Our Projects

Lungs of the City is a visual exploration of the remarkable ways in which trees persist in the urban environment. I focus on often neglected trees, overshadowed by towering buildings and walls; those surviving next to flyovers and shopping complexes; and those running alongside major traffic arteries. My aim was to capture the enduring spirit of these natural sentinels and highlight their crucial role as the life-giving lungs of our urban landscapes.

 

Pinhole photography, with its extended exposure times and unique distortions, allows me to capture the interaction between trees and their urban surroundings in a distinct and evocative manner. The camera captures the essence of the trees and the profound stories etched within their gnarled trunks and outstretched branches. Each image becomes a dialogue between the stoic presence of the trees and the imposing structures that encircle them, representing the struggle for survival amidst the relentless expansion of the concrete jungle.

When the Trees Speak examines the collaboration between photography and nature, through an immersion within the natural environment where nature becomes the essence of the photographic process, rather than merely the subject.

The work is produced using large format pinhole cameras, which are light-tight boxes containing photographic paper, exposed to light through a tiny pinhole in place of a lens to create an image.

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This is a slow process, with exposure times varying between several minutes and many hours. The images are then developed on location to further enhance the immersive process.

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The resulting images represent a photographic journey both literally and figuratively, inviting the viewer to linger their gaze while contemplating Sandyʼs accompanying poetry. All these images were taken in the West Sussex or Hampshire area of the UK and the poems were created either at the same time, in response to being in the same locations or as a response to the photos.