Walking in the Footsteps of Ideas

Walking in the Footsteps of Ideas Wandering in the Derbyshire Peak District

ALAN LODGE

“Take nothing but pictures.

Leave nothing but footprints.

Kill nothing but time�.

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“The modern world is fast, complex, competitive, and always concerned with what happens next.

There is always more to do than there is time.

The landscape and even the light are mostly artificial. This can be exciting, but all too often it is frustrating, stressful, and exhausting. In contrast, hiking for weeks or months at a time in an unspoiled natural environment is a simple, repetitive activity that leads to calmness and psychological well-being, a feeling of wholeness, of being a complete person. Each day follows the same pattern, linking in with natural rhythms– walk in the light, sleep in the dark, eat when hungry, take shelter from storms. Only the details are different. I get a great pleasure from this simplicity, from the basic pattern of walk and camp, walk and camp. It is good to escape the rush of the modern world and for a period of time to live a quieter, more basic life. Problems and worries subside as the days go by; they are put into perspective by the elemental activity of putting one foot in front of the other hour after hour, day after day. And on returning from the wilds, restored and revitalized by the experience, I find civilization can be much easier to deal with; indeed, aspects of it can seem very desirable.”

Chris Towsend Author, The Advanced Backpacker

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“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Lao Tsu Tao Te Ching, 4th century BC

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“What seems to us bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.”

Oscar Wilde Irish poet 1854 – 1900

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“Take a walk on the wild side.”

Lou Reed American musician 1942 – 2013

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“As you sit on the hillside, or lie prone under the trees of the forest, or sprawl wet-legged by a mountain stream, the great door, that does not look like a door, opens.�

Stephen Graham Author. The Gentle Art of Tramping

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“To find new things, take the path you took yesterday.”

John Burroughs American naturalist 1837 – 1921

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“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson American essayist 1803 – 1882

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“Give me the clear blue sky above my head, and the green turf beneath my feet, a winding road before me, and a three hours’ march to dinner ... and then to thinking!”

Henry Hazlitt Journalist 1894 – 1993

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“Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow.

Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead.

Just walk beside me and be my friend.”

Albert Camus French philosopher 1913 – 1960

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“I dressed and went for a walk determined not to return until I took in what Nature had to offer.”

Raymond Carver This Morning American short-story writer 1938 – 1988

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“I have two doctors, my left leg and my right.”

G. M. Trevelyan British Academic 1876 - 1962

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“A sound mind in a sound body, is a short but full description of a happy state in this world.”

John Locke English philosopher 1632 – 1704

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“Walking is a man’s best medicine.”

Hippocrates 460 – c.370 BC

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“Like one that on a lonesome road Doth walk in fear and dread, And having once turned round walks on, And turns no more his head, Because he knows a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread.”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge English poet 1772 – 1834

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“No problem is so formidable that you can’t walk away from it.”

Charles M. Schulz American cartoonist 1922 – 2000

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“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.

Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like falling leaves.”

John Muir “Father of the National Parks” 1838 – 1914

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“All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.”

Friedrich Nietzsche German philosopher 1844 – 1900

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“In my afternoon walk I would fain forget all my morning occupations and my obligations to society.”

Henry David Thoreau American essayist 1817 – 1862

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“If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk.”

Raymond Inmon Author

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“Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer and often the supreme disappointment.”

Ansel Adams Photographer 1902 – 1984

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“Maybe black and white is the best medium for landscapes, I don’t know.”

Fay Godwin Photographer 1931 – 2005

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“As I went walking That ribbon of highway I saw above me The endless skyway I saw below me The lonesome valley This land was made for you and me.”

Woody Guthrie This Land is Your Land 1912 – 1967

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“Our way is not soft grass, it’s a mountain path with lots of rocks. But it goes upward, forward, toward the sun.”

Dr Ruth Westheimer sex therapist 1928 -

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“Management by Walking Around” Dave Packard Hewlett-Packard Corporation 1912 – 1996

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“My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing.”

Aldous Huxley Writer & philosopher 1894 – 1963

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“It’s always further than it looks.

It’s always taller than it looks.

And it’s always harder than it looks.”

The Three Rules of Mountaineering

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“We live in a fast-paced society.

Walking slows us down.�

Robert Sweetgall Author Hiker

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“What I am interested in now is the landscape.

Pictures without people.

I wouldn’t be surprised if eventually there are no people in my pictures. It is so emotional.”

Annie Leibovitz Photographer 1949 -

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“We do not go to the green woods and crystal waters to rough it, we go to smooth it. We get it rough enough at home, in towns and cities.”

G. W. Sears Conservationist 1821 – 1890

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“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your element in each moment.”

Henry David Thoreau American essayist 1817 – 1862

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“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothingabsolutely nothing- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”

Kenneth Grahame Author Wind in the Willows 1859 – 1932

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“Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.”

Wallace Stevens Poet 1879 – 1955

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“With beauty before me, may I walk With beauty behind me, may I walk With beauty above me, may I walk With beauty below me, may I walk With beauty all around me, may I walk Wandering on the trail of beauty, may I walk�

Navajo Walking Meditation

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“The silence of landscape conceals vast presence.

Place is not simply location. A place is a profound individuality. With complete attention, landscape celebrates the liturgy of the seasons, giving itself unreservedly to the passion of the goddess. The shape of a landscape is an ancient and silent form of consciousness. Mountains are huge contemplatives.

Rivers and streams offer voice; they are the tears of the earth’s joy and despair. The earth is full of soul ….. Civilization has tamed place. Left to itself, the curvature of the landscape invites presence and the loyalty of stillness.”

John O’Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

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hotographer covering social, political and environmental issues andactions.

Work has been produced for publication, galleries, digital and slide projections at events and presented at large scale in public space. Moving beyond photography, he has experimented with mixed media involving printed text and projected imagery.

A post-graduate of Nottingham Trent University with an MA degree in Photography, Lodge specialised in issues surrounding representation, presenting himself in print and audiovisual format. A member of the National Union of Journalists, he is a documentary photographer, a photo-journalist and ‘storyteller’ always on the lookout to cover the different strands of related issues.

Oh ..... and I like walking on the moors.

E: alan@alanlodge.co.uk W: http://alanlodge.uk Copyright © Alan Lodge 2019 Nottingham. UK

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