Allan Macintyre

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Oceanology-

In 2011, I began experimenting with large-format cameras housed in specially designed waterproof casings to document coral reef environments. This process-driven work, partly guided by chance, involves capturing a single image per dive and often superimposing multiple exposures onto a single sheet of film during each descent. To reflect the complexity of marine ecosystems, I have also explored combining positive and negative images from different dives, creating layered visual narratives. This approach draws inspiration from the early 20th-century German photographer Heinz Hajek-Halke, whose kinetic montages merged positive and negative forms.

In 2022, I began using a digital camera underwater to create grid-based images. Some of these photographs have been printed, drawn on, and rephotographed using an 8x10 camera in garden settings, accentuating the surreal beauty of the undersea world.

This series has personal significance, as it began during trips to assist my father, a marine sedimentologist who studied coral reefs, as he approached retirement. Over the course of his career, the collapse of reef ecosystems has been devastating, and the scope of this disaster is particularly acute for those who have dedicated their lives to studying them.

In much of my work, I pair photographs with paintings, prints, and drawings, often depicting sharks. These creatures have become a personal totem, symbolizing the immense pressures facing ocean ecosystems. Encountering a shark underwater, I feel less fear and more awe at their sheer beauty. Sharks have occupied the Earth’s oceans for hundreds of millions of years, and it is tragic to see so many species endangered today.
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Liquid Magnet-

I first encountered ferrofluid in 2007 when I watched an MIT video posted online. Ferrofluid is a highly magnetized liquid composed of nanoscale ferromagnetic particles suspended in a carrier fluid. It has the unique ability to change shape in the presence of a strong magnetic field. Inspired by this video, I began creating drawings with ferrofluid on large sheets of film, captivated by its capacity to morph into configurations that feel simultaneously cellular and celestial.

While working on these ferrofluid photograms, I also began photographing in Japan, focusing on street photography. Most of these images were captured using 35mm and 8×10 cameras. The 8×10 camera was fitted with a circular mask, allowing for dual exposures on a single sheet of film. This technique creates improvised photo collages, combining images from different moments and contexts. While the central images were taken in Japan, many of the backgrounds were printed from my iPhone and then rephotographed using the view camera.

The idea to pair the solar-like ferrofluid photograms with my photographs from Japan was inspired by stories about Amaterasu, the Shinto sun goddess. I am particularly drawn to the tale of the Heavenly Rock Cave, where Amaterasu is coaxed from her dark retreat to restore light to the world.

Researching Shinto beliefs deepened my curiosity about Kami spirits, which embody the positive and negative characteristics of the natural world. These concepts have influenced my drawings, as have the intricate designs of Samurai armor and the contemporary Japanese poster art of Kiyoshi Awazu.
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Hubbub-

After graduating from college, I purchased an old 1950s 8x10 Deardorff camera. It was in rough shape, looking as though it had been dragged across pavement a few times, but I was drawn to its character. I wanted an 8x10 camera because no other device captures the world quite the same way, and many of my photographic heroes used them. I've had this camera since I was 23, and it remains my workhorse to this day.

This series is a collection of experiments created primarily around my home. Alongside the photographic images taken with the view camera, I've included a selection of drawings made during the same time period.
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Vulkan-

This ongoing project grew out of multiple visits to various volcanic environments. These dynamic landscapes vividly reveal their transformations over time, offering a rare perspective where, instead of humans altering the planet, the planet alters itself.

One of my primary interests in these locations has been discovering and cataloging naturally occurring sculptures. I am particularly drawn to mimetoliths—a form of pareidolia where the mind perceives faces or anthropomorphic shapes in rocks and other inanimate objects. To me, these geological formations embody the creative essence of a volcano, and finding them feels like an esoteric experience.

So far, this series has included trips to Hawaii, Iceland, and Montserrat. It also features microscopic images captured at Royal Holloway, University of London, and Princeton's IAC lab, where I photographed crystals forming in a lava sample I brought back from Hawaii—a small universe discovered within the rock.
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R.O.-

This work represents a collection of random observations captured with a 35mm camera over the years in various locations. I still find great satisfaction in using film. Its unpredictability adds an element of surprise—you can run it through the camera twice, get 36 chances, and never quite know what the final result will be. There are always unexpected revelations.

Film also mirrors the way I see the world. While digital cameras offer a cold, hyper-sharp perfection, the 35mm camera produces a sketchy, dreamlike haze that feels more connected to memories.
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Sugar Pepper-

My grandparents moved from Scotland to the Caribbean island of Barbados in 1939, and many of my relatives still live there. One of my cousins runs a small family farm in the island's interior, which I’ve had the opportunity to document over the years. The farm has become a laboratory for my photographic work, drawing me to its rich plant life and the striking contrast between the cultivated crops and the wild plants growing in the gullies around the fields.

Barbados still maintains an active sugar industry, though it faces significant challenges in the global market. The island’s last operational sugar factory, Andrews Sugar Factory, recently closed. It was an antiquated facility filled with a maze of pipes and gears for crushing sugarcane. The leftover cane, known as "bagasse," was burned in massive furnaces to power the factory's steam engines—some of which dated back to the 19th century.

One thing I find myself doing on every visit to Barbados is creating spontaneous sculptures from found objects. It’s an instinctive practice I find nearly impossible to resist.
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Paleo-

Paleo is a body of work that explores the concept of time through the documentation of archaeological excavations and museum spaces housing dinosaur fossils and meteorites.

Each subject represents a moment on an incomprehensibly vast timeline. Scientists estimate that modern Homo sapiens emerged around 190,000 B.C.E., meaning most archaeological work focuses on relatively recent events along an infinite continuum. But what about 200 million years ago, during the Jurassic period, or 4.5 billion years ago, when some meteorites formed in the cold vacuum of space?

Dinosaur fossils and meteorites are charged objects, embodying the concept of "deep time" as described by geologists. They serve as poignant reminders of cataclysmic events that shaped our existence and continue to inform our understanding of the Earth's history.
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Taupo-

In 1995, I received a Fulbright Grant to photograph the Taupō Volcanic Zone with an 8x10 camera. This region on New Zealand's North Island stretches from Whakaari Island to the massive flooded caldera of the volcano for which the area is named.

I experienced the volatile nature of the Taupō Volcanic Zone firsthand when Mt. Ruapehu erupted, causing the evaporation of the large lake in its summit crater. The diverse range of volcanoes across the landscape reflects the immense pressure created by the collision of the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates.

I spent many weeks traveling in an old Mitsubishi station wagon, passing through sulfur-soaked towns where boiling mud bubbled just beneath my feet. By the end of each week, one question kept resurfacing: how do you live on a ticking time bomb?