231027 Collection Digital Cover 1 - Flipbook - Page 19
“I want the subject to feel that they
can open up and be themselves.”
R
So what is the difference between this supposedly more conceptual work
and your more well-known images of celebrities?
R
I would say there isn’t much difference at all. All of my work, or at least
the vast majority of it, is dealing with the idea of a photograph being
a capsule through space and time – a depiction with which to reach an
audience. I love the idea of people seeing my photographs and defining
their own opinion of them. Occasionally I will do work which is based
on just the craft of photography, but that’s more for charities or brands
that don’t need the thinking behind it. I tend to try to let my work do most
of the talking. Also, I really believe that once I’ve taken a photograph,
it takes on a life of its own in the viewer’s mind. If I was to explain it,
it kind of defeats the point of doing it. I might as well write down what
I’m thinking and try and get that into the viewer’s mind instead!
But I see myself as the communicator of my idea of a person. When I take
a portrait, I collaborate with that person. I do not want to take or steal
anything from them. They are lending me their face, time and energy.
So I work with them and what I mean by that is, I invite them to be part
of the process. The process of concepting, lighting, shooting, editing,
especially editing. Then we make a piece of work together. What that
does is, it allows the subject to feel comfortable enough to take the
risk – the risk of opening up, posing, looking stupid. You see, having a
photograph taken is rather like being under a microscope. Most people
do not like it. Even in the selfie-obsessed generation, the photographs
on social media are not to show insight into the human condition.
They are people seeking to show a fake representation of themselves.
Whereas with me, I want the subject to feel that they can open up and be
themselves. Not that I don’t want them to feel or look good. I do. But I also
want them to break down the artifice of representation or presentation.
I’m trying to get something between the person I’m photographing and
the audience that sees that image. In a way, I’m almost trying to be the
conduit between the two, to break down the fourth wall, to have the
person in my image look through the lens, through time, through space,
at the person looking at the final photograph. That in itself is a concept.
R
I don’t believe you. Give me an example of a portrait that has a concept in it.
R
Okay, well let’s look at my work during lockdown. For years, I’d wanted
to photograph flowers. All photographers have a bit of an obsession
with flowers. But for years, I couldn’t find a way in. My best attempt was
probably when I was trying to create jeopardy, by having a flower in
a vase teetering on the edge of the plinth. But those pictures still felt very
contrived. In lockdown, I was suddenly on my own in my spare room with
some equipment and nobody to help me or talk to me. Luckily, I got my
head around all of the equipment very quickly, but for somebody who had
been in teams of 10+ every day, for over 30 years, I was a little lost on my
own. Now trust me, I know that everybody was going through the same
thing, so this is no sob story. I’m just explaining my position. I’m in my
spare room with a beautiful South-facing window and I decide that I will
photograph flowers. I started off with pretty average pictures, where
I was trying to imbue the idea of time and death, because, as flowers
begin to fade, there’s something very reflective around mortality. As they
wither and shrivel, they are kind of showing us time ageing life in a very
real and metaphorical way. But then something strange happened –
I started to think of each flower as a person or personality. I started to
pose them, frame them and light them as if they were people. I was using
the techniques that I use when photographing portraits and it started
to work. My photographs got better and in a strange way, I started to
create stories around them that I knew an audience would relate to. I was
relating to them in a narrative form and that started to become part of
the image. So, without realising it, I was putting the ideas into the images.
The concept was there, even though I didn’t realise it.
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