THE SPIRIT OF NIKON by Sir Simon Marsden ANGEL EYES XI by Heather Angel MAGAZINE OF THE NIKON WORLD • ISSUE XXXIX • 2012 THE DARK KNIGHT RISES: SIR SIMON MARSDEN by Gray Levett A MAN FOR ALL REASONS An Interview with Felix Kunze by Gillian Greenwood NIKON F HAND FUNDUS CAMERA by Tony Hurst NIKON D800 & A PRIME PRIME: AF-S NIKKOR 85MM F/1.8G REVIEW bynikonowner Simonmagazine.com Stafford 1 SM sir simon marsden: the dark knight rises BY GRAY LEVETT The internationally the United States where he acclaimed photographer was discovered by a New Sir Simon Marsden died York gallery owner. From on 22nd January this year that time onwards he held aged sixty-three. many successful exhibitions all over the world, showing Sir Simon Marsden was his images widely in a photographer who was galleries from Brussels to unequalled in capturing the Tokyo. Sir Simon’s work mysterious spirit of ancient can now be found in a landscapes and romantic number of prestigious ruins. Simon Marsden’s galleries and museums unique photographic work including the Getty Museum is magical, haunting and in California, the Victoria & eloquent; it speaks of Albert Museum in London other, stranger worlds. A and Bibliothèque Nationale respected authority on the in Paris. supernatural, he was also a consummate storyteller at once captivating in his During his life, Sir Simon Marsden published artistry and delightful in his wit. twelve books on subjects ranging from US author Edgar Allan Poe to the ruined great houses of He spent his childhood in two famously haunted Ireland. They are the work of a true artist: The manor houses in the depths of the English Haunted Realm, In Ruins, Phantoms of the Isles, countryside, with a library of occult books and a Visions of Poe, The Journal of a Ghosthunter, father who delighted in telling his children fireside Beyond the Wall, Venice - City of Haunting Dreams, ghost stories. His fascination with photography The Twilight Hour - Celtic Visions from the Past, began when his father gave him a Leica camera This Spectred Isle, Ghosthunter: A Journey Through for his 21st birthday, and the story goes that the Haunted France, Memento Mori and his most first roll of film that he shot was of cardboard cut- recent book Vampires: The Twilight World. His final outs of ghosts that he had arranged in a tableau book, Russia: A World Apart (with text by Duncan in the garden. McLaren), is due to be published later this year. He worked in London as an assistant to the Irish photographer Ruan O’Lochlainn, then travelled to RIGHT: Whitby Abbey, Yorkshire, England 06 6 nikonownermagazine.com nikonownermagazine.com 7 07 SIR SIMON MARSDEN: THE DARK KNIGHT RISES 08 8 nikonownermagazine.com SM OPPOSITE PAGE: Steps, Chateau Vieux, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Paris TOP: Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland, England LEFT: Statue, Toddington Manor, Gloucestershire, England nikonownermagazine.com 9 09 SM He was frequently featured on film The Twilight Hour: Visions of television and radio and his award- Ireland’s Haunted Past in the Castle at winning documentary drama feature Saint Hill Manor, Sussex. film The Twilight Hour: Visions of Ireland’s Haunted Past, narrated by Some years ago I was at an art John Hurt and directed by Jason Figgis, gallery showing of Simon’s work and was shown worldwide. was entranced by his photograph of deserted sand dunes that drifted I first met Simon in 1992 when he around clumps of grass and wind- called into Grays of Westminster. We swept trees. In the centre of the sat down to talk and our conversation picture was an old wooden set of lasted through a long and fascinating steps that seemed to disappear into a afternoon and numerous cups of stunning skyline. It was limited to less coffee. I was stunned when he told me than ten signed numbered pieces and he used a battery of Nikkormat FTn and priced accordingly. I told Simon how FT2 cameras to create his extraordinary much I loved it and that I would make work. We stayed in touch and would a point of treating myself one day. A meet up for lunch or dinner whenever week after we put on that first show he visited London. He wrote an article together a large flat package arrived describing why he used Nikon cameras for me with the print enclosed along called The Spirit of Nikon, published with thank you note from Simon! I in the Grays of Westminster Gazette in was both taken aback and completely March 1997, which I thought you might thrilled by his generosity. like to read. I now own a number of Simon’s Later on we worked on two sold-out images that are framed and mounted shows together, An Evening with...Sir on the walls of my office. I find them Simon Marsden as well as the special a constant source of inspiration and showing of the documentary feature confirmation that an artist is capable Julian’s Bower, Lincolnshire, England 10 10 nikonownermagazine.com SIR SIMON MARSDEN: THE DARK KNIGHT RISES Thetford Priory, Norfolk, England nikonownermagazine.com 11 11 SIR SIMON MARSDEN: THE DARK KNIGHT RISES LEFT: Staircase, Charleville Forest, County Offaly, Ireland TOP RIGHT: Fountain, Witley Court, Worcestershire, England 12 12 nikonownermagazine.com SM of lifting the spirit to new heights with With admiration and respect.” his creativity. The second is from film director Jason He inspired many other people too. Figgis who writes: While I was preparing for this article ”I had always been an admirer I contacted a number of individuals of Simon’s beautifully evocative to enquire if they would like to share photographs and so one day decided their thoughts. I present two of them to write to his agent requesting an here. The first is from the Los Angeles introduction. It wasn’t long before based photographer and film producer Simon contacted me and we struck Michael Doven: up a friendship based on our mutual “Godspeed, Simon Marsden. Thank fascination for the paranormal and the you for sharing your artistry, imagination myriad ruins that served as a romantic and craft. I am in awe of the life you and atmospheric backdrop to this bring to stones, castles, statues and interest. I came to the table as a film skies. You have found a way to grant director with a suggestion that he them the power to glow, radiate and and I collaborate on a documentary live in a manner that will be with me feature film. He was warmly open to forever. I see, imagine and photograph the idea. So, with the date looming in new ways because of you. for his photographic tour of Ireland to nikonownermagazine.com 13 13 SM gather material for his latest book The which is called The Twilight Hour: Twilight Hour: Celtic Visions of the Past Visions of Ireland’s Haunted Past went we – Simon, Ann (production manager on to be distributed to 100 countries in and driver) and I – set off around Ireland 2004 and to play on Discovery Channel on a tour of some wonderful locations - twice a day, twice a week for three including Charleville Forest in Co. Offaly years. We were thrilled that so many and Castle Leslie in Co. Monaghan. thousands (and possibly millions) of Watching Simon work was as viewers got to share in that adventure fascinating as the hours of conversation that we three so warmly embraced” that we shared each afternoon for lunch and each evening over dinner... as stories of his adventures filled our “It is not my intention to try and convince senses. He was the most erudite and you that ghosts exist,” Simon Marsden humorous company as we immersed said, “but rather to inspire you not to take ourselves in this photographic/film- everything around you at face value. I making adventure and I cherish my believe that another dimension, a spirit memories of our friendship. The film, world, runs parallel to our own, and that sometimes, when the conditions are right, we can see into and become part of this supernatural domain. The mystical quality of my photographs reflects this ancient order and they attempt to reveal what is eternal.” In this memoriam issue of Nikon Owner I give you some of the work of a grand master, part photographer, part writer www.marsdenarchive.com and part guardian of the haunted realms – Simon Marsden. The Callanish Stones, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland 14 14 nikonownermagazine.com SIR SIMON MARSDEN: THE DARK KNIGHT RISES Gothic Window, Castle Bernard, County Cork, Ireland nikonownermagazine.com 15 15.