PAINTING WITH LIGHT

In November last year I went to Central St Martins in London to attend the programme PHOTOGRAPHY, ART AND ARCHITECTURE with Diego Ferrari. The course was aiming to encourage an innovative approach to the relationship between architecture and photography.

We were encouraged to study the work of modern photographers in architecture and use this as a launch pad for our own explorations: I investigated Hiroshi Sugimoto (born Tokyo 1948). I was attracted by his photographs of the sea and his well known series of cinema interiors that freeze time; here is a photographer who seeks to slow down the art of ‘looking’.

Sugimoto’s work is atmospheric and weightless. Almost every image plays with tone rather than line in powerful monochrome. Even solid masses within his images appear to float in front of us.

Since Central St Martins I have taken pictures when travelling from the Islamic to post-modern architecture. The common thread is using light to create a loose impression and pushing this further through drawing and ‘etching’ into photo-prints.

Foyer

 Shinjku

 Bright Edge

Shanghai

Shinjiku 2 

 Tokyo White Tower