Last updated 19:40, Thursday, 24 April 2008

WHEN Maryport artist and photographer Niki Thomas decided to follow in the footsteps of the man widely regarded as having written the first tailor-made Lake District guide book, she never envisaged having to stand knee deep in freezing water to picture scenes he recorded 230 years earlier.

Niki, of Fleming Street, Maryport, has just opened an exhibition of photographs with the theme After Thomas West, at the Keswick Museum and Art Gallery in Station Road.

Niki’s fascination with West, whose 1778 guide was based on extensive travels in the district, led her to take photographs from the 21 viewpoints, or “stations” as West called them, which he recorded.

When published, they became a pioneer guide for Lake District tourists.

For Niki, who moved to West Cumbria in January of last year with husband Jez, an environmental consultant in Cockermouth, it was an opportunity to find out more about a man she had read much about.

Soon it became a question of detective work, tracking down all West’s viewpoints at Derwentwater, Bassenthwaite, Coniston and Windermere.

Niki says: “I had to rope in a few people to help me to get to the stations, particularly the one in the middle of Windermere on Belle Isle.

“Several others were on private property and I wrote to the owners telling them about my project.

“I didn’t get replies, so we decided the best thing was to canoe right up to the shores of the stations and stand knee deep in the water to take my photographs.”

Niki’s idea was not simply to snap the views as they are today, but to present her pictures as they might have been in West’s day.

Some views are now partly hidden behind forests, but she still took pictures from the stations he identified.

“It was very much like walking in Thomas West’s footprints,” says Niki.

Some of West’s views may have been dictated by people he knew; one was from the garden of Crosthwaite Vicarage in Keswick where he used to visit the vicar for afternoon tea on the terrace.

Niki adds: “West’s viewing stations have disappeared off modern day maps. Forests have grown and buildings have appeared to obliterate some of the original fields of vision.

“I have located and revisited these painting stations 230 years later to photograph what remains of these stunning vistas and the exhibition aims to make a connection with the past as a way of looking at something afresh.”

Niki, who hails from the Midlands, completed a masters degree in 2000 at Wimbledon School of Art, specialising in digital prints.

She teaches adult education classes and is working part time for the Citizens’ Advice Bureau in Penrith.

Her husband’s new job prompted their move to Maryport where, on the shoreline, she may find her next inspiration.

She says: “We had always like the north of England and hoped to move up here, so when my husband was offered a job in the area it was good luck.

“It has been fantastic to have this opportunity to invite other people to look at the work in the Keswick gallery.”

‘After Thomas West’ continues until May 17 at the Keswick Museum and Art Gallery, which is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-4pm and is free.