Artist Statement
I like the way the photographic medium can twist reality.
Many of my photographs are pre-visualised and don't depict the
original scene the way it was but rather the way I'd like it
to be.. I've travelled with friends who have said,"What
do you want to photograph that for?" Then on seeing the
final print they exclaim or complain," But I didn't see
that." The fact is that I did see it in my mind and was
able to translate that to the print..
After I survey a scene, I close my eyes and try to imagine
that I am holding the final print. Then using any means at my
disposal I set about creating that photograph. I am definitely
not a purist freely using both monochrome and colour, traditional
and digital methods to achieve what I want. I prefer traditional
enlarger printing as I find the more tactile processes mildly
cathartic and feel much stronger connections to the final images
that I produce on the enlarger than those produced on a computer
or through a commercial lab. On the other hand I believe the
web was made for photographers and maintain a large web site.
I try to use techniques or special effects sparingly and only
to communicate a feeling or mood to the viewer rather than as
an end in itself. I like to experiment with many different styles.
In my travels, I mostly photograph people, wildlife, built environment
and landscape. I particularly like travelling & photographing
in primitive or under-privileged parts of the world. It helps
to keep you humble.
In this exhibition I've decided to exhibit landscapes of the
natural and built environments. All images in this exhibition
are produced in camera or under the enlarger without digital
manipulation. The two type C prints are commercially digitally
printed using Frontier 350 on Fuji crystal archive paper. All
the other images are hand printed. The Monochrome images were
printed in my home dark room and the Cibachrome, " Ice Wave"
was printed in 1997 at Photoaccess.
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