The Author: Iain Brown
Iain has been wandering the North Pennines for over 30 years, having been born in County Durham and now living for some time in the Teesdale district. Through this time, he began to realise that these northern dales and fells had something quite different and distinct from other upland areas. In particular, although they have been descibed as "England's Last Great Wilderness", to him this only tells part of the story: the renowned natural history is perhaps exceeded by the remarkable human history of the area, which previously occured in many unlikely and remote places.
His background is as a University researcher in geology, climate and landscape change, but his interest was further awakened by how these factors are linked with the human settlement and economic resources of the North Pennines. And over the years, he has built up a large collection of photographs showing the beautiful and varied scenery, throughout the seasons. In spite of a recently-acquired interest in digital photograph, most of these photos have been captured on film with his trusty old Olympus camera, whilst searching for that 'perfect picture'.
The result, together with a rich collage of personalities and local legends, is his new book: 'The North Pennines: Landscape and Legend' . Iain's objective was to show, both pictorially and through the text, the many different factors and 'layers' that have combined to produce the landscape we see today. On a personal level, his favourite places tend to vary through the year - the riverside meadows and wild fells in Summer, the woods and Gills in Spring and Autumn, the surging rivers and waterfalls in Winter. Not forgetting the many attractive villages and towns, of course!
Another of his hobbies is ski-touring, and when deep snowfalls make walking arduous, he can often be seen skimming across the slopes or the forest trails seeking out yet another aspect of the Pennine scene .........