Quiet Light: landscape photography by Julian Barkway

Image 'Dawn at Lac d'Ilay' added to gallery 'New Work'

I discovered this little boat on a recce the previous afternoon and felt it would make a good subject but the harsh afternoon light was doing it no favours. Returning before dawn presented me with much more interesting light...

Image 'Reflected branches' added to gallery 'New Work'

This part of the French Jura is known as 'Les Quatre Lacs' because here, in an area of only a handful of square kilometres, can be found the Lac de Narlay, Lac d'Ilay, Lac de Petit Maclu and Lac de Grand Maclu.

I found this intriguing little scene at the northern end of the Grand Maclu lake and I was fascinated by the way the gentle ripples interfered with the reflected shapes of the branches.

Image 'Reed doughnuts' added to gallery 'New Work'

I have no explanation for how these reeds came to take on the appearance of American doughnuts although I suspect the icing over of this small pond during the harsh Winter had a part to play.

Image 'Source de l'Ain' added to gallery 'New Work'

This source of the river Ain (there are two) only sees water when the water-table is high. More usually, the river emerges further down the valley. I used the light reflecting off the Winter trees to good advantage, giving the water the appearance of caramel. The greenish colour at the top of the frame comes from the riverbed.

Image 'Last light, Lac de Narlay' added to gallery 'New Work'

I completed my photographic tour of Les Quatre Lacs with a trip to the Lac de Narlay, hoping to use the sparse reedbeds in a composition. That didn't work out but this one did....

Image 'Tufa patterns' added to gallery 'New Work'

I keep returning to these strange formations of deposited minerals perhaps because they are fairly unusual. I still don't think I have done this amazing location justice but I will keep trying.

Image 'Tufa waterfall' added to gallery 'New Work'

Usefully, there is a path which allows quite close access to these falls. This time, I decided to forego a 'head-on' view in favour of a more dynamic viewpoint.

Image 'Ghostly trees' added to gallery 'New Work'

I find trees to be endlessly fascinating photographic subjects. Here, I decided to emphasise the slightly ghostly look of these silver birches beside the river Doubs by carefully converting the original colour image into monochrome and adding a subtle blue toning.

Image 'Winter in the Gorges du Doubs - 1' added to gallery 'New Work'

One of the things that keeps bringing me back to this location on the Franco-Swiss border, apart from its obvious beauty, is the sense of timelessness here. A short hike from the busy border-crossing at Biaufond and all you hear is birdsong. Apart from the occasional ruined building hinting at the gorge's working past, there is no indication that you are barely a couple of kilometres from civilisation.

In this image, and the one which follows, I wanted to evoke the profound sense of serenity in this part of the gorge.

Image 'Winter in the Gorges du Doubs - 2' added to gallery 'New Work'

One of the things that keeps bringing me back to this location on the Franco-Swiss border, apart from its obvious beauty, is the sense of timelessness here. A short hike from the busy border-crossing at Biaufond and all you hear is birdsong. Apart from the occasional ruined building hinting at the gorge's working past, there is no indication that you are barely a couple of kilometres from civilisation.

In this image, and the one which precedes it, I wanted to evoke the profound sense of serenity in this part of the gorge.

Image 'Le Châtelot' added to gallery 'New Work'

Below the impressive concrete dam which holds back the waters of the Lac de Moron lies a very wild stretch of the river Doubs. The evidence of the long, hard Winter of 2010 is obvious here and I was keen to capture the rawness of nature before the warmth of Spring brought out the gorge's softer side.

Image 'Maison Monsieur' added to gallery 'New Work'

I don't, as a rule, return to compositions unless there is a chance that I can significantly improve on my previous efforts. So it was with this visit to the small hotel and restaurant at Maison Monsieur. In the Summer, a popular spot for anglers and people who just enjoy being out on the river. In the Winter, a light snowfall reveals the essential beauty of the location.

Image 'Hanging pondweed' added to gallery 'New Work'

My last visit to this stagnant pond and occasional outlet for the river La Ronde (mostly it just dissipates into the porous limestone at a small lake in the hills on the east side of the gorge) gave me the opportunity to make an image of tree-branches trapped in ice. Returning to this location, I was intrigued to see how pondweed had become caught up in the low-hanging branches of this small tree, giving the impression that the weed is somehow pulling the tree into the water. I was also quite taken with how the distribution of reflections of the forest and sky beyond seemed to echo the shape of the branches and hanging weed.

Making this sort of layered, complex image I find to be a a very satisfying challenge.

Image 'Ice and tree branch' added to gallery 'Pick of the Year (2009)'

This shallow backwater of the river Doubs, near Biaufond, is a place to which I keep returning. It is a fascinating stretch of water which offers subjects in all seasons. I was previously there in Autumn when the trees put on a rich display of colour. In Winter, the shades are more muted but no less appealing.

I was attracted by the way the ice had formed around this low-hanging branch and felt the larger area of ice covering the pond might make for an intriguing background.

Image 'Cascade des Tufs, Les Planches' added to gallery 'Pick of the Year (2009)'

As with my earlier visit to the cascade at Baume-les-Messieurs, I couldn't resist going in close to record the patterns in the water and the textures of the tufa rock. The bizarre shapes are not the result of erosion by water but the reverse process. Here, minerals dissolved in the water precipitate over countless thousands of years and slowly build up these incredible rock formations.

Image 'Autumn at La Goule - 1' added to gallery 'Gorges du Doubs'

A day of intermittent light rain provided the perfect conditions for this dramatic image of the gorge below the dam at La Goule.

Image 'Autumn at La Goule' added to gallery 'Gorges du Doubs'

At La Goule, the river has been dammed to provide electricity and the resulting reservoir provides a stretch of quiet water, in stark contrast to the wilder parts of the gorge further upstream.