Hitchhikers: Photos by Dillon Marsh

Macro photos of South African seeds by photographer Dillon Marsh based in Cape Town. The seeds look completely alien with bare hooks and barbs designed to latch onto the fur or fleece of passing animals, while others grow sharp spikes intended to pierce hooves and feet. These forms that are familiar features of the tall grass or underbrush of South African landscapes allows them to spread to new areas, even crossing to other continents earning them the collective name hitchhiker plants.

South African photographer Dillon Marsh has long been drawn to themes that touch on environmentalism and our relationship with the world around us, and in recent years these interests have become more pronounced.

Growing up on a small farm near Stellenbosch Dillon Marsh spent most of his free time playing outdoors. Riding on his bike, he loved exploring his surroundings and he says he still has that wanderlust, “I just upgraded my means of travel to cars and planes”.

Since he can remember he has always been drawn to wide, open spaces; thinking that it’s the fundamental reason for his interest in the environment. “I’m very curious about how we interact with the environment around us, so most of my work focuses on specific features of this theme.” One of his biggest dreams is to explore the Arctic and Antarctic circles since he is fascinated by these kind of remote landscapes covered in snow.

After he completed his degree in fine art at the University of Stellenbosch in 2003 he spent two years working in the UK. He occasionally worked in photography related jobs that included a short stint as a photographer of tourists visiting the theatrical London dungeons (complete with accessories like fake axes, stocks and rats). Thereafter he returned to Cape Town and he worked as a retouch artist doing post-production with regards to commercial photography for 5 years. During this time he started producing his own artistic work and then in 2013 he took the leap of quitting his job to pursue a career as a self-employed artist and photographer. He feels that his main motivation to grow as an artist comes from interacting with like-minded people, fellow artists and other professionals in the art industry. “By doing so I am able to clearly gauge my strengths and weaknesses and develop ways of improving.”

See more of Dillon Marsh’s work on Behance or at his website.