Personal Essays

The Semantic Photographer

--Acrophobia. I’m certain l am not alone in my fear of heights. We are supposedly genetically programmed to fear that which may kill us. Not surprisingly I have not taken the same approach to dealing with this as with my fear of birds. The semantic part of my brain worked out that you get phenomenally good images if you lie on your back at the foot of tall structures (or perhaps that’s just survival instinct). I was even beginning to nurture thoughts of lighthouse photos taken from Brideshead.

I had to get an image to illustrate my point. I chose the tree-top walk in Kew Gardens. As you can see, the structure looks light and flimsy from below at my usual safe point of view. Satisfied that I had the courage to get up there and take pictures I started up the stairs. Within 2 flights the fear trigger had my leg and arm muscles all but unresponsive and screaming in pain but I did manage to get to the top. I could barely move and needed superhuman effort to snap one pathetic photo before leaning slightly to the side and sacrificing my lunch over the side. Quite how I got down I’m not sure.

Has photography changed my height responses? No, but I have found new ways of dealing with my interest in exploring every possible angle.

I swear it was higher than it looks --


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