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‘In Conversation with Nicholas White’ an interview by Negative Feedback *Link at the end*

Nicholas White is a photographer who based a lot of his early work around Dartmoor National Park. He wanted to make work about “the land and the ways in which we interact with our natural spaces.” This statement resonated with me. Although this thought process seems very obvious and straight forward, I often find that it is easy to forget this when photographing and I lose sight of the roots of the project. It is a very simplistic definition of the intentions behind his work, but if you actually break it down, there is much more to consider. For example you have to take into account personal interpretation and how the viewers are going to interpret the images. There are also a variety of discourses to consider when photographing landscape or natural places. Does he mean “we” as humans or “we” as creatives. There is lots to consider when contemplating this statement and for me personally I will have to sit with it in order for it to be as useful and clear as it can be for my current work.

White also comments on breaking out of the ‘traditions’ of landscape photography. Questioning himself and exploring the different themes within a landscape makes the work meaningful and more coherent as opposed to “look how pretty this is.” Which, is a genuine consideration to bear in mind when photographing landscape. This goes back to the notion of wanting images to be more than just aesthetic.

When discussing his body of work surrounding Dartmoor and the presence of the armed forces there he says: “How an area so beautiful deemed a natural park can have this second life as an area that facilitates training for war.” This is an extremely interesting and thought provoking approach to a place. The contrast between ‘peace’ and ‘tranquility’ often labelled to natural spaces of beauty and the ‘dirty’ or ‘evil’ connotations that are had towards war and violence make Dartmoor an interesting place to be home to both of these things.

An interesting insight into the reality of photographers and photography students is getting your foot in the door regarding industry. It would be ideal to leave university and move straight into an artist residency or get your work displayed in a gallery or published as a book but that isn’t a reality. White left university and became an image retoucher for a women’s clothing brand and a football boot company. Eventually he became the product photographer for the football boot company, and is a commercial and editorial photographer for the company. Despite not having an interest in these areas he understood it was necessary to work for these companies in order to get his foot in the door of photographic industry.

This is useful to understand as it is a way of making your way into the industry, still being creative but also providing income to allow you to pursue personal photography projects. This has really made me consider ways in which I can get into the industry, whilst simultaneously financing my personal projects.

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