Anthony Lamb at Xposure 2021: ‘I try to draw the viewer’s interest deeper into the emotional story of an image’

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UAE-based British photographer’s much-lauded minimalist images of nature as well as manmade structures portray a sense of calm and silence that allows you to get to know the subject intimately

 

UAE-based British fine art photographer Anthony Lamb is infatuated with water and negative spaces. In his session, ‘A Minimalist Vision’, at the Xposure International Photography Festival (Xposure 2021) on Thursday, Lamb delved into why he is obsessed with incorporating stillness and silence in his work. “It allows me to probe into the emotional story of the image,” he said.

Lamb takes a minimalistic approach to achieve a simplicity in his photography that shifts the viewer’s perspective so that the imagery is less about the actual place and more about the emotional state. In his photographs, he uses negative space and an ethereal aesthetic to provide the viewer with a sense of serenity and calm, sharing the emotions of the moments he captures.

His minimalist work has featured in many magazines and won several prestigious awards.

Outdoor spaces and clean, linear designs

“I have always been drawn to large open outdoor spaces, clean linear design, water bodies, and simplicity and balance. These elements that make up many parts of my life have combined to produce a preferred method and approach to my photography,” he said.

Minimalism and the technique of long exposure now plays a large part in his photography portfolio. This followed his attempts to inject emotion into his work.

“By reducing distraction and introducing negative space into my work, I wanted to portray a sense of calm and silence. This calm pulls on your emotions and the simplicity of the photograph draws you to ask questions. I tend to spend a long time shooting a subject from various angles. This allows me to get to know the object and helps me understand how it sits in its environment.”

Lamb is a big fan of flat lighting and bad weather. “They allow me to manipulate my photographs to achieve the results I desire. For instance, I went into the desert during a storm a few years back, and that set me off on a journey that is still continuing today.”

The works he has produced as a part of a series in the desert embodies the spirit of serenity he is always striving to achieve in his work. Trees are frequently the subject of his photographs. “Trees have personality, exude character,” he said.

Seemingly simple, his images are not easy to produce by any means, he said. “There is a lot of layering that goes into it, and other elements have to be symmetrically arranged, gradients added at different levels. It takes really hard work to produce simple work,” he concluded.