I went to an exhibition at the V&A Museum a while ago called 'Shadow Catchers : camera-less photography'. Photography - camera-less? Really? Up until this point I'd always believed a camera was pretty much key to the practise of photography, but goodness me was I wrong! Camera-shamera eh? Without using a camera it is possible to create images on photographic paper by casting shadows & manipulating light, or by chemically treating the surface of the paper...such incredible effects - not created from a 'negative' but encountered as fragments, traces, signs, memories or dreams, they leave room for the imagination, transforming the world of objects into a world of visions. The most common camera-less photography techniques are the photogram, the luminogram and the chemigram.
Ooh la la that was a bit of a divergence from what I was originally going to chat about...but my memory of that V&A exhibition sprung to mind & I remembered how exciting camera-less photography & light manipulation are. Far too much fun. But right now I'm chatting about natural light...the wonderful sun & it's rays. That big chappy in the sky who pop in & out of our lives - lighting my beautiful friend Natalie while we cruised around town taking snaps.
I absolutely love photographing passionate people - musicians, artists, dancers...& my chum Natalie is definitely a pretty passionate person. Everything from her deep connection with fish-fingers & ketchup on toast, to organising an elaborate ball in a castle, she has passion. A particular life passion of hers is with dancing. A bit of contemporary here & there, she's always been ballet dancer & this is how I photographed her in the studio at college in Newcastle - Pointe shoes & perfect poses.
After the success & fun we had on our first shoot together, Natalie & I decided to give it another go - this time taking her out of studio light into natural light. Natural light in London - ballet snaps in an urban environment. Pointe shoes & pavements.
As I explained in my last post, I absolutely love capturing movement in my work. For these shots in the park & made Natalie jump up about a hundred times for me to get the shot I wanted...lucky her. (Bear in mind the January temperatures & her skimpy attire. There was definitely still snow on the ground)
The light changes as my model hangs in the air...
We wandered through Hyde park to the round pond. So many duckies hanging around & a perfect sunset - it was magical...
...Magical UNTIL I fell in the pond. Yes, I did. Not quite sure how it happened, but somehow just being myself & being near a pond, the inevitable had to happen. Not exactly ideal.
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