Ben Starav In Moonlight Print

A wide range of environments and medium types are explored in the works of Suffolk based Ben Nichols. The English-born (1980) artist who is a self taught photographer has been inspired by the likes of Ansel Adams, Michael Kenna and Colin Prior. He is best known for his black and white fine art landscape photographs that portray a sense surrealist minimalism. Bens images visualises beyond the realm of what is natural reality. Their extraordinary tonal range trough both an analogue and digital workflow provides an artistic vision which shows clarity and also the imperfections of film, Bens meticulously planned atmospheric landscapes powerfully and synthetically link needs and desires to mankind and the land. Often Ben is found In mountainous and remote parts of the UK looking for that wild and surrealistic moment in time, often found sleeping in his car whilst capturing long exposures on film at night with some exposures running on for hours! As well as spending time in some of the UK'S most famous wild landscapes he is often found along coastal areas creating beautiful seascape images. Ben is passionately dedicated to using an analogue workflow using his trusted Hasselblad 500 C/M cameras and kodak / Ilford films and is often found spending hours in his home studio moulding a negative into a Silver Gelatine Print. Ben Still hand develops his own films using home made chemistry from raw chemicals. Most silver Gelatin Prints are individually bleached and toned again, using home made chemistry to give each image the visual character they deserve. Along with using film Ben also uses digital photography as both a medium and hybrid workflow creating digital negatives that can then be contact printed onto Silver Gelatin Paper in the darkroom along with modern inkjet printing methods. Ben has been fortunate in the past to have been supported by companies such as Hasselblad, LEE Filters and DJI for photography projects and has ongoing support from LEE Filters as one of their Creators.