CRYSTAL THROUGH THE EYES OF …
ZH Can you tell us a little about your working process ?
MP I don ’ t take thousands of pictures . It ’ s very much about having a relationship with the subject while I ’ m standing in front of it , freezing a moment in time which is never going to be the same again . It ’ s a kind of memento mori , I suppose .
ZH People think of shipyards as stark , gritty places . How did you approach finding beauty in this environment ?
MP It ’ s an old adage , but there ’ s beauty to be found everywhere . You only have to look . Over the past 25 years , I ’ ve done a lot of work in construction sites , including shipyards , and I don ’ t find them stark or gritty at all . I love the contrast between enormous industrial spaces and intimate , tiny corners – between big objects and small ones . I also enjoy the accidental sculptures that are created by the workers , made without any artistic intent but which are often astonishingly beautiful . A good example of this would be the blue canvas that I found tossed over the ship ’ s propeller , which couldn ’ t have been done more aesthetically if they ’ d tried . And the point is , they hadn ’ t tried at all … it was only there to perform a function .
ZH Photography is a powerful medium for storytelling . What stories or messages do you hope Metamorphosis conveys to your audience ?
MP I ’ ve never seen myself as a “ storyteller .” I ’ m more interested in making individual pictures that contain many layers of detail and information to suggest a number of issues . I try to imagine myself as an alien , looking at the pictures for the first time and finding interest in everything equally . In other words , everything within the image is of equal importance , and I ’ m not telling the viewer exactly what to look at .
ZH How did you attempt to capture the scale of Crystal Symphony ?
MP You ’ re very aware of the size of ships when you stand close to them because you rarely see a ship like this out of water . They are enormous ; everything is on a gargantuan scale . Sometimes – often – a photograph struggles to convey scale accurately . So where possible , in Trieste , I used people to give a sense of scale .
ZH Do you still use a large-format film camera , or do you prefer digital media ?
MP I used a large-format film camera ( 5 ” x 4 ” negatives ) for more than 20 years but made the switch to digital in 2013 . I managed to find a digital version of my technical camera , with the same movements I was used to . It meant that I was able to make the same kind of pictures digitally as I used to make on film . This was important to me because I had developed a way of looking , and of making pictures , that I didn ’ t want to lose . All photographers are in search of their individual voice , something that – if you find it – makes your photographs instantly recognizable . I like to think that after all these years , I have managed to find my own voice .
ZH What ’ s your next big project ?
MP I ’ m currently putting together a book that uses pictures from the many , many different industrial / manufacturing sites I ’ ve had the pleasure to photograph over the years . I ’ ve mixed them up , and there are no captions , so we ’ re never sure where we are or what we ’ re looking at . I ’ m trying to make the point that it ’ s possible to make powerful , beautiful , eloquent , and deeply personal work within the corporate sector . I want it to be a celebration of the possibilities to make good work when trust exists between the company and myself . Crystal gave me complete freedom to photograph whatever I wanted on board their ships . I was never told what to do , and I was very grateful for that .
ZH Were you surprised to be invited to photograph a ship mid-restoration ?
MP I was really pleased that I was being encouraged to photograph this process . Normally all you would see is the finished article , in all its glory . But it was recognized that there ’ s a real beauty in this act of change . There ’ s a strange beauty to these images , a kind of splendor to them that harks back , perhaps , to the way travel used to be .
A limited edition of Mark Power ’ s images of Crystal Symphony are available to buy from Magnum Photos , priced at £ 3,000 for a 20 " x 26.5 " image on 24 " × 30.5 " paper ( edition of eight , plus two artist ’ s proofs ), and £ 5,000 for a 32 " x 42.5 " image on 40 " × 50.5 " paper ( edition of four , plus two artist ’ s proofs ). Prints are offered as archival pigment prints , signed by the artist on the verso . Please contact londongallery @ magnumphotos . com for more information .
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