Andrew Brooks

Andrew Brooks, a photographer from Manchester, uses his images to show us the ‘bigger picture’. He can sometimes spend months and even years re-touching his images to create the perfect moment for the viewer. He wants the viewer to look deeper into the image rather than just what’s first seen. He has expanded into large panoramic scenes of the natural world and largely detailed cityscapes that are captivating. He came in to talk to us about his experiences putting together and festival/exhibition. He talked about the most important things to consider:

• Lighting- The lighting is important to show the work to its full potential. He has previously used tunnel spaces to create and atmosphere. Using enclosed dark spaces, to focus on the images in the light. Also he used direct lighting, creating vibrant images with the use of light boxes and lights with panels to direct the light onto the images. 

• Mounting work- He talked about how he likes his images to have a clean and sharp edged mount. This type of mount suits the city scape images he creates. And finds that a framed mount suits his none city images, such as country landscapes and mountain views. 

• Prints- Brooks prints his images in a range of sizes for different purposes. Large, framed and none framed images for the gallery exhibit. Also the use of small post card style prints for sale to the public to try to earn back some of the money used for the exhibit. These images can be sold as a souvenir from the visit to the gallery. 

• Other things to consider- An online presence allows the work to be seen by a lot more people. He believes that by having an online website, it means there is a permanent exhibition. Social media is a bit part of his work, sites such as twitter, facebook and instagram allow him to show his work as soon as it is ready. This gives more chances for feedback, and means he can be reached a lot easier. 

I very much like Andrew's work, I like both his city images and the more natural and country style images. He works in a way that is very time consuming and feels he must take a day out of his week to get out, and photograph the countryside and its beauty. His technique to create his images means he takes multiples of the same scene in a grid layout. This means he can pick and chose what he wants to create such a vibrant and stunning image. The advice about exhibitions really brought to light some things I wouldn't normally think of, such as print sizes and different lighting techniques. Here are some example of his work; 

"Brooks transforms typical scenes and landscapes into places that look like they could only have been constructed in your dreams." Nicholas Jackson, The Atlantic