Living on an island, we have ample opportunity to experience water views. We can take water for granted, to the extent that we don’t appreciate – or even notice – the water around us. Living with a photographer’s eyes, I have found that I’ve become more aware of my surroundings. Thankfully, the awareness goes beyond “that would be a nice picture”, and extends to a greater sense of wonder about shapes, textures, colours, and relationships among the things I see. These “water views” images represent my reactions to some of the things I see. I have arbitrarily limited the photographs to ones that contain water (in some form or another), while creating pictures that can also be evocative. The images in this display are not pictures “of” water – they are ones that “include” water.
It's as good a name as any
This show has been named "Forms of Water": it isn't necessarily a better name than any others, but it came to mind, and it stuck. Similarly, the prints in this exhibition have been named, but only for identification. The process of naming was an exercise in finding the middle path between something a bit descriptive, and something deep and meaningful. I have tried to eschew any attempt to put my own thoughts into any of the names, as the images should speak for themselves.
The only exception to my "nameless names" is the print I have named "Antediluvian Ice". Thinking of how that iceberg contains ice that was created "before the flood", and how the iceberg itself is perhaps a harbinger of a coming flood from the current climate crisis, I couldn't resist the temptation to identify it as an icon of both floods.
Apart from that, I have tried not to include political or environmental or social or philosophical thoughts in the naming of any of the images. You can do that on your own.
