Charles Brooks's Architecture in Music Series

In his Architecture in Music Series, the New Zealand cellist-turned-photographer Charles Brooks has taken a series of photographs exploring the insides of musical instruments. In order to maintain perfect focus of his subject, the photographer took hundreds of shots of each instrument and digitally put them together. The results are eerie, dramatic and sci-fi-esque transforming the hidden depths of an instrument into a world of its own that has been likened to a cave, a tunnel, a luthier’s workshop or, as one critic put it, ‘an apartment I can’t afford.’

Originally trained as a cellist, the photographer Charles Brooks held principal cello positions in China, Chile, and Brazil, playing in concert halls around the world. However, he also nurtured another passion: for photography, which he initially studied as a fifteen year old boy, when his school offered a three-day course on photography with the celebrated New Zealand photographer Kevin Capon. Within weeks he was teaching his own class at Auckland Grammar School. In 2011 the National Geographic took notice, and commissions swiftly followed.

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Before the pandemic hit, Charles Brooks captured dramatic scenery astrophotography while touring the world as a cellist. Among his shots from this time are low-light photos of southern Chile, glow worms in New Zealand and the night sky. After lockdown, however, Brooks started experimenting with probe lenses and old instruments, and turned his attention to the objects around him. The result was his Architecture in Music series in which the photographer captures rare instruments with fascinating histories, including a cello once hit by a train, a didgeridoo hollowed out by termites, and a Fazioli grand piano hand-made from 11,000 individual parts.

Since embarking on his full-time photographic journey, he has contributed to publications including National Geographic, NBC News, The Daily Mail, Der Spiegel, The Telegraph, Die Zeit, Lonely Planet, and others.

Check out his Architecture in Music series here.