simon buckley

Artist Research: Simon Buckley

Simon Buckley is a Salford based photographer who mainly experiments with Urban areas and the amazing colours that are only amplified at night, he also experiments with people commuting in these areas. Buckley has been responsible for a project called 'Not Quite Light' which has resulted in several commissions and a limited edition book with '5 Plus Architects'. His photography has been globally published, and exhibited in UK, France, Germany, Hong Kong and China.

Image Analysis:

This is from Simon Buckleys 'North Carolina' shoot, he decided to go there as he was used to seeing media portrayal of the state but wanted to see what it was like for himself, he discovered a vast and beautiful landscape. This specific picture was taken in a city of 1200 inhabitants called Asheville which Buckley states he fell in love with. This shoot was taken to capture urban environments in places he wasn't used to like the States. Buckley experimented with symmetry and various primary colours such as Red and Blue being more prominant when there is no sunlight, aswell as just the general urban area. He used a slow shutter, paired with a low aperture to allow more light into the camera for darker environments. He experiments with photography that can be viewed with varying emotions depending on how you see the picture, for me it symbolises peace and tranquility as there is no one around for disturbance. You get the city surroundings without the unneeded city noise and I would love to experiment with that. Buckly has purposefully spaced himself far away from his focal points so it's up to the viewers interpretation what they look into and develop deeper meanings with. For example, my eyes are immediately drawn to the left and right sign at the near centre of the picture, almost as if its giving us the option of which side we want to focus on and have our attention drawn too. I like Simon Buckley's work as this is my most passionate part of photography, I love the idea of capturing city scapes at their quietest yet most lively in colour; its a beautiful contrast that I love exploring, which links to the idea of peace and tranquility as most people aren't in city areas when it gets dark, making for some amazingly desolate captures of once booming metropolitan areas. When exploring Buckleys techniques for my own work I want to create the same feeling of emptiness yet fulfillment via experimenting with various colours and places that arent usually captured during the day of busy city streets.

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