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James Foster
With my photography I aim to create lyrical, dramatic images that evoke a strong emotional resonance. My photographs don’t necessarily depict a clearly defined subject or space. The three series I am presenting at the Lemon Street Art Gallery are representative of three styles of photography that I am exploring. The first series is called “Burma.” It is a portrait of the people, place and religion of Myanmar in a editorial or photojournalistic style. They are digital c-prints. The second series is called “The Silver Gelatins.” These are prints from black and white negative film, created in a wet darkroom. These are an exploration of place and mood through geometry and shades of grey. The last series is called “Water Colours.” “Water Colours” are chromogenic prints made from color negatives printed on to Fuji Crystal Archive paper. They are the result of intuition and play, and became an exploration of the possibilities of expression using only light and color. The subject is the viewer’s emotional reaction to the photograph.
All of my images are captured in camera with very little manipulation outside of cropping or color corrections. In some instances I have used software to clean up aberrations or noise with the effect of giving the picture a painterly appearance that is kept only when I feel the resulting abstraction is true to the subject and imbues the scene with more visual power than it would have other wise. In all of my photography I hope to delight my audience with formal twists that are at times beguiling, yet engage and inform.
