Paul Abbitt

PHOTOGRAPHS

28 March - 1 May

The ocean has always played a big part in my life, it's a place which has often inspired my best work. When I lived in the UK I did several bodies of work, mainly portrait based, on people and the coastline.  In comparison to the UK, New Zealand has a very small population with a larger coastline, 14,000ks worth, making it the 10th largest in the world. Over the past 8 years (since moving to NZ) I have taken this body of work in a different direction so that the Seascapes are now the main attraction and people are now in the background. I feel that to exclude people from landscapes or seascapes, is a white lie as mankind presence is felt everywhere. I like to include the people in my images, not in a negative way, but  I feel that by including them it adds a sense of reality and provides the viewer with an indication of the time period and in turn documents the scene for prosperity. Having people in the image also adds scale, which plays an important part in my images, indicating the vastness of the seascape.

With this serious of work I wanted to capture the seasonal changes and the weather fronts which travel across from the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Through this I hope to capture the raw elements of nature and the seasonal changes. I hope that the viewer through seeing the images can imagine themselves in the setting, enjoying the warmth, either through the warm  rich tonal colours of a warm early morning sunrise, or watching the cascading fog which drifts down the cliffs as it rushes out to sea. Or in total contrast, feel the full force of a wintry onshore swell hitting at high tide, with gusting winds making many glad that there fully clothed and away from the storm fronts. Either way they should hopefully feel an affinity towards the ocean.

The Fuji Flex C-types (colour) are printed in the UK. Digital C-types are real photographic prints, created on light sensitive professional photographic paper, which allow a higher dynamic range and a greater colour range than Gicell. That said I also used Giclee for my Black & White prints,  due to the texture of the paper.

Paul Abbitt Is an award winning photographer, specializing in environmental portraiture and lifestyle imagery. In his early 20s he took a year out to explore Australia, which in turn gave him the extra confidence to further his passion for photography. From there he studied for a further 5 years and graduated from Falmouth College of Arts (UK) with Hons, in 2001. His personal work and commercial work has won many awards and been featured in numerous magazine. Since graduation his work has taken him around the world on various assignments & for the last 8/9 years has been based in the beautiful country of New Zealand.

www.paulabbitt.com

Awards:

IPA, Honoured, Cultural Category

IPA, Honoured, Fine Art Category

Nintendo, Winner, Advertising Award

Kodak , Winner, Portraiture

Thomas Gower, Award, Finalist

Observer Hodge Award, Finalist

International Colour Awards