Ypres and Passchendaele

Ypres Salient: 1914 - 1918

This course will be based around Ypres in Flanders: held by the British for the duration of the First World War it represented some of the most fiercely contested terrain along the entire Western Front and even today its fields annually yield about 200 tons of unexploded munitions.

The "Iron Harvest"

The entire Ypres Salient was never more than about 12 miles long and 5 miles deep so every part of this landscape experienced the fury of shot and shell. This is where gas was first used in 1915 and for the participants the battle of Passchendaele in 1917, fought amidst mud and the unburied dead, became the epitome of the full horror of unrelenting industrial warfare. As such it has become a place of pilgrimage and commemoration and last year over 200,000 attended the daily Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate.

At first glance the only immediate signs of that horror are the numerous cemeteries

Tynecot - the largest British war cemetery in the world.

but this course will take you to places not generally visited: we will be seeking to take pictures which match the feelings which we all experience in such places but more importantly we will be exploring the landscape and creating pictures whose quality matches the nature of the men who fought here.

We will visit the enormous mine craters along the Messines Ridge, each one created by 20 tons of high explosive whose collective force was the biggest man made explosion prior to the nuclear age.

Messines Ridge

In June 1917 these mines killed 10,000 men but today they are beautiful lakes which are a haven for wild-life and fish.

Hollandseschuur No 3 Crater

Along side the Yser river where morning mists lend a spectral air to the scene, we will shoot in the sinister Dodengang - the "Trenches of Death". In the company of one of the experts of the underground war, Johan Vandewalde, we will visit one of the few underground bunkers still existing and examine the problems of photographing such places.

The fields of Flanders can be wet and cold in March but they are never less than atmospheric and accordingly this course will show you how to use inclement weather to maximise the impact of your photographs.

Restored German trenches at Bayernwald

For these are landscapes with real "attitude": their beauty is not always immediately obvious but the discerning eye will always manage to find something which extend your capabilities and improve your portfolio.

Tough weather requires soft places to stay and alleviate the hardships of the day and we have the perfect place - Varlet Farm, the home of Charlotte & Dirk Cardoen-Descamps!

About 4 miles from Ypres, it is now a working farm providing extremely comfortable bed and breakfast accommodation. The rooms are modern, warm and comfortable and all are en-suite.

The scene of a famous Royal Naval Division attack in 1917, any keen battlefield visitor that has spent time in the Ypres Salient will have stayed here not least because of our hostess who is renowned for her hospitality, the vibrant conversation that accompanies her enormous breakfasts and most importantly her ability to supply muddy photographers with endless cups of steaming hot coffee and her especial apple tart! She also acts as a guide for the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 and has her own extensive collection of battlefield artifacts which she and Dirk have collected from their own fields. So be prepared for a memorable visit to what is undoubtedly one of the best places to stay anywhere along the Western Front.

Course Date:
2014. Dates to be agreed at the time of booking.
This course costs £975 and includes includes full board and travel from London to Ypres.

• Day One: travel to the Ypres and settle into accommodation. Dinner will be taken in a local restaurant..
• Days Two and Three: will be spent out on the battlefields of Messines, Ypres and the Yser. It is almost certain that a member of the party will have an ancestor who fought here so we will try and visit any places with especial associations and on at least one evening we will attend the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate. We will be eating out in the evening [ Charlotte does not do evening meals ]but afterwards we will have a chance to review our days shooting and discuss our work over some of the excellent beer for which Belgium is so justly famous.
• Day Four: We will spend the morning photographing and reviewing our work before heading home to England in the afternoon.

TO DISCUSS THIS COURSE, CONTACT ME AT:

battlevision@gmail.com

The Somme:

This course is based on the valley of Somme, a gentle rolling region of chalk hills with wooded hilltops, not unlike the South Downs, which lies between the deep set valleys of the Ancre and the Somme in Picardy. It was here on 1st July 1916 that the British Army suffered their worst ever day with almost 60,000 casualties.

Today this is a quiet rural backwater but the numerous cemeteries and the words of writers such as Blunden, Graves, Owen and Sassoon all bear witness to the unremitting ferocity which affected all who took part in the five month battle whilst more recently Sebastian Faulks set his best-selling ‘Birdsong’ in this landscape.

This course will seek to create images which match those words and especially to match the vision of one veteran who wrote

“I saw that bare country before me...the miles and miles of torn earth, the barbed wire, the litter, the dead trees. But the country would come back to life, the grass would grow again, the wild flowers return, and trees where now there were only splintered skeleton stumps.

They would lie still and at peace below the singing larks, beside the serenely flowing rivers.

They could not feel lonely, they would have one another. And they would have us also, though we were going home and leaving them behind. We belonged to them, and they would be a part of us for ever.”

Today the river Ancre does indeed flow serenely through it’s mist filled valley, a far cry from the horror filled landscape which Tolkien used as his inspiration for the Dead Marshes in ‘Lord of the Rings’.

This landscape is one filled with emotion and it is this which makes this one of Battlefield Vision’s most especial tours. To enable us to capture the early morning light, this tour is based on a bed and breakfast establishment right in the heart of the battlefield and evening meals will be taken both there and in local towns.

Course Dates in 2014: To be agreed at the time of booking.
This course will costs £1075 and includes full board and travel from London to the Somme.

• Day One: travel to the Somme and via Arras with time to visit the city centre with its fabulous Grand Place. Dinner in the evening with an introductory talk about the battle of the Somme and the landscape in which it was fought.
• Days Two to Four: all three days will be spent out on the Somme battlefield. It is almost certain that a member of the party will have an ancestor who fought here so we will try and visit any places with especial associations.
• Day Five: If the weather allows, an early morning start to enable us to visit any of a number of battlefields which lie on our route back to England - these could include Vimy Ridge, Loos or even the Agincourt where Henry V won his fame. And then home to England.

TO BOOK THIS COURSE CONTACT ME

battlevision@gmail.com

Verdun:

The battlefield of Verdun: for the French there is no more sacred ground than this region in north eastern France where the Meuse flows between wooded, rolling hills.

This is not a landscape of setting suns and reflective water but rather one of historical drama and emotion. For ten months of 1916 this region ravaged by perhaps the most ferocious fighting of the First World War - it was a ‘war within a war’ and claimed more than 700,000 casualties and whilst no British troops ever fought here, you cannot fail to be moved by the numerous scars of war which lie hidden in the woods.


Trenches snake between tumbled heaps of stones which mark the site of villages that vanished under a hail of shell-fire. Battered hunks of concrete forts and bunkers are witness to the destructive force of artillery and rusting amidst the undergrowth are unexploded shells.This is a lanscape of drame, of comedy and tragedy - the massive fort of Douaumont that was captured by a single soldier who then sat down and ate breakfast before telling anyone of his amazing feat. And how the subsequent battle to regain that fort cost 100,000 casualties. We will visit the mines of Vaquois where men fought blindly in the dark whilst planting explosives which blew away a whole hill-top and its ancient village.

There can be few other landscapes on earth which have such an emotional background and this course will take you into these hidden places to explain that drama thus enabling you to take photographs which reflect the emotion and history of such an extraordinary landscape.

Date of Course in 2014: To be agreed at time of booking.
This course will costs £1,525 which includes full board and travel from London to Verdun.

• First Day: travel to Verdun settle, in to hotel and have dinner together with an explanatory talk about the battle of Verdun and the landscape involved.
• Days Two - Five: we have four days in which we will be shooting in this fascinating region: each days itinerary will be planned around the weather to ensure that we make the best use of the light and we may even visit the woods of the Argonne
• Day Six: return to London.

TO BOOK THIS COURSE, CONTACT ME

battlevision@gmail.com

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there much walking?
Obviously there will be some walking but most locations are within easy reach of roads. I find that most landscape photographers are pretty fit anyhow

Is this just going to be a boring history lesson?
No - history properly taught is never boring because these battlefields are the story of all our families! These are places where our ancestors underwent every experience and emotion known to man and sadly, many of them died in the process. As a guide, I want to tell you the tales of some of these men so you can better understand the history of this landscape and what happened there - then as a photographer I want to show you the landscape and so that together we can combine the history, the emotion and the landscape to produce great pictures.

I love going to battlefields but I'm not a very good photographer. Technically will it be too advanced for me?
Absolutely not. Anyone with a camera who wants to learn about landscape photography will benefit from these courses. Because the numbers are kept deliberately small you can be assured of personal tuition at all times,

I've been on a battlefield tour before and all we visited were cemeteries and memorials. Will your course be doing the same?
Certainly not - obviously we will visit certain cemeteries but that is really because properly photographed a war cemetery makes an incredibly powerful statement about the cost and futility of war. But within a landscape, cemeteries often tell their own particular story about the battle at that point so obviously they will have a part to play in our visit but most of the time you will be in open country looking at the whole sweep of the landscape and the events it experienced.

Accommodation

Napoleon, who knew more than most about battlefields, said ‘an army marches on it’s stomach’. So whilst battlefields are seldom locations chosen for their splendid hotels, landscape photographers also need their comforts so an essential part of these courses are comfortable hotels, generally 3 star, where after a day in the field one can relax over a glass of wine with good food and discuss the days results.

All prices are based on single occupancy of comfortable rooms and breakfast and dinner are included in the price.

Equipment

Do I need special equipment?

I am sure that as a keen landscape photographer you will already have all the essentials but there are some things which will help you get the most out of these courses.

• Graduated neutral density filters are a real advantage as they enable you to control the contrast between the ground and the sky.
• Tripod head quick release plates - they enable you to switch cameras easily and safely even when your hands are cold
• Walking boots and good warm weatherproof clothing are essential - battlefields tend to be quite rugged places and shooting in bad weather heightens the atmosphere so I tend to shoot in all but the worst weather. A number of layers are better than one thick coat.
• Kneeling pads - gardeners strap-on kneeling pads [ available from any garden centre ] keep your trousers dry when kneeling on wet grass and sharp stones out of your knees!
• Batteries - generally speaking there is not a Jessops over the next hill, so do bring spare batteries and chargers.
• Walking pole - I find it steadies me when crossing those rougher bits of ground.

Battlefield Vision- Who are we?

Welcome to Battlefield Vision

But before you read any further I will be unable to take any master-classes until the summer of 2014: the reason is that I have been commissioned by the French Senate to create a major exhibition which will be showing in Les Jardins de Luxembourg in April - August 2014.

Passchendaele, the Somme, Verdun and Ypres: no other landscape defines the shaping of the modern world as the battlefields of northern France. It is here that photography has enabled people across the world and ages to understand the horror and drama of the world wars. Here still, the scars of our history are read upon the landscape.

Battlefield Vision is a unique opportunity for photographers to return to the landscape of humanity’s greatest drama.

The battlefield landscapes of northern France present unique challenges to the photographer. Not here are the tumbling cliffs and elegant mountains usually captured by the landscape photographer. Instead these sparse, pastoral landscapes, demand the photographer to translate the raw history of place through the camera; demand that we learn to create photographic testament to the powerful effect of man’s imprint upon the natural world.

These are the now quiet sites of history, alive still to the imaginative potential of the camera. Here, in long-abandoned trenches, tilled fields, forgotten wire and fledgling copses, the photographer is skilled to depict the arresting and singular emotion of landscapes bearing witness to the heights of human tragedy.


Battlefield Vision is a continuation of the work I have been doing on the battlefields of northern Europe for the past five years. Aided by leading historians, I have been photographing these "battlescapes" , creating a comprehensive photographic documentation of these emotive landscapes.. What began as a personal project will go on display in Paris in Les Jardins de Luxembourg in April - August 2014.

Battlefield Vision brings the dedicated learning of this continuing project – the photographic study of this expansive and hushed landscape – together with my experience of having worked in over sixty countries around the world to provide a unique experience for landscape photographers and battlefield visitors alike to experience the emotion of these truly unique places.