PURITY OF LARGE FORMAT

Once I’ve done a photo-shoot I will end up with 10 final large format shots, and once I edit there is always inevitably some that stand out. I never crop in the printing process, as the technique I have chosen for printing demands a contact method, so the whole negative is required. There is a purity in this method, as most of the decisions are made during the shoot through the camera lens.

The only retouching that is applied is spotting the final print, for which I use Russian watercolors, a set of carbon based archival water colors, they are perfect for finding the opaque blues that the “Toned Cyanotype” requires. The printing technique itself creates an effect, so one could argue, this is a way of changing reality. Or taking the model into another  space through the application of process.

STYLE AND RESPONSE

I never really knew what style I’d set out to achieve until it naturally evolved, through trial and error. Persistence and following my natural responses to the subject-matter I was confronted with, I just kept working hard and the direction happened simultaneously. It’s a natural style, taking the majority of influence from classical art and nature. It has a sense of timelessness as I do not follow fashion or market research.

The best response to my work is from the women who pose for me, my audience being mainly female, all seem to be incredibly fulfilled by posing nude. Whether it be reassurance of personal beauty or the desire to be recorded, recognized or simply indulged in a world of Art, the response is astounding. I regularly get commissioned to photograph men and women nude in the style that has become my trademark. I’m delighted by the response to the results and also to the reaction to the experience of posing nude, which, once accomplished, is almost like an achievement or fulfilled aspiration.