This page is flash content for search engines only!
Please click here to enter main site
site by Bite Digital
Number of clientss: 2
Sea Change
The photographs in 'Sea Change' are intended to show a natural process in action, landscape in motion. The tide comes and goes twice a day but even when one spends a whole day by the sea it's easy to miss how dramatic tidal change can be. The camera that remains through ebb and flood is a privileged observer, making visible the twice daily transformation of our coastline, challenging us to comprehend simultan- eously two moments in time, two states of nature. Tides are one of our planet's great natural rhythms. Pulled by the moon's gravity, huge volumes of water oscillate gently in sea and ocean basins, and pile up in channels, bays, and estuaries. Each successive tide varies in height and timing. Higher 'spring' tides occur every two weeks, at new and full moon, very high spring tides around the spring and autumn equinoxes. Natural processes have lit, watered, and shaped the world since time immemorial. Paying attention to their rhythms and effects may help us to reconnect to the fundamentals of the planet, which we ignore at our
peril. I hope these photographs will stimulate people's awareness of change, of landscape as dynamic process rather than static image. The photographs also comment on the predicted rise in sea levels due to global warming. The flood tide covers the tidelands and immediately recedes; rising sea levels will flood our shores and not recede for thousands or millions of years. Many of the views in these pictures may have disappeared in 100 years' time. Technical information The photographs were taken on colour negative film with a 5x4 camera. The tidal pairs and sequences were usually taken on the same day, some on consecutive days. The time between high and low water averages 6 hours 20 minutes, but in many places the tide remains almost unchanged at flood or ebb for up to an hour. This means that high water/low water pairs do not need to be taken exactly 6 hours 20 minutes apart. Most of the pictures were taken at high spring tides: it is on these occasions, when the water recedes furthest at ebb and rises highest at flood, that tidal change appears at its most dramatic. All photographs copyright Michael Marten.Ansty Down
Ansty Down is part of a long rounded ridge of chalk that reaches 14 miles from the outskirts of Salisbury to near the village of Donhead St Andrew. The track that runs along the top is an ancient way used since Neolithic times. In the 18th-19th centuries it was a coach road from Salisbury to Shaftesbury. Today it is used by ramblers and riders, dirt bikers and 4-wheel drive enthusiasts. Some years one or two Romany caravans have wintered there. Other times one might find a dumped mattress or armchair, a burnt-out car. The walk up to and along Ansty Down became familiar to me over many years. Particular views, trees, geometries came to stand out. I found a deep joy in returning again and again to the same places, observing them in different lights, the tangles of nature, the cycle of seasons, the variations of daytime and weather. The five walks that form this project were taken between December 2003 and October 2004. The photographs were made in the course of a single walk or two walks on consecutive days. All photographs copyright Michael Marten.
Number of profiles: 1
Born in London, Michael Marten started taking photographs as a teenager and has been involved with photography ever since. His first job was caption writer at the Camera Press photo agency. In 1973 he was one of a group who published 'An Index of Possibilities', an alternative encyclopedia of ideas. In 1979 he started Science Photo Library, a stock library specialising in science and medicine. He has been picture editor and co-author of several books of scientific imagery, including 'Worlds Within Worlds' (1978), 'The New Astronomy' (1983), 'Microcosmos' (1987), 'The Particle Odyssey' (2002). Since 2003 he has concentrated on landscape photography. His first series was 'Five Walks on Ansty Down' (2004). He has been working on 'Sea Change', his study of tides, since 2003. Exhibitions: 2009 Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, Oregon 2009 Grazia Neri Gallery, Milan 2009 Ringe Bibliotek, Ringe - part of Fototriennale.dk festival, Denmark All photographs copyright Michael Marten.
+44 (0)20 7243 3070Number of Titles: 8
Series I
Series II
Recent work
February
May
August
October
December
Number of Captions: 87
Barrow-in-Furness. High water 10.10am, low water 4.10pm, 16 April 2004.
The 'shore goats', Berwickshire. Low water 9.30am, 11.35am, 1.10pm, high water 3.05pm, 27 September 2003.
Harbour, Berwickshire. Low water 11am, high water 6pm, 22 August 2005.
Solway Firth. Low water 5.20pm, high water 12 noon, 27 and 28 March 2006.
Lynmouth, Devon. Low water 12.45pm, high water 7.30pm, 17 September 2005.
Tollesbury, Essex. Low water 8.30am, high water 3pm, 23 March 2007.
Brancaster Staithe, Norfolk. Low water 3pm, high water 7.30am, 8 and 9 October 2006.
Brancaster Staithe, Norfolk. Low water 1.15pm, high water 6.20pm, 10 March 2005.
Fawley power station, Hampshire. High water 12.30pm, low water 7.30am, 20 and 21 February 2007.
Watchet harbour, Somerset. High water 9.30am, low water 3.45pm, 8 March 2007.
Porthcawl, Glamorgan. Low water 12 noon, high water 8pm, 17 May 2007.
Cullen, Moray Firth. Low water 6.40pm, high water 2pm, 29 and 30 March 2006.
The Fleet, Dorset. Low water 12.30pm, high water 9.30am, 18 and 19 February 2007.
Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk. Low water 3pm, high water 8.40am, 9 and 10 September 2006.
North Berwick, East Lothian. Low water 11.15am, high water 3.40pm, 20 August 2005.
North Berwick, East Lothian. Low water 10.45am, 2.20pm, high water 4.20pm, 20 August 2005.
Burgh Island, Devon. High water 7am, 9.30am, 11am, low water 1.45pm, 29 April 2006.
Castle Stalker, Argyll. Low water 3.30pm, high water 7am, 19 and 20 April 2007.
Cuckmere Haven, Sussex. Low water 9.15am, high water 2.50pm, 12 August 2006.
Wivenhoe, Essex. High water 4.15pm, low water 9.30am, 22 and 23 March 2007.
River Avon, Bristol. High water 10.20am, low water 2.50pm, 11 February 2005.
Water of Fleet, Galloway. Low water 8.10am, high water 1pm, low water 4.10pm, 2 April 2007.
Southampton Water, Hampshire. High water 1.30pm, low water 8.15am, 20 and 21 February 2007.
Brancaster Staithe, Norfolk. High water 7.50am, low water 2.10pm, high water 8pm, 8 October 2006.
Perranporth, Cornwall. High water 6pm, low water 11.20am, 28 and 29 August 2007.
Perranporth, Cornwall. Low water 12 noon, high water 8pm, 29 and 30 August 2007.
Eastney, Hampshire. Low water 4pm, high water 11.45am, 25 and 26 October 2007.
Gillingham, Kent. Low water 10am, high water 2.50pm, 23 February 2008.
Crosby, Liverpool. High water 12 noon, low water 9am, 5 and 7 April 2008.
Flamborough, Yorkshire. High water 5pm, low water 11.45am, 27 and 28 September 2007.
Bedruthan Steps, Cornwall. High water 4.30pm, low water 2pm, 25 and 31 August 2007.
Eastney, Hampshire. High water 12.30pm, low water 5.30pm, 26 October 2007.
Severn Bridge, Monmouthshire. Low water 2.30pm, high water 8.20am, 8 and 9 March 2008.
Grain, Kent. Low water 5pm, high water 1pm, 20 and 21 February 2008.
Medway estuary, Kent. Low water 8.10am, high water 1.30pm, 23 February 2008.
Grain, Kent. Low water 8.10am, high water 2.20pm, 21 February 2008.