Dress design by Emily Thorpe

This dress is inspired by Sea Shells. There is quite detailed retouching in this shot. The blue skirt is a drape. We spent several minutes making sure the drape looked perfect around her. I used a wind fan to really give the effect of being on a shoreline as it is windy near the sea. With the flash combined with slow shutter speed this created a beautiful soft image. I can imagine she is there on the shoreline at sunset. This dress and model made me think of a greek goddess.

Tame Nature

The study of the juxtaposition between nature and mankind in rural Surrey and London suburbs. Everywhere humans are surrounded by trees, grass and plants. Somehow while we escape from the nature and wilderness, we also need to have a part of it. But it is an 'unnatural nature'. Gardens are adorned with ornaments, are cultivated and pruned or sometimes left to their own devices to grow bushy hedges. Parks are public places where we can go to be surrounded by 'nature' but really it is false, that the place is cultivated and prepared to look a certain way. Somehow as humans we redevelop places that were set aside as building projects into faux natural places.

I shot the project with 120 6x6 film and scanned with a hasselblad flextight. I left the imperfections in the film, scratches and dust etc. I put my own human idiosyncrasies into the film, the surface has served as my garden with which to place my ideas. I put the things I want to see and surround myself with. This project became a way of making my own park or garden really.

5x4

This is the first picture that I ever made with a 5x4 camera. I think at the moment then I fell in love with the experience. The simple regimented process that you have to follow to make every picture, and even the physical effort to make a photograph, more than even using a full frame digital or medium format film camera. The bulk and weight are really something else. I think this image is really a premonition of my project Untitled Kairos ( http://petethor.co.uk/untitled-kairos/ ), and especially those photographs that I shot with a 10x8 camera in a similar location!

Vox Parva Exhibtion

I was involved in a group exhibition in Farnham held at the Malting's. I provided images that were combined into a linear video.

Beryl; cooking, sewing, cleaning.

A book I designed for my project shot in 2012. I made a story about someone who I did not know, but should have, the book to honour her passing.

I would like to make a printed and bound copy, lets see what happens...

Ennerdale

 

 

This was the project I made in 2013-2014 in Ennerdale, Lake district, UK. It documents the journey along, up, across and down the mountain called Pillar.

I wanted to focus on the idea of journey, narrative, the picturesque. I shot all the pictures in high summer To really bring out these bright colours, and Lake districts place as a popular holiday destination within the UK.

In some ways this series shows an idyllic location isolated away from industry and population and all that you are left with is a raw experience of peace and tranquility. Really this is the peace that I am searching for in a life balanced between bureaucracy, the humdrum of the everyday, the hustle and bustle in the city.