smoke vortices are elegant things.
born from a moving column of smoky air travelling through a body of clean still air, their movement creates friction, slowing the outer edges, which are then caught behind and swept back up through the centre, to roll out again – layers and layers made of one long stretched out and folded spinning surface – the revolving torus of a smoke ring. for their relatively short life they create their own beautiful order, using the friction that they encounter to give rise to their evocative forms.
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the study of their forms is part of a larger research which explores our mind’s need for borders, structure, and individual identities. at these frictional edges where our perceptions and reality meet, complex patterns and behaviours emerge…
these vortices are created with solenoid operated smoke pumps, and filmed with 16mm slow-motion movie cameras, exposed with point-source flashes over light-sensitive emulsion to create shadow photogrammes, shot through with lasers to record density records in sound, photographed in macro stereo pairs, modelled in tissue papier-maché, and collided together head-on to better understand the geometry of forces within them. through careful observation, the reading of relevant scientific texts, a gentle kind of poetic pondering, and a wide range of documentary methods, a complex layered perspective of their nature begins to emerge…
below are some images, captured in analogue film, from 35mm to 16×20″ ultra large format, in negatives and direct positives, bleach reversals, shadow photogrammes, streak photography, stereoscopic pairs, laser-plane cross-sections, polaroids, darkroom prints and even plain digital photos.
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