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202 Richard Learoyd is one of the most influential and innovative photographers working today. Famous for using a room-sized camera obscura to make his images, Learoyd's technique results in unique prints that are outstanding in their detail and ambition. Learoyd was born in Lancashire, England, in 1966 and studied Fine Art Photography at Glasgow School of Art. His professor was the esteemed photographer, Thomas Joshua Cooper, and it was here that he first began experimenting with using a camera obscura to make his images. The camera obscura, literally meaning 'dark chamber,' has a long history and is considered an ancestor of the camera. In its simplest form it was originally just a room with a single small hole, through which a beam of light shone, resulting in an upside-down image on the opposite wall. By exposing the beam of light directly onto photographic paper Learoyd makes do without a negative, resulting in a print that contains no grain – a pure photographic imprint that is a unique impression. Both in his technique and emphasis on print as object, Learoyd's work has much in common with nineteenth century photography, and in particular the daguerreotype. In an interview with Aperture magazine in 2015 Learoyd confirmed this debt: 'I see my work more in the lineage of the French—referring to daguerreotypes: those non-reproducible photographic objects whose multi-planed surface and miraculous depth of field fascinate me. With my work I am interested in the moment when the image becomes dye and color, when the illusion of it being a reflection or projection breaks down. I think you get that sense with daguerreotype images: you see the object before the illusion.' His work has been collected by numerous important museums including the John Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, the Tate Modern, London, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. In October 2015 a major exhibition of his work opened at the Victoria and Albert Museum, to be followed in 2016 by an exhibition at the John Paul Getty Museum. Richard Learoyd Born 1966 131 Richard Learoyd, Olga, 2011 Inscribed 'a gift for Olga from Richard Learoyd' C-type, mounted on aluminium 31 x 31 inches A unique print