Fay Godwin

British Photographer 1931-2005

My photograph of sheep on our farm.

I have been seeing a number of sheep photographs in Substack posts, in reference to societies sheep like habits. I think we have always been sheeplike in a number of ways though with covid we certainly extended our similarities.

The sheep images reminded me of Fay Godwins’ photographs. She was a well -know photographer in Britain, most called a landscape photographer. In her landscapes animals were included quite often. Here are two of her sheep images.

Fay Godwin, Royal Military Canal, East Sussex, 1971

Fay Godwin, Public footpath, M.O.D. Lydd, Kent, 1987

Her landscapes are very beautiful with subtle use of soft light and particular compositions.

Fay Godwin, Copper beech, Stourhead, 1983

Godwin did a lot of portraiture as well, photographing among others lot of literary persons. This portrait of James Herriot aptly combines portraiture, landscape and animals.

Fay Godwin, James Herriot, 1977

Later in her career she photographed in colour as well. This great example shows how her compositional abilities worked well in small town locales. I wondered how a sign might read today, ‘Covid, Don’t Die of Ignorance,’ and how the populace would respond.

Fay Godwin, Halifax, 1986