Early Morning Walk to Loch Dubha – Alison Price, October 2021
As the skies lighten, the Loch and its inhabitants emerge. As I take in the scene with the orange and ochres tones of autumn, I am reminded of Ori Gersht’s Floating World (2016) – images of the ancient gardens of Buddhist temples around Kyoto.
https://www.origersht.com/copy-of-fragile-land-2018-4
Gersht uses metaphor in his work and endeavours to capture the essence of nature. He produces multiple exposure images to create illusions, rather than literal representations, presenting a new reality in post-processing (rather than in camera, which is my method of choice). Ben Brown Fine Arts in its presentation of Gersht’s work Floating World explains it as follows:
“In these works we are presented with the absence of the object of representation whereby the photograph becomes the thing that exists, an image of the folding of space and time. Much like in his earlier landscape series, Gersht intends to document something that is not physically present.”
Through his practice, Gersht asks questions about where reality occurs in a world ever-changing and continually in flux.
But, back to Lochain Dubha. I work again with double exposure images and experiment with different combinations in terms of exposure and depth of field. I start to include some of the reflections on the water’s surface rather than attempting to crop out this aspect of the scene. The surface of the loch could not be more different than yesterday. The scene is serene, calm and truly ethereal. . .
Metaphor 7 – Alison Price, October 2021
Metaphor 8 – Alison Price, October 2021
Metaphor 9 – Alison Price, October 2021
Metaphor 10 – Alison Price, October 2021
Metaphor 11 – Alison Price, October 2021
Metaphor 12 – Alison Price, October 2021
I really enjoy when my PhD enables me to make links to other artists and photographers’ practice through my own photographic work. I find these reflections and moments of insight occur more often as I meld the theory and practice together.
References
Ben Brown Fine Arts Exhibitions (2016) Ori Gersht Floating World 11 May-16 June. Available at: https://www.benbrownfinearts.com/exhibitions/105/overview/ (Accessed: 5 October 2021).
