Elemental: Saddleworth Moor

Travelling across Britain for six years photographing rare native horse breeds, I found myself drawn deeper and deeper into the wild landscapes they inhabit. The horses brought me to the moor. The moor never let me go.

A year-long exploration on Saddleworth Moor, capturing the seasonal transformation of this wild Pennine landscape through cyanotype.

Four large-scale works anchor the series — Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter — each created on-site using that season's natural light and moorland water. These expansive pieces establish the moor's character across the year: awakening, abundance, decay, and dormancy.

Surrounding these are intimate botanical studies made from plants gathered during each visit. Cotton grass, heather, bracken, sedges — each specimen washed in peat bog water from the moor itself. The ancient chemistry of the peat interacts with light-sensitive emulsion to create unique tonal variations that can never be exactly replicated.

Exposed outdoors using natural sunlight, every piece is subject to whatever conditions the moor offers that day — storm, wind, rain, or sun. Rain marks left on prints aren't mistakes; they're collaboration. These aren't images of the moor. They are the moor — plants, water, light, weather, and time embedded in paper.

A surrender to place. A document of impermanence. A seasonal portrait made by the land itself.