Darkroom lith print on 12x16 inch Fomatone MG 131 paper, printed in spring 2022. Picture area about 9.6x12 inch.
Series of 2 prints: one for exhibition and one for sale at €500 (without framing, but VAT included).
The moment looking at that scene felt somewhat otherworldy: I got the fresh smell of the sea in my nose, the sky is full of morning light, the wind is blowing. There is this windowless tower, bathing in light and at the same time bleeding blacks. Surrounded by so much energy but standing still. Made of stone. Nevertheless vulnerable.
I don’t know a better language than photography to express my feelings and thoughts about that moment. A feeling of joy, of freedom and of vulnerability, pure admiration of beauty, of nature and of human-made things, all that is being compressed in one picture.
When making the print, the bleeding black and the dark ground slowly emerge first. The bright tower delicately appears much later. Printing this I notice what I have been going for in the last years – it’s exploring the role of blacks in my perception. Those deep blacks from the lith prints build a stage for marvelous light, they structure the image and let the rest of it shine. Sometimes the blacks are the image for me, more often they emphasize the light. This is different from my luminous grain series where greys are dominating the picture.
To me, this photo is one of those that seems to comprise the essence of my photography and the essence of what keeps fascinating me.
