Oxmarket are delighted to welcome Stephen Bushnell to Oxmarket for a 2 week exhibition. Stephen was born & grew up in London and worked for Local Government until moving to West Sussex in 1997.
Stephen has always owned a camera and was excited to make the move from 35mm film to his first digital camera in 2004.
Having completed my photography course in 2016 Stephen decided to work towards making photography a key part of his life. In 2019 he started work on his first major photography project, which as a priority in his life, shaped what has now become his Alphabet Collections.
The work he has produced on this, his inaugural project, was intended to explore as many different ideas and genre as possible and by using the alphabet, he has been able to focus on 26 different themes.
The main focus of his work is around trying to be creative in what he sees and captures with his camera, although that is only part of the process. Having a creative idea upfront will sometimes drive the places and subjects that he chooses to go to and photograph but there are also times when the creative idea comes after a photo shoot, when Stephen is looking at the images he has captured.
A key driver for Stephen has been to try and produce a collection of works that offers something a little bit different.
The majority of his work is printed using a range of different types of Giclee archival grade, acid free paper at 230gsm or 320gsm. A small number of Gloss prints are offered printed on Fuji Crystal Archive paper and all prints measure 15 X 10 inches with a surrounding white mount. In some cases canvas prints are available printed on a premium quality 420g polycotton canvas, coated with a UV protection varnish.
At the very least, Stephen hopes visitors to his exhibition will leave knowing that they have seen something a bit different, not just a collection of printed photographs but also a number of creative ideas or a group of photographs that seen together, tell a story. He hopes it might influence some visitors to pause and think more about pictures they may take in the future or perhaps research some of the subject areas, places or charities that he has presented to them through his work.
Finally, Stephen would encourage visitors to look for pictures (single or collectively) that might provoke memories or their imagination, to perhaps think beyond the image they see. He has taken many photographs as part of this project without fully understanding the true history or background behind them, only to be uplifted when through research, he has fully appreciated the true meaning of a place, subject or sculpture afterwards.
