Fay Godwin

I had been working in colour for ten years or so and looked at digital and liked the possibilities it gave me.

I like photographs which leave something to the imagination.

The viewer must bring their own view to a photograph.

Maybe black and white is the best medium for landscapes, I don’t know.

Born Berlin 1931, Germany, father a British diplomat, mother an American artist. Educated at various schools all over the world. 1958 Settled down to live in London. 1966 Became interested in photography through photographing my young children. No formal training.

I’m not faithful to one particular medium, and it’s what I try to teach to people who work with me.

I’ve been working with the land for most of my life; walking it and photographing it. And I love it to bits.

But I was, and still am, an avid reader and so when I first started I chose to photograph many of the great writers in this country to try and earn a living.

Look at lots of exhibitions and books, and don’t get hung up on cameras and technical things. Photography is about images.

I hardly teach. It’s more like a gathering of minds looking at one subject and learning from each other. I enjoy the process.

It was 1966 by the time I started taking pictures seriously and books, newspapers and magazines of the time were full of great pictures that helped to inspire me.

I don’t get wrapped up in technique and the like.

After Land I wanted to continue exploring the theme but I needed a new challenge so turned to colour. I explored Bradford and produced a series of urban landscapes that I liked, but because Land had made such an impact on the general public my colour work wasn’t reviewed.

I have always loved reading, so was interested in the literary world, and took many literary portraits.

You can’t expect to take a definitive image in half an hour. It takes days, often years.

I have always been a very keen walker, though, and I often took a camera with me on my walks.

And in fact I don’t believe there is such a thing as a definitive picture of something. The land is a living, breathing thing and light changes its character every second of every day. That’s why I love it so much.

What I loathe is the multi-national conglomerates who must take responsibility for the degradation and pollution of so much of our landscape with their factory farming and greed.