After speaking to someone in the studio about their friend, a Polish photographer, I checked out some of his work.
The Art Photography is kooky, surreal and alluring. This is a specialised area, only photographers and stylists with such a creative mind can produce work like this. I’m sure if I were to try and recreate this style it just would not work.
I went to the BIAD (British Institute of Art and Design) campus at BCU (UCE) where there were a lot of creative departments… I loved this. I loved everyone interacting and ideas bouncing around the building within the different creative areas.
I knew a lot of the Fashion girls (many of them are still friends now) this is how I came to shoot some of their projects.
Here are a couple of shots taken for them.
I wanted to experiment in the studio and this idea was completely used by a photography friend I just wanted to see if I had the skills to recreate it. (He has told me is was an idea from somewhere else… inspiration ey??)
So the idea was to use as little Photoshop as possible, no tricks to create a blended background or anything like that.
You can see three ‘final’ images and one original. However these were taken about 4 months ago and I know I can already do much better than these… Lets see if I ever recreate it. Lets see if I ever finish the bottles of these products which I don’t usually use. It might be a while!
For one of my 3rd year project I decided to photograph ‘something’ that would interest people. I wanted to find something or someone who would be interesting to photograph. I thought of my village, a workplace, or a group/community of people. While brainstorming I found that there was a convent about 10 minutes from our student home. So I got in touch with the Sisters and stated my intentions for my project. Unfortunately they didn’t feel comfortable with their lives being photographed and they declined. However I thought this was a great community to follow. Who knows about Nuns??!
After emailing (yes some nuns do have computers) phoning and writing to quite a lot of monasteries and convents I got a reply from two convents. St. Mary’s Convent in Hansworth, Birmingham and Saint Mary’s Abbey in Colwich, Staffordshire. After doing my research I found these were two very different types of convents.
The Sisters of St. Mary’s in Handworth (Sisters of Mercy) were out in the local community helping vulnerable young men, women and children and they didn’t all wear the traditional habit.
Whereas the sisters at Saint Mary’s Abbey in Colwich (Benedictine) were completely different. They are an enclosed order which means they don’t often leave the Abbey and they live a very monastic life under the Rules of St. Benedict.
I really can’t explain all their values and ways of life so here is their website for more information. http://www.colwichabbey.org.uk/life.htm
Colwich Abbey was incredible. I am not a religious person however there was definitely a sense of place there.
Here is a small selection of the final edit.
While at university, formally UCE (University of Central England) now BCU (Birmingham City University) I studied Visual Communications specialising in Photography and even more specific Documentary Photography. Looking back at my hard drive with only a small section of my work from back in 2007 I found my inspiration. A LIFE magazine and Magnum photographer W. Eugen Smith. Once I found his work and spent hours reading his books I felt this was the kind of photography that I wanted to produce myself. Images that would tell a story.
Here is a little taste from two of his photo essays that were published in LIFE magazine in America.
Country Doctor (1948) and Nurse Midwife (1951)
I am starting this blog to make my thoughts, inspirations and work more accessible. I don’t know what to expect from it but I think I will get a little addicted to it in the beginning…
This is a test
Nicole Frost 