Before the Storm by Tim Hall

Hall has made a fluid shift in transferring his photographic interest from portraiture to focusing on the natural environment. His previous work took a more intimate view on human interaction with the landscape, including projects such as Hong Kong People (1997) and Hanoi People (1998). His work has changed in its desire to simplify this emotion and has taken on a more painterly quality. Strongly influenced by Rothko, Hall’s images of the landscape present to the viewer vast, stretched horizons, filled with colour and atmosphere. In 2009 Hall’s image Mountain Hut was auctioned for £1200 for the charity PhotoVoice, an award winning international charity whose projects empower some of the most disadvantaged groups in the world with photographic skills so that they can transform their lives. Another particularly successful image, Varanasi Rooftops from the Pilgrimage series, was selected from 10,000 entries for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (2009), and chosen to be included in the BRIC auction – a major auction involving the emerging contemporary art practices within Brazil, Russia, India and China – at the Saatchi Gallery in London in April 2010.