Nelson Armour
Nelson Armour in front of one of his photographs showing in the group exhibition "Photography NOW" in ZIA Gallery, Winnetka, IL. The photography exhibit runs from August 2-30, 2014.
NS: Hi Nelson. We were talking before, and you were telling about working in the dark room. Now you have switched over to the digital dark room and you say that you enjoy that too. Do you still feel like you are “developing” your photograph?
NS: Did you teach yourself the digital darkroom? Did you go to workshops?
NA: Both. I started just myself and then I took a variety of classes.
NS: Where did you take your classes at?
NA: Well, in Lincolnshire there was a camera store, that no longer exists, called Digital Effects, and they began running very outstanding classes in Photoshop. So with my wife, we took two different series of these classes. That was a more formal setting, we had homework and it was multiple weeks, and it was pretty serious study. Then, I ended up taking a range of other classes through the Chicago Photography Classes. They were using Lightroom, and at first I resisted the notion because I had spent so much time learning Photoshop, but then I quickly understood how both of those pieces of software could be used together. Now I freely use them as a pair of software, and I know there is other software out too that you can integrate into that and one day I may expand.
NS: When you were taking your series of classes at Chicago Photography Classes, being the accomplished photographer that you are however, you said that you started with Photo I, did you feel you picked up some things--about how to use a digital camera or more about the digital aspect of it, the developing aspect?
NA: When I first approached it, I felt that perhaps I would be able to jump over Photo 1 into more advanced classes. When it became clear that starting in Photo I that was the system in place, I just decided I was going to get the most out of it. I just kind of came in with a positive attitude and jumped on Photo 1 and just tried to learn, if they were new things to learn, or explore the things I already knew but explore them in different ways. I approached each of the classes in that way. With that series of classes, I must have taken four or five of those courses by now. It got me at a more serious level, it got me more invested into my photography; that was what I was looking for at that point. I wasn't thinking of going to graduate school or doing an MFA or something like that. I wanted to take structured classes that required me to really produce and think and move forward. I approached each of the classes with that attitude and I really feel it did move my photography forward very well.
NS: That is quite a compliment as you have been with photography for so long, and you say that it got more serious . . .
Hi readers, wow this is getting to be a long post. I usually only post two questions/topics from an interview, however, the topic of critique--being critiqued and critiquing interesting. I hope you do too . . .
NS: Nelson, you said you belong to a critique workshop.
NA: A critique group.
NS: A critique group, and that has influenced your work. Through the critique group . . . go back five years ago . . . imagine shooting and developing it digitally, and now when you look at this more recent piece behind you, what do you see?
NA: Well, it is kind of interesting. So I belong to this critique group that is at Jane Fulton Alt. We probably have ten to twelve photographers. Some of them are professional photographers, day in and day out. One of them is a physician who is a photographer. We all bring different things. I had done a series of images in the Great Smoky Mountains. I was down there; my wife was teaching at Arrowmont which is an arts and crafts school in Gatlinburg. So I went out into the Smokies and I brought back my images; and they were images of waterfalls and other things. The conversation in the critique group really revolved around the mood, and in some of the photographs there was a greater mood presented. Others were very beautiful, but they didn’t quite resonate to them. So, in the series that I was taking when I was in a different environment; these were taken in New Zealand on the South Island in the Southwest corner of New Zealand.
I really had that conversation totally in mind when I was photographing this. I was really attempting to visualize this incredible moss forest, these mosses go back -- their origin is about 350 million years ago. I was just trying to imagine . . . this is like one of the most remarkable environments I have ever been in in my life, and I have been in many. I was just trying to visualize how could I establish the mood and the feeling that I was having at the time I was photographing it. So, the conversation in the critique group really informed how I went about photographing this forest as we travelled in it. So I think that is a great question, and in this particular image there is a very direct relationship between conversations when I presented my other work and this work.
NS: Thank you Nelson it was fun chatting with you. Where can we see more of your work?
NA: Thank you Nancy and for letting me know about your upcoming exhibition at Positive Strokes in October. My portfolio is at nelsonarmour.com.
Hey Readers, do you like having your work critiqued? Do you give critiques and/or judge for juried shows?