I was fascinated by this ‘First Person’ piece by William Lindesay in the Observer on the 8th February. Overall it’s a good story about walking along the Great Wall of China (more correctly ‘the endless wall’ apparently) with three things that caught my attention. First, in the extract Lindesay’s ultra-careful use of film – 36 exposures over 78 days covering 2,500 km – which shames the profligacy and lack of real seeing that digital photography encourages. Second the discovery of William Geil, who walked the wall in 1908 and is a name to add to the canon of early travel photographers. Third, the dedicated effort Lindesay put into uncovering the archive of Geil’s notes and photographs, now in the keeping of the International Friends of the Great Wall founded by Lindesay.
Alone on the Great Wall by William Lindesay was first published in 1991.