Photographs and images from around the world. Buy fine art colour (color) and black and white prints by Colin Conway.

Colin Conway's Photography

Dunes and Nudes

When I was in my early teens, my father and some of his friends had a studio where they painted the female figure. I was invited along, and joined them, painting in oils. I loved it but it took up too much time, what with studies and all.

Some twenty five years later the opportunity to photograph the female figure arose and I have been fascinated by this art form ever since. When 'shooting' my first model, I was very nervous, and I did not realize until the film was developed and prints made, that the model had been cold, and had goosebumps - she never complained! The textures and forms reminded me of desert landscapes.

A subsequent brief business visit to Qatar gave me the opportunity to venture into the desert just before dusk. All the 'Dunes' images were taken in one brief shoot before darkness fell. Back in England, I added some of these to my photographs of 'Nudes' to make this panel.

The panel was first exhibited at the Photography Center of Thessaloniki, in Greece's second city, in 2001. 'The Camera Club' in London, will give its first UK showing in August 2009.

The layout of the images in the 'Dunes and Nudes' exhibition is depicted here

Individual images may be viewed in the 'Dunes and Nudes' gallery.

A friend translated the review from the Greek Magazine "PhotoNet", here into English, which I reproduce below (it's a bit flowery!).

"Colin J. Conway, from Britain, presented his recent and earlier work at the Center of Photography of Thessaloniki.

On one floor were black and white landscape photos of his travels - faultless compositions, light-metering and printing have been summoned up to express, in the most accurate way, the spirit and tone of each era.

On the next floor, groups of photos meant to be 'read' as pairs, but also all together belonging in a huge puzzle, pin down the viewer because of similarities between photos in each pair, the process, the whole concept, because of what we may develop from this. In each pair the one photo is of dunes in the Qatar desert and the other details of a naked woman's body. The challenge is to detect which lines are the breathing ones, which of both 'landscapes' is the most alive, which is what. Creativity in this field as dunes and skin is still virgin and ways to explore this field are countless, as it looks as though there is more to be expressed.

Anyway, those of you who may meet the photographer talk with him about how the pictures came to be in pairs, which photos were shot first and which later, and talk about what this compilation means."

Relatively free translation from the Greek of review in "PhotoNet" of March 2001

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Galleries

Recent additions exc. nudes

Colour Gallery Monochrome etc. Gallery Panoramas - Colour and Monochrome Technical matters