In a world of ever-increasing complexity, bombarded with information, there are infinite possibilities when considering crafting a picture. Contemporary photographers must dig deep to find their images, devoting themselves to deliver the particular vision in their mind’s eye. Pared down to essentials, Edward Dimsdale’s photographs quietly transmit their message, seeking out an audience receptive to such a carefully honed and considered perspective.

Much of this work involves the making of prints from paper negatives, which goes some way to accounting for the singular aesthetic of each photograph. His first experiments with this historical method, which itself harks back to the very origins of photography, were undertaken whilst at Bristol University studying social science. He then continued to develop and refine Fox Talbot’s pioneering techniques whilst assisting fashion and still life photographers in Paris and London.

The starting point though, is spiritual rather than technical; the capture, however subtle, of some resonance in the real world. It may be a detail, or an atmosphere. It may exist in a landscape or figure study, a still life or a portrait. It can be as simple as the presence of a pebble isolated on stone steps, the sideways glance of an apprentice Geisha, a coppice of lanky trees, or a tubby little boat crossing a fog-bound lake. In each case, this resonance is frozen, inert, onto the film negative. A sometimes complex procedure then ensues, aiming to distill something of that original resonance; offering us a heightened sense of it in fact, rendered in the final silver gelatin print. This print is then toned in selenium, gold or both.

The keynotes are simplicity and a stripped-down beauty. Dimsdale believes that the original resonance is only fully achieved, however, when it is inspired back into life by the viewer; by contact with a receptive eye, heart and mind. Only then is the process complete.

Exhibitions

2004 AIPAD The Photography Show, New York. HackelBury Fine Art, London
2003 Art London Fine Art Fair. Kunsterhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt: 'Be Proud of Me' (with Stan's Cafe)
Hothouse Gallery, London:  'Site/Seeing'
2002 HackelBury Fine Art 100% Photography.Century, London. AIPAD Photo Fair, New York Hilton
2001 Arnolfini, Bristol: ‘Flesh&Text’. Paris Photo Fair Frederieke S.Taylor Gallery, New York: ‘British Photography’. AIPAD Photo Fair, New York Hilton
2000 Timothy Everest, London. Paris Photo Fair
1999 HackelBury Fine Art: ‘Process & Print’. Paris Photo Fair

Publications

‘Flesh & Text’ – collaboration with Bodies In Flight, CD-ROM
The Big Issue Foundation: ‘Home 2000’ – catalogue and exhibition
Positive View, 2000 – catalogue, exhibition and auction
French Elle Decoration, November 2000
London Lighthouse, Christie’s, London – Charity Auction and Catalogue, 1999, 2000 and 2001.
AG Magazine, 1999
Zoom, 1999

If you enjoy the work of this artist, you should also look at the work of Allan Jenkins

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© 2003 Hackelbury Fine Art, Ltd. Copyright for all images is held by the respective artist or estate and they may not be reproduced in any form without express premission. All rights reserved.