It was a foggy, cold morning and I decided to make a round of Shotts fields to find some nice and quiet landscapes.I was driving the A71 to West Tarbrax Farm when I noticed this back road blocked by 2 huge tractor tires. It was my “Wow! Look at that”. It was the way the light softened by morning fog hits the object. I asked myself a lot of times what makes me stop and take my pictures. Something attracts me in a visceral way. I do not think about it much because it is not intellectual. It is purely visual.
After exploring many aspects of farming in Lanarkshire, after visiting a number of busy auction houses, and experiencing the energy around the industry, I came back again and again to the relatively quiet subject of one particular family farm near the town of Shotts, where I live. I am looking for quiet and lyric documentary style, simple and strong portraits connected with lyric landscape.
Very quiet and foggy mornings full of soft and diffused light have helped me to catch the beauty of the moment, the light, the composition and structure, the tonality and emotional quality and that is the magic of photography. Finally I have decided to use black-and-white negatives to take quiet, lyric and disturbing images from hidden, farmer’s world.
Radek’s photograph, and others from his series, “The Farmer DNA”, can be seen at Fotospace Gallery, Rothes Halls, Glenrothes, as part of the “Seeing Ourselves” exhibition, which is curated by Document Scotland. The exhibition continues until August 1st 2013.
Document Scotland’s latest newspaper, which accompanies the exhibition can be bought online. Treat yourself. https://new.documentscotland.com/seeing-ourselves-newspaper/