Hiroshi Sugimoto

 Sea of Japan, 1997.

Baltic Sea, near Rügen, 1996. 

North Atlantic Ocean, Cape Breton, 1996.

Seascapes series.

Water and air. So very commonplace are these substances, they hardly attract attention - and yet they vouchsafe our very existence. 
The beginnings of life are shrouded in myth: Let there water and air. Living phenomena spontaneously generated from what and air in the presence of light, though that could just as easily suggest random coincidence as a Deity. Let's just say that there happened to be a planet with water and air in our solar system, and moreover at precisely the right distance from the sun for the temperatures required to coax forth life. While hardly inconceivable that at least one such planet should exist in the vast reaches of universe, we search in vain for similar example.
Mystery of mysteries, water and air are right there before us in the sea. Every time I view the sea, I feel a calming sense of security, as if visiting my ancestral home; I embark on a voyage of seeing. - Hiroshi Sugimoto

Hiroshi's seascapes series, looks at landscapes of the sea, he photographed during day, night and fog. Though man travels through sea there is not trace of mans activity or presence, it stays unaltered and has done for thousands of years. Though there isn't much going on in the images they are appealing to the eye, with the calming feel that they give off. It's interesting to look at as the sea is one large mass of water covering a high percentage of Earth different areas vary from each other, from the salt content in the area to the colour from the current flow mixing with the sand and stones, how they crash down. Here Hiroshi has captured the sea in a calm, wave free state in different parts of the world, however the light is varies in each along with the texture to the piece. They all look out to the horizon, where sea meets sky, in some of the images there are defining lines where you can clearly see the transition from one to the other however some; being the more foggy scened images the sky blends into the sea on the horizon line, making it more faint to see where exactly the horizon point is. The concept behind this series causes you to think about the images as more than just the visual before you, how we don't pay attention to what we have and how this; water and air reside so intently in these scenes before us in the photographs taken and how we can so easily disregard the planet we have, and the life that it gives us. Once past coastlines, in the wide cast of sea all around there is a sense of mystery to where you are, without looking at the titles of the pieces telling you where they are taken there is no indication from the images themselves with where they are taken from, though similar the sea as a whole generally looks the same, just going through different phases of the day which effect the way that it is seen, how it can rest calmly inducing you into its sea of calm aura that drifts from it, filling your being with this feeling/state of calm.



sources:
images - http://c4gallery.com/artist/database/hiroshi-sugimoto/seascapes/hiroshi-sugimoto-seascapes.html
quote - http://www.sugimotohiroshi.com/seascape.html