Jeff Laurents Go back

My Life

Education and the arts have been driving forces in my life for as long as I can remember. Being a people person, I am especially motivated to create works that bring pleasure and meaning to others. After taking a degree in Politics and Economics and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education, I taught in secondary, further and higher education.

Becoming interested in photography in the 1980's I took a part-time degree in Photography at the Polytechnic of Central London.  At the London College of Fashion I established a course in photography. I set up my own darkroom at home and for many years processed and printed my monochrome images.

After my retirement in 1997, I began to specialise in digital photography. Photographing local scenes in various regions in England, especially in Thanet and part of East Kent, but also in London.

I used to sing semi-professionally, and music continues to be a great source of enjoyment. I have lectured on Cinema for the British Film Institute. The histories of art and cinema feed my enjoyment and respect for the past.

In addition to my local scenes I create striking abstract images, landscapes, cityscapes and seascapes.  I have also published a volume of quirky and often dark short stories, "Mysterious Ways".  Written about 12 years ago, in a burst of creative energy, which included designing the cover.

My Work

I work in my studio to create my images. They are made into calendars, greetings cards, postcards and jigsaw puzzles. I printing many of my images, colour and monochrome, up to A2 size, on an Epson printer. I have also recently started to print canvas versions of some of my work. Various retail outlets and galleries stock my work and I sell online.

All my prints are digitally manipulated photographs derived from experimenting and transforming the scenes captured by my camera. A painterly representation is created.

I have painstakingly taught myself to use various software systems, including Adobe Photoshop. Spending hours exploring the amazing possibilities such software affords. As I work, I will reject any version of an image that fails to satisfy my appreciation of what constitutes an artwork. I believe that I have a good "eye" for art and will stand and fall by my works being approved by others.

My approach to image-making is less concerned with "realism", but more about using artifice to create images that please me, and will hopefully appeal to others. Intrigued by colour, line and texture, my influences include the Impressionists, the Fauves, Van Gogh and various film directors and movements.

Production methods

I photograph using a Fuji mirrorless camera system. My iPhone camera is really useful, given its extreme portability and the quality of the lenses.

I use an Epson Sure Colour SC-P900 printer to print my work as fine art Giclee prints.  Giclee prints are archival quality, museum-standard. The paper meets the highest print standards and is archival, acid and lignin free.