Simon Harsent

— into the abyss A little deeper and she’ll lose the light. At first
the surface is just touchable - shadows that might be clouds
or birds in flight… She sets her face to the skim to get the last of the world she came from, some slight
sense of voices fading as she slips
from almost-day to almost-night, grey-green shading first to blue, then more than blue, then to a blue never seen
by anyone but her, and that slow drift into darkness set to sever
all that she owned or wanted, all she had ever been. David Harsent

— Born in England Simon Harsent studied photography at Watford Collage before moving to Australia in 1988. While in Australia, Simon quickly established himself working on some of the country's most awarded advertising campaigns, winning numerous national and international awards including Australia’s first Cannes Grand Prix. Awards over the past couple of years include nine Pencils at AWARD, three Clios, three MADCs, D&AD, IPA, Caxton, Adfest and New York Photo Festival. In 2010 Simon was Australian Creative’s Hot Shop Photographer of the Year and most recently featured in the same magazine's 2011 Power 20 Issue. From 1997, Simon has been based in New York where he continues to work on award-winning campaigns for some of the world's top advertising agencies. In late 2009, Simon's monograph, Melt: Portrait of an Iceberg, was published to critical acclaim, a publication recognised as one of the publications of 2009 by its inclusion in Photo District News' yearly Best Of Annual and also in the prestigious D&AD Annual. His work is also included in the permanent collection at the Queensland Art Gallery and The Powerhouse Museum. David Harsent’s Poem Into the Abyss was composed in collaboration with Simon for the series of photographs of the same name shot specifically for the Blow Up publication. — David Harsent David Harsent has published ten collections of poetry. The most recent, Night – published in January 2011 – is Poetry Book Society Choice for Spring 2011, and is currently shortlisted for the Forward Prize (Best Collection) and the T.S. Eliot Prize. His work in music theatre has involved collaborations with a number of composers, but most often with Harrison Birtwistle, and has been performed at the Royal Opera House, Carnegie Hall, the Proms and on Channel 4 TV. —