Lee Baxter photographs landscapes and people.
The sense of the remote permeates his urban panoramas, which are amplified by huge expanses of sky that overwhelm the compositions. His portraits are conversely intimate, connecting with his subjects directly through their gaze into his lens. Sometimes these two worlds collide when Baxter shoots his subjects in barren wildernesses. But it’s not the coming together of people within the landscapes which gives these images cohesion … It’s negative space.
Baxter creates both solitude and intimacy through his use of negative space. In his landscapes, the negative space is formed out of the vast skies that bear down mercilessly on his buildings and horizons. In his portraiture, he uses the negative space to isolate and frame his subjects; this isolation creates a sense of a tryst like intimacy. Even when he’s not engaging with his models directly through their eyes, he uses negative space to push the viewer into the place inhabited by his subject, often (but not always) forcing this connection through extreme close-up. These moments feel extremely intimate despite their anonymity.
‘Eyes & Skies’ is an exploration of these core themes.
You can read an interview with Lee Baxter here. And you can see more of Lee Baxter’s work by following this link to his website.