The Shepherd’s View: Modern Photographs from an Ancient Landscape

Farmer and shepherd Rebanks (The Shepherd’s Life) returns readers to the enduring traditions and daunting landscapes of England’s Lake District, this time with a special emphasis on sight. A torrent of images, bare journal entries, and essayistic vignettes creates constant vistas of this place and its people. Readers follow Rebanks through memories of buying tups (rams), mastering the shepherding dialect, and learning about composition and light in photography from the paintings of Bruegel, Constable, Van Gogh, and Turner. Rebanks provides glimpses in photos and words of sheep sales and shepherd meets, the landscape’s rarely depicted harshness, the shepherds’ baking competition, and the Lake District’s inhabitants—their wisdom, clothes, and “wild kids.” These photos demonstrate how the lifestyle and landscape shape people, how birds and shepherds cherish their freedom, and how pausing to gaze might unlock some crucial discovery. Rebanks invites readers to share his views, guided by his refreshing mischief, a seasoned respect for the place and people who shepherd, and a measured, genuine fondness for this life. B&w photos. (Oct.)