some manifesto kinda thoughts

This post has taken a long time to write, almost two years in fact.  After having my second boy I put myself on maternity leave and spent a lot of time reading and thinking about my creative future, and thinking some more.  I like to be busy and have projects on the go, so while I wasn’t working I decided to do a 365 project – a photo a day for a year.  It was a hard project to get through but it was even more rewarding as I learned a lot about myself as an artist.  It reminded me how important it is to create for yourself.  I allowed myself to go back to basics which strengthened my love for photography, it also helped to clarify my direction and define my goals.  And so, the time has come to put these thoughts onto… the computer screen.

I used to view my personal and commercial work as different entities, and I thought I should keep them separated as brides wouldn’t want to know about my personal art practice for example.  But it’s all me.  Which led me to my big epiphany - I approach my personal and commercial photography the same way.  When I’m looking at the landscape my eye tells me where and how the figure needs to be.  It’s hard to put my process into words as I just know when I see the shot, I always work from instinct.

As Annie Leibovitz said ‘This is one life, and the personal pictures and the assignment work are all part of it’.  And who am I to argue with her…

It’s easy to fall into the information overload trap where you look at too many blogs, start to doubt yourself and get sucked into thinking you need to be a glossy photographer.  But I’m not.  I’m a matte paper Lula, Peppermint and frankie magazine girl where the images are real and natural, not heavily photoshopped. When I think of my work and how I visualise my business the word that always comes to me is organic.  I know it’s an overused word these days but it truly does reflect my approach; I work on instinct (as I just mentioned), I’m not keen on heavy posing (won’t be sticking babies in flowerpots), my strength lies in a photo journalism approach - from a fine art perspective.  I’m interested in capturing the true you and those quiet moments. 

I love contrast.  Whether it’s the contrast between the image and title or a delicate dress against a harsh landscape.  I love texture and photographing through things to create it.  I love natural light and discovering shadows.  I love playing with film and I’m totally addicted to the excitement of picking up the negs to see what you’ve created.  I love pushing the definition of what a photograph is by embellishing it with drawing and sewing.

These elements combine to create depth in the imagery.  And I love that too.