The Call of the Wild 1

BUT THERE are still artists who can surprise, who can bring a fresh eye to what is a very familiar subject and yet avoid artifice and theatre. Harry Cory Wright is one such lensman, as ably demonstrated by a new collection of 120 images: Journey Through the British Isles, published in large format by Merrell. Cory Wright’s venture echoes the great photographic expeditions of the Victorian pioneers, although not quite so far from home. His method was to select a location and then camp there, fully sensitising himself to the immediate environment, before setting up his shots with a Gandolfi 10 x 8” wooden plate camera. And the occupation of the sites again owed more to a Victorian explorer’s caravan than a modern lightweight fun camp-out. He notes that a van, a trailer, large canvas tents, trestle tables and heavy tripods were all part of the establishment that put down roots (albeit temporary) at each location.

Harry Cory Wright is an old hand at landscape studies and this 2006 project - beginning in the Shetland Isles - was to encompass Britain itself, the changing seasons, the ‘tone’ of the land and its fabric. Not to mention the evolving palette of natural colours on the journey from Spring to Autumn, each image carefully annotated with time, date and place. Cory Wright eschews the obviously picturesque in an attempt to capture values more subtle and telling - and even primeval. His own essay on the philosophical and practical considerations underpinning the project makes inspirational reading, as do the technical notes he provides as an appendix. Cory Wright’s own text is complemented by an essay from travel writer Adam Nicolson, who makes poignant notes on the changes that have occurred in Britain with the advent of the technology that will continue to affect the land at an ever increasing tempo. It might well be that Harry Cory Wright’s work will reflect a vanished Britain a lot sooner than might be imagined. As it stands, this is a collection that provokes deep contemplation and offers the discerning reader an escape from the immediate present to the ethereal possibilities of ancient places.