Cam Leighton
I am a photographer who uses alternative processes and viewpoints, creating surreal works with bold colours, dense patterns and texture.
I have always been interested in photography, abstract painting and a considered use of colour to tell the story of a piece of art. Through my art I enjoy challenging the norms of traditional photographic practice and the ambiguity of what is being seen, which in turn causes the viewer to engage and question their perceptions.
I use a mix of technology – digital cameras, drones and full spectrum cameras to create my outcomes. These techniques are used to present the mundane from an alternative viewpoint. My influences include Edward Burtynsky, Richard Mosse and Jeff Wall mainly through their innovative approaches to photography and creating photographs that sit in a fine art context.
My work focuses on industry and its relation to ecocide, how it negatively impacts (socially and environmentally) and how something devastating can be turned into something stunning as fine art photography. My idea grew from images of hidden beauty through the mundane and everyday that we overlook throughout our busy lives.
Through changing the way we see these photographs, I want my viewer to re-evaluate the impact of industry socially and environmentally, as well as seeing beauty in a space that we would usually have missed. I enjoy using the process of creating artefacts through photography which is especially important to me as it is within an era that is overloaded with perfect, highly produced, digital imagery.
For my degree space I create a professional, clean and crisp exhibition where the viewer can be absorbed into the photographs. The show will represent how photography can stand alone in a fine art context. The scale of my photographs will allow viewers to see industrial landscapes as a whole, while also coming closer to view small details within the scene. I wanted the examination of the closer details to prompt the viewer to re-evaluate their perceptions of the photographs – this is particularly true of those with colour
I have presented a collection of works that focus on the purity of the photograph and represent how photography can stand alone in a fine art context. You will see the presentation through technical processes like lightboxes, which will be displayed alongside mounted prints. I hope that, through clean lines, the exhibition will create a dialogue between fine art, photography, the mundane and industrial landscapes.
