delightful diversions: Nicholas’ Hughes photography of surfaces
I am currently swimming in the strong current of my latest research papers. One of them is on photographic representations of the city, specifically photography which attempts to capture the elusive “non-places” of Marc Augé (and potentially also the “junkspace” of Rem Koolhaas) such as airports, atm machines, highways, etc. I won’t get into it right now; I will soon be writing 20 pages on it. Needless to say, in pursuit of my subject I have been exploring the work of many photographers. This can lead to some great discoveries. Case in point: the photography of London-based Nicolas Hughes.
These works are taken from his series Edge, Verse 1.
Here is a description from his “biography” page:
Nicholas Hughes’ seascapes and snowscapes are calm and quiet; yet retain a deep underlying contemplative presence. His strong yet delicate photographs serve to show the fragility of our relationship with the natural world. Hughes’ work examines the space between the world that people inhabit and that which nature still claims as its own and in this intermediary space seeks to explore the essence of the human spirit and its relationship with nature. However his contemplation of the distant horizon is by no means a perpetuation of the Romantic. He sees the notion of the natural world as forever vast and mysterious, quickly evaporating. By focusing on boundaries, plains and surfaces he acknowledges the existence of limits. These are images that not only speak of the infinite character of the natural world but of the finite character of the world created by human nature.
Well I am not sure about all of that, but I do find it interesting that he organizes his series’ into “verses,” as in poetry or songs. And I think his photographs are beautiful and subtle and all that good stuff. Would love to see them in real life, and hope they are large scale.
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