I'm In A Wide Open Space — Julian Calverley

2020 started off well for me. I was working on a sizeable assignment in January and it was also the official launch of my new book North Northwest, which had just won two awards.

I was excited and proud of the new book and really couldn’t wait to start telling the world all about it. As I’ve always found marketing and self promotion a little hard, I came up with the idea of creating this blog, as a way of showing and talking about the work in the book itself.

The idea behind ‘I’m In A Wide Open Space’ was to create a dynamic, evolving space where I can house my landscape photographs, thoughts, work processes, stories and inspirations.

It was an idea that I’d been playing with for a few years, and simply hadn’t had the chance, or the head space, to start work on. It all made sense to me and I hoped it would also help improve my writing and understanding of photography.

Then the Covid-19 pandemic arrived..

““Stories and notes from the landscape and beyond. A place for me to share my stories, notes and experiences as a landscape photographer””

At first I was in shock. All work was cancelled. How on earth could this be happening!

I then came around to thinking that the lockdown was actually a great opportunity. I was being given space and time in which I could write and craft the blog. This was perfect.

Then slowly but surely I seemed to shut down. It felt like some sort of mental paralysis. I was completely unable to concentrate or contemplate. I simply couldn’t think, let alone write. I started to doubt everything I had done or was hoping to do. I’d managed just one blog post.

Wind the clock forward eight months.. It’s now October. Work in some form has slowly started to reappear. But I’ve still not touched the blog. I’m still unable it seems to talk or even think about my landscape work. I’m stuck firmly in glue.

So I called my old friend Jack Lowe. He’s a man who’s work ethic and drive I admire greatly, and we talked for well over an hour. One key piece of advice, broadly speaking, was simply to start, and to take very small steps. It sounds so simple right ?

So that’s what I’ve done. I had hoped to launch the blog with a dozen posts, or more, with a fanfare on social media, but I’ve not done that. And it’s fine.

As an aside, but closely related to all of this.. I’m a big fan of Rich Roll’s podcasts and it was there on a conversation with Dr Michael Gervais that I heard the expression FOPO, which if you don’t know, stands for ‘Fear Of People’s Opinions’ This is something I know many people suffer from, but I have been quite shocked to realise its effect on me.

I’m hoping that sharing my work here and writing about it openly and honestly, will lift this cloak and allow me to breath again. I hope you’ll join me on my journey.

Finally I’d like to thank a few folk.. Firstly Fenton Smith, the owner of Concentric Editions, for his incredible patience and understanding. I’d also like to thank Jack for his timely advice and encouragement.

*Working in Glen Sligachan, Isle of Skye - January 2017*

The working portrait I have chosen to launch the blog and that you see above, was made on the Isle of Skye, back in 2017 while on assignment for Land Rover. It is also the very first photograph that appears in my book North Northwest.

Thanks to Brian Cottam, my assistant on that assignment, for pressing the shutter and keeping the lens dry!

The reason I was there was to shoot the all new Land Rover Discovery 5, while also being the subject of a short film, which was directed by Matt Hopkins of The Progress Film Company and shot by DOP Charlie Harranz.

We had a week of suitably wet and wild weather, which of course added realism and drama to the imagery, with the added bonus that the Discovery’s colour, Namib Orange, perfectly complemented the brooding grey skies and rich warm colours of the Scottish winter landscape.

Much of what I shot has appeared in Land Rover’s OneLife magazine, in a 12 page article entitled ‘Chasing Shadows’ which tells the story of my time with the car, and also my thoughts on landscape photography and equipment, it also documents a part of my journey around the island that I’ve come to know and love so well.

You can view the full set of images here.

Client : Land Rover. Art direction : Dan Delaney. Agency : Spark44, London.

Technical Information

Camera / Lens - A combination of Contax 645 AF / Carl Zeiss T* Distagon ƒ3.5/35mm and ALPA 12 MAX / ALPA HR Alpagon ƒ4.0/40mm, SB17 with 17mm tilt/swing adapter.

Filtration - 0.9 & 1.2 Soft edge ND grads.

MFDB - PhaseOne IQ180. ISO 35 & 50.