Join the conversation
Subcribe to comment rss feedRecording from the 2014 Meeting of Minds Conference
Paul Wakefield
He has photographed the landscape of many countries throughout his working life both on assignment and for his personal projects, but returns often to a few locations that are key to his vision.
Paul was born in Hong Kong. He studied art at Bournemouth Art College and then completed a 3 year Photography course at Birmingham Art College in the early 1970’s. He began freelancing in his final college year, working for publishers, record companies and design groups in London. In the early 1980’s he started working for advertising agencies and is represented by agents in London, New York and Paris. He has won numerous international awards for his advertising work and has exhibited in the United Kingdom, New York and Tokyo.
He has photographed the landscape of many countries throughout his working life both on assignment and for his personal projects, but returns often to a few locations that are key to his vision. He published 4 ground-breaking books of photographs in the1980’s with the author Jan Morris for Aurum Press :- Wales the First Place, Scotland a Place of Visions and Ireland Your Only Place. His latest book, The Landscape, published in 2014 by Envisage Books, is a large-format monograph that includes 80 of his finest images. They are organised according to bio-region, and create a specific sequence attesting to his singular eye. It includes essays by the acclaimed author on landscape, Robert Macfarlane, the Turner specialist at the Tate Gallery, Andrew Wilton, and the painter Anthony Connolly. The unnerving stillness of the photographs prompted Macfarlane to write “Turning the pages of this book, I found myself again and again reaching out to touch the images. His is haptic photography – an adjective we take from the Greek, meaning I fasten onto, I touch.” .
His latest book, The Landscape, published in 2014 by Envisage Books, is a large-format monograph that includes 80 of his finest images. They are organized according to bio-region, and create a specific sequence attesting to his singular eye. It includes essays by the acclaimed author on landscape, Robert Macfarlane, the Turner specialist at the Tate Gallery, Andrew Wilton, and the painter Anthony Connolly. The unnerving stillness of the photographs prompted Macfarlane to write “Turning the pages of this book, I found myself again and again reaching out to touch the images. His is haptic photography – an adjective we take from the Greek, meaning I fasten onto, I touch.”
Professional and Personal - An Illustrated Discussion with Paul Wakefield
Through the means of an illustrated interview with the photographer David Ward, Paul responds to David’s questions talking about how he has balanced his commercial work with the need to continue doing his personal work.
He also shows how both types of photographic work are linked. Each influencing the other, but also showing us the pronounced differences in approach and preparation needed for both ways of working. The illustrations show his advertising campaigns and his personal landscapes and books.
Green Room Interview
Following the talk, we spoke to Paul in our Green Room.
If you would like to come to our conference in 2016 here are some details
ON LANDSCAPE MEETING OF MINDS CONFERENCE 2016
Making photographs of the landscape is often, necessarily, a solitary pursuit. But that doesn’t mean we want to be hermits. What we want is the company of like-minded people. We want a place to view the photographs of others and, perhaps, somewhere to show our own work. We also want a place to find new ideas – both aesthetic and technical.
On Landscape provides the ‘virtual’ place where all of those things can happen, a place where the disparate community of landscape photographers can meet and exchange ideas. It’s the perfect environment in which to share our passion. But wonderful as the online magazine is you can’t beat meeting people face-to-face.