Silent and remarkably attractive

Mat Hennek is probably better known as a portrait photographer for the music business but in recent years he's concentrated on the natural landscape. 'Silent cities' is a slight detour from that theme. The eighty photos feature cities around the world but minus the human activity that most other photographers would search out.

What I found quite fascinating about these photos is the way Hennek's eye captures almost abstract shapes out of buildings  and the street architecture of public spaces. A shot from 2013 in Tokyo shows part of a wall made from large blocks in pastel shades of brown and it looks quite stunning, other photos, in long shots. blend the vertical shapes of tall buildings with the horizontals of fencing, railings and streets. There are, in fact, two photos that do show people, one is looking down on a Osaka station with a few passengers but hardly visible, another is a rather small lone cyclist in a Tokyo street.

Another worthwhile feature of the book is that all the  photos are landscape and the same size and position on each page, I thought this helped emphasise the horizontal feel of so many of them. The pictures are printed with a 175 screen on a wonderfully silky matt art paper.

These photos reveal something unexpected in cities but it takes Henning's creativity to reveal it to us even though what he sees has always been there.