Senior students at a school where I was teaching other subjects inspired an interest in photography fairly late in my life. A City and Guilds course at the Exeter Darkroom then gave me the expertise to work professionally and later teach the subject. I remain committed to traditional, non-digital darkroom methods as I prefer the print quality possible. I also enjoy the wet process more than sitting in front of a computer. My work has been exhibited in Bath, Exeter, India and Tokyo.
I like natural subjects: rocks and vegetation; sky, water and earth; portraits and figure studies. A lot of my images resemble abstracts. My interest is not in recording events or familiar views of reality, I am looking for hidden beauty and substance in what surrounds us and is often overlooked. Erosion or decay sometimes features as an indication of time enriching and introducing more complexity into forms and surfaces. In my work, there are series of rocks, barks of trees and water taken at close range to reveal patterns and textures as well as more conventional landscapes, portraits and nudes. My approach is studied and selective, relying on a tripod and not an attempt to portray the random or accidental.
I work in black and white or monochrome, exclusively using silver gelatin film and paper. This preference is based on my view that monochrome not only has a deeper impact than colour but also sustains the interest of the viewer. Lith printing is an extension of the traditional silver process. It offers a very different interpretation of a negative. It can introduce great delicacy in the highlights or depth in the dark tones or an extraordinary combination of both. In addition, the lith image is suffused with one or more warm colours. The range is from purple through brown and pink to orange and gold. One drawback of lith printing is that processes take a long time: about ten times what is required for standard black and white printing. The results in lith printing are also very difficult to predict and reproduce. This makes them exciting and unique but prone to failure and much higher levels of wastage. Nevertheless, I feel that lith printing is well worth the efforts as it produces unique, remarkable results and the technique is becoming increasingly favoured in my work. All materials that I use are of the highest available quality.
| | 8 artworks.
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Size: 7.50" x 11.00"
Price: £79.00
