My Choices

The Don Jackson photograph I chose (I will try to get an image up on this site) is one I've had in my collection for over twenty years now.  It is probably the best known of all his work.  A b&w print with strong contrasts showing a tree with its roots exposed on the side of cliffs taken in Kielder Forest, I love it for the simple, graphic quality it possesses and the strong hints of the sublime qualities that the natural world expresses in us.  It reminds me too of my earliest interest in photography as an art - before the time I saw this work (up to and including my studies in painting at college) I never really considered the photographic print as a stand alone art object.  In fact, as a painter I had been quite dismissive of photography, good only as a tool towards the creation of more lasting durable images.  Seeing Don's work lead me onto the photographers that inspired (and taught) him - artists such as John Blakemore, Paul Hill, Thomas Joshua Cooper and others.  Hence its totemic importance to me.