All photographs are © 1997 & 2004, Chris Boyce. You may view and download these photographs for private or educational use but they may not be used for any commercial use whatsoever, whether for profit or not, without the written permission of the copyright owner.
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The map above was drawn using OCAD from a scanned template of a Marilyn Hemmett map as printed in the first edition of Watership Down. The map to the left shows the Watership Down area in relation to the south of England, it is derived from a larger map at http://www.hants.gov.uk, the Hampshire County website. |
These photographs were taken from 1981 to 1983. They were shot on Kodak Kodachrome 64 35mm slide film on Olympus OM-10 and OM-4 cameras primarily using Olympus 35mm semi-wide-angle and Tokina 25-50 wide-angle zoom lenses. In most cases automatic exposure was used, though the spot metering of the OM-4 later proved invaluable. Exposure for transparency film has to be carefully controlled to get the best contrast, the Olympus cameras never disappointed and the lack of auto-focus has actually been a benefit.
I re-scanned all the images in October 2004 using a secondhand Nikon Coolscan LS-20 using Vuescan and Paint Shop Pro for conversion into JPEG format. The JPEGs are actually smaller than the original versions, and thus these webpages should load faster than ever before, even though the pictures are, hopefully better quality!
I must say a big Thank You to my friend Graham Sewell who accompanied me on some of my trips to the Watership Down area. Graham gave me much encouragement and took some wonderful photos himself. Many of my best photographs are from a two day trip the weekend before my university final year exams in 1983. This trip started at Efrafa in perfect June weather and ended with us climbing down Watership Down while the thunder built overhead. Later that evening the thunder burst just like it had on the evening Thlayli escaped from Efrafa.
Also I must say my special thanks to David Morris, for whom I created this website. He had never seen Watership Down as he lives in the USA. So, as he wasn't likely to come to Watership, I decided to take Watership to him, this website is the result.
I am, or was, standing at the top of the down with track to Nuthanger Farm just to my left behind me. I selected rabbit's eye view. I need not tell you what I was reading. I now have a lot less hair on top and a beard. I am still scruffy... but I still have the very copy of the book I was reading in the photo above and you can see it and some of my other copies of Watership Down here, and read my essays on Watership Down here. |
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'The Real Watership Down'
Photographs © 1997, 1998 Chris Boyce; Website © 2004 Chris Boyce