About Colin Gray

Colin Gray. I'm a photographer working in both the arts and commerce. I have worked worldwide for a diverse range of advertising agencies, design consultancies and record companies.

I have won many awards including a Euro Art Directors gold, 2 British Design & Art Direction (D&AD) silvers with nine appearances in the D&AD annual.

THE GALLERIES

Notes on the four galleries: people, still-life, x-rays, and parents below. All images are © Colin Gray 2001

The Parents: Deterioration.

‘Deterioration’ forms, what is perhaps, the final stage of ‘The Parents' series, my 22 year photographic study of my mother and father.

For the last two decades I have photographed my parents, loving, working, homemaking, playing, and now, sadly, deteriorating. The hospital and church visits are becoming more frequent, the ailments more serious, the drugs ever more complex.

The images of my mother are focused on her disability following a stroke. She is either rooted to her chair or bed. Not always aware of the events that go on around her, she makes many demands on my father, who is her carer. The images of my father reflect his new and difficult role and his occasional bouts of freedom.

I have almost reached the age my parents were when I started the project two decades ago. Looking at myself in the mirror I see a reflection of my father’s face. I see the history in my own future. This is a curious and rather frightening experience.

I have let people in to share my family’s quiet agony by documenting things I wish were not happening. Although, painful, the process has also been cathartic.

‘Deterioration’ has engaged many people from a wide range of backgrounds; some have reflected on their own family’s relationships, illnesses and bereavements. Sometimes the work has helped them to grieve for their own loved ones.

This work is, in a sense, a preparation, helping me to face the inevitable deterioration, and the loss I will have to endure. View the Parents gallery.

X- rays

Colin Gray was the first person to use x-rays on both personal & commercial projects in the early 90’s. It has since become a much-used graphic device. Some of images shown here merge ‘real’ photography with x-rays. View the X-Rays gallery

One of the x-ray images is a best seller in the Photonica photo library.

Still life

I have experimented with different forms within still-life. I like to transform an everyday mundane object, using lighting and movement into something more intriguing or special. I used fireworks rotating on a record turntable montage with fairylights to create the Millennium stamp on Michael Faraday for the Royal Mail (the British post office).

Most of the images here have been created using very cheap materials and lighting available from cheap shops. View the Still Life gallery

People

I like to photograph people from all walks of life and rarely use models. I find it the most enjoyable and intense way of working. You not only have to get the best from your subject, but on location you have to exploit the light, weather and patience that time will permit View the People gallery