John Davies is an influential British landscape photographer who has been photographing Britain's industrial heritage since the early 1980s. Davies has documented both rural and urban locations associated with industries such as coal mining, textiles, shipping and steel. Working in black and white and from an elevated viewpoint, his images reveal the infrastructure of railways, roads, canals and rivers which the industries relied on.

Though originally photographing the rural landscape, in 1981 he started documenting industrial landscapes at a time when British traditional heavy industries were in decline.

He set out to document industrial sites such as cotton mills before they were demolished. Over time, his work has come to reveal how urban infrastructure in Britain has changed.

Rather than show a static and idealised rural view of the British countryside, he depicts a landscape that has been shaped by human activity and reshaped by social and economic changes.John Davies has stated that: "We are collectively responsible for shaping the landscape we occupy and in turn the landscape shapes us, whether we are aware of it or not."

"John Davies's work belongs to the world of contemporary documentary photography. Faithful to a refined, pure black and white, taken on as the absolute rule of a subtle, analytic style. He chooses the vastness of space inhabited by the powerful elements of nature and the contradictory ones of culture to operate in two directions. On the one hand, the evocation of emotional states through the photographic rendering of a space-light that is alive, almost metaphysical, and recalls the symbolisation of the forces of nature in Turner. On the other, a crystal-clear gaze that sounds the material aspects of the contemporary landscape which is tied to the development of the productive activities and concrete structuring of the world through the molding power of economy and property".

"In recent years I have drawn inspiration from issues relating to my surroundings and conditioning. Initially I develop an interest in documenting aspects of my immediate social political landscape. These concerns often reflect a national if not international significance. I am not so much interested in entertaining an audience or providing vehicles for escape but in delivering a highly crafted detailed image conveying a sense of reality. A reality that shares a recognition of aspects of urban living. But importantly, making images of a landscape that attempts to question our acceptance and perception of the inevitable consequences of living in a post imperialist society and within a post industrial landscape". 

In 1981 he won a one year Research Fellowship at Sheffield School of Art and it was during this year he started to document the urbanised landscape. He moved to Manchester in 1982 where he began to documented key industries and the social landscapes left over from the Industrial Revolution to reveal their impact in shaping an urban environment. In northern England and south Wales he documented the areas of coal mining, textiles, steel, quarrying, railways and shipping along with the town and cities associated with these industries. This work was published by Cornerhouse, Manchester, in the book A Green & Pleasant Land 1987. The accompanying exhibition was one of the Photographers’ Gallery’s (London) most popular touring shows. A selection of this work was also shown in a variety of international venues including the Museum of Modern Art New York and the Pompidou Centre in Paris.

John Davies is someone who I decided to research as I am interested in his photography and the way in which he lays out his photographs in the photobooks he creates. John Davies demonstrates a contrast between nature and man-made objects, which is something I want to focus on. This is because it will allow me to display how nature's path is interrupted by man-made objects and how it forces its way through or around this interruption. This contrast will emphasise the strength and beauty of nature, which people do not realise when they just walk past it and do not focus on what nature is doing to stay on its natural course.