A year in the life project
There was no grand design with this project, at a meeting in the Three Shires Inn (Little Langdale) John Nicol the Managing Director of Frances Lincoln Publishers simply asked me if I would like to do a book of colour photography on The Langdales. I acquiesced and A Year In The Life of The Langdale Valleys was born.Of course being asked to do a photo book on my ‘own backyard’ was like a dream come true and I found the whole concept of the seasonal approach, interspersed with local knowledge and essays on subjects that fascinate me, really stimulating to work on. It was great also to give extended captions and being able to talk about the things that interest me in the scenes and landscapes I photographed. Although primarily a photo book I was really chuffed when it won the ‘Outdoor Writers – Outdoors Book of The Year Award 2005’.
People like it a lot (into it’s second edition already) and the publishers asked me to do some more. Two other special areas, particularly for climbers and walkers like myself, immediately sprung to mind and Borrowdale and Glencoe followed in November 2005.
Next due in September 2006 is Lakeland’s Duddon Valley. A valley I have always loved and was subject to some thirty two sonnets by William Wordsworth.
Photographically I have finished a further two books. The amazing, magical, incomparable Island of Skye and the immensely varied, from wild and rugged, to serene and beautiful, from the mountains to the sea, spectacular Snowdonia. Though the reps inform me that there is only a small market for books on Snowdonia I don’t believe them and really hope we can prove them wrong and the series can move on. There are just so many exciting and special places I would love to cover - I’ve already suggested two more favourite climbing areas of mine – USA’s Yosemite Valley and Frances’s Provence!
A Year In The Life of the Langdale Valleys
2004; Frances Lincoln.Photographic, Factual. Reprinted in 2005.
Winner of the Oudoor Writers Guild ‘Best Oudoors Book for 2005’
Cumbria Magazine December 2004: Simply the best.
Westmorland Gazette 11th Febuary 2005: In this quite wonderful book, Bill Birkett, a climber, photographer and writer who is lucky enough to be a native of the valley has managed to capture the seasonal moods through his camera lens to show just what makes the area so special. The subtle interplay of man and nature shines through with Birkett’s truly superb photography picking out the breathtaking colours and shades of the landscape, the vast variety of flora and fauna and the fact that it is very much a working valley.
A Year In The Life of Borrowdale
2005; Frances Lincoln.Photographic/Factual
Cumberland Evening News: Bill Birkett’s Camera is drawn to the drama of the landscape. Borrowdale, with its constantly changing cloudscape, the heaviness of its watery skies and then those glorious moments of heavenly illumination, is a place where the weather paints the hills. – He tells us about the history, the Norse names, the German miners, the changing life of farming, the climbers and guides including Millican Dalton ”
A Year In The Life of Glencoe
2005; Frances Lincoln.Photographic/Factual
Daily Mail Friday 18th November 2005: Every country and every nation has a special place. Each, of course, must choose it’s own. Scotland’s is Glencoe. As the book’s title indicates, this is a seasonal progress. Boldly, Birkett starts with winter, when Glencoe is at its most spectacular, with its ridges and mountains a terrifying succession of snow and ice and rock. The other seasons unfurl in turn, through the new green shoots of spring and the short sunshine of a Highland summer to the glorious palette of autumn in the glen. However, the high point of the book, it’s whole raison d’etre, indeed is the author’s brilliant array of photographs, from almost thumbnail shots of tiny spring flowers on the high slopes to the breathtaking double-page spread vistas of the glen in all it’s glory. Interspersed with the wonderful photographs is a series of short essays on Glencoe’s history, flora and fauna, geology, legend, myths and magic, plus climbing and mountaineering. Overall, the effect is spellbinding.
