Silentfoto

I have been immersed in night photography for a couple of years now. The cover of night affords a great deal of space and time to operate in with little intrusion or self-conscious discouragement. And being free to roam, well, you have quite a studio to work from.

Themes recurrent in this period of work have tended toward a perspective of industry, transport and infrastructure in general. I have also being trying to convey a vision of the alien and otherworldliness in night images. Perhaps it is one series I am working on from different ends. We shall see.

Growing up in an industrial city elsewhere in the northern hemisphere, my impressions of the American landscape were formed through 1970’s movies and magazines. It did not look too dissimilar from we had at home, and yet far different in tone and resonance. In my head I can play a scene from The Deer Hunter – the front beams of a car driving hurriedly down a country lane somewhere in the northeastern steel belt. And I understand from like recollections I am trying to evoke the palette and sensibility of these early impressions. Listening to a lot of Bruce Springsteen’s more downbeat albums has had a similar effect.

Perhaps, as has been oft remarked, this is why my night work has a cinematic edge to it. A center / off-center focus with a backdrop; the blending of highlight, shadow and colour to create a dense mood and achieve a certain emotional resonance. For me, a good photograph transfigures that which is often seen but rarely viewed.

It’s a strange passion really. Standing around underneath freeways, in abandoned warehouses and factory complexes, having to step carefully through darkness. Yes, I am unnerved on a regular basis. But maybe the adrenaline rush is a part of it too.