The ArtsHouse in Stratford upon Avon kindly invited me to exhibit again in the gallery space in the Arts Complex in Rother Street. I happily agreed as my usual reaction to any great idea is yes, then I work out my course of action.

My last exhibition was Festival Faces -a collaboration with the Stratford Literary Festival with portraits of the many great authors and visitors to the Stratford Literary Festival. I believe it was a great success and was seen by many who attended the Literary Festival and subsequent performances and events at this great venue.

I have since taken many hundreds more portraits and maybe that could be the subject of my next exhibition ?

Oh no, if it's simple and obvious - don't do it .

I do have many years of work to exhibit and I'm usually producing some personal project as well as my professional practice that I could consider ?

Again, I was not sure what I should produce? A new project maybe the answer,however my advertising work has kept me very busy and the one extended project I am working on at present has to be site spesific and is due for completion in early 2018.

It then struck me that I should revisit my archive and see what inspired me way back.

It then became very clear what common thread would work, what I would feel was a worthy theme.

Water.

As a Pisces I always find myself drawn to water, I am most content when I'm by the sea or by water ,be it river, lake or waterfall.

As a subject water is universal and is primal.

It is the element that supports life on earth and why this Orb is known as the Blue Planet.

As an enthusiast or as a professional photographer, Water has been a subject of my photography since I started as a college student back in the last century BD (Before Digital).

Some of my first professional images were of Surfers in Cornwall and I went on to photograph many travel, advertising and fashion commissions that were on a beach or seaside location over the last three decades .

Landscapes, seascapes & images of water are a great part of my practice, but till now I had never pulled them together to produce a body of work that celebrates where the Sky meets the Sea.

So AQUA was born, a collection of images shot on film,in black and white as well as digital from DSLR's to high end medium format on specialist cameras.

The prints are a small selection of large format film or high end digital . (technical spec is not important -but for those interested there is a glossary at the end)

I could have had hundreds of prints, but I choose to have a selection from a great variety of locations to be printed a metre wide & that limits the numbers that can be displayed. That dictated that I have a rolling screen show of material that represents all aspects of that most fluid of subjects- AQUA -

I hope that the show shall be enjoyed by the many that attend the Artshouse for its many wonderful productions as well as those who seek out photography and the visual arts.

The exhibition is on public display for free at the Artshouse, however please check for access times as productions and events occasionally impact on public access.

AQUA

8th September - 3rd October - 2017

The Stratford ArtsHouse

14 Rother Street

Stratford-upon-Avon

CV37 6LU.

www.stratfordartshouse.co.uk

Technical Stuff -

Images are taken on a variety of systems, Pre 2005 most of my landscapes were taken on a Linhof Mastertechnika V , lens from 65mm - 500mm ,

Glass was Nikon or Schneider.

Fuji - 6 x 17 & 6 x 9 .

Since 2005 most landscapes were taken on my Hasselblad V system with a PhaseOne Back.

Lens from 38mm - 350 mm .

Cambo with 24mm & 35mm Rodenstock digital lens & PhaseOne Backs.

Nikon, Sony & Canon are also used for Stills & Video.

My current go to kit is Nikon D810 with prime lens 20mm - 600mm and S/T 24mm & 85mm.

And my iPhone .