Introduction
My name is Michael Taylor. I am a full time photographer based in the UK for over 30 years.
I was born in 1963 near the North Coast of Ireland.
My Beginnings
My initial explorations in photography where using film in ‘box’ cameras. In 1978 at 15 years old, my parents bought me a Praktica camera: I shot a roll of 35mm film and was hooked for life! A few years later I made a small darkroom in the loft of my parents’ home and loved watching the magic of black-and-white images emerge before my eyes. This experience will never leave me. I still have a fully equipped darkroom.
Throughout my Science degrees at university I photographed mainly abstract images during the Summer.
I left a career in science and attended Art College to MA level then immediately started my professional practice. Photography was thus always part of my life and will always be of primary importance.
Projects
LUMEN is a project I began in 2011. Light is the subject.
My fine art photography began several decades ago, with black and white (especially infrared imaging) being the primary focus.
LUMEN Project
“Photography is light architecture”
- Moholy-Nagy, “Fotografie ist Lichtgestaltung”, Bauhaus, 2/1, 1928, p.1.
“Light is beautiful in itself, for its nature is simple and all of it is there at once. Wherefore it is integrated in the highest degree and most harmoniously proportioned and equal to itself, for beauty is a harmony of proportions.”
- Grosseteste (From: Eco, Umberto. The Aesthetics Of Thomas Aquinas. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 1988, p.109).
There were several reasons I approached light as a subject.
Light is foundational to the universe; it was present right at the beginning of everything. It is also the basis of all photography.
By default I am always exploring a paradox within light: the wave-particle duality. Light by nature has properties of both a wave and a particle. These seemingly conflicting attributes are unified within light.
Photography has been traditionally classified according to the subject (e.g., landscape, portraits, etc). I have adopted an abstract approach to the medium in which light itself is the main subject.
My Creative Methods
I think, read, look, sketch and refine, all before I lift a camera. I reject most of my ideas— six files usually become one! Art is research based —even the apparently spontaneous process itself is research. Reality is multi-layered. The act of not revealing leads to mystery: this causes each viewer to think differently. I love seeing closer or further than normal. Both staged and found light patterns are equally important to me. Staged studio constructions create unexpected surprises. After all the planning these unpredicted moments where light reveals itself are gifts of grace.
The control-spontaneity paradox is essential to all art making. All research is only the starting point – ultimately I remain open to what light itself reveals.
Education
MA Fine Art : University of Ulster, Belfast, 1990-1991.
BA Design (1st. Class Hons.) : University of Ulster, Belfast, 1987-1990.
MSc Computer Science : Queen's University, Belfast, 1986-1987.
BSc Zoology : Queen's University, Belfast, 1981-1985.
Exhibitions
Helios
Signs of Life. A poetry/art exhibition.
St Andrew's & St George's West, George Street, Edinburgh. April 2018.
Luminescence 62
125LIVE. A Unique Celebration Of Contemporary Photography.
Dray Walk Gallery, London. October 2015.
Fine Art Photography
F295 Salon Exhibition, Pittsburgh PA, USA. 2015.
Helios
Talenthouse, West Hollywood, California, USA. 2015.
Wave
ART14, London. March 2014.
Wave
Art13, London. March 2013.
Luminescence & Light Trace
Titanic Quarter (Pump House), Belfast. Multiple projections.
29th September 2012.
Luminescence
Eleven40 Gallery, Malvern, Melbourne, Australia. 2011.
Luminescence
Four Floors, MadArt Gallery, Dublin (Photo Ireland Festival).
July 2011.
Kinesis
Odyssey Pavilion, Belfast. 2006.
Images Of Dance
Three floors of the Waterfront Hall, Belfast. March/April 1998.
Ignition
IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art), Dublin. September 1991.
Slaughterhouse Gallery, Clerkenwell, London. October 1991.
Collections
DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art
11 Filellinon & Em. Pappa St.
Nea Ionia 142 34
Athens
Greece
Nachson Mimran
Alpina Hotel
Gtsaad
Switzerland
Anita Choudhrie
St. Moritz
Publications
Publications: Main Editorial
Dark Beauty (USA). May 2019. [Light Trace].
Dark Beauty (USA). January 2018, pp.74-85. Shutter [LightPath].
Courier International (Paris). January 2018. [LightPath].
Fubiz (Paris). November 2017.
Ethereal and Magical Images Combining Fashion and Light. [Light Trace]
Creative Boom (UK). November 2017.
LightPath: Photographer snaps people in LED light suits at night and the results are amazing.
Creators Project (Vice, USA). July 2017.
Ethereal Light Paintings Illuminate Europe's Most Dramatic Natural Sites.
Musetouch (Ljubljana, Slovenia), Issue 27, September 2013, pp. 248-274.
Michael Taylor: The Light.
Fault (London), April 2013
INFRA.
Fault (London). January 2013.
The Light Fantastic.
ND Magazine (UK). November 2013. Lumen (B&W).
Feature Shoot (New York). October 2012.
Kaltblut (Berlin). October 2012.
Michael Taylor: Let Light Reveal Itself!
Slanted (Germany), Spring 2012 portfolio.
Lumen.
Silvershotz Vol 8 Edition 2, February 2012.
Michael Taylor: Lumen.
(Front cover and 13-page editorial featuring Luminescence and Light Trace ).
Creative Review (UK), April 2011.
One full page image from Luminescence.
Creative Review (UK), Summer 2011.
Luminescence - selected images featured in the CR iPad application.
Publications: Editorial
PhotoKlassik International. No.1, 2018, pp.108-112.
Michael Taylor, Ireland: Infra.
iMirage. November 2017, pp.20-27.
Light Painting.
ArteVue. August 2017.
Featured Artist. LightTrace.
Solis. July 2017.
Lightpath by Michael Taylor.
CODAmagazine, October 2015 (Technology + Art Issue), Front cover and feature.
Light Trace.
Image In Progress, Vol 7, Winter 2015.
Normal (Paris), No.5 (Incarnato), March 2015, p.254.
Helios 458.
B Beyond (London), No.2, Summer 2014 (Front Cover and 5 page feature).
QUANTA.
B Beyond (London), No3, Winter 2014 (Rear Cover).
Wave 33.
160g Magazine (Paris), Spring/Summer 2014, pp. 12 & 13.
Chemical of Love: Quanta.
Juliet Art Magazine, 17th July 2014.
Elegant Magazine (Seattle), May 2014, pp. 6-11.
QUANTA.
Editora Photos (Brasil), May 2014.
Ideias luminosas.
The Opéra, Volume 2, pp.74-81.
Wave.
Berlin: Kerber Verlag, October 2013.
The Art Collector (London). October, 2012.
Featured Artists: Michael Taylor (Luminescence & Refraction).
B Beyond (London), Summer 2012, pp.84-92.
Refraction : Photography By Michael Taylor.
A Magazine (Amsterdam), Issue 13, Autumn 2012.
Power To The People.
Hyland Magazine (New York). September 2011.
Luminescence: selected images published by Christopher Hyland published.
Publications: Books
Robert Hirsch and Greg Erf. (2018). Light And Lens: Photography In The Digital Age. 3rd. Ed. Routledge: New York and London.
[Helios 331, p.123; Luminescence 71, p.216].
Robert Hirsch (2012), Light and Lens: Photography in the Digital Age (2nd Ed.), Focal Press, p.216.
125 Annual (London). 2015/16 Edition. Luminescence 62.
Eve Lemonidou, International Contemporary Artists, Volume lV, 2012.
Francesco Murano. Light Works: Experimental Light Art 2011.
Maggioli (Italy), June 2012.