer Nick St. Oegger, who is currently based in Dublin, Ireland. He came across the River Vjosa in Albania completely by chance after previously having fallen in love with the country when traveling there. St. Oegger’s wonderful and essential series is a documentation and conversation about this river, the last of its kind in Europe, and the land and people who surround it and are affected by it. A visual memorisation; something we too often seem to be doing to remember what we’ve lost so far and what we’re about to lose.

Les Sommets Inhabitables • Teo Becher

What is it about the landscape that captivates us so? What is it about being in solitude and wandering amongst the great mountain giants, the serene lakes seemingly made of mirror glass, the rumbling thunderous waves on those icy cold grey days, the wonder and mystery found between the tall forest trees?

Featured today is a series of photographs by Teo Becher who travelled to explore one place: the Maurienne Valley in Savoie, France.

The Giants Watch Us• Sarah Bejerano

"These passive giants remain expectant to the changes that should have taken place a few years ago. They carry an antinomy; despite their rigid structures, the beauty and harmony that characterises them lead us to think of their power to continue being themselves, emblems of change and movement."

coalville photographed • chris mear

Born, raised and currently living Leicestershire (UK), Chris Mear has been making photographs over the last decade about the industrial English landscape and its people, exploring its past and present. 

This week, we’re looking at some of Mear’s work and talking to him about how he uses his photography as a way to understand the social, economic and physical impact that the time of de-industrialisation, which coincided with his own lifetime, has had.

Temporary Still Lives • Ben Gowertt

Everything is constantly changing; between chaos and order, construction, demolition, reconstruction. 

But there are always moments happening which exhibit some kind of own momentum, perfection and calmness.

Greg & Butch • Remington Long

My dad knocked on my door at 5am and told me we were meeting our neighbour Butch at his ranch. Grudgingly I threw on a sweatshirt, grabbed a few rolls of film and hopped in the car. We met Butch at a blind he had set up deep in the foothills of his sprawling 2,000 acre cattle ranch. 

We sat for hours watching deer appear and disappear. Butch would yell out, "Didja see that Rem, did ya get a photo?", "Oh, Rem, now that is just a beautiful deer. Get a shot of that one!". 

And on it went. I couldn't tell who was having more fun - Butch telling me about the deer and demanding a photo, or me watching Butch get excited about the animals. Or my dad, laughing at the both of us. 

It was a morning I'll never forget.

GIB50 • Iggy Smalls

Born and raised in Norway, young photographer Iggy Smalls is now based in Spain, having studied for her degree in photography in Florida, USA.

This week, it is her project GIB50 which we are sharing; the series — both wonderful to look at and essential to consider — looks at the land and people of Gibraltar, the British Overseas Territory. On top of Gibraltar’s own history and experience with referendums, the much-debated and dicussed land seems to now be in an unsure state since it was decided that the UK would leave the EU.

30th December • Simon Bray

“On 30th December 2009, three days before his 52nd birthday, my dad passed away. After over fours years of trying to stop the cancer from altering his life, it got the better of him. He left us with the words, ‘faith in action’, to act on that which we believe, not a sentiment that I had heard him mention before, but one that I will never forget. 

Taking photographs suddenly became difficult, for months nothing seemed significant enough to be worthy of capturing in an image. It seemed trivial. Each year as the 30th day of December came around, we would spend time as a family and return to a place that was significant to dad, and just be together. Each year, with that physical acknowledgement of my loss, my desire to make photographs again grew. Now as a means of ritual and recognition, but more importantly my greatest means of expressing that which is within me, on that day I go and make photographs. Sometimes they are bleak, cold or empty; sometimes they are hopeful, amusing or feel more complete.

This set of images was taken at dawn in Winchester, Hampshire - the place he had called home for the majority of his life. This year, and every year as long as I am able, I shall do the same. Wherever I am in the world, on 30th December, I shall go out and make photographs.”

Temporal Landforms • Andrew James Bradley

Spanning centuries and millennia these rock formations are recordings of time beyond comprehension, a window into a world outside the boundary of our reality.

Borderlands: The Edges of Europe • Paola Leonardi

Borders: sometimes invisible lines only depicted on paper, sometimes a towering built wall or a threatening and unkind sharp wire fence. We think of borders as these things which separate us into our continents, countries, counties, cities; but, what do these places really look like? How does the border affect the land, the families, cultures and traditions which surround it?

We’re excited to share the work of London-based photographer and lecturer at London’s Metropolitan University, Paola Leonardi.