The Present
Before Time Leaves Its Fleeting Trace.
Moonlight on the ocean, Branscombe.
“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.” - Henry David Thoreau
Hi
Thanks for listening in.
Some how it’s the beginning of May, I’m seriously mystified how time has elapsed so quickly. It felt like the start of the year arrived only yesterday.
The phrase "Before Time Leaves Its Fleeting Trace" emphasises the transient nature of time and suggests a desire to appreciate and cherish the present moment before it passes.
My mum passed away in January after a year long battle with cancer, cherishing the present moment was precious while she was here, and its precious as I deal with her physically not being in my life. Spending time quietly with the natural world - undistracted and in the moment, has been a great healer for myself in recent months, it’s helped me navigate this time carefully.
Mum and I created some beautiful memories in the last year, as well as some quiet, and gentle images of her story during this time. I hope to share these at some point, perhaps they’ll be helpful to someone going through something similar. Though right now it still feels a little too soon, though in time I will.
Creatively this period had been somewhat difficult. Though this last few weeks I feel like I’ve been slowly transitioning into a more creative space once again, which feels great.
This is my first newsletter in a while, and I’ll be sharing some recent commissions and some creative moments . I hope you enjoy looking through.
Roll on summer.
Horner Farm
I had previously created work with Holly at Horner Farm, initially for The Guardian, a couple years back. So when the Dutch newspaper NRC approached me to create a further story around sustainable farming and environmental subsidies, I jumped at the chance to revisit. Horner Farm and Holly’s approach are truly inspiring and her work has been transformational for the land, biodiversity and ecosystems are stewarded carefully alongside sustainable farming.
“We farm with our environment as opposed to changing our environment for our farming system. We believe in an integrated approach where production is not removed but run in harmony with our natural world. We are recovering land that for years had been under intensive management with high inputs. We listen to our animals, grasslands and soils to make informed choices.” - Holly, Horner Farm.
Holly and her chickens, Horner Farm.
The Detectorists
This was a fascinating commission for The Guardian, one that I really looked forward to working on. An air of excitement and hope gripped us all as we gathered hoping to find Holly Mcgowan’s lost ring - a significant family heirloom. It felt like a needle in a haystack moment. But with the detectorists Morley, Craig, and Matt in toe, you just never knew.
I joined writer Andrew Lloyd on parts of this intriguing story.
“Most metal detectorists search for ancient treasure, but I’ve spent the last few months chatting with members of an altruistic detecting community who go out in search of missing items for living people.”
“They’ve slogged through slurry in search of missing teeth, tracked down engagement rings for distraught newlyweds and reconnected families with the ashes of their loved ones.”
“I joined them on one of their searches and found out why they spend so much time helping complete strangers.” - Andrew Lloyd, The Guardian.
We didn’t manage to find Holly’s ring on this particular day, but the detectorists were determined to revisit and continue the search. Hope remained.
Part of this commission also saw me travel to Bournemouth to meet Darren Wiles on the beach at Boscombe. His track record for finding lost objects, made him feel almost mythical in the detectorists realm. Though perhaps that was me getting ahead of myself.
More of this fun and intriguing story in now available online - The Detectorists
Detectorist - Darren Wiles.
Archived Stories
I’ve been writing and sharing stories via Substack for a little while now. It feels like the perfect antidote to social media, allowing a little more time to share the work, as well as some of the thinking and processes behind creating.
Thanks for those that continue to support me on this platform. For most of you, you perhaps receive this as a newsletter, though the archived posts exist online as well, and if you want to delve deeper please feel free. You’ll find the archive at this link.
Thanks for giving me a little of your time. I hope you enjoyed the read though.
Feel free to reach out if you have any comments, thoughts, commissions, or collaboration ideas, and have a beautiful weekend when it arrives.
Speak soon, Joel.
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