David Ward - Landscape Photography - Into The Light

The notion of wild and wilderness is fraught in our present age. Much of the landscape that we feel is untamed is in fact the product of human intervention. There has been a migration of meaning for the notion of wilderness over the last few centuries. Wild once predominantly meant untamed, fierce, savage, godforsaken or uncultivated. Wilderness was not only useless land but also scary and ugly.

Now we venerate the wild; it is something beautiful to be conserved, pristine places unsullied by the hand of man – most importantly perhaps it represents a diminishing chance for us to reconnect with our natural roots.

Few of the places depicted here are truly wild but I feel that they represent the spirit of wilderness and are therefore worthy of the title.