The Road Ahead...

Holga: The Road Ahead
Originally uploaded by Matt Callow.

I recently found out that for two weeks in June I'm to be the guest of the Glen Arbor Art Association as part of their Artist in Residence programme. I'm very excited!

Glen Arbor is in northern Michigan near the Sleeping Bear Dunes. I'll be based at an old farmstead in Port Oneida, a rural district abandoned in the early 20th century and largely undeveloped since. It's in a corner of the state that I love, and I've already explored the county a fair bit, so the idea of burying myself completely in photographing the place for a fortnight is dizzying and intriguing. I have lots of ideas and plans already - here's part of what I wrote in my application:

"The way humanity interacts and leaves its mark on the natural world has long been one of the things I’ve explored with my photography. I'm inspired by landscapes - however idyllic, wild or natural they might seem at first glance - that show the signs of past and present human activity, be it farming or forestry, mining or industry. For this reason I love shooting in northern Michigan, a very beautiful but also very human landscape, and an ongoing inspiration.

Living in the Great Lakes region, water has become one of my favorite and most regular subjects, by dint of its sheer physical presence and ubiquity. However I feel I’ve barely got a grip on how to photograph it - the lakes great and small, the rivers and creeks, the mists, the rain, the snow, the storms – all a huge creative motivation and continual technical challenge."

I can't wait!