For Collaborators​

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What the experience is like

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A Reading Gardens visit is deliberately slow, quiet and considered. The observational visit typically lasts around an hour and is intended to feel much more like spending time in a garden together than taking part in a conventional photographic session.

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I work with one camera and one lens. The camera is only briefly raised to my face when I make an exposure; much of the time I am simply observing, allowing you to move through the garden naturally. There may also be occasional conversation, as there would be when two people are simply walking through a garden together.

There is no posing, directing or expectation to perform for the camera. I do not ask you to stop, repeat an action or explain what you are seeing. The pace is unhurried and the photographic presence deliberately light-touch, allowing your attention to remain on the garden rather than on being photographed.

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The intention is that, after a short while, the camera becomes almost incidental. You are free to experience the garden in your own way, while I quietly observe how your knowledge, attention and relationship with the landscape reveal themselves through movement, pause and engagement with place.

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What the collaboration creates

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A Reading Gardens study is intended to create something of value for both the project and the person taking part.

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The resulting photographs provide the participant with a considered body of analogue images documenting their presence and engagement within the garden, not as a conventional portrait session, but as a visual record of their practice, attention and relationship with place.

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The post-visit reflection also offers an opportunity to consider their own practice from a different perspective: one formed initially through observation rather than explanation.

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Where appropriate, completed studies may subsequently be developed for editorial publication, contributing to the wider visibility and reach of the participant's work. The inaugural study, Reading Rousham with Advolly Richmond, is currently moving towards publication.

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Each collaboration also becomes part of the evolving Reading Gardens body of photographic research, which seeks to explore how different forms of professional expertise shape the way gardens are experienced, understood and engaged with.​

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A considered experience

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A Reading Gardens collaboration is not simply the time spent making photographs. I am interested in creating an unhurried and generous experience around the work itself.

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During the inaugural study at Rousham with Advolly Richmond, we paused midway through our time in the garden to sit and become immersed in the landscape. I made a fresh cup of Earl Grey loose-leaf tea and brought along lemon cake, and we spent time simply talking and enjoying the surroundings before continuing.

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These pauses are not prescribed or part of a formula. They arise naturally from the pace of the day and from the pleasure of spending time in a garden together. For me, they are part of saying thank you for someone's time, knowledge and generosity in contributing to the project.