"If we take the premise

'All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players' (William Shakespeare 'As You Like It')

then we can see the world as one big stage with many reference points. On that stage there are not only the players but also the context in which we see them, such as the scenery, the backdrop, the props and the lighting etc. In the theatre we are presented with many view points but in cinema and in photography we are presented with a singular viewpoint - the camera acts as a selection and editing tool, which frames the context in which the artist wants us to see it and so ultimately respond to it.

My work is one big stage, one large vista. As the producer, the director and the cinematographer, I control how I wish you to see it, with my camera acting as a reference point. In this world the players and the props are situated in a context - the 'stage'. This singular concept is evident in everything I photograph, from the 'Biographica' series complete with a script ( the text based biography part of the project ) to the Landmark series of man-made objects such as a house in the context of its location, and the studio work which is a series of 'props' isolated in the framework of the studio.

Lighting is crucial in presenting that world in the finest detail. Not to detract but to emphasis the 'presence' that all these objects have, and I include in that the 'actors', who are after all only humanised objects on that stage.

We see our world in the context of time as well as space. Time is relative to each of us. Do we really know if we are all occupying the same time frame? Photography is about time - the speed of a shutter records it mostly as an instant. The tag line 'a Kodak moment' only serves to enforce the idea of instant picture taking and that photography is about one instant, one special moment that only the camera can capture. My work is about a series of instants over many incidents. A major part of my photography is time itself and my time frame can be anything up to a 20 minutes exposure. In that period, light travels over the surface of my 'object'. The portraiture work has an average exposure time of 2 Ð 4 seconds. Time effects how we present ourselves to the camera. I am not concerned with capturing a private, special moment, a common device used to justify the 'success' or 'reality' of the portrait. I am aware that our relationship with other people is based on many 'instances of private and unguarded moments' and I want to investigate how time can translate a view of the portrait, as it must do when a painter works with a sitter.

So in viewing my work, however disparate it may appear, this is one artist's viewpoint, with his camera placed in a series of co ordinates, much like a map. A map, a world map, that tries to investigate and ultimately map out the relationships that we have with each other and the world around us.

Still Life
Like physical space, objects have a sense of being and we often refer to a photograph in terms of an instant, the Kodak moment, the decisive moment or Images a la sauvette, but I prefer to work in many instances. I am very much taken with the concept of time and the travelling of light in time. Most of my pictures have been taken with exposures from 3/4 seconds to 25 minutes. I like to think of light travelling so that I record the passing of time over surface in space. In the studio I am very taken by the quality of the object itself and to record the making of an ordinary thing becoming extraordinary through selection and visual decision making. Often just sheets of paper can hold your attention or an old letter that holds secrets for you to explore. In a world which is increasingly losing its sense of reality, its tactility, through the use of technology, it is so important that when we are in the process of documentation, that we take the time and effort to translate what may one day disappear. The physical art of letter writing and the way that language is used, is fading like the ink on the paper itself only to be replaced by a shortened new language of texting, twittering, blogging and emailing. Real physical friends are being replaced by virtual encounters with strangers. Emoticons replace a squeeze of the hand, a hug, a wink of an eye or a look. We are being separated from our environment, our emotions and our sense of reality.

Landmarks
The Landmark series is an extension of my studio work :- Object, Light, Space. They could be studio based but unfortunately a farm silo is a little big for my studio. So the landscape becomes my studio. They are all found objects which may or may not be profound.

Night Hawks
The word photography literally means Writing (graphy) with light (photo), also referred to as drawing with light. Light in some form is needed to enable photography. If a scene is in perceived darkness our instincts tell us to add light either with electronic flash or tungsten lighting systems. To me this is unsympathetic and intrusive. It's the basis for commercial and advertising photography, which has its own aesthetic and agenda. Valid but not the way I like to work. Shooting at night is a challenge, as all photography is. Shooting at night requires a discipline of looking in a way that is not asked of in daylight. The night subverts what we see in the day. It plays on different emotions and can trigger experiences and memories that daylight serves to hide. There is something special about being alone on a winters night, as the mist descends around you, your skin and hair becoming wet and clammy, as you try to see, without artificial lighting aids, shapes and forms before you. Framing is more intuitive, exposure is a question of experience rather than accurate light meter readings. You are a hunter, the night hunter.

Biographica
Biographica is a compendium of short biographies and photographs, each datelined and located. They are windows into the spaces that people occupy. Many themes are emerging as this long term project progresses. There are many driving forces including the decision to shoot on a digital 5 x 4 system on a panoramic stitching back so that great detail can be recorded. The prints are 42 inches (106 cm) x 18 inches (46cm) in size and this gives the illusion of being in the room with the sitters. Only using available light makes for long exposures which gives a quality not seen in faster shutter speeds, being more filmic and softer but sharp at the same time. All those photographed are sharing my photographic space and all are equal in that space. There is no social order.

Bill Jackson 2010





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