Approaching Photography
Paul Hill explores photography as a mode of expression, considering the diverse approaches taken by photographers and what these reveal about their practice and purpose. Approaching Photography emphasises the importance of context in understanding the medium, delving into the ideas behind images and the ways in which the camera shapes and influences how we see the world. It also invites readers to reflect on the foundations of photography’s past and the impact of the digital revolution on how photographs are created and disseminated today.
White Peak Dark Peak
After living and walking in the Peak District of Derbyshire for five years, Paul decided to use the immediate landscape around his home to explore his relationship with the area and to see if, by using a small format camera and a mid-grey tonal range, he could create a ‘different’ landscape photography aesthetic. The fine detail and tonality of images made with large format cameras would be challenged by a more ‘gritty’, gestural approach.
Dialogue With Photography (with Thomas J Cooper)
Classic interviews with the men and women who shaped so much of twentieth century photography. More than 20 photographers participated in the series, recalling their frustrations and their successes, the effect of world events on their work as well as offering advice to future generations of photographers.
Corridor of Uncertainty
A limited-edition monograph printed in Italy, Corridor of Uncertainty is a metaphorical meditation on loss and pain, despair and hope, beauty and banality, and seeming to be in a foreign country without a map, where reactions range from pity to incredulity. The work was made following the death of his wife, Angela, in 2006 and although a very personal journey, it has resonances for a wide audience.
Dewponds of the Peak
During the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 Paul did his daily exercise along familiar, and not so familiar, paths in the Peak District near his home.
Although aware of dew ponds in the limestone hills of the area, and knowing that they were man-made to provide water for livestock, he did not think that there were so many still active, redundant and restored. In 2022 he put 120 pond photographs made with a mobile phone camera into this self-published book, but he is still finding more…..
