Planet Earth; The Elements by Paul Bride

Trying to explain the concept behind my photography is never as fun as actually pressing the shutter button. Why do I try so hard to create the images I dream about? Why developed a style over the years in an attempt to define how I see the world?

These questions and others I have not yet been able to properly explain in words and it’s pushing twenty years. That being said when I come up with an idea for a shoot I still get that feeling of over whelming excitement I experienced when my career first began and for now that’s good enough motivation.

Working as a professional photographer I’ve been inspired to create images from many walks of life, but when I came up with the idea to photograph the most powerful elements that shape our planet the idea literally woke me in the middle of the night and that was a first. Over several months my idea started to take shape, endless hours of investigation lead me to specific locations, times of year, restrictions, safety and cost. The vision to show four of the strongest elements – water, fire, sand, and ice was born.

Our environment and climate dictate how we adapt, how we grow food and how we live – we are at the mercy of what that element dictates, not only as individuals, but also as communities, and as a global society. I wanted to share with the viewer a look at four of the planets most hostile and powerful natural forces but not in a disheartening way, more like a dream or look but don’t touch feel focusing on the beauty. Choosing individual locations globally provided the opportunity to focus on the strength of each element but that would require a lot of patients for the subjects of fire, and water. You just can’t photograph a massive wave or lava entering the ocean on any given day. Studying storms, weather patterns and geological websites I was able to predict where and when these occurrences might happen then at the right moment drop everything jump on a plane and search out the right location to capture what I had envisioned.

Below is a list of the locations each element was photographed.

-Teahupoo, Tahiti where one of the heaviest waves on the planet crashes;

– Ilulissat, Greenland and the largest icebergs in the Northern Hemisphere;

– Sossusvlei, Namibia, home to the largest sand dunes and oldest desert on record with no sustainable water source for 55 million years;

– Kilauea, Hawaii where the planet’s most active volcano erupts.

Capturing these images took more than two years and is a project I hope has no ending. [Official Website ]