Paul Godard - Soul Photography

General information

As an adventurer with a profound desire to explore beyond the boundaries of the finite, I listen to the silence of the landscape and its natural inhabitants. The scenery that surrounds me then becomes abstract, inevitably leading to meditation. Only then do I use my camera to capture the essence of nature.

Like an artist of the Romantic movement, I capture the beauty of the natural world in my painting-like photographs. Each image becomes a universe on its own, reflecting how the exterior affects the interior. Each image expresses a daily reflection, a soul search of the restless traveller. The message I deliver is one of purity, serenity and above all humility for the natural beauty that surrounds us.

But what is most important to me is to touch people’s souls with my photographs. By sharing my emotional connection with nature, I wish to contribute to global awareness about the natural beauty that surrounds us, to inspire and raise more conscious recognition and respect for the planet.

A while ago, a good friend surprised me with some words which really touched me. He said "You know Paul, since I have seen your photographs, I can now recognise the elegance around me... these little farms on my way to town on a road that I have driven for more than 60 years... these old buildings and the people had always been there but I couldn’t see them... now when I drive by I am often in awe of their beauty. Thank you for that!”. When people share this kind of feedback and thank me for opening their eyes to natural beauty, I feel I have accomplished something through my photography... I feel fulfilled.

After a series of photographic exhibitions ("Fields of Silence” in the United States and in Belgium), I heard people telling me that my images really changed the way they were relating to their every day environment. They all felt that they had become more aware of their surroundings and visually stimulated by what they used to take for granted.

"The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”
– Marcel Proust

For the last few years, I have been working on surreal representations of natural landscapes. I believe that we are living more and more in an artificial and virtual world and that too often we forget the beauty of the real world and that nature has the power to heal humanity. This new collection called "Surreal Landscapes - The Horse Vision” was inspired by the wild horses living in the Namib desert. As I have spent a lot of time with these creatures, I started to share their perception of the vastness of the magnificent landscapes where they live. The resulting photographs are a visual meditation of that experience, which epitomise the idea of imagined space and infinite possibility.

In addition to printed artwork, I have recently combined photography and music into inspirational movies. This visual meditation is an innovative technique that guides the viewer to connect with nature in such a way as to create an experience of deep relaxation and mindful awareness. It’s about creating a space for truly experiencing the restorative and healing power of nature and to come to a place of rest deep within ourselves. Contemplation of nature can free us of the mind’s need to conceptualise and to judge, and restore in us a sense of connectedness as nature exists in a space of innocent stillness.

The music that accompanies these inspirational movies is composed by Kevin Letcher, with the intention to facilitate a space for experiencing the dignity, innocence and spirituality of nature. It has a transcendental quality which can transport the viewer into a magical dance between our humanness and nature. It’s about allowing nature to become your teacher.