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Tim Parkin
Amateur Photographer who plays with big cameras and film when in between digital photographs.
I remember when I first saw Mike Curry’s book, Fleeting Reflections. I was captivated by the utterly alien images presented. The front cover, in particular, reminded me of a Joy Division T-shirt I used to own. Mike wrote about the start of his project for us in 2017 which you can read here.
A little reading revealed that this photographic discovery was made among the reflections of buildings in the subtly rippling waters of Canary Wharf. The transformation of light and the instant capture of movement, combined with the reflective and bold coloured nature of many of the buildings, has created a pool of opportunity that Mike has mined at length.
I’m reminded of the Helsinki bus station theory of persistence. A summary goes that if you’re at the ‘bus station of originality’ and you get on a bus, you’ll pass lots of bus stops that suggest you’re getting somewhere but that aren’t your desired destination. Each time, you end up getting off the bus due to failure and go back to the bus station looking for a new bus. The alternative approach is to get on the bus and stay on the bus with the belief that you’ll eventually get to your desired destination. This is often summarised in popular culture as “Stay on the effing bus!”
Mike Curry has stayed on the bus - he’s camping on the bus. He’s probably been around the route and back to the bus station multiple times by now!
The Kozu book sold out pretty quickly, so Mike has created a second volume that includes some of the best photographs from volume one but expands into a more rounded publication which takes you on a photographic journey through the project.
As Mike worked on these photographs, he also adopted some of the in-camera multiple exposure and blending techniques, which allowed him to create some extraordinary layered creations.
The book is nicely printed and explores quite a broad range of style of photographs, from singular graphic captures to complex, layered textures. Mike's eye for a bold design ensures that browsing the book doesn't become too repetitive.
If you want to read more about the way that Mike discovered and captured these photographs, this Phoblographer article is well worth a read.
You can buy Mike’s book at his website by following this link https://www.mikecurryphotography.com/books/.
