AOC turns to Harper’s Bazaar Global with this beautiful fashion story ‘Born to Rewild’, published in Harper’s Bazaar Taiwan’s October 2022 issue. Model Heather Kemesky channels the Fearless Spirit of British landscape photographer Fay Godwin.

In the words of photographer Josh Shinner [IG] who created ‘Born to Rewild’ in conjunction with Harper’s Bazaar UK’s support:

This story was based on one of my favourite photographers, the often (and sadly) overlooked Fay Godwin. She was an incredible woman, stomping around the Scottish Highlands in her big coats and thick jumpers with her tripod and Hasselblad, taking landscape pictures that are every bit as brilliant as those of Ansel Adams and co. I urge you to take a trip down a discovery wormhole this weekend…

The shoot, styled by Cathy Kasterine, takes place at Invercauld Estate, located in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park where properties are rented out for self-catering holiday accomodations. In spite of the word ‘Rewild’ in the fashion story title, AOC cannot confirm that Invercauld Estate is part of the major rewilding projects going on across Britain.

Suffice it to say that there have been ‘issues’ attached to the intersections around rewilding and sustainability at Invercauld Estate, and based on their own website, the last sustainability post was a 2018 link to a sustainability report for the area and Braemar [the local town] specifically.

If you recall, ‘rewilding’ was a major focus of Stella McCartney’s Resort 2023 collection story and education focus. The designer is currently working with ecologist @DerekGow to rewild her own “farm”, known to the rest of us as an estate. Love you, Stella.

AOC is determined to find time to investigate further this exciting concept of rewilding in Britain — although the culling of red deer, as one example, has brought out the PETA and animal-rights forces in opposition to the scientists who argue the deer are running wild and eating everything in sight in a state of total ecological imbalance. Everyone digs in their heels and . . . well, you know the rest of the story. Sigh.

Returning to the focus of Josh Shinner’s beautiful Scottish landscape story — Fay Godwin — she is frequently referred to as Britain’s Ansel Adams and a concerned environmentalist. This blog post suggests that Godwin hated being called a landscape photographer, preffering instead the term ‘documentary’.