it’s been a few months since we talked about my favorite photographers - photographers who have made an impact on me. now the first one, gregory crewdson isn’t strictly a landscape photographer, but he’s an incredible storyteller. so this time, i think i’d better represent my landscape brethren and sistren. (i know it’s not a word, but it sounds best) so this month, i’d like to tell you about one of my absolute favorite photographers - a gentleman by the name of bruce percy.
bruce makes photographs that really, really move me. his photographs have a minimalist feel and he concentrates heavily on shape. you can view some of his work, including his blog and photography books here. sometimes he shoots in black and white and sometimes color, but even the color images are often more subtle in tones. i believe he’s still shooting with medium format film cameras, and he’s friends with michael kenna so it makes sense that i’d worship him. :)
so why love him? i’m a huge fan of minimalism in photography. it can be difficult to accomplish in summer in the mountains. i believe it’s much easier in sparse terrain or in winter. strangely enough, bruce spends a lot of time in winter locations or in desert areas. it’s apparent from viewing his work that busy-ness in the image and emotional impact on the viewer can be inversely proportional when done well. i also love bruce’s use of shape and subject relationship. he’s particular about the flow in his images and composes to maximize that flow of vision. his color tones are oftentimes near monochrome, but are pleasing tones along the kodak portra range of tones - at least to my eyes. there are very few photographers whose work i can browse through without finding a few that don’t really move me. bruce is a very rare exception in that i cannot recall an image of his i didn’t really appreciate, if not love.
so without further ado, please do check out bruce percy at his website: https://www.brucepercy.co.uk/. do some research on him and check out his blog. i hope you find him as inspiring as i do.