Momentary Presence/Absence (sooty shadows)

I photographed the lengths of rope on Wednesday in a studio setting. This was a much more orchestrated process compared to the scanning of the ropes, which I have been doing recently. Setting up the ropes was much more tricky than I thought mainly because I wanted to suspend them and be able to get the whole length of the rope in. I selected a grey backdrop which softened the coarse nylon orange rope. The rope lengths were surprisingly heavy, even small pieces. Initial experiments involving a line of fishing wire going across the studio where I tied the rope on, failed. The weight of the rope pulled the wire down and the rope was only partially suspended. I then noticed two metal eyes, in the ceiling and they were positioned in a good enough place where we could tie the rope. Brilliant! The ever patient Cai, who was the studio technician, threaded fishing wire through the eyes and then attached two pieces of rope. Cai then helped me set up the right lighting and finally I could begin photographing the ropes. Once the ropes were suspended they looked magical, as though they were on a stage for a performance. I mused on their life, thinking about where they had been before I picked them up from the shoreline in Kent. It was interesting to think that they had been discarded, lying flaccid on the shore. Suspended they appeared majestic. I selected two very different lengths of rope, one long piece that was tight and neat at one end with a small bristle of fibres at the other. The other was less tightly bound and each end had unwound into unruly sections. As they were suspended their forms unfolded. I began photographing them and fixed on the rope to begin with. I worked from distance then close up. I moved the light source around. As I did this I noticed the shadows from the ropes altered, either virtually disappearing or suddenly emerging soot black. The camera began documenting these momentary impressions which were like drawings of the softest charcoal on the grey paper. I found them mesmerising and seductive. Somehow the shadows dominated the stage and as quickly as they were created, with the touch of the lamp's off switch, they evaporated.