Photographer Julie Reid, who swapped a fast city life for rural East Devon, explains the tongue-in-cheek images she shares on Instagram as LondonDevonGirl
A city girl goes camping
This is to show how a city girl would be dressed to go camping in the VW, or ‘glamping’. She may have to spend her whole time on top of the van to stop her dress becoming dirty and her heels getting stuck in the mud. She would perhaps use the time to read Vogue, rather than exploring the great British countryside. It’s all tongue in cheek and camp in more than one meaning, but all these situations are constantly crossing my mind.
Milk maid
I always wonder how someone who had just arrived from the city deals with a situation, but in an exaggerated way. Then I play with that. So here I would have a glamorous lady who would never dream of wearing wellies and an anorak going to milk the cows in her cocktail dress and heels. The mini milk urn like a handbag. Someone from the city who is determined to hold onto her glamour no matter what the situation.
A long way from paddington
There’s always an element of sadness to my pictures, a slight despondency to the situation. The person shouldn’t be there, they are out of place there in some way. Here I have arrived, with Paddington bear, somewhere alien and new and am waiting for someone to take care of me, but unlike London Paddington, this tiny Devon station is bereft of people. So we are sat alone to ponder our fate. Obviously pointing to the fact that a city person, used to having a lot of people around may feel alone and scared or alienated in the countryside.
Not quite so mobile phone
These old phoneboxes look quaint rotting away in a small villages, but the younger generation actually don’t know what they are, and it takes some explaining. So here a modern lady is completely oblivious to the fact that she is leaning against a piece of communications history while using her mobile to chat away. It’s about turning your back on history and being completely caught up in the modern world and the fast, city lady is juxtaposed against the leafy village surroundings. The clock in the background highlights the passing of time.
Kinky haystacks
I see things from a city person’s perspective, maybe from an artist’s perspective too. When I pass a whole pile of haystacks wrapped in pink and black PVC I immediately think ‘they are dressed in fetish gear’. Then I get the idea for the picture. I’ll dress like them and we can have a photo together. I guess that’s not something somebody born in the countryside would immediately think of.
Marking my territory
I noticed straight away when I first starting going to the beach how windbreaks were being used as a territory marking apparatus. People would arrive with four and mark off ‘their area’ with them – don’t even think of straying into that bit of beach. So this picture depicts me as someone who has made a small luxurious plot on the beach – basically just recreated her chic hotel room there, because that’s essentially what people are trying to do.
