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Gary Calton writes: ‘I have walked these paths many times, but I had walked with eyes closed.’ See more of Gary Calton’s Solitude to Birdsong series here and on his Instagram page
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‘Seeing, but not observing the beauty of things around me. And, in that beauty, I was able to feel the small pleasures that would have been otherwise lost to me’
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‘Shot over several years, I was on a daily search to see something new. Initially, I was drawn to the minute daily details of the elements I came across. A decaying leaf, a tear-shaped droplet, the hue of a felled log, fallen leaves, frozen water. Textural patterns and singular colours. We never travel silently, and these were symbolic of the many quiet, focused, solitary conversations that accompanied my journeys’
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‘As time passed, loss turned to gratitude. My gaze raised, and I could see the beautiful isolation of things. A sole tree in the morning dawn, singular structures and distant horizons. I was making connections. These were not items of isolation, but structures proud and tall, weathered and worn. Standing quietly. Happy, in silent solitude’
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‘The walks progressed, the landscapes changed, and the horizons expanded’
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‘Clouds formed peculiar shapes and lingered across the sight, and the deep late summer colours lingered in the night’
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‘As self-isolation became a national obligation in March 2020, the transformation of this project began to take place’
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‘As the noise of life dimmed, and the nation began to close inward, the accompanying chorus of spring song seemed to amplify’
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‘Dancing with the joys of life and new beginnings. The crisp sounds of early spring. Through forest, along hedgerows and down the tracks was a chorus of birdsong’
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‘They had, I admit, always been there. But, seemingly, I didn’t want to hear them. It was only after I’d found comfort in solitude that nature’s chorus and the beauty of birdsong opened up its world’
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‘Without solitude there would have been no birdsong. My sighs had been lost and my songs had been answered’
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‘Larger vistas replace small details. Roads straightened and pathways revealed themselves’
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‘We all deal with things in our own way. The outside world and nature have a wonderful ability to calm, heal and present the simplest of pleasures before us’
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‘The simplest of things can speak to the most complex of needs. We all need a little of nature’s soft beauty’
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‘We just need an inner silence to be able to feel it’
