I’m interested in photographing the wooded spaces trapped between farmers fields. Ancient woodland, hollow ways, oak trees and ancient paths. Liminal locations on the threshold between the mundane and the magical.

Over the years I’ve attempted to document my experiences in these places using various mediums including photography, painting, film, installation and curation. Until 2008 I owned and curated ‘Woom’, an art gallery in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter, where I exhibited and hosted the work of emerging visionary photographers, painters and musicians in a disused factory and cobbled courtyard [here]

Upon closing the doors of ‘Woom’ in 2008, I moved into a log cabin in Luccombe Chine on the Isle of Wight. An abundant part of the island with tall hills, dramatic coastline and ancient woodland. Never without my camera, attempting to capture the area’s propensity for majestic otherworldliness on my daily walks. I kept a photographic journal for over a decade of life in the Chine, an archive of which can be found [here]

In 2015 I had my first solo exhibition ‘The Fae live in the Bokeh’ at Dimbola Lodge, the once home of pioneer photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. The photographs were shot in the myriad of small enchanted wooded spaces that surrounded my home in the Chine. A book that accompanied the exhibition can still be found [here]

I loved the intimacy I gained with the magical wooded landscape I rarely left for nearly a decade. The land my cabin was on was sold at the turn of this decade and I lived for a while on a 27ft sailing boat on the river Medina. Around this time I collaborated with silversmith Abi Brown, capturing her work in the ethereal places I had discovered over the years, these photographs can be seen on her website [here}

Winter ‘20/21 myself and my beautiful partner Molly took residence in a former telephone exchange perched on the edge of the wildest part of the island. Exposed to violent south-westerly winds and on calm days we were often shrouded in mist that rolls in off the English Channel. Witnessed from behind windows that sometimes flexed alarmingly in the wind. I’ve shared some of the images from this time in the ‘Sea and Sky’ section of this website.

In April of this year we moved onto a farm, again in the wild west of the island - nestled between miles of jurassic coast line and Brighstone Forest. The largest forest on the island, I always get lost in Brighstone Forest. Captivated by having a new wooded landscape to explore, I have begun photographing those liminal spaces again.

Last Winter we spent three months in Nepal, where I rediscovered my love for Photomontage. I found magick in Nepal to be far less nuanced than here at home - it was part of everyday fabric and I found the Gods, Temples, drums and forests to be massively inspiring - especially the Gods, Temples and drums in the forests. I bought a laptop whilst there and had with me a memory stick with last year’s photographs from the Island on it. I enjoyed sewing two worlds together - some of the images are in the ‘Doors’ collection currently on the homepage.

I update this website as often as possible, for more regular updates please see my Instagram account - @sydburon

Seven Portals