Sommerlys

A study of the shifting point when 24-hour Nordic sun fades into the earliest intimations of impending autumn.

Water vapours accompany the close of some of the hottest days of the year. It is late July in the protected Vassfaret range of nature reserves in Norway. Although easy to reach, this is an area little visited or known about. Until recently, there was a thriving bear population in these hills and all motorised transport or forestry activity is still prohibited in the reserve.

The Norwegian author Mikkjel Fønhus (1894 – 1973) wrote lyrically about this land in the early to mid twentieth century, as a place where nature was at its wildest and its creatures least used to human interference.



The images that I have created are a study of the fading of summerlight, captured and held in the humid dusk. Water droplets seem to hold the light for even longer, perhaps microscopically mirroring it back from each tiny barely visible droplet. Combined with multiple exposures in-camera, every last ounce of sunlight is captured onto the photographic film.

The camera is from the era when Mikkjel Fønhus was active ( it dates to 1937). The film is Kodak’s Portra400, proven to hold such nuanced natural light conditions well.

Prints Available

• C-type (Chromogenic) Prints, mounted on 3mm white PVC Foamex: 63.5cm x 63.5cm, edition of 20 with 1 AP
• C-type prints: 70cm x 70cm, edition of 20
• Archival pigment prints:
  • 40cm x 40cm, edition of 30
  • 30cm x 30cm, edition of 30

Made from digital scans of medium format film negatives, taken with a 1937 Zeiss Ikon camera.

Selected Installation Views

1. Sommerlys quartet at Natural Light exhibition by Lumen at Air Gallery, Altrincham 2019

2. Sommerlys at Natural Light exhibition by Lumen at Air Gallery, Altrincham 2019

3. Sommerlys at Force of Nature exhibition, Mercer Gallery 2020