The idea of Evviva Art was conceived by my late wife Wendy in 2013 following the closure of Evviva Consulting, a business consultancy. It was to be a gallery and exhibition space for art and photography. Wendy died in 2014 and so I finally brought it to fruition in 2017 for the publication of a limited edition book of paintings and drawings by her as a permanent memorial ( Wendy Wyatt Drawings & Paintings: A Retrospective ISBN 978-0-9957750-0-8 Evviva Art 2017 ). In 2020 I was keen to support the local community during the Covid pandemic and it became a gallery and exhibition space for local projects until the end of 2021. In 2022 Evviva Art has now became a gallery and exhibition space for my film photography.

I have been around a long time and so I have always been a film photographer. I had a love/hate relationship with digital cameras during the 2000s but have now returned full time to using film to capture images. Using film cameras and the development of film is a very contemplative and tactile process involving the creation of a physical object. But compared to digital capture it is slow and requires us to discover the delights of delayed gratification not immediately knowing whether we have captured that perfect image or not. It is not better or worse than digital capture....just different. Only film looks like film.

I have always been seduced by the luscious, vibrant colours of transparency film but of late I am learning to see in black and white, creating images across a variety of genres and experimenting with different films and developing processes. I develop my own black and white films using the Ars-Imago Development Tank ( See Review ) which can be loaded in daylight. Colour negative films ( C41 Process ) and Transparency films ( E6 Process ) are more challenging and it is easier at present to use a lab for development. But I run a hybrid process where negatives/positives are wet scanned to digital images using the VP750 Pro flat bed scanner with a fluid mount platten and driven by Viewscan. I use the GIMP open source image processor but I like to get the image right 'in camera' and to do as little post processing as possible.

In many walks of life today I see a constant striving in the search for novelty. A way to be different and attract attention. We are built to thrive on novelty which in the past had great survival value. But I think it is a bit sad in a way because more often than not novelty is quickly discarded in the search for more and photography is no exception. In my photography I hope to stay alive to the power of novelty but strive to create images that people want to return to time and again.

Please note that all images on this site are copyrighted and are scanned from original film negatives or positives. If you have any comments about the content of this site or any problem accessing the site please email art@evviva.co.uk