After a very early breakfast this morning I watched the third part of Eamonn McCabe’s history of photography in Britain (BBC4). It has been an excellent series, striking a perceptive balance between the social, personal, creative and technical lenses through which the medium can be viewed. The postcard, the family snap and the selfie were embraced without condescension. Seeing and listening to Paul Hill took me back to the 1980s and the creativity of the Cambridge Darkroom.
And it made me pick up a camera and head to the Beechwoods. Early morning sun sent hard light raking through the leafless trees, revealing textures and saturating the green of mosses and lichens. Trilling birdsong was punctuated by the rough chaka-chaka-ckaka of squabbling jackdaws and the strident korrk-kok of a crowing cock pheasant. The cold breeze was a reminder, amid sights and sounds of approaching spring, that it is still only March, a reminder that the shades of winter can still strike back.
Photos: The Beechwoods, Cambridge, March 2017