Fay Godwin, British Photographer documentary

Fay Godwin (17 February 1931 - 27 May 2005) was a British photographer known for her black-and-white landscapes of the British countryside and coast.
I was the cameraman on this documentary film made in the mid 1980s and shot on 16mm film. Fay was interesting to work with. Her appreciation of light and shade and composition in her photos was an inspiration to me in my film career.
She was not interested in "pretty scenes" and avoided the picture postcard approach, often including junk or rubbish within her work.
This film explores her approach to photography and travels with her to the south east of England and as far as the Scottish Highland.
Digitised from a VHS tape I kept, the quality lacks it's original 16mm film quality unfortunately.

[@Sealight007]

Ah, the film days. I came back from Vietnam with my Nikon FTN, built a dark room in my sisters garage. Beseler 23c enlarger. I have a Nikon d850, an incredible camera, AI,d my original FTN Nikkor lenses and shoot with them on the d850. the 55mm 1.2 still delivers. photograph- light, composition, impact--and some luck. Thanks for posting this.

[@annettewillis2797]

Thanks for posting this Steve. Fay was an incredibly important British photographer. A real trail blazer. So sad that she died relatively young. This way, new audiences can se her work!

[@Hydrabmol]

Thank you very much for this documentary. I didn't know her. You made a great service!

[@stevehaskett100]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@paulowen5539]

This lady got me interested in photography in 1981 !!

[@stevehaskett100]

Good to hear

[@jonathanhotopf1823]

Had the great fortune to go on one of her workshops.

[@sduggan34]

Thanks for posting this, very interesting. Sounds like Melvyn Bragg is the narrator so possibly an episode of the Southbank Show

[@stevehaskett100]

Yep. Probably my first South Bank Show, but not my last fortunately. Such a shame it's now finished

[@ThroughTheLoupe]

Thanks for showing this. Not sure if its available from the archives. Fascinating work and really loved seeing Kent back then seeing I moved to the north Kent coast in 1981. Now a landscape photographer myself i can very much appreciate her ethos and vision.

[@stevehaskett100]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@ThroughTheLoupe]

@@stevehaskett100 was this for the BBC?

[@stevehaskett100]

@@ThroughTheLoupe No it was a South Bank Show, for what was then LWT (now part of ITV)

[@ThroughTheLoupe]

@@stevehaskett100 ah ok yes i remember it well

[@davidpearce2981]

Imagine the freedom she’d have using digital, I bought land when I first took up photography

[@stevehaskett100]

True, but a lot of the digital generation are using film now!

[@kevin-parratt-artist]

I would not waste the time with digital imaging. Film photography is an artwork medium.

[@davidpearce2981]

@@stevehaskett100 I occasionally goes back but digital is much more convenient, and cheaper of course

[@davidpearce2981]

@@kevin-parratt-artist so is digital , mo so in fact

[@stevehaskett100]

True. A good compromise is to shoot film and digitise the neg. Still more expensive than pure digital. Personally I am just digital now. Canon5DMk2

[@raybeaumont7670]

How can you call yourself a photographer when some bugger else does the printing? Only a camera operator.