“The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.”
– Jean-Jacques Rousseau
BOUNDLESS
This close-up photograph of the centre of a flower, reveals the rich texture of the petal leaves through Nicolson’s distinctive painting technique. Always disheartened by the limits of photographic texture on thin prints, Nicolson’s artwork was finally transformed when he discovered piezo ink technologies.
Taking inspiration from the Surrealists, Matthias Hakker deconstructs the perspective of the staircase, freeing it to float abstractly over the picture plane. This monochrome photograph is reminiscent of Man Ray’s rayographs in the 1930s.
This image was shot during a late-night shoot capturing the aurora borealis over the Jökulsárlón glacial lake in Iceland. The dancing Northern Lights play over the colossal ice calved from the glacier beyond. The lone figure on the hill adds some scale and perspective.
The light brings out a presence or an absence. Simona Aru filters the reality, in this series of pictures, leaving the viewer the choice to follow the only point of light, and to investigate further or go beyond the transparency of shadows.
A semi-abstract appreciation of the forms inherent in sand dunes is the focus of this photograph. Much like the work of Bill Brandt creating abstracted images in and around the beach, Hall creates a stimulating composition around the elegant curves of the dunes. The only clue as to where we are is in the subtle ripples of the wind-swept sand.
In ‘Skull’, Grimwood’s abstract portrait presents a haunting image crafting out of use of harsh, angular line and stark contrasts of dark and light. The stylistic layering of multiple forms over each other gives the image a complexity and sophistication unusual for illustration.
The annual Balloon Festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico is one of the largest balloon festivals in the world. Each year over 600 balloons take to the sky, culminating in the iconic Mass Ascension. Balloonists and their fans gather from all over the world for this spectacularly colourful event, captured here by Leo Mason.
The remains of an old pier on the beach near Beit Yanai, are a silent reminder of the struggles of past years. But, when day gives way to the night, there is a special in-between time when the pier and the sea unite in harmony, and the old pier sheds its history and becomes part of the sea almost as if it has grown out of it.
This beautiful shot of Bristol Suspension Bridge evokes a sense of mystery as it disappears into the fog. Evoking the style of Berenice Abbot and other iconic early American architectural photographers, this black and white photograph seems to almost float as its disassociated from its structure. This weightlessness gives the imagery an almost fantastical, dreamlike feeling to it.
This cactus flower blossomed very quickly and unexpectedly whilst hidden behind a curtain in my home, Gerlikaite notes of this photograph. She goes on to say, “When discovered in full bloom, everyone marvelled at its elegance and grace and predicted a happy and successful year, as such beauty can only be a bearer of luck and joy”. This ghostly, almost x-ray, imagining of the cactus flower presents it as a symmetrical piece of stunning natural beauty.