The collection · DiffusionLab

1899: a smoke-cured barked nets hanging over a rail, lighthouse list illustration, flashbulb on a night market floor. Work 6817.

A flare-haloed traveller with light streaming from behind the head rimmed in the opposite colour, a century into the passage, complementary clash of magenta and cyan. Work 6795.

A cinema marquee for a film that does not exist, movie poster, rain, night. Work 6791.

A smoke-grey control tower with its windows smashed, the middle of a dark winter, ring flash beauty photograph, flash snapshot printed small. Work 6781.

The year the lamps were replaced: a surface mark buoy with a flag on a low table of dark slate, volumetric beam through suspended silt, print toned toward blue in the shadows. Work 6744.

A fortune cookie slip under a magnifying glass, macro photography, high key. Work 6729.

A periscope cross hairs on a freighter and an usherette torch beam in yellow, mechanical tint pasted into an outline, a broken rule where the plate cracked. Work 6728.

A plated tally light coming up on camera two built over nine winters by hand, before the second war, centred symmetrical underwater plate. Work 6706.

The last hours of daylight: backlit smoke photography of a dust turning inside a light beam among bottles hung on string. Work 6705.

A spark gap between two brass balls and a reading lectern with a brass rail, volumetric light through lamp haze, hand coloured engraving with gum arabic. Work 6680.

A shadow-barred light beam through a roof hole, a day the stone stayed cool, stillness as the subject, smoke pumped into a gallery. Work 6654.

Darkroom print with heavy burn-in of a broke bare bulb on a stairwell landing, 1945, silhouette against a lit wall. Work 6601.

A window washed with rain standing in a lit doorway, the years right after the war, studio publicity still, street lamp as the only source. Work 6594.

A brass railed skyscraper crown lit from below, the year the liner was launched, lacquer on a gessoed panel. Work 6568.

Dolly frame along a corridor of a wind moving a curtain on an unmade road, the late 1950s, high contrast printing. Work 6485.

A ring toss on a midway under a string of bulbs in the mid 1950s, eight by ten view camera. Work 6474.

16mm archive footage frame of a puddle full of coloured light, 35mm lens in a crowd, bulb flare in the frame. Work 6472.

A Marenghi organ front on the Santa Monica Pier in 1950, fairground organ front carving, long exposure at night. Work 6429.

A Hatzegopteryx, Christmas 1945, safety film still, copper toned print. Work 6407.

A coral pink paper lantern lit at dusk in a Madeira hotel garden, the year the reef was still clear, the brochure colour was not the sea, slide from a holiday carousel. Work 6389.

An Ocean City floating ring with rain staining down the piers, 1951, sectional model photograph, neutral density for a long exposure. Work 6367.

A mirrored ceiling over a floor photographed as a neon reflected in a wet street, silkscreen poster, bounce flash off a mirrored ceiling. Work 6327.

The doctor endorsement years: national campaign key visual of a recessed filter seen end on under a pufferfish lamp in a bar. Work 6320.

Bruce Davidson style photograph of an underlit amusement pier at night, the first week of October, blurred ride in a slow exposure. Work 6311.

A bright red Dutch kermis ride at night, the last week of August, scratched negative. Work 6297.

A venetian blind half open under a tangle of live cable, the decade after the blackout. Work 6262.

Night photograph of a file box tied with string surrounded by umbrellas, the age of the sealed cities. Work 6261.

The early 1960s: a shutters closed at midday in a Milanese apartment, available light night frame, scratch running down the print. Work 6231.

A wind moving a curtain on an unmade road in the late 1960s, streetlight on wet stone. Work 6191.

Postwar reconstruction photograph of a circus building with a ribbed dome, bracketed exposure for the interior, dusk exposure with the lights on. Work 6179.