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Michael Collins
makes photographs according to the principles of Record Pictures;
the industrial tradition of matter-of-fact recording with
its emphasis on impassive perspective and detailed clarity.
Photographed on a plate
camera and then digitally printed to a size 122 x 152.5cm,
the pictures' scale and detail emphatically utilise the possibilities
of this application of photography. The prints, in their definition
and realism, reveal the most scrupulous description possible.
This is what Michael Collins regards as the great property
of photography; the "long look" that reveals more than could
be seen at the time of the exposure.
These photographs are
intended as descriptions not explanations. They provide no
interpretation. That is left to the individual viewer. They
honour what is there all that is visible and try not to re-shape
it.
By photographing civil
engineering sites Collins uses photography to examine the
changes made by man to the landscape, not just the work in
progress but the layers of history uncovered by the activity.
His intention is to encourage the viewer to be able to shift
from regarding the picture as a whole to inspecting particular
details, moving back and forth and becoming increasing absorbed
in the photograph. He records landscapes as the sites, too,
of our projections and memories, of chaos and order, and of
time and imagination. A catalogue of his works was published
in July 2006 by Focal Point Gallery.
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