Ghosts in the machine.  Machines as well as places can have ghosts

Beyond the threshold of a window pane, a garage door, a warehouse ramp, a pile of sand or a ploughed field lies a thing, something spiritual, which has been touched by human hand, with meaning and intent - with desire

Even the deadest scene can disclose its secret poetry, its passion.  It can come alive with light and dark, with shadows and reflections, with colour. It can dance or, for a moment, it can stand completely still

The mundane, the positioning of the ordinary with the extraordinary, the mix of the humdrum in the regular rhythms of city life – they compose something which can at once surprise the viewer and remind you of what you've always known – that beauty is not only possible but exists out there every second of the day, if only we could capture it.  I have tried to give you just a fragment

Every landscape is a state of mind.  And every state of mind can be transformational.  Empty spaces, and the spaces between things, can live, even for just a moment.  They can acquire a life of their own, a spirit.  Once taken out context by the edges of the frame, they lose their functional role, but gain intent

Without function, we can interpret things freely; we can attribute to them meaning that we - and they - didn’t know they had.  I try to collect some of that meaning

Emotion recollected in tranquillity.  I am interested in symmetry.  It is around us every minute of the day but often goes missed. The equilibrium of perspective has a persistent, magical quality.  It eases us into a new way of seeing, not imaginary but very real. It is there, calmly, side by side, insistent, waiting to be discovered

I believe that the picture you take is the picture you get – no messing around, no cutting or cropping – you have to see, and capture the moment – that is your result, the essence of photography

Light has to be captured sympathetically, with its curves, highs and lows.  With a camera, everything is a reflection – I have to catch that reflection as completely and as humanely as is possible

Every frame is an instantaneous take on the entirety of our vision, but I have willed it, made it stand out from the crowd, distinct by parallax and by time from all the other possible images, to stand as a unique glimpse, an epiphany

These images are made from a mix of digital and analogue originals.  Mostly I prefer film, I find it more grounded, more sympathetic, more human; it retains its magic

Andy Preston

London 2009