The Brit photographer, famed for his oversized camera and 19th century lens, selects five portraits from his London expo
Using a room-sized camera with a built-in dark room is in itself an unusual approach to image-making. Add to that British photographer Walter Hugo’s mid 19th century camera lens and glass plate printing technique and you have a unique artist producing forward-thinking, yet antique, art. Hugo, having asked parts of London’s young creative elite to pose for him, compiled the Reflecting the Bright Lights exhibition a while back, but it’s now combined with the The Nature of Interdependence series of beautiful UK seascapes, as part of an unofficial Frieze celebration. Showing at Paul Smith’s new-ish Albemarle location, the We Are An Island expo offers full insight to Hugo’s take on portraiture, as well as the British coastline…
Beans On Toast
“I love this portrait, Jay is such an individual, and he didn’t falter on this occasion. He turned up with a pineapple as someone had told him that it was symbolic of being a ‘well traveled and prosperous man’. Maybe in the 18th century!”
Alice Dellal
“This image is simply intense. It’s really difficult to sit still for the portraits, and holding your arms up in the air even more so, so maybe that brings some of that intensity. [It] definitely feels like the Alice of Thrush Metal that she was at the time.”
Stuart Hammond
“When I look at this image it makes me feel like he is wearing a straight jacket and is from some archaic asylum – which is bizarre as Stuart is the opposite. In fact he is chilled, rational and highly intelligent.”
Gemma Cairney
“[I] can’t help feeling she is about to say something, which is always the case with Gem.” Gary Card
“I don’t know how he does it but Gary manages to stay the same age over the years, maybe even younger. I swear he has found the elixir of eternal youth.”
Walter Hugo: Reflecting the Bright Lights is exhibiting at the Paul Smith store at 9 Albemarle Street, London, W1S 4BL until November 1o, 2013
