I’ve been on the phone off and on for hours trying to sort some boring bureaucratic mess. In the meantime I was having a look at some pictures taken from a hike just over a week ago before the new year. It’s the upper Kentmere valley, shrouded in winter. The picture sent me right back. Somehow, its cropped perspective, no sky, all ground, soft cushion of snow and brown tuft of grass, transported me quicker than a more traditional landscape shot. The hillside rising up on the far side of the gill is bare and revealed, the snow highlighting its scars and sheer face. The triangle of dark is the shadow of Froswick, a 2300ft summit, growing taller in the evening light and chasing itself further up fell and towards the sunset. Seeing this picture gave me a sense of space and perspective. There is light and space and snow and winter. Still.
Copyright © Jack Threlfall Hartley 2020