EVERYDAY surfaces are the subject of a fascination photographic exhibition, set to open in the Lake District.

The showcase of photographs on canvas and paper by Andy Mortimer and Rod Taylor, entitled "to stay what is fleeting" - so named after a quote from John Ruskin - opens at the famous artist's former Coniston home, Brantwood, this March.

Another quote attributed to Ruskin, “The ugliest objects contain some elements of beauty”, sums up this new exhibition - photographic images which explore a fascination with surfaces and the ways in which they are changed by the vagaries of chance, time or fleeting events.

It could be floating debris; the build up of layers of peeling paint or the patched woodwork of an old door. It could be rust formed on industrial ironwork or lichen on stones. It could be about the glimpsed reflections in a window or shadows on a wall.

Andy says: "These layers and strata can suggest the history of a place or a building and sometimes hint at the lives of those who have lived or worked there. They reveal the impact of time and the photographs attempt to record and fix that which is in a state of continual flux.

"They suggest a dialogue with many of Ruskin’s ideas about the world around us and what he calls “that golden stain of time”.

Rod describes his own work as "always of a thematic nature".

"From student days onwards, I have worked in this way and every exhibition I have staged, however large or small, has been built around a single theme, topic or subject," he adds.

"I love to immerse myself in each of these, exploring them from many standpoints. In the process, I find I progress from their more obvious features to those that might otherwise remain unnoticed or are not immediately apparent.

"This process invariably leads me into a fascinating micro world of extraordinary details, whether the focus is in the natural world or is to do with the built environment.

"In order to extract the maximum from any theme or topic, I consciously study what is immediately above me or beneath my feet in addition to what is apparent in front of me."

Andy Mortimer and Rod Taylor have known each other for many years and both trained as painters.

They work separately but constantly find echoes and resonances in each other’s photography.

It is hoped that this exhibition brings together some of the parallel beauty they see in their shared obsessions.

The exhibition, "to stay what is fleeting", is on display in the Severn Studio at Brantwood, from Wednesday March 8 to Sunday April 23.

Brantwood is open Wednesday to Sunday each week, from 10.30am to 4pm, and then after March 20, the closing time is 5pm.