S U R F A C E S

Photography is often about just a moment, the transition between infinite past and infinite future. One manifestation of this transition is in surfaces, where a physical state (gas, liquid, solid) visibly begins.

I seek in this project to display in 2 dimensions, the 3 dimensional world and how it is impacted by yet further dimensions of time, temperature and even personal perception.

So below, is a project in development. Exploring different types of surfaces - in different physical states that challenged me to see them consciously and presented me with the further challenge of photographing them in a way that held my interest.

This is very much a work in progress and I'll add images here as it unfolds. Some of the images have had some recognition already, winning or doing well in competitions, or I have exhibited them individually, but ultimately I want this to be a full body of work. The trouble is, I have no idea what will mark it complete. The enjoyment of course though, comes from the exploration. I'm happy to have you along watching this grow.,

Rock

Solid State

Rock is the easiest of the surfaces to depict - it rarely moves, is full of natural textures and is packed with unexpected little visual treats when you look closely.

Oxide Riot

Metamorphic rock

Lead and iron oxides leaching through the slate at the old Ballachulish Slate Quarry.

Awards: 2nd place in Natural Abstract category of the Scottish Nature Photography Awards 2019

Sedimentary deposits painting a face in the rocks

Moira

Sedimentary rock

Layer after layer of sandstone has been peeled back by the wind, leaving different colours and tones and shades behind. Amongst the graphic shapes, I noticed beautiful Moira hiding.

Layers or oxidised minerals crushed to sand and recombined as rock.

Rose Rises

Sedimentary rock

Sand deposit from the ancient seabed, now risen meters abover the sea level and towering above my head. Old sand, slowly eroding and unveiling it's coloured layers.

Ice

Solid State - Transition

For me, ice represents the transition from liquid to solid, and it's a joy to photograph. I'm at my happiest in the cold and finding shapes is great fun.

Eruption

Ice and rock

Amongst pointed rock and soft peat banks on the Rannoch Moor, the view from above of a stone erupting through ice that had dropped with the lowering water.

Exhibited: Lime Tree Gallery, Fort william, August 2022.

Awards: Shortlisted Natural Landscape Photography Awards 2022.

Star Gazer

Ice

After driving for hours in difficult conditions, and ending up and over the Mam Ratagan Pass, the image that really grabbed me this day, was this pariedolian figure in the ice of a puddle, in a car park. Opportunities exist everywhere.

Awards: Natural Landscape Photography Awards, 2021. Portfolio Shortlisted.

Reeds submerged, then frozen before the water receded to leave a plate of ice as a window,

Look Down

Ice

When we were coming out of pandemic lock down, I started very slowly, only taking images that I could walk to. This was taken in a field within a mile of my house, but holds all the winter colours I'm drawn to.

Awards: Shortlisted Scottish Nature Photography Awards 2021.

Lines in ice mark water level recessions, joined by air bubbles

Blueberry Ripple

Ice

Stress days close in till my world gets tiny. Breaking out, I go for walks and try to skip into another universe - this is the frozen edge of my local reservoir, showing the artistic flair of nature that exceeds my own conscious thought.

Water

Liquid

The surface of water is invisible but still possesses incredible visual properties where the surface tension is broken or supports objects, or simply by reflecting light.

Galaxy Swirl

Bubbles on water

The conventional shot of bubbles on water is to use a long exposure and illustrate their path, however these were slow moving and "stretched" by their progress. It was an unusual sight, off-set against a jet black reflection.

Awards: Natural Landscape Photography Awards, 2021. Portfolio Shortlisted.

Aquatic

Reflections

Pond weed and trapped leaves, struggling to be seen through a layer of submerged ice, with the trees above and cloud dappled sky reflecting upon a shallow covering of water

Vapours

Liquid - Transition

The state between gas and liquid, when the elements move from the invisible to the visible.

Spray from a waterfall bounces upwards and catches sunlight interrupted by the branches of a birch tree.

Upward Rain

Droplets Flying

Droplets of the River Braan in spate, flying high, shattered by the force of the Rumbling Bridge Falls and floating in the air, catching sunlight diffracting through the leaves of birch trees.