“I have never seen a river or an ocean that I could not love. Moving water has a fascinating vitality. It has power and grace and associations. It has a thousand colours and a thousand shapes, yet it follows laws so definite that the tiniest stream is an exact replica of a great river and all great rivers lead to the sea.”
Roderick Haig-Brown
For as longs as I can remember I have had a deep appreciation of nature’s grandeur.
It has constantly provoked my imagination and stimulated my creativity, while at the same time invited me to take stock of the moment and make a stronger connection with life and nature.
“Without water there would be no rainbows. Without rainbows, life would be all black and white.”
I have always enjoyed taking pictures of landscapes; trying to find locations that allow me to capture scenes that evidence my love of both nature in the raw and how man has had the ability to make his mark on the environment (sometimes to its detriment).
In the last few years, I have been increasingly drawn to capturing images of water and the more time I spend with it the more I’ve come to understand that water is the ultimate element that has driven me to discover landscapes.
The immense power of water has inspired me, and I’m amazed how easily it interacts with natures challenges and obstacles.
“Thousands have lived without love, but not one without water.”
In some ways water recreates every mood we experience through its various states.
It is dynamic, creates patterns and reflections. It is fluid, ever changing, calm one moment and raging the next.
“A river’s reflection seems a magical thing. A magic, moving, living part of the city.”
Water is both the giver of life and in an instant the taker of life. Glistening and shimmering, clean and dirty, frolicking and bubbling, silky and calm and in a moment chaotic.
“The sea touches us every day. With every drop of water we drink, with every breath we take we are connected to the sea..”
I enjoy taking close up images of water in what I refer to as “Intimate Water Landscapes.”
By doing so I attempt to capture the mysterious character of water in all its forms and try to stimulate the viewers imagination and influence their relationship with water.
The way I photograph water is varied, just like water itself.
“Oh! I do like to be beside the seaside.”
I am constantly filled with a blend of emotional states from the tension of not knowing whether or not I have captured what I wanted to.
This is mixed with an unsophisticated curiosity and anticipation to see if what is revealed goes beyond what I have experienced.
I often I look back at what I have photographed and I am still filled with a sense of enjoyment and surprise.
The images and quotations are a selection taken from a book I created as part of my course work whilst studying for a City & Guilds Level 3 Certificate in Photography.
All the images were taken during the course which lasted an academic year 2015/2016 using a Canon 5D Mk3 and processed using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.
A variety of locations were visited including Norfolk, Suffolk, France and Gran Canaria.
Rob Darts LRPS