Openpage Studio

THE VISITOR | 10 BILLION MILES LATER

A visitor from another world? Not quite.

I came across this rather extraordinary structure, complete with a small alien waving from one of its windows. It was a photograph I could not resist.

But I was also drawn to the flaking paintwork and weathered patina of the craft, giving it the impression that it had travelled long and far to arrive at this very spot.

Two very different stories, brought together in two photographs.

Read THE VISITOR / 10 BILLION MILES LATER in FROM THE STUDIO.

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AN ANCIENT LANDSCAPE

At first, this is simply a landscape.

Trees, water, rock and a rather brooding Scottish sky.

But the small islands of Lewisian Gneiss in Loch Assynt were formed nearly 3,000 million years ago, making this some of the oldest rock on the planet.

I made this photograph while travelling through the Scottish Highlands during the Vintners Velo NC500 cycling tour in June 2023.

Standing there with the camera, that extraordinary timescale is difficult to comprehend.

The landscape in front of me wasn't simply old. It was almost unimaginably ancient.

TIR BHO SHEANN

Chris Page

I was waiting in the clouds at the summit of Bealach na Bà.

The four cyclists had just completed the 2,054 ft climb to the top. They still had a mountain to descend and another destination ahead.

I knew the portraits I wanted to make.

Not conventional cycling photographs. No bicycles. Instead, I wanted something with the character of an Edwardian expedition portrait, but contemporary.

Each cyclist was photographed individually. Four separate portraits, conceived to come together as a group.

I needed to work quickly and efficiently before they disappeared back down the mountain.

TEAM HERO

The coming together was brief, but the idea was already in place.

Chris Page

FROM THE STUDIO | ON TOUR

Sometimes the photograph you come home with isn't the one you went looking for.

I was out early beside Loch Diabaig on the west coast of Scotland, looking for a boat wreck I had planned to photograph.

Then I saw this.

An old Porsche sitting beside the loch, its weathered bodywork catching the early light against the cool blues and greys of the landscape.

The wreck could wait.

I have a bit of a mantra when I'm out photographing: expect the unexpected.

Setting out with a photograph in mind doesn't mean I stop looking along the way. Sometimes something completely unplanned presents itself, and the direction changes.

ON TOUR is the story behind one of those photographs.

Read ON TOUR — The photograph I wasn't looking for - https://www.openpage-studio.com/from-the-studio

Chris Page

Two works. One project.

MOMENTS developed as two distinct bodies of photographic work: in black & white and in colour & light.

They are not different interpretations of the same photographs. Each contains its own images, its own visual language and its own way of looking.

In black & white, colour is set aside, allowing form, tone and presence to come forward.

In colour & light, colour becomes part of the observation: changing with light, atmosphere, distance and place.

Two separate books, created to stand individually, but conceived as parts of the same continuing project.

MOMENTS
in black & white | in colour & light

Chris Page

From the Studio

Photography for me has always been about more than the individual image.

Some photographs remain as single observations. Others begin to connect, gradually becoming collections, projects, books and occasionally something larger.

OPENPAGE STUDIO is where I bring those different strands together: photographic projects, limited editions, books, installations and the stories behind the work.

Over the coming weeks I’ll be sharing more from the archive, current projects and new work as it develops.

Chris Page

The latest OPENPAGE STUDIO Journal is now live.

When Photographs Need Words

A photograph should be allowed to speak for itself. Yet titles, introductions and notes can sometimes become part of the work, not to explain the photograph, but to release another dimension surrounding it.

This latest Journal considers the relationship between photographs and the words we sometimes choose to place alongside them.

A photograph invites us to look.
A few carefully chosen words may invite us to look again.

When Photographs Need Words | Chris Page When do photographs need words? Chris Page reflects on titles, notes, photographic books and the role of writing in helping viewers look more deeply at an image.