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DEREK MEDHURST
My medium is photography. Samuel Palmer's creative
approach and his not being beholden to convention
appeal to my idea of "photographing what I don't
know" in order to learn and expand my photographic
range, especially when it needs some imagination. I like
his treatment of trees, both the idiosyncratic foliage
and the strong trunks. And often they are the main
focus of his pictures: significant elements, not just part
of the landscape. Learning how the Darent played its
part in Palmer's life, my theme became trees and river.
Palmer lived in Water House, Shoreham, and it was a
nice coincidence as I have a modern lens based on the
1830s design for the Daguerrotype camera, which
uses 'Waterhouse stops' to control exposure. These
are brass plates each with different size/shaped holes
that set the aperture – for me on my digital camera's
sensor, but the original would have been for sensitised
copper plates. The different stops also create varying
degrees of softness, and I decided the near-Palmer-
at-Shoreham era technology could combine with the
reflections and movement on the river's surface to
create impressions of the trees on the banks of the
Darent near Waterhouse/Water House.
River Darent Trees
Photograph
52 x 42 cm
W W W . D E R E K M E D H U R S T . C O M
