Remnants

Hello all,

The new exhibition is up, it's called Remnants and is a photographic exhibition by Lee Johnson....

Today we shall bring you the interview first, and then the images....

Tell us a little about yourself and how Photography came about for you?

 

As a young boy Lee was always intrigued by the camera his Grandfather would take out with him on family day trips, not that he would ever let young Lee get his hands on it. His love for cameras progressed and at the age of 25 he got his own SLR camera.

 

 

 

Why did you choose to photograph Lancashire and how did the process and planning if there was any begin?

 

 

Lee told us how the project came about by pure mistake, he went to photograph ‘The Atom’ at Wycoller, and was struggling to get the shot he wanted and decided to return another day to try again. In his attempts to try and get the shot he tripped over a loose stone on the ground that he noticed had chisel marks on it. Once he got home and looked at his shots he wasn’t happy with the colour of the pictures, he began to think about the stone he had tripped over and how we the public walk passed stone everyday without thinking about its history, this led Lee on a 3 month exploration of the history that lay in the stone around Lancashire.

 

Lee described how his regular process when embarking on a new project included, precise organised planning of an idea that he would research and then begin to take preliminary test shots however with Remnants the nature of the project very much determined the process, ‘Remnants was more spontaneous’.

 

 

 

Do you have a favourite photographer and does their work inspire your photographic style?

 

Sebastiao Salgado and Fay Godwin are photographers that have inspired Lee and he is influenced by their monochromatic style. Dark looking black and white pictures are Lee’s favourite type of photography letting the environment determine the kind of pictures he takes. Remnants was a nod to the icons that have inspired Lee.

 

Has your work been exhibited before, where and where is it going next?

 

This exhibition has been up in Dolce Vita in Colne, after The Ace Centre it will be time to put Remants into storage so that Lee can focus on his new project.

 

 

How are you involved in photography in general do you have any other sideline projects or is it more of a hobby?

 

Lee is a semi professional photographer that does private commissions; he loves to concentrate more on fine art photography and regularly talks about his projects and musings on his blog. In his spare time he is the editor of online magazine Pixel and president of the Blackburn camera club.

 

Choose 2 of your favourite pieces – describe them in detail, why did you choose these ones, what do they mean to you?

 

Lee names his lead shot of the Vaccary, the 3 Arches and Pine Street amongst his favourites, if you look carefully at Pine Street you will see a cat having its 15 minutes of fame as it was caught in the photo. Lee named these as his favourite pieces in the series because the natural light compliments the overall mood of the pictures.

 

 

What do you want the viewer to gain from your exhibition?

 

Lee wanted the viewer to go on journey through the story of the stone, from Pagan worship to Christianity, to the Victorian Mills and Capitalism.

 

 

You can seem more detail when you are here, so, as ever, we hope you can come along and see the work in person.

 

The ACE is always open  Monday to Saturday from 10am until 4pm.

 

Ta Ra

 

 

Kirsty