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Borrowed Light

A Portfolio of 22 Digital Photographs

Borrowed Light is a series of abstract photographic compositions that can also be read, in varying degrees, as representational images. They were created entirely in-camera, without staging, cropping or retouching. Some make use of movement; others are a hundred percent documentary. All are presented as taken, in colour, on a hand-held, entry-level, digital camera with a standard 18-55mm lens.

The patterns and effects featured in the compositions were all ‘found’ in-situ in my flat over the course of 2015. They were generated by light ‘borrowed’ from street lamps, adjacent rooms and electric appliances, as well as by natural daylight. No additional lighting was used.

The compositions are generally reproduced as high-quality, framed, digital pigment prints on a heavy, uncoated art paper, at sizes up to one metre in length. This gives them a strong physical presence, that plays an important part in the way they’re seen as finished objects.

Borrowed Light 1

Street light in a gap between two curtains
3 February 2015
Digital Photograph, 6,016px x 4,000px
© Adam Piggot

Borrowed Light 2

Fire surround
6 February 2015
Digital Photograph, 6,016px x 4,000px
© Adam Piggot

Borrowed Light 3

Shadows around stereo speakers
6 February 2015
Digital Photograph, 6,016px x 4,000px
© Adam Piggot

Borrowed Light 8

Lights of distant flats through venetian blinds and a frosted glass window
6 February 2015
Digital Photograph, 4,000px X 6,016px
© Adam Piggot

Borrowed Light 9

Ceiling, cornice and wall through a transom window
7 February 2015
Digital Photograph, 4,000px X 6,016px
© Adam Piggot

Borrowed Light 10

Light through a hinge
7 February 2015
Digital Photograph, 6,016px x 4,000px
© Adam Piggot

Borrowed Light 21

Light through a hinge
12 November 2015
Digital Photograph, 6,016px x 4,000px
© Adam Piggot

Borrowed Light 22

Light at the edges of a pair of curtains (reflected in the glass of a framed print)
22 December 2015
Digital Photograph, 4,000px X 6,016px
© Adam Piggot