26
I
’ve spent most of my photography
career trying to win assignments that
would get me to warm beaches under
sunny skies. I’ve had some major
success and developed a deep need for the
azure. For years, photographer Marc Wilson
cursed the sun: ‘I’d be driving along the north
coast of France for instance, heading east for
two hours and it’s all grey and cold and
miserable so I was happy – then the clouds
would start disappearing and I’d look at my
weather forecast and three hours back west
it was cloudy so I turn around. I chased the
clouds and grey skies.’
Between 2010 and 2014, Marc
photographed for his project, The Last Stand,
a series of images documenting the defence
structures of the Second World War along the
coastlines of northern Europe. He wanted to
keep a similar visual throughout – fl at grey
colours, fi rst light, no people. Fog was his
friend, mist his mistress, dawn a constant
companion. The planning was as meticulous as
a Field Marshal Montgomery offensive. The
destinations had to be researched and located,
the daybreak had to be right and the times of
the tide had to be known. When all aligned
with the weather forecast, Marc would deploy.
Over the campaign, Marc travelled around
23,000 miles visiting more than 140 locations
across the British Isles, Channel Islands,
northern and western France, Denmark,
Belgium and Norway. The images were shot on
a range of 5x4 fi lm kit including a Chamonix
View Camera, Wista, Arca-Swiss and Ebony –
some had to be taken apart piece by piece to
dry out in his hotel room after a wet morning
on the front line. Despite the eclectic band of
cameras, Marc achieved his mission and the
aesthetic he was hoping for. The results are
sumptuous and subtle: a hint of green dilutes
the sea of Studland Bay I, Dorset, England
2011; the sky blushes burnt orange in
Bamburgh, Northumberland, England 2013;
magenta peeks through the gloom in
Colleville-sur-Mer I, Normandy, France, 2014.
It’sa remarkableachievement.Thedecisiontoshoot wide makes the work more about how
the line of defence has changed over time and
becomes consumed and subsumed into the
landscape. It’s not a collection purely about the
defences themselves. ‘My work is based
around memory and history within that
landscape. A lot of my work is set in the
landscape but I don’t think of myself as making
landscapes,’ explains Marc.Revised and redesigned
A total of 91 images were published in the fi rst
edition of the book. The book sold out. A
second edition sold out. To coincide with the
75th anniversary of the end of WWII, Marc
recognised there was a market for a third. This
new revised and redesigned edition is a more
affordable version: the current plan is for 124
pages, 63 photographs including nine new
images. Books matter to Marc. ‘I want people
to look at the work and then to read text if
there’s text there, to really use their minds, to
wonder and to think and discuss and take their
time. The reason I love books, a real photo
book as opposed to an online e-book, is that
the viewer can engage with it on an intimate,
one to one level, you can fall into it, the lyricism
of words or you can fall into it because of the
photographs, that’s a wonderful experience.’
After his European expedition, perhaps you
might expect Marc to fi nd a project closer to
his family and home in the south of England?
His current reportage, A Wounded Landscape,
photographed over the past fi ve years and due
for publication in 2020, is made at more than
160 locations throughout Europe and based
around 22 Holocaust survivor stories including
second and third generation. Marc did try to
fi nd a more local project and completed some
test shoots but nothing was gratifying.
‘Choosing a subject that you care about, to me,
is the most important thing because then you’ll
want to take the photographs, make the effort,
spend the time, talk about it – being dedicated
and giving yourself to the project is hugely
important and the only way you can
createsomethinggood.’Chasing clouds
A third edition of Marc Wilson’s photo book The
Last Stand coincides with the 75th anniversary of
VE Day. Peter Dench fi nds out more
The Last Stand – 3rd edition: special pre-order price from £20, see http://www.marcwilson.co.uk/book-print-sales/the-last-stand-book
Photo Stories
Sainte-Marguerite-
sur-Mer, Upper
Normandy, France
2 012Newburgh I,
Aberdeenshire,
Scotland. 2012