Spring Beyond the Ring Road

In my mind, I had planned to finish my recent project by creating a single image – something I would write about briefly, upload quickly and it would be ready to share with you. But Robert Burns was right about best laid schemes, and now this has turned into a journal piece, a mini project of its own.

‘Spring Beyond the Ring Road’
Postcards on the wardrobe door celebrating the
eventual arrival of spring and double vaccinations

But starting the story at the beginning …

Across the winter we rarely ventured further than the city’s ring road. The combined effects of the weather, shielding and work commitments seemed to confine us within a few square miles. So we made the conscious decision to get out more at the end of April and, over the next few weeks, we visited some of our favourite locations in Yorkshire – Fountains Abbey, Ripley Castle, the medieval church at Harewood, for example – celebrating the (eventual) arrival of spring and our good fortune in being (doubly) vaccinated. Inevitably the camera came with us, and after each outing I enjoyed printing one or two postcard-sized images and sticking them on the wardrobe doors, evidence of our ‘Spring Beyond the Ring Road’ – a reminder of this simple pleasure.

And my plan, my equally simple plan, was to take a photograph of them all, stuck there in splendour, and share it with you as a ‘single image’.

But then I discovered that the wardrobe doors were quite difficult to photograph – not the simple task I imagined. I found that it was easier to incorporate all the individual postcard-photos into a newly created piece of artwork (the image of ‘Spring Beyond the Ring Road’ you see at the top of this page); that was easier than correcting the perspective, lighting, etc on the ‘real’ wardrobe photo.

Then I remembered that a lot of the little postcard-images are blurred – no, it’s not your eyesight. So, I thought it might help if I explained that I've joined a new photography group for ICM enthusiasts – Intentional Camera Movement, that is – and these blurry results are, well, intentional!

The technique is variously described as creative, artistic and abstract and I guess that there are as many reasons for trying it as there are possible results – the proverbial grains of sand on the beach. But I’m exploring its potential for two specific reasons, firstly, to see whether it allows me to step away from the certainty, accuracy and precision of modern-day photography (which digital cameras and sophisticated post-processing techniques seem to encourage) – whether I can be more Renoir, less Mondrian! Secondly, and more creatively, most interestingly, to see whether it can enhance the story that I'm trying to tell through my images

A Short Story of the Nidderdale Greenway

Giving you an example, this is the ‘short story’ of our recent walk along the Nidderdale Greenway, a beautiful cycleway between Ripley and Harrogate. It’s equally welcoming for walkers – as long as you keep a ‘weather ear’ out for the sound of approaching bikers!

A conventional photo would just show a tree-lined pathway and two cyclists frozen in time, apparently defying gravity and annoying Newton and his apple. But (I hope) my ICM-image offers more – I want to share that moment when everything was moving; our rhythm changed, conversation faltered; we stepped aside to let the cyclists pass, and then resumed our walk again. That’s what I hope ICM can do – that’s why I’m exploring it.

The Map
Un-Intentionally Blurry!

Then I wondered how far we’d ventured while springing beyond the ring road. So I created a map with the different places pinned on it – that’s the Cow and Calf rocks the most westerly red 'star', Kirkham Priory the most easterly, Fountains Abbey most northerly – and, inspired by seeing these places laid out so simply, I've started to plan our next outing. And our next …

But I’m done for now. My ‘single’ image for the website is complete.

I got there in The End.

Stay safe xx