Matthew Barrett

Matthew Barrett

‘LOOK UP!’

Photomedia

Digital Photographs printed on Museum grade Lustre Paper

11 digital images

My body of work contains 11 digital images incorporating the night sky and Milky Way. To capture these images, I used a mirrorless camera with a 14mm wide angled lens mounted on a tripod. Using this equipment, I was able to take long exposure photos that lasted between 20-30 seconds in order to reveal the night sky. I used Lightroom and Photoshop to experiment on my images with different editing styles, manipulating highlights, shadows, colour balance and clarity to make the milky way stand out. My body of work includes, 5 portrait images, 5 landscape images and 1 panorama which were all edited so that they worked together in my chosen layout. The images were printed on museum-grade lustre paper and mounted on a 5mm foamboard that provides sturdiness to the work allowing the images to be presented as frameless.

Through my images I wanted to convey the ideas of isolation and witnessing the beauty of the night sky. The images in this collection were designed to complement each other by showing the Milky Way in many locations from around NSW which are accessible for anyone to enjoy. My central image is a self-portrait silhouette which provokes the idea of isolation at night without everyday distractions. Through this process of creating this work I have had a greater appreciation to how incredible the wonders of the world are and how easily they are overlooked.

Influencing artists: David Magro, Nick Page, Dan Zafra, Spencer Welling