The photographs in NextNature are inextricably linked to the plants and forests from which they came. Clarity of visual representation is a key concern in emphasizing the primary physical reality, the 'such-ness' of these materials, which exist long before we come to see them as beautiful or valuable.

My work is about looking at nature, and letting it drive our creative impulse. In these large-scale works I am able to present these materials life size, in a format that begins to reference the magnitude of the forest floor. NextNature has, however, left the forest in order to explore the forces of nature: the pushing, the attracting, the falling. NextNature is working with both the order and the chaos that ripple through existence.

The works of NextNature are composed on a large lightbox on the floor of the studio and then photographed straight down using a high resolution scanning back in the place of film. Between the scanning process and the digital printing process, photography is making a leap in its ability to show detail at large scale. It allows me to make images that are less metaphorical in their representation and more direct. This clearer representation supports a sense of 'matter-of-fact-ness' in the work.

The materials used in NextNature have been re-moved: from the forest floor to an even vaster space that is virtual, the space of the imagination. It seems that the imagination is always the place of "seeing" the landscape, an issue often forgotten by photographers and their audience. Using these incredibly fine imaging technologies, I am able to work with an astonishing visual clarity at the same time as working fully in the imaginative space.