As a photographer, I draw inspiration from the island of Jersey on which I live: its sometime soft and delicate, sometime harsh and rugged coastline, its traditional and contemporary architecture, its abundant flora and the individual characters of the locals.
Often, I interpret my subjects in a way that renders them almost abstract by focusing on details and minutiae which may otherwise pass unnoticed. The results are images that become visual riddles which entice the viewer to explore and interpret them, while at the same time maintaining an aesthetic quality which can be appreciated in its own right.
Conversely, many of my photographs pull back to capture the wider picture: from expansive seascapes to distant portraits and character observations, these images seek to offer an overall view. Minimalist and sometimes stark, these photographs are often more Spartan than my abstract work through their focusing on detail contextualised within a vast setting.
The images featured here, a selection from my recent exhibition Water’s Edge, fall into the latter category. All the photographs were taken on St. Brelade’s Bay where I have lived for thirty years. I have attempted to capture the Bay in its moodiness, in its tranquility, in the vitality of both its daily human activity and natural animation; in short, the Bay as I have known it to be for all these years. From a close-up of a wave that dances on the point of breaking to a lone rambler who finds herself on the edge of a sweeping panorama, these images try to convey the intimacy, the life, the beauty of St. Brelade’s Bay. [Official Website]
Gina Socrates has had two solo exhibitions. A number of her images have been selected for national and international exhibitions. Her ‘Water’s Edge’ series was included in the Silvershotz Folios 2010. She is an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society.
