One of my photographic sources of inspiration for the past few years has been the St Catherine’s estate, a National Trust property located outside of Windermere. The estate nestles between between Orrest Head and the main Troutbeck road.
The property itself doesn’t have any visitor center and general public access is only via a couple of public rights of way across the property. School groups do visit, though, for educational programs.
In late 2002, I obtained permission to work around the estate, documenting the woods, wildlife and environment for a personal photography project. As a result, I spent the end of 2002 and most of 2003 working in and around the St Catherine’s estate. It was an experience that completely re-awakened my love of landscape photography (in all of it’s many forms). I was lucky enough to be able to spend many quiet days wandering the beck, woodlands and meadows. As the seasons rolled by, I became intimately familiar with the estate and the photographic possibilities it offered.
It takes me ages to get comfortable with a location and start to see the images I want to make there. Often I find myself dashing around, unable to decide where to work first. As a consequence, it usually takes me two or three long visits to a location to really start to settle down and see the possibilities.
I return to the St Catherine’s estate from time to time to recharge my photographic batteries. When you’re really familiar with a place, it’s often refreshing to step back into it after a while. There’s no pressure to find new photographic sites in the time available - you simply wander familiar paths, soak up the changes since the last visit and appreciate it for what it is.