PHOTOGRAPHY SPOTLIGHT: Mike Stacey

Mike Stacey's photography captures a view of the world we seldom see, or choose to look at: ethereal beauty.  While it is all around us in different shapes and forms, we so often overlook the gifts that nature bestows on us, perhaps because they are so prevalent we forget to notice them.  Mike Stacey reminds us that we are surrounded by such vast, temporal goodness by capturing various landscapes at the height of their visual essence.  His work speaks for itself in its brilliant artistry and unmistakable craftsmanship, but we still had Mike say a few words about some pieces from his Ether Series:

One of the prime motivators for this series lies in the depiction and interpretation of vast, seemingly boundless space.

When space becomes the motivating concept, the image moves through a distillation process where only the most primitive elements remain; earth, sea, sky. The delineation of such parameters by transitional lines such as the horizon, or the boundary between shoreline and sea, create a graphic strong point which also interests me. 

A degree of 'temporal abstraction' is obtained through the use of long exposures allowing the viewer to appreciate the trajectories of the most elemental entities such as clouds, waves and stars. Many of these images include a single sharply defined detail; the horizon. I offer the horizon line as a boundary between the limits of the viewer's physical eyesight and an extension of their cognitive state or emotive vision. 

Ether #3 (Lake Eyre, South Australia)

Ether #2 (Pacific Ocean)

 Ether #6 (Pacific Ocean)

Colour Drift (Ether #8, Indian Ocean)

Ether #4 (Indian Ocean)

Gun Metal Mirage (Ether #10, Yarra Yarra Lakes South Australia)     

Mike is based in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney Australia and makes regular trips to locations of vast space such as the Central Australian desert and various coastal locations. He uses a Shen Hao 4x5 and a Toyo 8x10, usually loaded with Kodak colour negative film or Fuji Astia positive film.

Visit his site here: www.mikestacey.com