When the pilot announces that we are 30 minutes to our destination, I stare out the window. I watch the country below slowly become visible through the grey clouds. The land is a beautiful patchwork of varying hues of green. The houses and cars slowly come into view as we get closer. The wheels touch down, I’m filled with excitement. I am home.
I began taking photos when I was 16. My high school offered a darkroom course. The smell of the chemicals, the look of film, the whole art behind photography drew me in. Ever since then, whenever I traveled, a camera came with me. Though all I had at the time was a little 35 mm point-and-shoot, I spent most of my time viewing Europe through a lens. After the first few trips, my mom mentioned the lack of photos of family; it wasn’t until we were visiting Venice together that she stopped mentioning it.
For years, the only people who saw my photographs from my adventures were those who came into my Mom’s house. She adorned her walls with images from England, Rome, and Venice. I decided last September that I wanted to showcase photographs from England. After running the idea by Mark Plessinger, we set up a show at frame of Mind. My family and I were heading off the England, specifically North Derbyshire for two weeks, and it lined up perfectly. So I lugged my camera equipment across the Atlantic Ocean and bought tons of film. We had a few places outlined of where we were going, but I had no preset notions of what exactly I wanted to photograph.
The first few days there, I drew a blank. However, when we went to visit Chatsworth, a stately home, something clicked. From that point on, I was always behind the camera. My mom and stepfather put up with me randomly asking to pull off the road, so that I could jump out and snap a few shots. Everyone was so understanding when I wanted to spend a few extra minutes at a location, or climb up a hill to get a different vantage point. And somehow the weather worked out perfectly, though I did stand in a shower or two to grab a shot.
I wanted to illustrate to everyone the beauty of the English countryside and the personal meaning it holds for me. Each photograph in this show holds a story behind it (which I am always willing to tell.) I have been in inspired by England for years, and I am hoping to inspire others who view my work.
~ Jenna Sach
“The Journey Home” is the featured exhibition at Frame of Mind (located at 1520 Main Street, Suite 1e, right across from the Columbia Museum of Art) as part of this month’s First Thursdays on Main.
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