Distinction Success, Geraint Evans ARPS

from RPS Landscape Group Magazine, Spring 2022

Featured Photographer, Mohammed Arfan Asif FRPS

Over a number of years, Geraint has built up a body of work inspired by his love of woodland scenes and, in particular, the way in which woods change over the seasons and their complexity. Having read about and watched so many vlogs explaining how to simplify woodland images, often making the use of mist, for Geraint it is composing the relationships of elements in a woodland scene that is so rewarding.

The idea of applying for a Distinction came about as I considered how to develop my photography. I had entered a number of competitions and, while doing OK, I felt they were rather soulless; what I was seeking was some form of dialogue. Of course, competitions serve a different purpose and I’ll still enter but applying for a Distinction offered a different way to develop my photography. Although I’d known about the RPS for quite some time, it probably took a couple of years for me to feel I had a possible set of images worthy of putting forward initially for an advisory session.

The images I selected came about really only after I started using a Hasselblad 501c. I found the square format and the colours I was getting from using Porta and Provia film were what I’d been looking for. I have a digital camera and love using it but there was something about the images I was getting back, once developed, and then digitally worked on in Lightroom, that I loved. The square format, I think, suited the images I wanted from woodland settings and the medium format possibly helped give me a softer feel.

The images themselves were the result of spending hours in a few woodland settings, none more than 30 minutes drive or so from home. I have always spent hours in woodland settings as a child and as an adult and, while West Yorkshire is not exactly well-endowed with woods, there are areas of really quite wild woodland nestled in the steep-sided valleys that cut through the moorland. It was this love of woods, the change to my photography that I found with the Hasselblad and the slow realisation that I had a body of work, that led me to see that I could perhaps go forward and submit for an Associate Distinction.

This idea was confirmed through a really useful Advisory Session. There was some very helpful discussion around colour saturation and the layout of the panel, as well as whether my submission should be to the Fine Art or Landscape genre. The Landscape route was the one chosen. The statement I had drafted was also discussed and felt to be on the right lines. I must admit that writing the statement had not taken long; however, you could say it organically developed in my mind over the two or so years of taking the images. Having said that, actually producing the words did certainly help clarify my thoughts and proved very valuable in then making the final choice of images. So, over a couple of years I built up a body of work inspired by my love of woodland scenes and, in particular, the way in which woods change over the seasons and their complexity. I read about and watch so many vlogs telling us how to simplify woodland images, often making the use of mist but for me, while a bit of mist is lovely, it is composing the relationships of elements in a woodland scene that is so rewarding. While I like a lone tree as much as the next person, that’s a very rare sight in the woods of West Yorkshire. Therefore, what I always sought to do was make images that expressed the complex and changing forms, patterns, textures and colour of these wooded areas. What inspired my submitted images was the interrelationship between these elements. Achieving a set of consistent images that did that and portrayed the changes over the seasons did take a while, with some swapping in and out, which all added to the learning process.

The images included in the submission were printed commercially by Peak Imaging. I’d love to be able to print but having the space and the costs are another thing. I did go back and forth with some test prints first before the final run. If there is one piece of advice I could give, it would be to photograph what you love and let your submission develop from that rather than try and shoehorn images into a submission.

To return to my starting point of seeking more in the way of dialogue, I feel the experience of submitting my panel did that. I find it is easy to lose sight of saturation and this, along with how to put a panel together, which I had previously never undertaken, are pieces of advice I still apply. Though a tad nerve-wracking, it was great to get feedback both from the Advisory Session and then of course from the Landscape Panel.

Statement of Intent

I have played, walked and just stood still in woods since childhood. I have sought to portray my local woodlands, all within 20 miles of my home in Leeds, through the seasons. My aim in this collection is to invite the viewer to contemplate the changing colour, texture and forms of these places.

Yorkshire is not known for its wooded areas; coast, moor and dales, yes – woods, no. Yet, hidden in the very steep-sided river valleys which cut through the moors of West and North Yorkshire are wild woods. Largely untouched by humans, these old woods cling precariously to their slopes.

I have tried to embrace the interwoven and intricate patterns of these wild woods as they change, in all their complexity.