/ 2009 / Fine Art / Abstract

The Choreography of Light

Colour 'photograms' of a light beam refracted through textured glass. Images are captured directly on to colour reversal film. They are all analogue images and not computer generated or enhanced.

As a research scientist I have always been fascinated in making visible the invisible. During my career in optical and electron microscopy I studied the world of the very small - now I explore the strange and wonderful world of refraction patterns. Working with transparent glass, plastics and resins I create small refractive objects which replace the camera lens of a 35mm SLR film camera. Using a single static beam of light the complex patterns that these objects form are projected directly on to film in a system where the refractive object becomes the 'camera lens' and the light source is the photographic subject. I call these images "Refractographs".

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