Len Downes

An interest in people and the ways they
choose to project an image of themselves,
including their mode of dress, drove me to
overcome a general reticence to approach
strangers and capture their appearance
in photographic form.

Goths and cyber-punks proved to be a
rich source of subjects, their creative
make-up & hairstyles and their stylish
clothing only matched by their co-operation in the process of forming the images.

Music of all kinds is a driver in a desire to
create images of performers in action, an
on-going obsession. Inevitably, rock music typifies a suitable environment and degree of visual interest but any live performance has the potential for images if access is made available.

With an extensive portfolio of performers,
contemporary dance and ballet have
become a more recent art form to attempt
to interpret in the photographic image.
Both National Dance Company Wales and
Northern Ballet feature in the gallery, and
I owe a debt to both companies for their
helpfulness and, of course, for the beauty
and athleticism of their art.

See: www.flickr.com/photos/giglens for a
complete gallery of my performance images.