PHOTOGRAPHER Michael Carter’s latest exhibition ‘Distant People and Abstract Forms’ is a contrast to his previous two shows which were based on the nearness of things.

The Staverton-based photographer’s most recent exhibitions at the Ariel Centre Gallery in Totnes were ‘A Closer Look’ and ‘Within a Few Miles,’ the latter of which was the result of the Covid pandemic.

Michael said: “Last year’s work was the result of our all being confined to a few miles from home because of Covid. But the legacy of those times is that the injunction to keep your distance became a concept of interest. Well, it did for me. The idea that close people were bad and distant ones good was a reversal of common understanding.”

His new exhibition is being held at The Ariel Centre Gallery at King Edward VI Community College until Thursday December 15. Entry is free and opening hours will be from 9.30am to 4pm Monday to Friday and from 9.30am to 12.30pm on Saturdays.

Michael divides his photography into two contrasting themes in different formats.The Distant People theme is in black-and-white in the classical landscape style, and processed in a light golden tone presented in silver frames.

Distant people are shown on beaches, cliffs, piers, bridges, ships and tors, and people on bicycles are seen on moors and riversides. Some are menacing, some appear to be acting strangely and others seem to be engaged in doing things the context doesn’t explain.

Michael explained: “Distant people often seem like a different species. How slow and tiny they are in their huge world.

“Sometimes it’s as if they’re lost, with little hope of finding their way. But these crawling miniatures are also how we all look from afar. We too are those distant people.”

Michael’s Abstract Forms theme is an abrupt contrast. Here, all the photographs are in colour, and most of them are presented in the diptych and triptych form in black or white frames.

The diptychs and triptychs are drawn from similar sites and concentrate on varieties of disused manufactured materials that have been transformed by exposure to weather and time.