Darkrooms Uncovered - Lin Gregory

A peek into a photographer's mental creative darkroom

What does your creative ritual look like? Do you have specific habits or conditions that spark your creativity?

I don’t really have a creative ritual as such but if I were to say one thing that consistently sparks ideas, it’s walking. Nature, as well as man’s interaction with it, is what inspires me to photograph, and so whenever I go out for a walk, which is most days, my camera comes along too. Walking seems to set my mind free of life’s daily demands and gives me the opportunity to get into some sort of flow state, that helps me to connect and see more. I find that the photographs I make when I’m totally immersed in my subject are not only the ones I am happiest with, but also, they speak more about how I felt at the moment of making the image.

When you're feeling creatively blocked, what's your go-to method for breaking through?

There isn’t one method for me, although I’ve found that journalling first thing in the morning helps – just clearing all of those busy thoughts out of my head and writing down any ideas that come up.

And of course, walking helps a lot to clear my head. I record any ideas that are sparked in a voice note as I walk and that often help me find ways of approaching something from another angle. I’ll also look at photobooks or zines or watch photography documentaries to try and reinspire myself. But I am a prevaricator!! I’ll find all manner of other things to do to avoid getting back to working on a project that’s gone ‘flat’ in my mind. Then I’ll ‘circle the basket’ several times, as I’m told, before I finally sit down and get back to it!

Describe a moment when your creative perspective shifted dramatically. What triggered it?

In 2016 I received an unexpected invitation from Antony Penrose, director of the Lee Miller Archive and Penrose Collection. He had seen my work in a group show at a local gallery and asked me to exhibit the full finished project in a two month show at Farley’s House and Gallery. It was an incredible experience to exhibit alongside the work of Antony’s mother, Lee Miller, shifting something fundamental in how I viewed my own work. Up until this point, I had little faith in my photographic ability, but the invitation and the acknowledgement it carried gave me the confidence to claim the title of photographer. It also reignited my love of working in black and white and has encouraged me to use that medium more in the projects I am working on.

What recurring themes or elements do you find yourself naturally drawn to capture?

I’m naturally drawn to the landscape – not the big honeypot locations with grand views…although those are beautiful. I’m more drawn to the less widely known local landscapes of woods, wetlands and rolling coastline with all of its quirks, including recording the human impact and interaction with it, as well as sacred sites further afield. I think a project can have so much more meaning if I learn or know more about a place, and keeping it local makes that so much easier and feels more personal.

I do have other mini-series and collections that I slowly add to – especially all sorts of strange items left behind in woodland or the lone gloves and woolly hats that are forgotten and attached to fencing along the beach. They fascinate me and I have to photograph them!

One day I will gather them together!

What non-photographic influences (books, music, films, etc.) most impact your work?

I love reading nature writing. All of Robert MacFarlane’s work, John Lewis Stempel’s ‘The Wood’, Robin Wall Kimmerer’s ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ and Suzanne Simard’s ‘Finding the Mother Tree’ all spring to mind. The latter, together with Peter Wohlleben’s ‘The Hidden Life of Trees’, increased my love of and fascination with trees enormously. All of these have influenced how much in wonder I am of the natural landscape, as well as my motivation to photograph it before it’s lost.

One of my favourite films for cinematography is ‘Paris, Texas’ – the colours of the Texan landscape are beautifully portrayed. However, the muted colours and sense of place of some of the smaller budget UK films, that show British landscapes, such as ‘Wuthering Heights’ and ‘Gods Own Country’, definitely inspire me to use more muted colours in my colour landscape work. And then there’s Peter Jackson’s Tolkien colours or the black and white of ‘Ripley’… this list could grow long!

What photograph of yours feels most personally revealing, and why?

At a time of great upheaval in my life, photography became my solace and, inspired by Fay Godwin’s work, I found myself drawn to Avebury. There I found my spiritual sanctuary. This sacred site nudged me further towards landscape photography and the natural cycles in nature that make up the Wheel of the Year, which has since become my calendar in life.

For me, these Avebury beech trees are personally revealing because they reflect that calendar’s importance in my life and the love and strong connection I feel to trees and the land…much like the Celtic Tree of Life, their roots mirror the connectedness of all things and the natural cycles of life. They are a reminder of my past trials and their roots represent the strength that I have to overcome life’s challenges in the present day.

Find out more about Lin Gregory

Website: https://lingregory.com/

Substack: https://lingregory.substack.com

---

Browse the full collection of interviews