Various images by Michael Collins

Statement: These photographs are made according to the principles of record pictures. Originally developed in the mid-nineteenth century, this highly detailed, matter-of-fact photography was commissioned by government and industry for authoritative documentary purposes. Drawing on the fundamental property of photography to depict realistically with great precision, emphasis is placed on description rather than interpretation to produce a photograph that is “faithful to the subject”.

Michael Collins admires the calm, unembellished aesthetic characteristic of record picture photography because it allows him to make pictures without a didactic or subjective emphasis. There is great freedom in a picture, particulary a photograph, which does not expose the artist’s motivations or autobiographical engagement within it – both for the artist and the viewer.