Benedict Allen selects...
We asked celebrities to choose their favourite photograph and share their thoughts about its significance for our region. Writer, traveller and adventurer, Benedict Allen selects Fire on Torr Hill by Roger Deakins
Fire on Torr Hill, burning off surface, brambles etc, Torrington Documentary photograph by Roger Deakins for the Beaford Archive © Beaford Arts
Benedict Allen: Writer, Traveler, Adventurer
‘This is a great collection - images that are surprising, textured, give such a sense of place, community and time - but the one that stands out for me shows a lad (we must assume) whacking at a countryside fire with a stick.
It provides drama, but also tells a bigger story - one person confronting something elemental in the Devon landscape. It also asks question: Is his battle futile - the puny stick again a whole landscape that's ablaze? Is he alone in this fight? Is the fire under control - or is he controlled by it?
Above all, the image is memorable - always a great test. This picture stays in the mind while others don't. Here is a moment in time starkly portrayed; it’s elemental - lonely humankind pitted against the universe.’
