Method​

​​

Working exclusively with analogue photography, my photographic practice is grounded in observation, patience and intentional image-making. Each exposure is made with the expectation that it will form part of the final body of work, reflecting a commitment to photographing moments as they are encountered rather than constructed afterwards.

​

Reading Gardens does not ask participants to explain gardens as they experience them. It first observes how expertise is expressed through attention, movement and engagement with place, before inviting reflection afterwards.

​

Each study follows a consistent observational approach.

Participants are invited to move through a garden independently and without direction. I do not ask them to pose, repeat actions or explain what they are seeing during the visit. Instead, I photograph quietly as attention shifts naturally through movement, pause and engagement with the landscape.

​

Only after the visit do I invite participants to reflect on their experience. The questions are developed from observations made during the day, allowing photographs and reflection to form complementary ways of understanding how expertise shapes the experience of place.

​

Expertise is often expressed before it is explained.

By observing first and asking questions later, Reading Gardens seeks to understand not only what specialists know about gardens, but how that knowledge shapes the way they look, move and engage with landscape.