CHRIS ROUND
Transient Realities
This series of images are essentially a dialogue between myself, and locations I’ve visited a number of times. However, due to a combination of different natural and man-made elements, at the time of my visit I discovered an unfamiliar air about them - these places were not how I imagined, or how I had previously pictured them. In discovering this I realised these new and transient realities contrasted with my recollection, my imagination. My relationship with these environments had fundamentally changed. However, from a visual perspective, I felt certain things ‘fell in to place’ giving me a fresh perspective that allowed me to capture this new relationship.
I’ve been almost tempted to question the validity of the pictures, defining them as fictional, though of course by definition they are not. As a consequence perhaps this raises questions about our increasingly insecure relationship with our surroundings, how we are becoming more disorientated in the modern world; how each reality we experience is rapidly replaced by a new an unexpected one.
I’m a Fine Art photographer, based in Sydney, Australia. I am primarily interested in documenting the everyday world around me, with a particular interest in post-natural, human-influenced landscapes. This interest forces me to discover places I never knew existed and surround myself with the unfamiliar. I find these environments dynamic and exciting because they are in a constant state of flux; humans continually change their relationship with their surroundings, for better and for worse, serving up myriad new subject matter. I like to evaluate each scene without any pre-conceived notions of place, or self, documenting scenes with impartiality allowing a narrative to be ‘discovered’, not pre-determined. I’m also fascinated in the temporal aspect of photography and the truth that the scenes I capture will often be dramatically altered, not long afterwards - this anthropogenic ‘cycle of time’ is something I will continue to research.research.