Chris Friel (born 1959) is a British photographer noted for his
abstract landscape
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...
images.
Photography
Friel was a painter for many years before turning to photography in 2006, since when he has not painted. This change in medium coincided with his leaving London to live on a beach in
Whitstable
Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent, England, at the convergence of the The Swale, Swale and the Greater Thames Estuary, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay, Kent, Herne Bay.
The town, formerly known as Whitstable-on-Se ...
, Kent.
He has talked about the importance of the Kent countryside and coast to his work.
His early photographic work was shot in black and white. The reason he has given for this is that he is partially colour blind and "did not feel confident enough to shoot landscapes with the correct colour balance".
However, since 2009 most of his prolific output has been in colour. He is quoted as saying that he usually shoots 1000 images a day.
[Tom Sutherland, "Chris Friel interview"]
interview page
Frontview Gallery. Accessed 25 July 2011. He has cited his early influences as the Russian photographer
Alexey Titarenko
Alexey (Aleksey, Alexis, Alexei) Viktorovich Titarenko (born November 25, 1962; ) is a Soviet Union-born American photographer and artist. He lives and works in New York City.Robertson, Rebecca "Bringing Shadows to Life. Alexey Titarenko" '' Art ...
, the Canadian impressionist landscape photographer
Frank Grisdale and the British painter
Kurt Jackson; and other influences as
James Wainwright,
Peter Scammell,
Toshihiro Oshima, and
Luis Montemeyer;
while Tim Parkin has noted the influence of
Fay Godwin
Fay Godwin (17 February 1931 – 27 May 2005) was a British photographer known for her black-and-white landscapes of the British countryside and coast.
Career
Godwin was introduced to the London literary scene.[Bill Brandt
Bill Brandt (born Hermann Wilhelm Brandt ; 2 May 1904 – 20 December 1983)Paul DelanyBill Brandt: A Life was a British photographer and photojournalism, photojournalist. Born in Germany, Brandt moved to England, where he became known for his ...]
and
Harry Callahan.
All of his photographs are produced using digital cameras and a combination of
tilt-shift lenses,
long exposure photography and
intentional camera movement – the movement of the camera over the course of the exposure.
He has said "My aversion to sitting in front of computers means that I do minimal post production on images".
His photographs have been exhibited widely including at the
South Bank Centre
Southbank Centre is an arts centre in London, England. It is adjacent to the separately owned National Theatre and BFI Southbank.
It comprises the three main performance spaces – the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Purcell Ro ...
London, on the
Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...
subway in
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
, and projected behind the
London Sinfonietta
The London Sinfonietta is an English contemporary chamber music, chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London.
The ensemble has headquarters at Kings Place and is Resident Orchestra at the Southbank Centre. Since its inaugural concert ...
in the
Royal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a G ...
, and Mikhail Palinchak has described him as "one of the finest contemporary landscape photographers in the uk today".
He was shortlisted for ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
Landscape Photographer of the Year for the last four years, and won a judge's choice award in 2011.
In 2011 Friel published ''Moving Pictures'', a collection of 80 of his abstract colour landscape photos with an essay by the Canadian art critic Ann Marie Simard.
2011 also saw Friel collaborating with
Matthew Herbert
Matthew Herbert (born in 1972), also known as Herbert, Doctor Rockit, Radio Boy, Mr. Vertigo, Transformer, Wishmountain, and DJ Empty, is a British electronic musician. He often takes sounds from everyday items to produce electronic music.
...
on the artwork for his album ''one pig''.
In 2015 published a collection of his images in a book entitled 'Framed' published by Triplekite Books with a foreword by
Doug Chinnery
Publications
Photographs by Friel appear within:
* Various contributors. ''Landscape Photographer of the Year.'' Collection 2. AA Publishing 2008. .
* Various contributors. ''Street Portrait Classics.'' Editor Zac Jenkins 2008. Blurb.com.
* Various contributors. ''Citypulse Citizen Collection.'' Citypulse Publishing Santiago Chile 2009. Blurb.com.
* Various contributors. ''Landscape Photographer of the Year'' Collection 3. AA Publishing 2009. .
* Chris Friel. ''Postcards From Kent.'' 2009. Blurb.com.
* Various contributors. ''Citypulse Biosphere Collection.'' Citypulse Publishing, Santiago, Chile, 2010. Blurb.com.
* Various contributors. ''Por Chile.'' Citypulse Publishing Santiago, Chile, 2010. Lulu.com.
* Various contributors. ''Landscape Photographer of the Year.'' Collection 4. AA Publishing 2010. .
* Chris Friel. ''Long Exposure.'' Frontview Gallery Catalogue, 2010. Blurb.com.
* Chris Friel. ''Moving Pictures.'' Citypulse Inbook Publishers, 2011. Blurb.com.
* Various contributors. ''Landscape Photographer of the Year.'' Collection 5. AA Publishing 2011. .
* Chris Friel. "Framed." Triplekite Publishing, 2015.
* Laure Morali and Chris Friel. "Le Cercle du rivage". Editions publie, 2015. .
* Chris Friel. "Anecdotes". JW Editions 2021. .
* Chris Friel. "Hypergraphia". JW Editions 2022. .
References
External links
Website
ArchiveGallerySelected interviewsInterview with Great British Landscapes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friel, Chris
1959 births
Living people
Photographers from Kent
British landscape photographers
British nature photographers
British abstract artists
Abstract photographers