Finding Beauty within Ignored Scenes

Quite often all you need to do is to explore or at least take a look around you and it is when you do that, scenes which you have previously ignored will come to light.

The landscape that surrounds Eastwood and Kimberley. Upon first glance might seem as if they are ignored and that is more than likely true - the amounts of traffic on the roads and the transient world and society that we live in, since Lockdown has seemingly gone back to what it was in pre-Covid times. People are busier and less relaxed. Me, though, as a landscape photographer, I have found myself leading a more relaxed way of life which is quite the opposite from my Pre Covid time. Yet I suppose though that the liberal lockdown forced me to think differently and outside of the box. Yet as soon as restrictions were eased to some degree and we could go out walking and exploring the local area in which we were permitted to do so, it was then that I found myself experiencing the local area in a different way and from a different perspective. Strange really as beforehand I would have largely ignored the local area that I live in and its beauty along with contrasts that it has to offer of a semi-urban landscape. But it was a walk that I did during Covid times (within the law of course) that came to change my outlook on the landscape around me - but it was also a lockdown voyage of discovery and one that since that time I have been back to on lots of occasions previously. However one particular afternoon in October of 2022, which as I write this seems a long time ago I was standing at the top of Alma Hill, with one thing in my mind which was “Autumn.” Autumn of 2021 however was one that did not really happen, hence why when Autumn of 2022 came around I wanted to capture it from a different perspective - and there I was looking out towards Greasley Church.

Grey afternoon

It was a grey afternoon and I remember it well, yet the light from the west was just something else; I mentioned that I wanted to capture Autumn and here I was looking across the fields from Alma Hill with the most glorious light at the most glorious scene that I had ever seen and armed with my camera I decided to capture what was in front of me. Yes I have explored in and around my local area and this is local to me, yet I throughout my entire life had ignored this scene, but it wasn’t until Lockdown and Covid times/restrictions being eased that I had come across this location and found a sense of beauty within it. The hum of the A610 only a short distance away and the business of Giltbrook Retail Park, again only a short distance away and yet here looking over towards Greasley Church against what was a glorious October afternoon with Autumn Colours on the horizon - that was something else to be observed.

New way of thinking

But why had I not visited that location before? Well as I mentioned above the lockdown way of life forced me to think about things, and it was during that time that I found a scene that had been ignored by many and captured by few; yet here I was after I had captured the photograph that is displayed with this article and immediately I knew and sensed something that I had not felt before, that was a sense that I had found beauty, the kind of beauty within an ever changing landscape that is so often ignored, the church in the distance, the sheer beauty of the landscape and yet here it is, the “Semi-Urban Environment.” Behind me the hustle and bustle of everyday life happening, of frustration and stresses of life occurring and yet in visible sight from the location of the retail park at Giltbrook, here I was looking at a landscape unspoilt with a serenity like no other, yes the hum and background noise from life could still be heard, but it was more serene from the top of Alma Hill than it was just a couple of thousands of yards away on the retail park at Giltbrook and in Eastwood and Kimberley combined. A strange thought yes, but one that left me dwelling and questioning things in a big way. Yet here I am writing this article and reflecting on the time when I captured a portrait from the top of Alma Hill, one with a church and the sheer beauty of a landscape that is so often ignored. Yet if we took time out and explored our local area, urban, not urban, we would find that the world would be a calmer place and the discoveries would tell stories like they do here. And the strangest thing is that how many people in the local area would really know that this view existed? Not many to say the least and that is why it is ignored. Yet take time and explore and the landscape will speak to you like it did to me on this October afternoon in 2022 when I looked across at a relatively undiscovered landscape with beauty that is ignored.