Ukishimacho: Sprawling industrial metropolis unfolds under a smog-filled sky

When I first clapped eyes on this photography series by Greg White, I was immediately struck with feelings of nostalgia. Although this may not be the reaction you'd expect to get from gritty, industrial landscape photography, having grown up in the shadow of Lancashire's cotton mills the familiar sight of smog-surrounded factories holds a strange sense of home.

All images courtesy of Greg White

All images courtesy of Greg White

However, the subject of White's Ukishimacho is not Lancashire – or the UK at all for that matter – but is situated in Japan. The sprawling metropolis of colourful buildings is contrasted against the grey skies above. The only sign of production is the billowing smoke that trails from each of the tall chimneys. Cars are dotted like ants underneath the giant structures, and there isn't a person in sight.

Of his inspiration and technique, White writes: "Greg’s work re­veals a love of func­tion and mys­tery com­bined in the graphic ele­ments of ar­chi­tec­ture and land­scape. He is in­spired by re­pe­ti­tions of form in space. An un­flinch­ing mod­ern­ism and cool de­tach­ment in­flects all his im­ages, in the bright whites of su­per-watt bulbs and in light-filled land­scapes. Greg’s of­ten heroic por­traits show sit­ters in con­text and in mo­ments of re­flec­tion. He thrives on prob­lem solv­ing and de­vel­op­ing cre­at­ive ideas. His un­as­sum­ing ap­proach is based around sim­pli­city, shape and struc­ture."

His work has been featured in publications such as GQ, Wall­pa­per*, Cre­at­ive Re­view and Dazed. And past clients include Rolls Royce, As­ton Mar­tin, Nike and Sony, to name but a few.

To discover more visit gregwhite.tv.

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