James Ravilious

In 1970 James Ravilious became involved with the Beaford Photographic Archive in North Devon. his brief was to record rural life. The task absorbed him for more than 17 years during which he took over 80,000 negatives and copied some 5000 early photographs of the same subject.

Ravilious fell in love with this quietly beautiful countryside. The subject of traditional rural life on the brink of change was a gift for a documentary photographer who had such a rapport with people and who looked with the trained eye of an artist. With these skills he was able to find in the most ordinary scenes, compositions that resonate with classical painting. He particularly enjoyed the soft western light and experimented constantly to perfect his technique and his equipment in order to capture the subtle tonal range he wanted.

In addition to the Beaford Archive, James undertook other commissions that took him abroad and around the UK including Cornwall.