The Photographs of Fay Godwin

Fay Godwin, who had no formal training in photography, started her journey taking snapshots of her young children and later taking photographs of writers for the covers of their books. But it was through her black and white images of the British countryside that she became best known.

Landscape photography may seem like an easy way to make great photographs, but to capture images like Godwin did, requires more than just a walk through the countryside and a few snapshots.

Godwin dedicated a lot of time to reading books about the history, culture and geography of a certain area. She also studied the maps in a way to know as much as possible about a location.

The field work would only happen after the study. Then there would be countless hours of driving and walking up and downhill looking for the best places. Fay was a keen walker and would often take her camera with her.

She would wait (sometimes for hours) until the light, the clouds and the shadows adopted the exact shape that she wanted. She would visit a location multiple times until she got the image she desired, the image that she knew by instinct that it was there waiting to be photographed.

Her resulting images were often compared with the work of Ansel Adams. Yet Godwin resisted being seen as a landscape photographer, preferring to be considered a documentary photographer.

Later in life she used her landscape work to draw attention to environmental issues. She became more dedicated to documenting the abuses of the landscape.

After a short illness Godwin died in 2005 at the age of 74.

In Fay’s words, "A view doesn't make a picture. You make the picture. You have to work to make the picture if it isn't there."

"Just the sheer discipline of looking at the landscape makes you begin to see things, and see how the light affects the landscape"

Fay’s first photographs were taken with a 35mm camera, but as soon as she found that the resolution and clarity of large formats cameras were better for landscape photography, she acquired a Linhof. This, however, was a heavy camera to carry around, especially on long walks. That’s why she would only take it when the location to photograph was easily accessible by car, and she would frequently carry a Hasselblad 500C/M.

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