Buckstones
On a ridge on Ilkley Moor lies the peculiar site of Buckstones – three patches of scattered, naturally occurring stones, looming over the otherwise subtle, silent land.
As a child, playing on Buckstones was one of my favourite parts of trips to see my grandparents. As an adult, I desperately wanted to find a way to photograph the stones, but could not find a satisfactory composition after so many visits. This series, portraying the smaller of the two clusters to the western end of the site, marks a breakthrough in my approach to photographing Buckstones.
Shooting with a medium format camera, instead of my usual 35mm SLRs, helped refresh my approach to framing my subjects and provided me with exactly the tool I needed when, walking between the stones, I realised that what I should do is take portraits.
Compared to the rest of Buckstones, these stones stand alone as strange individuals in a herd, rather than complex natural structures. They feel at home on the moor, not as part of the land but as things that live upon it.
