FALLING FOR RINKO KAWAUCHI...

The Photographers' Gallery is one of my favourite places to stop off at on my travels, rather than a destination in itself. It's small enough to wander round in 20 minutes or so, and is a calming space amid the bustle of Covent Garden/Leicester Square. It also houses an excellent bookshop and a lovely quiet cafe.
They always have fantastic exhibitions of photography - the name kind of gives it away, eh? From Juergen Teller to Francesca Woodman and every photographer you can think of in between.

I wilted through the door in a cloud of dust and pollution during the recent heatwave (not that I'm complaining about the heat, keep it coming).

The current exhibition is of photographs by Rinko Kawauchi, who I confess I had never heard of before. Since then, and through the magic of Google I have read articles which describe her as the best photographer working in the world. A bold statement, but her photographs, with their recurring themes of light, water, simplicity and nature replaced the fuzzy heat in my head that day with something more like a cool, soothing pool of clear water. Having just read about ten reviews of her work it's difficult not to stray into contrived 'review speak' when trying to describe her work.
Contrived is the opposite of what she does; it is just the way she sees the world.

The exhibition is on until July 9. You can see a selection of her work here. She also has a photo diary online.