Photography - Romanticism - Eifion Evans Artist

eifion evans artist - romanticism - welsh romantic art — Gwir

Occasional Pieces - The Thames series / Annwn. Title: Gwir

This piece belongs to `The Thames` series and pays homage

to the German Romantic painter: Otto Runge

Photography has limitations, the camera becomes a barrier between you and what you need to capture, for this is what you do (at the beginning) you capture like a hunter, you steal like a thief, moments and time.

My first experience with a camera still intrigues me and I still do not fully understand the situation that got the camera into my hands as a child and it is not something that I need to comment on here, but the questioning of this bizarre situation I found myself in made me also question the art of photography and its limitations and how to break through this barrier

To compare poetry with photography, poetry is limitless, the purest art form, there is no restrictions to the extent of the worlds poetry can reach and create

Photography has limitations and art should not have limitations, it is in the science you hold in your hand, you become a slave to light, to your surroundings, in awe of the poet who only needs a passionate heart and an inquisitive mind. I was a photographer in chains, worthless, waiting for light to allow me to take a picture of a moment that did not convey what I needed to convey, I became an aimless wanderer and returned to poetry and wrote of dreams and beauty which got me into trouble along the streets of London, but still, thoughts of why the camera came into my hand as a child was too strong to ignore, as if I was being challenged - would I surrender as I had on 'Imitating Cormorants' or would I continue and be able to use the camera as a poet uses his pen?

This was my predicament: how can I photograph a scene to convey my desires when that scene does not exist? I could wander the world until the correct scene appears which might take a lifetime (as a poet that is the ideal scenario) or I could create the scene in a studio and take that photograph.

To wander the world and finally take one photograph and die in a ditch is appealing to me, a life truly lived, but that would also be to surrender and I do not surrender well. Creating a studio shot also did not appeal, as on inspiration I would have to physically construct the required image, and the image would be, by definition, false. Photography must be true, spontaneous and pure as a poem, emotions quickly interpreted and then to quickly move to the next piece, this would not be possible with a machine in my hand with the light falling and I hungry with dreams to tell.

At the time, I was photographing the Carrion Cry series, the intention here was to set the mood for the novel. The settings I knew existed, therefore it was an easy process to photograph, the aim, also, was to slowly build an emotion of dread and if the viewer were to dwell on a photograph, they would become aware of a sense of expectation of something possibly sinister about to occur.

This series was the key for me, the more intense I got, the more images unveiled themselves and some unexpected shots appeared and were taken, as if a new awareness in me was being developed, my eyes were seeing images that were not there previously. You get to a stage when it is not difficult no more, your hunger and desire creates the ideal situation to unveil itself and the picture is taken, Therefore I've stripped everything back to its bare essentials. I've discarded digital, I work on film, I don't crop, don't photoshop, don't enhance what is taken, not concerned if the picture is sharp - it is the mood of the image and whether it conveys what I want it to convey. I have also returned to the image and attempted to replicate the shot, but it never appears the same or have the same impact, as if the original time was ideal and everything came together to produce the photograph that I desired. Therefore I only move forward to the next piece, it's knowing the scene and mood you want and wait for the image to unveil itself to you - you must anticipate and expect and be ready and the shot is taken. Photography becomes an integral part of you as an artist, you get in the zone as a poet does and the creative process flows, as Keats said " if poetry does not come as easily as leaves to a tree, it had better not come at all" There is no struggle in beautiful art, you become a conduit to the outpouring of your desires.

these photographs from the Carrion Cry series are examples of this awareness, they are fluid and appeared without much searching - even though I had passed these locations on numerous occasions I was previously blind to the collective shapes available

The raven shot in particular surprised me - perched on the wall, it flew down towards me and beneath me, the ideal shot that I needed to complete the series

these examples describe Karl Moor`s (Carrion Cry) innate fear of the river - the aim here was to give the Thames an ominous feel of dread experienced from Moors perspective.

To create from a third person adds another dynamic, as this does not convey my own viewpoint. It has become clear to me, the best art must come from the Artist himself without use of a character or a third party.

The artist therefore eventually becoming the Art itself

again, this series emanates from another characters perspective, namely: Karl Tandy.

The aim with this series was to reflect the mood of the novel by creating a disparity between characters and reality - to reflect the mood of Tandy`s thinking during his own creative process.

The novel plays with a sense of what the reader can comprehend as reality and Tandy`s own ideals and perception of truth.

This is the Venom Chic collection

the thames series