Nick Small sees the world in contrasts. He works predominantly in black and white photography and rejects the use of colour. This allows harsh light to create form, structure and texture through a wide tonal range. His intention is to represent strength through direct contrast, where the foreground and background become connected to create a bold visual statement without the distractions of colour. In Gap the solid, vertical trees dictate the direction to be taken, providing no other route but through into the denser and compact forest, by using a low visual angle and a tight crop. Small is emphasising the strength and domineering forms of the timber trunks that loom over the viewer, the gaze is drawn skyward and with the play between light and shadow we could be emerging from within the wood, or about to be engulfed from the overhead canopy and branches. Whilst in The Weir, the juxtaposition of the built environment and the natural world clash. Small rejects fixed compositional intentions, and he looks for power in the image through light and its relationship with the subject.
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