Alan Frost | alan frost photography

Harthope Valley in The Cheviots – A nod to Fay Godwin

During a recent visit to Northumberland I visited Harthope Valley in The Cheviot Hills. It reminded me of Fay Godwin who is one of my favourite photographers. She was famed for her black and white photographs of the British Landscape as well as being a very fine portrait photographer.

Below is a short extract from an obituary published in The Daily Telegraph on May 30th 2005.

‘Fay Godwin, who died on Friday aged 74, was the foremost landscape photographer in Britain, and also collaborated with the poet Ted Hughes, going on to produce portraits of other writers; her insight into the British countryside, which led her to be compared with the great American photographer Ansel Adams, was also her recreation, and she was president of the Ramblers’ Association from 1987 until 1990.

Her photographs, which captured the differing moods and textures of moors, forests and country trails with a remarkable sensitivity and lack of sentimentality, were mostly produced in black and white, but with an extraordinary tonal range’.

Dunstanburgh Castle – constantly changing stillness

What does this title mean exactly? Let me explain.

Whenever I visit a beautiful location for the first time, there comes a point when I have to leave, to head home and then long to return another day. I distinctly remember when I first witnessed the glorious Lake District. It was many, many years ago and I was on my way back from Scotland with my parents. We decided to take a detour through The Lakes as we had never visited this part of the UK before. We didn’t stop or stay, just drove through and admired the view.

Bamburgh Castle – the before and the after

I don’t think I have ever done this before but I thought I would walk you through my thoughts and the creative process in the making of this monochrome image of Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland. I hope you will find it interesting.

Halnaker Windmill – on site creative decisions

How often do you arrive at a destination only to find that the image you had in mind before leaving home isn’t possible when you arrive on site? This may be down to the weather which affects the light and mood of the shot. People or vehicles in the way of the ideal view or possibly other factors which your research had not revealed beforehand.

Earlier this summer the restoration of this very fine windmill finally saw the replacement of the sails. For a number of years it had looked naked without them so when I heard the windmill had been returned to its former glory it was time to revisit this lovely location. The mill is perched on a hill to the East of Chichester in West Sussex. It overlooks the glorious countryside of the South Downs as well as having distant views of the coastline as far as the Isle of Wight.

A walk around Chesil Cove – the joy of seeing

Chesil Cove is the most southerly section of Chesil Beach. It lies at the extreme eastern end of the beach by the village of Chiswell on the Isle of Portland in Dorset. Chesil Beach forms part of the Jurassic Coast and is the largest tombolo in the UK. A remarkable natural phenomena being some 18 miles long and estimated to be made up of 180 billion pebbles. The largest pebbles, roughly the size of a fist, are to be found at Chesil Cove. The further west you go the smaller they become until they reach pea-size at Bridport.

I took a walk around Chesil Cove and I was attracted to the beach huts perched on the rising land about the cove itself. Nestled amongst boulders and below now redundant quarries, the huts are rather ramshackle. Undeniably they enjoy a wonderful view looking west along the coast and by virtue of their position are probably quite expensive to buy.