When Reuben Wu introduced us to his work, we immediatly got curious about the stories behind his photographs. And he did not let us down.
As a member of the band Ladytron he get’s to see many places as they are touring around the globe. Step by step Reuben realized that this was an opportunity for him to develop his photography skills and show people places they may never be able to see of their own. Rapidly his work became a lot more artistic than just taking some random snapshots.
“A lot of my photographs involve physical labor and meticulous planning due to the remoteness of the locations and the bulk of my camera set-up, so most are very carefully composed” – Reuben says about his work. Also his source of inspiration is quite interesting: “I take inspiration from the Romantic and Surreal landscape painters of the 19th century, the graphics of science fiction artists such as Chris Foss and Moebius, dystopian authors such as Ballard and Dick and also photographers like Guy Bourdin, Edward Burtynsky and Michael Kenna”.
We love Reuben’s story about the Glacier series. Imagine him losing his sense of reality because of the changing, unfamiliar environment. “As I left the security of rock, earth and tree and stepped out onto this weird blue ice, I felt that my sense of reality (of light, scale and time) had taken flight. There really was nothing familiar in the landscape to recognise, and that was quite frightening“.
Besides the Glasier series we also selected a few personal favorites from his portofolio.
all pictures by REUBEN WU
more information about Reuben or his work: www.reubenwu.com