Talking to: Joshua J Sneade

Joshua J Sneade is a 25 year old photographer who has just published his first large photo book On the Idle HIll of Summer, documenting Summer 2020 in lock down in his native Shropshire.

Like for so many others, the nationwide lock down of March 2020 marked a challenging transitional period for Joshua. His life and career were put on hold and for the first time in more than five years, he returned home from Bristol to the county of Shropshire. Although initially feeling like a backwards step, the move allowed Joshua an opportunity to reconnect with the landscape of his youth, discover the joy of wild swimming and to take up photography for pleasure again. Spurred on by the restlessness of months indoors and inspired by the bucolic poetry of A.E. Housman’s A Shropshire Lad, Joshua set out to discover the beauty that the county had to offer.

On the Idle Hill of Summer is a documentation of those paradoxically halcyon days in the summer of Covid-19. Days spent in the pursuit of something that, just for a little while, could distract from the uncertain future of a world in turmoil.

It is a collection that captures the still, slow essence of that summer, of escaping from the rigours of modern life, a time to be treasured born out of tumultuous times; connection with friends and nature rediscovered.

Firstly, a bit more about who you are, where are you based at the moment? What do you do in your everyday life when you aren’t a photographer?

I currently live in Telford in the West Midlands but, before the pandemic, I was based in Bristol for five years. I’m a photographer full time, so, honestly, photography in some form or another takes up the vast majority of my time. I do commercial/ product photography for brands as a job and then shoot a lot of personal work for myself, like this series, in my free time.

How did you get into photography? Have you studied photography formally?

No, I’ve never studied it - although I do want to do a masters eventually. I got into photography just from having a little point and shoot film camera with me all the time from when I was around 18/19. I just used it to document what I was up to as a memento. I’d always loved looking through old photo albums as a kid and so this is why I shot on film initially; because I liked having the prints. This eventually led to me taking more portraits which, combined with my love of streetwear fashion, eventually led to brands asking me to shoot for them. I was initially approached by a couple of smaller brands through them seeing portrait work that I was producing on Instagram. After the first few jobs, I approached other brands with my portfolio of work. it just spiralled from there.

Can you expand a little on how it was going back to Shropshire for lock down in Spring 2020 and how photography and being creative helped you throughout the first lock down?

At first it felt like the end of the world. With lockdown the majority of my work disappeared overnight and I was worried about not making rent but luckily I could end my tenancy, so I moved home to my mom’s. I had only become completely freelance a couple of months before, having been working towards it for over a year, so naturally this was a massive setback.

I tried to keep photographing for the first month or so by doing a still life project, but I fell out of love with it pretty quick. I felt very uninspired until I started the walks and the swimming. This is what really helped me to get through lockdown and this is the reason why I decided I needed to make the series in the first place.

I had taken photographs on many of the walks just as mementos, which is interesting, as it's almost coming full circle [back] to why I fell in love with photography in the first place. Either way, once I got a few photos back I really liked, and once me and my friends realised we wanted to spend the whole summer swimming, I decided to create a coherent series,which definitely gave me a purpose again.

Was landscape work influenced by poetry a move away from what usually inspires you?

Yes, most of my work is fashion based because of my job, so I am for the most part producing fashion work and portraiture. I have only done one other documentary project in the past, but this project is far more personal than that one.

Why are you drawn to working in this way?

As I’ve explained, this project came about naturally, evolving from snapshots of fun days out, to the documentation of an entire summer. When summer was over and I looked back on the photographs I knew that I had to try and evoke a certain feeling for the viewer, as, looking back on it, that period of time was definitely very idyllic. Using the poetry throughout was a good way to convey those feelings, as much of what is discussed in the poems are the same feelings that I was feeling over the summer - love of the countryside and the rural lifestyle etc.

Can you take one photograph and explain a bit more about it in depth? Why do you love it so much? How did you come to take that photograph?

The one that instantly comes to mind is a photograph of wild horses. On this particular day, myself and my friend Luke drove to Carding Mill Valley - a picturesque, hilly area of Shropshire. There is a good place to swim there at the reservoir, which is a fairly large lake ringed by quite high hills - it's really lovely. The day was quite overcast and cold, but this meant we had the reservoir completely to ourselves. We had a freezing cold swim (sounds unpleasant but cold water really is addictive in the benefits to your health both mental and physically) and then we got out and sat for a while completely alone.

We decided to walk up the nearby Long Mynd which is one of the highest hills in the area. We spent an hour or so walking to the top and just as we reached the top the sun came out and we spotted the wild horses in the distance. They are fairly common to the area, and quite a famous feature of Shropshire, but neither of us had seen them before, so it was quite exciting. We got as close as we could without startling them and I managed to snap off the picture. For me, this photograph embodies most of what this series is about: swimming, Shropshire and documenting special days spent in good company.

What is next for you as an artist?

Well, I need to get back to the city but with how things are looking lockdown wise I don’t see it being wise to move out as a freelancer for a while - I had planned to go back to Bristol after the new year. This series has given me the bug for shooting more documentary work, so I will probably try and do another series over the next year or so. There’s also a few brands that I’ve wanted to shoot for that are in the pipeline but it just all depends on when life returns back to some semblance of normality.

On The Idle HIll of Summer is available to buy on Joshua’s website www.joshuajsneade.com.

You can also find Joshua on Twitter and Instagram.