My Photographic Style

At school we were asked to choose some photographs we'd taken 
that best summed up our signature style, and then look at them 
objectively and write about them.

It was a totally rewarding process because I found things out 
about my work that I had never noticed before: 

My photographs are all square format images shot on film with quite lo-fi experimental production processes. They feel tactile because you are very aware of the film grain and the processes going on like over exposure or double exposure. There are lots of accidental features in them that I didn’t plan on but I really enjoy. The subdued colours emphasise that you are not looking at what is actually there; I have revealed something with the camera that didn’t actually look like that in real life. They are all shot on location and they all feature the same solitary model.

The model is always on her own standing still, yet movement is implied by camera shake, or double exposure. She seems very isolated in the image and a large distance between the model and viewer is implied. She is alienated in her own realm where the viewer can see her but can’t interact with her. She doesn’t engage at all with the camera and I noticed that her eyes are not visible in any of the photographs. She is like Alice in Wonderland with all these strange things happening around her. They are like a fairytale, but not on purpose.

All the images imply a larger context and narrative scenario that the model is part of. The set ups are theatrical: masks, weird lights and a steep sloping hillside as a backdrop all hint at a theatre set and the viewer is aware that things are not what they seem. They are not sexy or sassy but quirky or uncanny? I think they might be a mirror of myself and how I feel. I have always had a big affinity with Alice.