I rather enjoyed reading this letter in the Telegraph today written by Lucy Anderson-

“Sir – It was a pleasure to hear the author Richard Hamblyn talking about clouds on the radio at the weekend. I enjoyed imagining the different types of sky he described. Mr Hamblyn said that Shropshire was a good place for cloud-spotting, because the hills produced fine examples. Somehow I had generally connected cloudscapes with the big skies one sees above flat countryside. Perhaps my assumption was partly based on the cloud-piled paintings of Constable depicting his native Suffolk. But on looking again at Constable’s cloud paintings on the internet, I find some of his most striking specimens were painted at his London home in Hampstead – a hilly spot. Do other readers find that clouds are more spectacular in some favourite spot?”

And here’s one of Constable’s cloud paintings from Hampstead-

John Constable (1776-1837)
‘Hampstead Heath; Branch Hill Pond’ 1828
Oil on canvas from the V&A Collection

It was an exhibition of photographs by Ansel Adams on display in Yosemite National Park which I saw while on a family holiday when I was 14 that first inspired me to take photographs. I was mesmorised by these sublimely beautiful images of the untouched American wilderness, and I remember being particularly struck by his ability to capture clouds. A feature of the landscape which had, until then, completely passed me by. 

Ansel Adams, Yosemite Valley, 1942

Ansel Adams, The Tetons and the Snake River, 1942

 

Maybe I’m just a romantic, but I’ve been a fan ever since. Of Adams and clouds. 

For other cloud fans out there, take a look at the Cloud Appreciation Society website.

 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 at 4:10 pm and is filed under INSPIRATION. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.