Lee Mawdsley's instinctive feel for pattern and texture make his new updates a real joy

My grandparents were creatures of habit and would return to the same restaurant in the same small town for the anniversary lunch year after year. When I asked them why they were baffled by the question – “Because it does the best puddings.”

It’s a similar relationship we have with photographer Lee Mawdsley. We featured him in 2008, 2010 and 2011 and if you asked me why we’re so drawn to the man, I’d answer the same as my grandma (change puddings for photos in this analogy).

He has just updated his site with a host of new projects from factories and laboratories to famous landmarks like the St Pancras hotel and the Barbican. Lee’s brilliance lies in the fact that he is happy to let his inanimate subjects be the stars, working with them to maximise their impact rather than trying to overcomplicate things.

That’s not to say his shots are simplistic – far from it. His instinctive feel for shape, pattern and texture, his eye for detail and his ability to render even alien environments human and immediate when he wants to – and conversely the games he is able to play with fairly familiar locations – combine to thrilling effect, and what’s more he just seems to keep on getting better.