So how do you capture something that is so well known as to make anything you make a cliché? I'm still working on that and I suspect that I will take some months until I have something like an answer. The two days I have spent of Lindisfarne have produced very mixed results. The bird photographs have been excellent. This was something that I had hoped would have happened but until you are there you just don't know.
Back to cliché. One way may be to follow in the illustrious steps of Thomas Girtin. He painted the castle at Lindisfarne back in the late 18th century and took an approach that was more expressionist rather than realistic. Indeed I saw the painting at the recent Turner exhibition at the Tate and commented that it was not that realistic. Now I know why. Girtin had taken the elements and exaggerated them for artistic effect. The result was a wonderful example of the his artistic talent.
Another would be to out cliché the cliché. I am not sure whether I approve of this but it is an option. I could have done a Joe Cornish clone - perhaps I have above I am not sure. However, I suspect I will find a middle way when I get back to my study and can really work on the images I have captured.
It is just such a difficult place to get a handle on. On one hand it is this hugely important early medieval site; it reeks of history and intrigue. The flip side of this is that it is such a tourist trap that everywhere you go is oldie worldie this and cream tea that. The weather hasn't helped - although I am not sure what I had expected.
So in the end I have to hope I can pull something out of the fire when I get back home. At the moment the saving grace has been some very compliant Curlew to make the whole thing worth while.
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