Elemental notes from a small island by master craftsman

The photographer David Eustace is best known for his studies of the rich and famous — Sting, Paul McCartney, Robbie Coltrane, Ciaran Hinds, Tracey Emin, Peter Blake have come under his scrutiny. His work has graced top-end magazines such as GQ and Vogue. From “humble” beginnings — he was for a time a prison officer at Barlinnie prison — Eustace went on to study photography at Edinburgh Napier University, learning under Robin Gillanders.

Eustace’s approach to portraiture owes something to his mentor’s aesthetic. There is a stillness, a seriousness and a meticulous sense of craft and detail, as well as a great understanding of the way light can be used. Eustace is his own man, though, and has defined his trajectory in terms of subject matter and statement. The title of this suite of 18 works, Mar a Bha — Gaelic for “as it was” — is the result of a long-held ambition to photograph Harris, in the Outer Hebrides. Here Eustace eschews human impact and searches for the primeval, delving deep into the past where the elemental forces and patterns of nature are most prominent. Light is a central concern and he captures this in a spare, almost abstracted aesthetic. The textures in sand, rock, water, and cloud are seen with a rare intensity and sensitivity.

Nothing is too small or too “ordinary”. Eustace is a master craftsman and an accomplished artist. This lends his work great integrity and makes it a pleasure to behold.

Until March 30