ARTWORK DETAILS
David Aston
The Promise
C-Prints
FURTHER DETAILS
Da Vinci described light as "the chaser away of darkness". In his notebook on "The Artists Course of Study" he said of light, shade and colour, that "sampling the various studies of natural processes that of light gives most pleasure to those who contemplate it." He encouraged us to "look at the light and consider its beauty. Blink your eye and look again: what you see was not there at first, and what was there is no more".
Early pioneering photographers understood these qualities and invented mediums to capture these paintings in light. Fox Talbot, one such pioneer, described his photographs as "sun pictures...impressed by the agency of light". In his book the "Pencil of Nature", c.1844-6 he also talks of “a painters eye [being] arrested where ordinary people see nothing remarkable".
I am a collector and student of early photographies. Works from The Promise series embody my love of capturing the beauty of natural light and luminescence whilst travelling. Often taken at sunrise from a dark, camera obscura-like interior, the title reflects the joy of photography and discovery that a new day in an undiscovered location brings.