On the road

This is a map i made using google and notes taken about the locations of each veiw point. Although it doesnt look like much this is the culmination of 3 weekends groundwork, driving round hills, walking through parks and huntting for gaps in trees and houses.

It should hopefully save me alot of time when Im in a position to photograph.

More hills

I took a trip to sheffields local history library and spoke to the librarians. They confirmed that no official list identifying which hills are included exists but that one source sugests these highpoints.

1. Stannington ridge
2. Loxley Ridge
3. Shirecliffe-Pitsmoor Ridge
4. Norfolk Park Ridge
5. Greenhill Ridge
6. Ecclesall Ridge
7. Hallam Ridge

In addition to this Sheffield City Council planned to light fires on the hills to celebrate the International Student games in 1991. Suggested sites were:

1. Loxley Common/Wadsley
2. Crookes
3. Greystones/Ringinglow
4. Norton/Gleadless
5. Wincobabk
6. Shirecliffe
7. Stannington

As you can see they dont match which is a shame, though they are all within the 8 suggested areas of the last source. From here I think i might just have to go and look at the places and decide which i think are most suitable.

Which hills?

So far the best source of information about which hills are to be considered part of the sheffield seven has been this study by J.G.Harson who has cross checked the earliest written reference to the saying with the city boarders of the time. Some what confusingly he lists 8 hills but does include road names of the locations which will make looking them up on maps alot easier.

"The earliest reference I have to seven hills is George Orwell's Road to Wigan Pier, written in 1936. In it he writes:

The town is very hilly (said to be built on seven hills, like Rome) and everywhere streets of mean little houses blackened by smoke run up at sharp angles, paved with cobbles which are purposely set unevenly to give horses etc, a grip."

Innitial thoughts

This is the beginning of my project which arose from a trip back to sheffield and a familurality with a saying that the city was built on seven hills. this was something that i was always awair of growing up but did not place much value entil returning to the city having been away for quite some time.

It seemed aproprieate that i should explore this idea to see if the expression was actually based on some geographical truth or mearly a turn of phrase employed when met with the prospect of a long climb.

With regards to the form the project will take in photographic terms it seems obvious, or atleast i feel compelled, to photograph the city from each vantage point offered by the hills. It is very rare that I enter a project with the intention of making specific images. On the contrary usually i have little desire to make images, instead I immerse myself in a subject of interest and from there i hope to find a way to articulate my view point photographically.

Bearing this in mind, my blog would usually be a place to colate research and a tool to distill my ideas about how i may aproach a given project. Instead I will now use it to explain why making this series apeals to me so and to contextualize it within my practice. And intern how my practice fits into the wider context of photography and the Genre of Landscape.