You Can See

Showcased here are an ongoing series of interviews and features, conducted to support early career women in the Visual Arts. Twitter

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MARY HAMILL, 1985, IRELAND

YCS: Your work is a recontextualisation of its subject to offer a subversive discourse on gender roles and inequality. Why is this theme your main photographic interest and from where did it evolve?

MH: Perhaps it is enough to say simply that my work is a recontextualisation. That it might offer a subversive discourse on gender roles and inequality is, for me, merely consequential.

As an individual I am interested in how society, religion and culture shape our ideas about the world and about one another. It is about challenging commonly held beliefs in order to encourage a more open conversation (my own beliefs included). In fact openness is arguably the most fundamental aspect of my work.

YCS: Still life as well as staged portraiture are your regular strategies. The images provide a controlled typography of sorts which viewers peruse until realisation occurs. How do you develop a concept and why do you use that mode of production?

MH: All of my work is a consequence of my own ignorance or inability to understand. Generally I start with an idea and then begin a process of research. In a way the work itself becomes a record of my own evolving response to the subject in question. The final outcome is always a result of the research.

In terms of my practice, I would say that I’m technically a pretty lousy photographer. A lot of blood, sweat and tears go into the process (sometimes literally).

YCS: When did you become aware that photography was important to you? What keeps you engaged with it on a long term basis?

MH: I don’t have one of those nostalgic childhood stories about receiving my first camera. My introduction to ‘serious’ photography occurred relatively recently. I guess it was around four years ago while attending an exhibition that it occurred to me that a photograph could communicate complex ideas more universally than language.

YCS: You achieved your undergraduate degree in photography at Ulster University in Belfast, which you came to through an HND course. Why was that route right for you? Was the prominent practice of its lecturers a useful insight?

MH: When I began studying photography at HND level the intention was to open a studio and operateas a commercial photographer. During the course however I rediscovered my love for art and with the support of my tutors I began to experiment with the medium. The HND provided me witha fantastic overview of the subject. The degree allowed me to develop the conceptual side of my practice further. I would say that I have been incredibly fortunate to have been surrounded by people who are not only exceptional teachers, but also practitioners on both courses. The insight and support that I have received has been invaluable.

YCS: The final resolves of your images combine exhibition and book work. Why does this mode best suit your series? By what process did you determine the design for Semper Augustus? The book includes an intro by Martin Parr and was published by Editions Bessard - how did this occur?

MH: The book of course helps to get your ideas out there and has a life span that outlives the exhibition. Due to the sensitive nature of some of my work it also allows for a more intimate experience. Semper Augustus became a diary of sorts. The thirteen images, which follow one year’s menstrual cycles, talks about both the stigmatisation and ignorance that surrounds women’s bodies. The white cover references religious ideologies that deal with purity and women as the subject of evil and taboo.

It was incredibly difficult to find a publisher due to both the perceived controversial nature of the work and also my lack of reputation within the industry. The project was only possible because it was completely self-funded. As for the introduction by Martin Parr, I was fortunate to get my work in front of him as he is visiting lecturer at Ulster University where I completed my BA. Martin really liked the work and has been incredibly supportive.

My ultimate goal however is to see all of the work within a single exhibition. This is due to the fact that each piece relates to the next and when viewed as a whole will add further context in general.

YCS: How are you developing professionally? Is undertaking a work internship or artist residency something you have done or are considering? What is your next step in this respect? 

MH: At present I have returned to Ulster University to undertake a one year’s artist residency. This will allow me to develop a new body of work with continued support from the photography staff. In terms of the future, I’m still trying to get to grips with where my work sits within the industry.

YCS: Your work has been shown at Self Publish Riga, Warsaw Photo Days, Pingyao Festival China, with an upcoming book launch at Belfast Exposed. What is your approach for generating exposure of your work? 

MH: Over the past two years I have been to countless portfolio reviews and faced an extraordinary amount of rejection. At times I have wanted to give up. There are so many competitions and awards out there – many of which seem to benefit the organisers more than the artists. Last year I decided that I would only enter my work into open calls or attend portfolio reviews that charged minimal or no entry fees. I’ve found that the organisations that run these events tend to be more artist centered. For me it is about getting your work in front of the right people, but you shouldn’t have to pay for the pleasure.

YCS: How are you currently existing as a practitioner? Does photography feature in your salaried work?

MH: It’s very early days for me. Having just invested my life’s savings in publishing a book I think it will be a while before I break even, never mind earn a living from photography.

Image Copyright belongs to Mary Hamill.

www.maryhamillphotography.com

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DENISE MYERS, 1966, UK

YCS: Your work explores the presence of history and memory upon the modern landscape, reflecting on such topics as war and women's issues. What particularly fascinates you about this theme and how did it come to be your main photographic interest?

DM: I never set out to be a photographer who works mainly in the landscape, in fact, when I was younger I simply thought that landscape photography was about taking pictures of pretty places when you were on holiday – how little did I know. It was going to Newport that changed things; I was introduced to interesting, thought-provoking work in which landscape was being used to comment on political, historical and even emotional issues. I realised that landscape can have a voice, no –that landscape does have a voice. It made me look at everything around me very differently.Previously, I had noticed (and often photographed) the evidence of previous use on the land – most of us have images of agricultural buildings or impressive industrial structures somewhere in our collections. What I hadn’t tuned in to as much was how the subtle marks or traces can invite the observer to connect with either real histories, or to construct new narratives. The key word here for me is ‘connect’; there was a point when I felt a shift from experiencing the landscape through my physical senses to engaging with it on a deeper metaphorical level.

When it comes to women’s issues, I have always been political – with a lower case ‘p’ (in fact in the early 1970s I was ‘thrown out’ of the Brownies for being subversive after having repeatedly complained about the disparity between what the boys and girls were allowed to do.) At Newport, I was struck by the male dominated photographic world: for example, at the time on the Documentary course, all of our main lecturers were men. There were brilliant women in the Arts faculty, but our official contact with them was rather limited. If the lecture programme was to be believed, it was men that had made and were making all of the important work. I think I was a source of some amusement for some of the other students and staff as I was always asking, ‘But what about the women? Where are the women photographers?’ Visiting lecturers didn’t get away lightly either; for example, I remember asking Simon Roberts if he could recommend any contemporary women landscape photographers to me to look at and he was flummoxed – when put on the spot, he couldn’t come up with a single name.

The two interests – in the politics of being a woman and the links between landscape and history –came together for the first time in a project called ‘The Grid’ at the beginning of my second year at Newport. I was given a square of a map and challenged to find a project based within that geographical area. One day, during my wanderings through the South Wales countryside I met someone who told me that ‘Just over the hill used to be a big house, but it’s long gone now.’ I went back to my ‘grid’ – there was nothing obvious to suggest that a large country house had once been there, so I headed off into the town’s main library and started looking at old maps. Once I had located the house it wasn’t too difficult to discover who its owners once were. It turned out that a previous inhabitant had been a Viscountess Rhondda and after more digging I discovered that she was responsible for women being able to sit in the House of Lords. Here was an important historical figure, who had once lived a few miles from the university and I had no idea that she had existed.Around about this time, one of my lecturers, the wonderful Clive Landen had run a Large Format workshop and the combination of project and the pace of LF started to change the way that I worked. I became slower and more contemplative; my work became less descriptive and more conceptual.

You also picked up on the theme of war in my work – this came about initially because I wanted to make a project about my grandfather who had been a career soldier in the 1930s and who had fought during WWII, landing on a Normandy beach and going on to help liberate Holland. I have to admit that there was also an opportunist motive too for making work about my grandfather at this time, rather than waiting. I was trying to be ‘time-clever’ as I was due to graduate in 2013 and the 70 th anniversary of D-Day was to take place in 2014. I hoped that if the work was good, it might receive some attention. In the end, I didn’t make the project. My personal tutor, Paul Reas (who now is Course Leader at Newport) asked in his famously direct fashion, ‘Who’s going to be interested in your grand-father?’ It only took a couple of seconds of ‘hurt’ to realise that he was right. My grandfather, who in my eyes was a wonderful man and a hero, had experienced a ‘normal’ war. Yes,he was involved in some terrible and no doubt terrifying events, but there wasn’t a clear story. My explorations into granddad’s war would have to wait. Instead, I would bring together my three main strands of interest: the lives of women, landscape and war.

YCS: There is a distant engagement to your images, expressed in layers of passed time and unobtrusive composition, then extended by inclusion of archival material and text. Can you expand on why this is your approach? From where did it evolve?

DM: I’m not sure what you mean by ‘distant engagement’, but I am glad that you have picked up on the‘layers of passed time’ in some of my images. When exploring any landscape with my camera, I consciously change how I think; I deliberately shut out any thoughts associated with personal everyday concerns and shift into a form of meditation. I try to tune in to how others may have experienced the place in which I stand, how they may have seen and felt about what they could see at the time. It sounds fanciful I realise and only really works for me when I have someone particular to imagine – which is why working on ‘All England Waits’ was so powerful for me – I was thinking about individual named women and having read their letters, I had specific pieces of their life stories to focus upon. In fact, working on the project felt like a form of collaboration and often I would have‘conversations’ with the women; I would ‘talk’ to them about their worries, their concerns and the hopes that they had for the end of the war and the return of their menfolk. Had I ever bumped into anyone when working, they would no doubt have thought I was just a little bit unhinged.

The inclusion of archival material and text has become integral in my practice. Again, it is about layering, about wanting to share a deeper, richer narrative: I am inspired by real people and real stories and this desire for detail comes from a sense of respect. In both ‘All England Waits’ and‘something comes over you’ I was inspired by materials held in the Imperial War Museum Archives and I wanted the words of these remarkable individuals to be part of the work. I don’t just lift quotes and create captions though: I find myself drawn to individual words and phrases and begin to draft and craft small prose poems from the original material. I try to hone in on the essence of the communication; it’s a process of distillation. I hadn’t really thought of it before your questions, but I suppose that this crafting of the language is another form of layering, it takes me, the second author another step away from the history – it adds texture to the narrative. Just as the women who were writing to their loved ones during the war were consciously considering what to include in the correspondence, so I am intuiting and choosing what to exclude. I am working with the past and the present, absence and presence. The use of archive photographs and ephemera - such as the envelopes - is slightly more complex and perhaps, for some audiences, problematic, as none of this material is linked directly to the wartime letter writers. For me the inclusion is another way of layering. Also, to be frank, I am fascinated by this direct link to history. It doesn’t matter that I don’t know the individuals within the portraits, or the person who wrote a particular address on an envelope: they help me to feel connected. Finally, as the text within ‘All England Waits’ is in the first person it gives the impression that this is one woman’s story and I wanted the work to honour all women who had to say goodbye to a loved one during wartime. The archival material does this for me. Selecting the material for inclusion in the project was fascinating and I very much enjoyed this part of the editing process.

You have also included a couple of images from ‘and something comes over you’ which was made for the Ideas Tap/Magnum Photography Award. This work, more than any other so far speaks about how history becomes imprinted on a landscape. The thing is that when you stand on any of the D-Day beaches (except at Arromanche), there is no obvious physical evidence of anything that happened on June 6, 1944 and it is impossible to know what visitors are thinking about when they stand on the sand and look out across the sea. I wanted anyone looking at the work to reflect on the history of these beaches and the only way I could think of how to do this was to incorporate testimonies of men who had been actively involved in the landings. I went back to the Imperial War Museum archives and began listening to oral history recordings. I felt very strongly that the testimonies shouldn’t be presented as traditional captions, separate from the images and separate from the locations and the solution I worked out was to write directly onto each images, along the horizon line.

YCS: What does photography mean to you? Of what part of you does it provide fulfillment?

DM: I’ve had a decent camera since the early 80s when I was sixteen, but photography only became really significant for me around 2005 when I started an evening class as a release from the pressures of teaching. Weirdly, it wasn’t making the pictures that excited me back then: it was being in the darkroom; I loved it. Now I am back working in education, photography once again is an escape for me. When on my own with a camera, it’s like being nurtured. The camera is a way of focusing on the world and on myself: it’s very powerful. It also has brought me into contact with many, many fabulous people and I count my photography-friends as amongst the most important people in my life. Photography is a blessing.

YCS: You achieved your undergraduate degree in documentary photography on the renowned course at Newport in Wales, having paused your teaching career to return to study. What made you take that life decision?

DM: Even though this was a huge decision (I had to sell my home to pay for my studies), it was really easy to make. I was feeling a bit ‘stuck’ in my job and had split up from my husband. I wanted to do something ‘just for me’; I wanted enrichment. I went down to the Newport degree show, met and chatted with the brilliant (then final year student), Gareth Phillips and thought, ‘This is the place for me.’ I didn’t go with the intention of making my living as a photographer (so it’s unsurprising that I haven’t become a freelancer), and I had no expectations about how being part of the Newport and wider photography family could transform my life. In personal terms, taking that career-break decision has been the best one I have ever made: so much has come from it.

YCS: Exhibitions are a recurring final resolve of your work - what particular presentation details are used to express the mixture of images, archive and text? What is your main aim for presentation and how are the display choices determined?

DM: I think I touched on this earlier in the interview, but it depends on what I am showing and where.For example, ‘All England Waits’ was conceived as a book and I had only ever shown it alongside a small selection of images prior to going to Broadstairs in 2014. For my degree show I presented the book on a wooden ‘tea trolley’ to refer to the focus on women and the domestic/home environment in the work, but when it was shown in The Millennium Centre, Cardiff I couldn’t include the trolley and so my partner made a beautiful wooden shelf and the book was ‘chained’ to it! The most important thing is that the work has to be able to speak to those who see it and it is vital that you consider the space/context in which it will be shown.

The residency and exhibition at The Old Lookout in Broadstairs allowed me the opportunity to explore how I could transfer my work from the book to the gallery space and I was able to show more images than ever before. To incorporate text from the book, I decided to handwrite quotes and snippets on small index cards and these were placed at intervals on the walls; although it was a pretty basic fix, I think that it worked well.

As far as using archival images and ephemera are concerned, so far I have chosen to scan the originals and then produce prints which are presented in the same frames as my original photography. I do this, rather than frame the original objects because I don’t want my work to be part museum exhibit – it’s more conceptual than that. Working with the text from ‘something comes over you’ presented a different challenge and solution (as described earlier.) I had made a multi-media version of the project and wanted to show this in addition to the prints at Broadstairs. It was my friend, the photographer Paul Gaffney who suggested that I extract the audio from the piece to create a sound installation in the gallery and this worked brilliantly. Hearing the crackly BBC recording, the sound of the waves and the voices of D-Day veterans whilst looking at the work, or out of the windows of The Old Lookout to the sea was powerful and engaging.

YCS: You have participated in artist residencies and workshops in the UK and abroad - why are these developmental experiences of such value to you? How will you further extend your growth going forward?

DM: I’ve been lucky enough to be part of two residencies and taken part in various workshops and all I would say to anyone who gets the opportunity to participate in either is – do it, if you can! The two residencies were very different. The first was in Denmark as part of The Independent AIR and was shared with different practitioners from a range of artistic disciplines. For a week, we showed and shared work and got to listen to and learn from the visiting speakers. You have to be an ‘open’person to get the most out of residencies like this one and be ready to hear some honest critique. If you immerse yourself in what is happening around you, the learning and development potential is enormous. Oh, and you also get to make great friends and contacts for the future… The second residency was completely different as I was offered The Old Lookout Gallery as part of the Obsolete Studio’s summer residency programme. I could do what I wanted with the space, as long as there was an opportunity for the public to see and engage with my work. I chose to have a solo show,create an image and text library and offer a workshop of my own. To be given the space for a week was incredible and I learned a huge amount about a lot of things, including curation. Photographic Artist, Sara Rejie co-curated the show with me and it was a real pleasure and honour to work with her on it.

Workshops can also be incredibly collaborative and although they are intensive and exhausting, the benefits outweigh the metaphorical pain. The trick is to find the right residencies and workshops for you. I have an issue with the expensive niche offerings that pop up every year – how easily can early career (or even mid or late career) artists find three thousand pounds for a few days of input? No doubt such sessions are wonderful, but… Luckily, there are individuals and organisations out there who do offer free or semi-funded development opportunities, so again – you just have to look carefully. I would love to do more workshops and residencies and I am sure that I will one day – the problem for me now is I am restricted to the school holidays.

YCS: Your work has been featured on the Firecracker platform, shortlisted for the Ideastap Photographers Award and recipient of the Reginald Salisbury Award. What is your approach for generating exposure of your work? Do you have a best tip for self marketing?

DM: I use social media to share my work – when I have something that I want to get out there. I do have a simple website and sometimes I will tweet a link to a page or two, if I think my work is relevant to a conversation that is happening elsewhere. I think I spend most of my ‘exposure’ time sharing other people’s work at the moment and I especially enjoy celebrating and ‘shouting about’ projects made by friends of mine who are doing well. My ‘best tip’ for self-marketing would be ‘Don’t be afraid of getting in touch’: if you think someone would be interested in what you are doing, email them, write to them, or even just send them a nice tweet. Share work by others, re-tweet links to exhibitions and publications: artists, curators, photo-editors really appreciate it when you take the time to get involved and if you do it in the right way, with positivity and good grace, they will like you for it and when you finally meet them, you have already begun to build a relationship.

YCS: You are employed as an English teacher, and use the summer break to produce your photographic work - is becoming a full time artist an ambition? How do you maintain your practice during the academic year? Do teaching and photography ever intersect?

DM: Gosh. It never was my ambition and I struggle to see how I would ever be able to become a full-time artist (I am so used to earning a regular and reliable salary!) However, I would love to be in a position where I could spend my time working on residencies and creating new projects.Maintaining any sort of practice during the academic year has so far proved impossible for me,however, this year I am determined to build in time to make new work! It’s about being clever with time and being organised and I still have much to learn about these two disciplines.

As far as photography and teaching intersecting are concerned – I am an English teacher and so I bring photography into the classroom whenever I can. I use images to prompt discussion, engender emotional responses, to illustrate points and as starting points for creative writing. I am so glad that I can use photography with my students as it allows me to have contact with images in a thoughtful way as part of my school routine and that contact is a reminder to me that there is a world beyond my classroom and I am part of it.

Image Copyright belongs to Denise Myers.

www.denisemyers.com

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JUNO CALYPSO, 1989, UK

YCS: Your work expresses a disconcerting undercurrent to ideas of manufactured femininity within scenes of domesticity, seduction, beautification. What ideologically are you exploring and why do these themes interest you?

JC: When I began the project I was pretty disconcerted. I was 21. I hadn’t left my house without make up for a decade. Then I read The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf and a can of worms opened in my head and I’m still trying to figure them out to this day.

I hope my work shows that I have no desire to point fingers at other women, or to create anti-feminine-beauty propaganda. I use myself in my photographs because it is a personal topic. I am still wrapped up in that anxiety for feminine perfection that drains you physically and financially.

Recently my ideologically did take another shift, when I heard someone say that the problem isn’t that all feminine interests are bad for us. The problem is that we are treated as inferior beings simply by having those feminine interests. Being told you are stupid and vapid or deserve to be assaulted for being into make-up is very clearly worse than wearing make-up. 

YCS: What made performative self-portraiture the right format for your practice and from where did your distinctive aesthetic evolve? Would you outline your typical working process for your scale of production?

JC: It wasn’t really a conscious decision. More of a teenage bedroom hobby that turned into a career. The aesthetic I think came from watching a lot of old horror films and dark British comedies. Plus growing up with the internet allowed me to pull together all kinds of odd references and bits of inspiration. My typical working process is still an experiment. At the moment I’ve got it down to a routine of pre-production - searching for locations, collecting props, costumes, wigs and so on. That can take months, but it’s relaxed. Then once I’ve decided on a location, I go with minimal equipment, lock myself away for a week and torment myself until the work is done.

YCS: When did you realise that photography was important to you? Of what part of you does it provide fulfilment?

JC:  Getting a camera for my GameBoy when I was 8 was probably the most fulfilling day of my life, but I reckon it was during my art foundation at Chelsea. That’s when I realised I had an eye for something, and that I could stage and manipulate images to have an effect on an audience.

Photography provides fulfilment to my private self when I'm alone making the images - I feel so deeply satisfied that that I've managed to draw blood from a stone and turn something from my imagination into a reality. Then when I show the work obviously my ego receives a huge amount of fulfilment, but it's a fleeting feeling. It's exactly the same as the difference between masturbating and having sex. There's a need for both.

YCS: You gained your undergraduate degree in photography at London College of Communication in 2012. Do you think you would be making this work without that experience? Was there significant exposure to the industry at a London school?

JC: If I didn’t go to London College of Communication my work would be embarrassing. I started my BA degree at Leeds College of Art, which was a lot more skills based. When I transferred to LCC halfway through it was like getting a punch in the face. You’d walk into a tutorial and get annihilated but then walk away with pages of references from your tutor, and it'd make you want to become a genius and prove everyone wrong.

I grew up in London so I can’t tell if I did well because of that, or because of the status of the college. I went back up to Leeds recently and a class asked me the same question and we all agreed that now having the internet, there’s much less of a need to move to London for the sake of it. There’s a shop that's just opened in Leeds called Village who work with new photographers and deal with photo books. Plus Bradford had a lot going on when I was up there. And Liverpool. When I was nominated for the Catlin Prize in 2013 their curator told me he makes a point of going to every degree show he can manage up and down the UK. Being discovered by them was my big break into the art world so there’s always opportunities in other places besides London.

YCS: The final display of your work uses installation elements such as pink backdrops and mirrors, while video screenings and artefacts feature alongside the large format images. How do you determine these presentation choices? What is your aim for display?

JC: Yeah this is the stage where I plan a lot. This is when I bring out the ruler and the cardboard and start making models of the layout with miniature plinths and photographs. The pink mirrored room was probably my most ambitious to date. I had to do a lot of calculations. I like a bit of DIY though so it was alright. My aim is to make people feel the same way I did when I walked into that Honeymoon Suite. A pink overload. With a bit of mould.

YCS: You often participate in discussion events and deliver artist talks. What interests you about these experiences and how have they proved useful in your development?

JC:  I learn a lot about my work when I talk about it out loud. I used to be shy so it started out as a challenge but now I love it. I didn’t realise people would enjoy hearing about my awkward solo life experiences this much. They keep booking me and I keep exposing myself more and more but that’s what an audience wants sometimes, particularly in the art world. They expect you to be arrogant and elusive. My work is very artificial but in person I like to keep it very real.

YCS: You have achieved a number of international exhibitions and publications including a group show at Flowers Gallery in New York. How were these opportunities developed - are you a regular submitter or networker for example?

JC: Yes I’m a very regular submitter. I have a long list of deadlines to submit to. When I started out I found submitting to magazines and websites worked a lot better than spending money on expensive competitions. They already know who they want to win so it's not worth the money till you've built up a bit of press. I thought networking would be as painful as it sounds but my method is to get drunk and make friends with the funniest people in the room. And then if the funny ones turn out to be ballers then it’s a win-win situation. Facebook is good though, it’s becoming LinkedIn for the photo world. And Instagram of course.

YCS: How are you currently existing as a practitioner - are you a full time artist? Does photography feature in your salaried work?

JC: Yeah, very fortunately I am a full time practising artist. It comes with sacrifices though. I live at my mum’s house in Hackney so I can put all my money back into my work. I survive off selling prints, giving talks and doing some commercial jobs. Not very long ago I was working part time as a nanny and before that I was working in a dry cleaners so I’m very grateful.

Image Copyright belongs to Juno Calypso

www.junocalypso.com

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MIEKE VERBIJLEN, 1984, BELGIUM

YCS: Your key series’ explore the individual influence on personal environments. How did this become a main photographic interest for you and why does it continue to fascinate?

MV: I have always been interested in how people live. What they collect, how they arrange their things, what makes it ‘theirs’. I guess I am lucky to have friends with interesting homes. That for sure triggered me to start doing a series. One place led to the other one, and I kept doing it for a long time. I am not actively looking for homes to photograph. But I am sure I will shoot more places in the future. Whenever a nice one comes along, I would find it hard not to shoot it.

YCS:  The resulting images are naturalistic and unobtrusive with attention to visual angles and layering. Would you outline your composition process - is it a straight documentation or is there a relevant aesthetic present? How conscious is it?

MV: Of course I think about compositions, I am a photographer after all. I am really trying to make a good and interesting image. I like to make compositions based on colours. It is very personal of course. I am not interested in showing each room as it is. In fact, one apartment on my website is for rent now and I showed it to a friend, than I realised it didn’t really show so much of the place. It shows an atmosphere, a colour palette, a combination of objects and some furniture. I see the photos as portraits. I guess I am too shy to show a close-up from a face, but I think these photos show a lot about the inhabitants.

What I like so much about photography is that when you would ask 5 people to photograph a room from the same angle, it would be 5 different photographs. It’s just how you see it. You can’t change that. 

YCS: How did you first start to use photography and what makes you continue?

MV: I already knew I wanted to study photography when I was 13 although I didn’t have a camera at that time. When I was 16 I got my first camera, analogue of course. I made some photos of a friend in my room, all very staged and in black and white. When I was 18 I applied for the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. I was extremely excited when I got in.

Two years after I graduated I opened a shop with a friend. I was making photos for the shop and our online store. We started the blog together and I did photos for that too. When we had to close the store I really had to think about what I wanted to do next. Than I was asked to make photos for the ‘Me & my plant book’ and I really enjoyed that. After that I started photographing apartments and ever since there were always new things coming up. Slowly, but still.

If I could choose I would prefer to be good at drawing, or painting. But that’s just not my talent. What I really really like is looking around, feeling happy when I see something beautiful, so I like collecting those things in images.

YCS: What role has formal education had in your creative practice - did you feel it was important to study photography at all?

MV: When I was In the Academy it was all about expressing yourself. I had a very good time being there. Spending time with people who love photography too. Talking about it, thinking about it all the time and sometimes making photos. Seeing documentaries, printing in a darkroom and so on. I didn’t have a very technical education. That wasn’t very important. I am glad I got to study photography though. I learned a lot. Of course you can learn a lot from reading and watching YouTube videos as well, but this way it worked for me. We had deadlines, had to build exhibitions, got reviews. It is intense and that’s why it’s wonderful to be in a school.

YCS: Is there a mode in which you typically present your work and why does it best suit your images?

MV: Display is very important. For the moment the work I make looks the best printed in magazines or books. I am not really interested in showing my photos in exhibitions. 

YCS: You maintain a creative dialogue and blog with Veronik Willems. How did this evolve? Has the exchange worked easily and what does it provide you?

MV: I started the blog with Veronik a few months before we opened the store. The idea was to make a visual place to inspire and get inspired. A moodboard for what we would represent as a store. The shop closed in 2010 but we wanted to keep the blog. Since I am a photographer it is natural that I make almost all the photos for the blog. But Veronik is still a part of it somehow. I post about her work as well. People are maybe not so much into blogging anymore, but I still prefer it above Instagram because you can combine photos, make a story, browse through the archive. For me it’s a place for news, leftovers from shoots, daily snapshots of things that catch my eye. I think of friends that live far away when I post something. To keep in touch, to show them discoveries. I also like to browse it myself, as a diary and to remember nice moments.

YCS: Your work has been included in a book “Me and my Plants” as well as featured often on web based lifestyle magazines. How were these opportunities generated? Are you a big networked or regular submitter?

MV: I did get the chance to have my work published in some very nice books and magazines. The first assignment, for “Me and My Plants', I got just like that. I got an e-mail one day from the publisher, they knew I made a lot of plant-photos because they saw them on the blog. I wasn’t even profiling myself as a photographer back than.

The other 2 books, 'ABC an alphabet book’ and ‘Earth. Rope. Pot. Plant’ were collaborations with friends.

I tried a while writing magazines, but it’s hard to get in touch! I must say I try to make the things that I like and if I think it suits a particular magazine I will try to contact them. I am not so good at all that to be honest, I find it hard to put my energy in networking.

YCS: How do you exist as a practitioner? Does photography feature in your salaried work?

MV: I hardly earn anything with my photographic work.  Many of the nice magazines don’t pay because they simply can’t.I work part-time in the box office of a theatre here in Antwerp.    I think it’s not possible to make a living out of what I do.  Although I am open for proposals I must say I don’t want to make many compromises.  I love photographing, and I think I love it so much because I only shoot things I love.

Image Copyright belongs to Mieke Verbijlen

http://miekeverbijlen.com/

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LUA RIBEIRA, 1986, SPAIN

YCS: There are themes of gender, race, class and sub-culture in your work, that you confront through incongruous images. What particularly fascinates you about ideas of identity, representation and otherness and how did they come to be your main photographic interest?

LR: The work deals with very universal themes. Gender, race and identity are very essential to us. But as you said it is mainly about the images. What fascinates me in my practice are people or environments that are exotic to me, deeply different, and the search for the connexion we all have as people, or at least the search for it. There are many taboos in western societies that we assume as values without perhaps even questioning them. I kind of try to go to the wrong place and try and find the wrong thing, and if I can, I will squeeze it to see how wrong it is. Then, I often realize, it is just me and my shame, nothing else.

YCS: The resulting compositions feature distinctive use of image rotation and flash lighting. By what shooting approach do you compose and capture such candid impermanent scenes? Is there an intention in using these devices?

LR: The image rotations come from the desire of seeing differently, to find the beauty of the unseen. I am really keen on the use of imagination in trying to see things the other way around. In terms of lighting, I am using at the moment darker images and less intensity in the flash. But the flash I guess brings the rawness that a lot of photographers look for.

YCS: When did you realise photography was important to you? Of what part of you does it provide fulfilment?

LR: I was studying graphic design and I felt really constrained, and worried by the idea of ‘the client’, like a shadow, I didn’t want to deal with it. By doing an exercise with photography at that time, called ‘Famas y Cronopios’, based on a Julio Cortazar book, I suddenly felt relief, I had to go out and react.  It allowed me to be social and challenge my fears, and dare to visit places and lives that might have been problematic without the camera as a beginning and end point.

YCS: You achieved your undergraduate degree in Documentary Photography at Newport, adding to your background in Graphic Design and Science of Information. Why did you specialise in this photographic genre? How do these experiences now inform your practice?

LR: I am actually in the last year of it. I think the documentary genre is right now in a bit of a limbo, however, I think it is also essential as a genre. For my own practice, it is important to keep a connection with reality, with a rational side, to keep a balance. However that doesn’t come necessarily from documentary photography, Francisco Goya used to say, you need to balance the imagination and fantasy with rationality in order to produce art, and not just monsters of the mind. I think I am in the boundary’s of all the genres, if they actually exist. I play with the idea of fashion, art and documentary, all of it before it actually looks like any of those.

YCS: You have participated in several exhibitions. What criteria usually determine the final resolves of your work and do you have any preferred styles? What is your main aim for presentation?

LR:  I believe that in any art or craft intuition plays an important part. However, as a photographer who deal with a subject, all the knowledge I acquired through exploring that subject allow you to take rational decisions about the display, presentation of the work. I do not really engage with the term style, I really see form and content inseparable, specially in visual arts.

YCS: You have achieved sources of funding - the 2015 Firecracker Grant and the Ditto Press Print Camp Scholarship. How did you learn about these opportunities? Do you find there are many financial options available?

LR: I think there are, but not many. But it is a shame we are assuming grants and awards as a way of surviving with our work. There are editors, journalists, publishers, printers, and many more people that is part of the industry that have a salary, and it is completely assumed that they would not work for free, however, it does not work in the same way for us, despite our work is probably the most essential. I think we should be stronger collectively and leave the competitiveness to a side, because it just brings mediocrity to the work, and nothing good in terms of making a living.

YCS: You were short-listed for the El Award at Encontros des Imagem as well as being included in A Fine Beginning’s Made in Wales show - what made it the right time to submit to these? What is your philosophy on submissions?

LR: I had a body of work in progress, which I thought was worthy to put out there, and it was ok to do so, because I could find some money to finish it. It was also important to see the way people reacted to it. I did those applications last summer, because I planned to stop photographing for a short period and have some distance over the work. However, normally I do not submit the work unless it is suited to a particular grant or award.

YCS: How are you currently existing as a practitioner; are you a full time artist and does photography feature in your salaried work?

LR: I am finishing the degree, I still have a few more months of studying to go! The process has been so intense, that I have no idea what is coming for me or what I am going to do. Luckily I have been granted with some financial help to be able to continue my work.

Image Copyright belongs to Lua Ribeira

www.luaribeira.com/

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HANNAH ROSVOLL, 1987, NORWAY

YCS: Your work explores the categorisation of nature and the inherent limitations of this process. How did you isolate this as your main creative interest and why does it dominate your practice?

HR: Oh! I am so happy that you saw that so clearly. I guess I have always been interested in the communication between human an animals, and through that I have developed an interest in more general natural science and the methods used within this. My father is an "hobby biologist", collecting butterflies, doing species photography and making sea-life aquariums. He used to drag me around natural history museums, botanical gardens and science centres as a child. In addition I have an ever questioning mother, who always turn everything upside down, looking for new answers, and she definitely won’t accept systems that can’t be taken apart or make sense out of. So I guess I grew up in a nature interested, questioning family, where David Attenborough where my hero and my room was full of seashells and stones collected on trips with my father.

Anyway: As an working artist this theme is important to me because it shows us, so clearly how limited the human is. And by establishing or pointing towards those limitations, the whole "human project" become so futile. Then, within the understanding or acknowledgement of limitation you can discuss the systems that create that same limitations. You can open a discussion about hierarchy, power relations, different economics and other human constructions that exists, but in daily life seems very abstract, yet ever present.

Also within this thematic, you will always find the discussion of "the other" or the picture of "us‟ and "them", that I guess you could apply to so many other discussions in society. I am also interested in how the project of controlling our environment is an constant act of violence, while the construction in which we act this out, make that same violence almost invisible. I want start at some kind of point zero, and have another look, or at least make some comment on the absurdity, but also the comical aspects in the human relation to nature.

YCS: The resulting compositions feature installation, sculpture and photography - providing a sense of physicality and conceptual space. Can you expand on why all these elements feature in your technical process?

HR: That was a bit tricky... I think my practice is divided into two working modes. The actual act of creating something is often very intuitive, direct and not always that thought through. I collect objects, stories, pictures and texts that I find relevant for the thematic I am interested in. In the studio work these elements become an ever-changing collage of objects, bits and bobs of text and found material. I work very direct and physical with the material, testing combinations and different aesthetics.

The other part of my work is more text based, and often derive from books and articles about human/nature relations. I read a lot of theory about the subject, both artist writers, but also literature from more specialized fields of science. At some point the two parts of my practice meet and become specific projects to develop. Sometimes the link between the literature/texts and the objects/ photography/art piece is very clear, and sometime you might have to dissect it a bit. I once went to a lecture with Sonia Boyce, where she described her work as "post intentional" and I am tempted to steal that phrase for my own work. I guess you are very right in your observation that there is both a very physical and conceptual space at the same time, not unlike the themes I try to discuss. There might be as simple as me trying to mimic an already established understanding of our surroundings as something split in two. I guess you can always find a duality, and some uncertainty in all attempts at describing something trough one single "channel", so you have to "use all means necessary”. Kind of funny that I am trapped in the same understanding that I am trying to address and possibly change...

YCS: What first drew you to visual art and what does it mean to you now that you sustain a long term engagement with it?

HR: Like a lot of things in my life it is part change, part luck, and part stubbornness. As I continued my studies in art, and got accepted to the different universities I discovered that an art context is the only place I could say or state something without it being something final. I like all the diverse aspects of stating or commenting on something trough art making, and in that process open a discussion you might not even planned on. I am fascinated and also a bit addicted to the ambiguity and double communication where you can hint, point, poke, test and manipulate to get a reaction, without having to find any correct answer. I think it is so important to have this area for an alternative kind of communication in a society. Our words and language can be limited, and there is so many other things to explore, both visual and emotional.

YCS: You studied Fine Arts to MFA level, finishing at Valand School in Gothenburg, Sweden. Why did you select the fine art spectrum over specialising in one media? What influence can you discern this has had on the development of your practice?

HR: This is not a very distinct decision, I tend to choose the media that fit or suits the project or issue I want to discuss. But in the end I am most interested in photography as a medium, with its almost given indexicality. It is the media that, in my opinion, most bluntly try to represent something outside of its own limitations. It is an iconic media to "collect the world", and I can’t help but using that attribute, now can I?

The interest in photography is also the reason for me choosing to finish(?) my education at Valand in Gothenbourg. Valand has a very varied group of students, divided into different department, both film, fine art, creative writing, and photography. The photography education have a long tradition in Gothenbourg and I wanted to come in contact with this, but at the same time keep my engagement with Fine Art. We also had our thesis projects and graduating exhibitions in collaboration with the photo department, which was a very positive experience. I guess that being in such a multiple media environment makes you less interested in what media you work in. It did not take me long to realise that everyone at school had the same goal: to comment and communicate something.

It is also worth mentioning that the Fine Art education in Norway, where I attended my bachelor studies, are not so media based. You are free to use and mix the media you feel are suited for your art and studio practice. This has been both very liberating, but at the same time a challenge in such and early state of an art practice. Looking back at it today, and at all the time I was given to explore different media and not be forced to take a choice has gained my work, and also made my practice broader in some sense. I can always "think my projects through" in different media, and then decide which is the most suited, and that is kind of a luxury.

YCS: You tend to exhibit your work in gallery contexts where the different mediums can intersect, with some additional editorial publication of the photographic works. What is your main aim for presentation and how are the display choices determined?

HR: Well, I guess my main aim for presentation is to do some kind of subtle pointing, not to be so upfront, but let the artworks figure in an almost indirect way. Sometimes I use text that are gathered from other sources, as you would use an footnote in an academic text. In other words: texts functions as a footnote in the gallery, to maybe, not explain the piece, but to add some additional information that could point the viewer in a direction when watching the artworks. You might even call it an text/art collage. When it comes to the different choices of instalment I always try to mimic, or at least keep in mind the most "boring" or "common" way to show the objects I have chosen, and try to work around this in some way. If it was possible I would make the presentation invisible, and that might the reason why I have chosen to exhibit mainly in galleries.

YCS: You have participated in artist residencies - how do these experiences suit your working style?

HR: Actually I have not participated in any artist residencies as an artist, only as an coordinator and host. In 2014 me and my man arranged a "test residency” at the small town and farm where I live. We had 5 artist living at the farm, and arranged an guided art walk alongside the walking/cycling lane, where I functioned as a guide, so in that way I participated. This summer we had 2 visiting artists who exhibited in the local community house. It is very awarding having people come to our home, working, discussing and discovering new aspects of the place you live.

But, I would like to attend residencies in the future, I think that you always gain from travel and work other places, you get the opportunity to "start fresh" and look at your practice from other points of view.

YCS: You have also initiated and hosted these artist residencies, as well as acted as Board Member for Galleri Blunk. Why is it important to you to have a role/influence in the art world in this way?

HR: I think the ability to make possibilities to other artist, and trough that get to know other modes of working, installing, presenting and of course discuss and meet colleges is very important. Through making a platform for others I also feel like I am giving something back to the art community in another way than just making art. And, of course in the end there is also a lot to learn form other people, and I think my practice gains from observing and helping other artists in there work. It is a win-win situation basically!

Oh, and I almost forgot the most important thing; there is also a very keen audience where I live now. There is not so many cultural events going on here at the countryside in Norway, so the running of a residency is slowly becoming an important part of the local community. It is very awarding to arrange something that make people meet, talk and think about something a little bit different.

YCS: How do you currently exist as a practitioner - are you a full time artist and how do you fund your practice?

HR: As of now I am living on grants that I received when finishing my MFA at Valand. I also worked part time in an hardware store for a while, and am going to be the janitor at the community house soon. We have also started farming, and have some cows living here. But you know, this funding of practice is kind of unstable stuff, so there might be more part time jobs in the future.

But there is some things happening this year. This fall I am having an exhibition in an artist-run gallery called Blokk, in Bergen, Norway. And this spring I am restoring an old barrack on wheels that will become part studio, part touring gallery this summer. You have to use a tractor to move it! So, yes, things are in motion, but not full time yet...

Image Copyright belongs to Hannah Rosvoll.

www.hannahrosvoll.com

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CASSANDRA KLOS, 1991, USA

YCS: Your series' are narrative investigations that broadly explore the philosophy of existence. How did you discover this theme was of interest?

CK: I think I just like the question "why?" more than the question "what?" Why is this person the way they are? Why do these things exist? Why were they treated this way? It's actually very psychological. And I approach pictures this way and somehow it always revolves around overall existence.

YCS: Simulation, re-enactment, and archival research feature regularly in the work. Would you elaborate on the purpose of these devices? At what point in your process do you begin to see a project clearly?

CK: I have always liked to look at old photos and documents ever since I was a kid. My dad was obsessed with Polaroids. I feel like they hold so much power with attached memories, connotations, and emotion. It mixes in with the false notion that photography reveals the ultimate truth. And if you can manipulate the truth of a photograph, through simulation or reenactment, then what happens? I'm interested in that feeling of a dual reality existing through a photograph.

Every narrative I tell has a different start point and a different end point. How much I have planned ahead of time depends on the project. I think once I have honed in on a topic I just start shooting until I have a couple I'm happy with. Then I use the ones I'm happy with as building blocks to make other images. The projects just tend to grow from there.

YCS: Of what part of you does photography provide fulfilment?

CK: I'm most fulfilled by the act of getting involved in something I wouldn't normally have access to. I find that experience very rewarding.

YCS: Your undergraduate degree at SMFA Boston combined fine art photography and psychology; why are the two subjects linked for you? Was art school necessary to you becoming an artist?

CK: I originally wanted to do art therapy. Then I did an internship and learned more about it and realized it wasn't my cup of tea. I was half way through the psychology major at this point and decided to finish it. It ended up influencing my art practice greatly when it came to research. By the end, I was focusing more on social psychology (opposed to clinical psychology) and in many ways it came full circle while I was working on The Abductees project.

For me personally, I think art school was necessary. You can learn all the practical techniques of how to use a camera outside of an art school context, but art school teaches you how to formulate an art career.

YCS: Is there a preferred mode of final resolve that you repeat and why? What does the act of display mean to you? CK: I really enjoy exhibiting my work. I'm all about having a big beautiful print that can really create a literally portal into the story. I was also taught the importance of exhibition presentation in art school and really absorbed everything I learned. Then again, I haven't really pursued bookmaking in any form, so who knows! Many peers have suggested that The Abductees should be a book, so perhaps sometime soon I will start playing around with that idea. 

YCS: You have achieved an artist  residency at the Mars Desert Research Station, and funded this through Kickstarter. Will the experience suit your working style? How was the application and funding process?

CK: Yes, I'm answering these questions in a plane on my way there! I think it's a perfect platform. It has just enough rigidity that there's no room for complacency. At the same time there is the freedoms for composure, for narrative, and for discussion. My crew is an awesome group of people from a variety of backgrounds. I'm very excited to work with them and see what images come out of it.

Try writing a fine art thesis in a scientific context - that's what the application was like. Very rigid. But you know, it had to be. MDRS is a very specific research facility, and they want the cold hard facts whether that's a food study or a photography project.

YCS: You are a 2015 Magenta Flash Forward winner - what point were you at in your practice to make it right to apply for, and what has this opportunity provided so far?

It's an emerging photographer award and at the time I felt like an emerging photographer. I still do. I had just finished college and thought, "why not." Never did I actually think I'd win. Many times when I apply for an opportunity, I'll see a juror that I respect that I want to see my work. If I get accepted to something, even better. I am fortunate that I received that award if anything because it has allowed me to make my name known in a large photographer arena.

YCS: Where have you positioned yourself professionally and how is photography involved in your salaried work? How have you found this transition?

CK: I work several jobs at a time to support my fine art practice. I work at my alma-mater helping student with equipment. I work for a portrait studio doing post-production work. I assist a local fine art photographer within his studio. I photograph weddings and events on the side. I am a "yes woman." I don't like saying no to opportunities, especially photography ones. Every single experience is a way to learn or make a connection. And with hard work, once and a while I get to take a week off here or there to focus directly on my own work.

Image Copyright belongs to Cassandra Klos.

www.cassandraklos.com

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ADELAIDE IVANOVA, 1982, BRAZIL

YCS: Your work explores ideas of identity, particularly how it is influenced by social constructs such as sexuality and manifests in visual representation. Why is this your main interest and how easy was it to isolate?

AI: I believe this interest comes from me studying journalism prior to studying photography and the fact that Ostkreuz School is very documentary based. This wish to understand or at least be in touch with "the world out there". But I am not sure about this answer, if it is right. My interest in sexuality and female body comes specifically from growing up in a macho country and in a very very very macho hometown. Having a female body on these places is a struggle everyday; it interests me in life so is musts interests me in photography. 

No, it was not easy to isolate. In my first years I tried a lot for example with fashion photography, only to discover too late that I couldn't do it, I was simply very bad at it!

YCS: There is a very natural sense to your portraiture, almost removing the presence of photographer. Would you expand on how you achieve this? Your series' include still life as a further compositional device. What does this mix afford your work?

AI: I believe that the presence of the photographer is always there, no? Of course there are series that I deal with people that are dear to me or that at least I have been spending a lot of time with, so it helps to bring this intimacy. Still life started to show up when I was doing the story on Miki and Kai ("autotomy (...)"), as a way to expand the theme, without having to have them on every picture.

YCS: When did you first become interested in photography? What does it mean to you?

AI: I am not sure, but I am not one of those natural born photographer. I started photographing Bruno, my first boyfriend, when I was 18 with a Kodac Instamatic and it felt good.

YCS: You completed your photography studies at Ostkreuzschule in Berlin, having previously studied journalism in Brazil. These subjects are historically a natural combo, but why did you wish to pursue photographic studies contemporarily? Can you discern what impact formal learning has had on your practice?

AI: In Journalism school that I went to, there was practically no photography whatsoever. So when I started working as a photographer I was really raw, without actually having no idea about it, which can be great, makes you wild and spontaneous, but at some point I felt pretty empty, clueless. I was not satisfied with that I was doing but couldn’t say why. I hope it doesn't sound judgmental (some of the most respected photographers never had an official photography education), but I simply needed it.

The greatest thing formal learning brought to me was to learn to read images. And learning to write is learning to read...

YCS: The final resolves of your work cover mixed media installation displays through to book-works and use of moving image. Why does this variety suit your practice?

AI: It depends on the theme. For example my graduation project: I was very excited about the work and wanted to do a presentation that was as diverse as the theme itself. Nowadays having spent more time with this project I understand that the book is more than enough, but it was great to try other things out.

YCS: You have undergone a residency at Can Serrat in Spain. Was this experience what you expected and would you recommend artist residencies as a learning tool? Are there further strategies you will use to continue developing?

AI: The good thing with residencies is the luxury of time - you are there to achieve a certain goal so it helps to focus. I truly like the concept of residencies but don't think it is a must. At least for me, in order to keep developing you have to find a balance between reading and keeping informed about the world, with keeping open to people around you (known and unknown). You know, paying attention to street life, listening to what people on the subway are talking, mixing yourself with the immediate community... I think this can never be bad.

YCS: Your work has been exhibited worldwide at DKW Museum Cottbus in Germany, Centre d'Art Passerelle in France and New York Photo Festival. What methods did you use to generate these opportunities - are you an active self promoter or regular submitter?

AI: I am a regular submitter, I send stuff everywhere and to every 20 "nos" you get one "yes". You just do what you gotta do.

YCS: You are employed on a freelance basis as writer and photographer. Is one medium more dominant or do the two coexist for you? What has your freelancing experience been like? Do you maintain a separation between paid and personal work?

AI: Both are equal important to me. With writing I explore more personal issues, which is a luxury I pretty much enjoy and with photography I am "forced" to spent time with others, which is more difficult for me and exactly the reason why I must do it.

I try to do everything with joy but there is obviously a difference between doing something for yourself and doing something for a client. Sometimes you can combine both, but most of the times there are completely different modus operandi and also different goals.  

       Image Copyright belongs to Adelaide Ivanova.

http://adelaideivanova.com/

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HENNA MATTILA, 1990, FINLAND

YCS: Your work investigates the personal memory and nostalgia of landscape as it influences self identity. Why is this your main interest and how easy was it to isolate?

HM: It took me years to realise why I was doing what I was doing, but when that realisation came, it was easy to work on the photos intensively. I kept taking the same pictures of the same places for years and took them without a known purpose, almost just for the sake of it. Only when I moved to England did I realise the meaning of those images and the reasons behind them, and also how their meaning and my relationship to them changed when I was living abroad. I often struggle to place myself in relationship to places and I think personally it’s very important for me to explore this subject matter.

YCS: The resulting compositions feature two levels and utilise photomontage to create visual depth. There is a sense of fragmentation and reassociation to the scenes. Would you expand on why you use these devices and how they became part of your process?

HM: After taking ‘picture perfect’ images for years I wanted to create physical graphic patterns and textures that I wasn’t quite able to create digitally. I had a film photography phase for a couple of years, but I didn’t quite get the feeling of control that I needed to have. I wanted to illustrate the feeling of seeing something but not being fully able to see it. I learned how to do inkjet transfers at university and developed the skill in the peace of my own home to get what I wanted and needed from that technique, and that is when I suppose it started. I started placing objects on the inkjet transfers, getting the beautiful textures and the close up shots from intriguing plants and flowers, things that have always visually inspired me. After that I moved to black and white graphic photomontages of landscapes. Visually I don’t think I’m quite there yet, and have many other techniques that I want to experiment with. Each of my series are unique visual representations of their subjects and I think I have many more to explore.

YCS: How did you first become interested in photography and why does it sustain your long-term engagement?

HM: I was always very fond of art and drawing, but after studying it as a hobby I sort of lost interest eventually, as it didn’t fascinate me that much anymore. I started taking pictures of nature and landscapes when I was a teenager, I very much enjoyed cycling in the countryside where I grew up taking pictures of the places that I visited constantly. I became very self-driven to take better and better images, technically and visually. I still love the rush of seeing an amazing moment or light, stopping everything else that I am doing, and going to take the picture and stay as long as is needed until I am satisfied, getting a kick from the moment and the results. Sometimes I would get quite lightheaded because I would forget to breathe while taking the pictures. That rush is very addictive and probably the reason why I still love exploring the limits of photography and visual expression.

YCS: You have studied photography to undergraduate level at UCA. Was it useful being exposed to lecturing staff [Anna Fox and Natasha Caruana for example] who are visible artists with active practices? How do you replicate the critique and feedback scenarios since graduating?

HM: I think studying photography was very helpful when thinking of learning the rules, but now I quite enjoy breaking them. Technically I am very disciplined but otherwise I don’t worry too much about what I learned or didn’t learn at university. When I was doing my bachelor’s degree the art world seemed very distant to me and I wasn’t quite sure how to approach it or what to think about it. I suppose I was concentrating more on learning to be technically and visually as good as I could be at that point. After finishing university I didn’t feel quite ready for the art world. It was doing a master’s degree that made me confident enough to start thinking about the future. Also, the competitions that I have been successful in introduced me to the art world, without me having to worry how to join it. I don’t think I try to replicate the critique and feedback scenarios after finishing university, but if I need help or I’m insecure about something, I have a conversation about it with someone who I know will explain their opinions and the reasons behind them.

YCS: How do the final resolves of your series' manifest? Have your curatorial postgraduate studies had an impact on this process? What meaning does the act of display hold for you?

HM: My postgraduate studies enabled me to have distance to my work as an artist and see it from the curatorial point of view. It also gave me a more general view of the art world itself, rather than just from the artist’s point of view. When it comes to making decisions about my artwork I just simply trust my own vision. Everyone else has their own agendas and opinions no matter what I would like to achieve visually and content wise, so I have learned to ignore that and I think only just after that have my artworks started to achieve something and be successful. I want and need to be surprised by my own artwork, see something that I didn’t expect to see or didn’t know I wanted to see. I don’t demand perfection from myself but I demand myself to be in love with the pictures I have created. I have one person who I have a kind of trust and understanding with, who I share my projects with before I make them public. This person understands my motifs and goals and knows how to help me visually, and also just purely to get confirmation from someone that what I’m doing works. I’m not obsessive or hysterical about my display but demand good quality. I have an excellent framer who understands how my work should be displayed and it’s good to be surrounded by professionals from different trades.

YCS: How did your association with Millennium photo agency occur [both logistically and ideologically]?

HM: I was found for Millennium Photos at my BA Graduate Show in Rochester UCA in 2013 and been with them since then. It is a wonderful opportunity to sell my work and get publicity, and also display my pictures in an online website available for everyone, and which also attracts other viewers than just the ones that are already familiar with my work.

YCS: You are a winner of Magnum Photos 2015 Graduate Photographer Award - what tangible opportunities has this led to? Your work was also selected for The Photographer's Gallery FreshFaced + WildEyed 2014; what is your best tip for making submissions?

HM: The success I have had has first of all given me publicity and made my work more available to the public, but most of all given me the drive and recognition to be convinced I am doing something right. It has made me very pleased to be part of the cultural world of London and I am looking forward to what will happen in the future. Right now I am looking forward to the tutoring sessions and conversations with my Magnum photographer tutor, which was part of the prize of the Magnum Graduate Photographer Award. Interesting galleries, agencies and art consultants have contacted me and I am looking forward to future collaborations with them.

The main thing for me has been to learn how to ignore the personal doubts about the strength of my work and just to be brave and put myself, and my artwork, out there. Also, I would advise to know what you are entering for: if you are a student, enter student competitions. If you are a recent graduate, enter recent graduate competitions instead of starting with competitions that you have to spend quite a bit of money for that have thousands of submissions and only one winner. Standing out from the crowd is important but shouldn’t be tried for the sake of it; you can never know what the judges are really looking for. Be your unique self, get help with proof-reading and don’t be too hard on yourself if you weren’t successful.

YCS: Are you a full time artist? How does photography feature in your salaried work? What tools do you use to maintain motivation for your personal practice?

HM: I am not currently a full time artist, but that suits me at the moment. Being a full time artist is a lonely job and not my only passion in life. I have always found conversations very inspiring as a way to get new ideas and develop my existing ideas. I work in an independent bookshop and have also just started freelance translating; every week is different which works well for me. I work with very inspiring intelligent people and hear all sorts of stories from customers all the time, which encourages me to be inspired by life, and art is all about depicting life. I’m constantly inspired by something, whether it’s a good story, piece of music or a picture. I think if you lose your interest generally towards life it’s hard to be creative.

                    Image Copyright belongs to Henna Mattila

www.hennamattila.com

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KE PENG, 1992, CHINA

YCS: There is an experience of dislocation at the centre of your work Primal Planet. By visually reconnecting with the province you left, you explore sense of belonging and of self. How did these themes come to dominate, and what is their role in your overall thematic interest?

KP: The dislocation was also a physical one. I relocate to Shenzhen with my family in 1994, then I grew up with this crazy booming city. I hope to reconnect with the first place I have been in the world, so I started photographing in Hunan. My overall thematic interest has gradually became about how the different connect and distinctions within the similar. I try to understand things that are dramatically different than myself. I always felt like I have to although it is hard. In middle school, I first realized how my male classmates are different from me. I am fascinated by how they stay unemotional and detached, and how being logical and rational is important to them. I was interested in observing them, because the characters they own so effortlessly I would never have. The things disgusted and annoyed us, that we desperately want to escape are actually important. They are probably inescapable, because we are bothered so much that are not able to just simply ignore them. They say something about ourselves that we have a hard time understanding or accepting. The opposite energy generated because of repression is actually very close to what was original there. Like we find robots look so similar to ourselves creepy.

Although I make a lot of photographs in Hunan more than any other places, I don’t think I would want to live there for a very long time (more than a year). I can only imagine living there. I think about my photographs over time, and they are about that.

YCS: Your formal approach mixes landscape, portraiture and still life in quiet composition. The images are best viewed carefully, each one offering details towards the broader reading. Why is this your visual style? At what point in your process do you become aware of meanings?

KP: The mixture of different types of photographs came to many photographers naturally. I have always feel strongly about a series of diverse images that are related internally. I would say my visual style is subtle, vibrant and highly-composed. It is not very loose or humorous. That’s something I need to work on if continue to trust my intuition - don’t overthink while shooting. A lot of them seem to be about little moments that happened within tenth of a second. 

I think I started to look at many projects in sophomore year. It was after my first trip to Hunan in 2013, I realised that I should keep making photographs there.

YCS: Do you recall when photography became important to you? Of what part of you does it provide fulfillment?

KP: I realised my natural tendency to photography in middle school, in which I spent the majority of my time doing what others (the school) told me to. I had many limitations and boring routines, no summer camp, no middle school photo class. I was allowed three hours getting on the internet in a whole week. For an teenage that was a disaster and kind of sad. I usually use all my three hours uploading pictures I took. I was interested because I was able to create something different from what I normally see. That was fulfilling to me.

YCS: You left Advertising and Public Relations studies to pursue a photography degree, recently graduating from Rhode Island. Why was formal learning relevant to you - did you feel it was necessary to becoming an artist? Describe the impact of studying outside China.

KP: Experience in previous college accelerated my decision making. After first a couple of months in college, I realised very quickly how my major and things I have been learning against my original will. That whole experience was awakening.

I wasn’t thinking about being an artist at first. I was thinking that I should do something I truly enjoy, and spend all my time and effort on it in my early twenties. No matter what it is, so I don’t regret later. After that, I was hoping to figure out how to keep doing it while supporting myself. My undergraduate program had an enormous impact on me. I met the most talented and wonderful people here. These past three years have been the most rewarding experience for me.

YCS: Exhibitions are a recurring final resolve of your work - are there particular presentation details that best suit your work and how do you determine these? Do you see this element evolving in the future?

KP: For my most recent work, Leaky Logic and a Fugitive Fish, a collaboration with my peer photographer Justine Chang, yes, exhibition is the primary element we were considering, because the space and schedule was determined in advance. We mixed both our work together to create a refreshing and more complicated sequence. The decision of display and various sizes were meant to speak to the two different voices and the new rhythm we created.

However, I don’t usually think about presentation while making photographs. All the elements I force on are happening within the frame. Presentation methods aren’t considered parts of the work, so it is effortless and invisible. I would like to learn more about materials. Many new projects could come from there.

YCS: You have gained valuable experience assisting Brian Ulrich and Ji Yeo. How did these opportunities become part of your skill range? What do they offer you in terms of professional insight?

KP: I am grateful for getting to know many talented and wonderful people. The most rewarding part is being able to observe closely how they work and learn from their amazing work ethics. Many of them are not only artists and photographers, but also family members and mentors for many people. I was amazed by their ability to play different roles in life, and maintain their artistic practice along with many other obligations. To me it was very hard to find the balance. I was having difficulties eating and sleeping properly when I just want to get shit done.

I learned the importance of engaging in communities and being supportive for peer artists. To be active and to engage with current issues, socially. Don’t hesitate to promote myself after all the effort and time spent in making work. If they are not good enough now, keep working. They will get better. After all, nobody is going to do it for me anyway. I also realised how important it is to separate myself from my own practice when viewing and experiencing other people’s work. It is very hard, but one has to remember, in the end that is someone else’s work but not yours. Many admirable artists and photographers have their direct and specific interests, and still are helpful for others in terms of talking about their work.

YCS: The Lighthouse Works Fellowship have selected you for an upcoming artist residency on Fishers Island, New York. What is it about the residency experience that inspires you?

KP: I have never lived on an island before. As a miniature of a bigger continent, I was curious how it feels to have all water surround me, and I am actually able to walk around the land under my feet and end up in the place that I first started. As a recent graduate, I also have limited choices because of financial restrictions. The Lighthouse Works gives great support to their artists.

YCS: Where do you hope to position yourself as a creative? Is making a salary from photography an aim?

KP: I chose to believe that there is something unique and special about a photographic image: the relationship, the confrontation and the “reality world”, where there is only one sun and people would lose their defence after being pointed at for fifteen minutes. I would like to be a working photographer and artist. I consider myself a realist. My subjects would usually come from the real world, real people and real events. I am less interested in forms and shapes when it comes to photographs, unless it is referential. I think after photography was invented, the “universal image bank” has established a new branch: the photographic library. Photography shouldn’t be intimidated by being repetitive with the “images” in the long history of painting. What it should be aware of is Photoshop. However, the boundary to me is still very clear based on the artist’s motivation. 

Many of my classmates from middle school and high school now work for investment banks, accounting firms in Manhattan and start-ups in the Bay area, etc. Growing up in institutions that academic performance was the most important thing, I tried hard to manage what was expected from me although I know it won’t be where I would end up. I always hope to do what I love to support myself, and figure out a way to live with world and society. I would rather take care of animals or sell food to make salary.

Image Copyright belongs to Ke Peng.

www.kepeng.org

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SAMANTHA SEALY, 1991, USA

YCS: There is a sense of mysterious melancholy to your work, in which the scenes photographed become glimpses into spaces of the imagination. Are you conscious of the themes that occupy you and why? 

SS: I’ve always felt like an outsider no matter where I am. Like I’m not really a part of the world or included in any sense. Although it wasn’t my aim to portray that in my work at the time I made it, looking back I think that is a primary theme. How I see or would like to see the world rather than how it really is. And unfortunately I think I’m just an unhappy and lonely (currently) person privately so it does show in certain bodies of work.

YCS: Your work rests in experimentation with analogue processes, ranging from layered negatives to burning and writing upon the image surface. How did this come to be your visual style? Would you outline your working process; from selecting starting image or method, through to how you know a piece is complete?

SS: When I was younger, I couldn’t afford digital cameras. I used old film cameras (disposables, polaroids, simple plastic 35mm etc.) up until my sophomore year of high school when I learned how to develop film & photographs in a darkroom. It became my passion. The darkroom was a place I could be alone & relax while also being productive. I started layering negatives & photographs my junior year of college for a “alternative process” project & since then I’ve really made it a part of my regular routine.

With layering photographs I get cheap prints from a local store & match ones I like together. I don’t limit myself to current photographs, I often go through old ones that could work with some of the new as well. It’s hard to explain because I so often have no idea what I’m doing or where I’m going with a piece until I try it, put it online & see how I like it compared with previous work. I have so many pieces on my Tumblr that I’ve posted that I would never consider part of my “portfolio.” I have so many variations of pieces that I like to document where I’ve been & where I am when I feel completely satisfied with a piece.

YCS: Can you recall the first experience that encouraged you to start taking pictures for yourself?  Why do you continue?

SS: My first experiences with taking photographs were largely part of not wanting to be photographed. There are very few photos of me from 12-20 years old because I never liked having my photo taken. But there are plenty of photographs I took through those years. I started taking pictures when I was really young because I just liked to have things and places “to myself.” I used to make my parents buy me the most ridiculous plastic and now obsolete instant film cameras because I wanted to collect all the places I’ve ever been and all the things I’ve ever seen. At the time it seemed absurd but now that I’m a photographer now it all makes sense.

YCS: You achieved your undergraduate degree in photography at University of Connecticut. What impact did formal study have on your work? How have you found the transition to self-sufficient creativity?

SS: Going to UConn for my undergraduate degree in photography was extremely helpful because they had some of the supplies & facilities I needed in order to create the kind of work I wanted. Also critiques are somewhat essential to becoming a better artist. It’s extremely hard to step away from your own work and look at it objectively. I can think of so many pieces I didn’t like that others really connected with and encouraged me to make a part of a body of work. Sometimes I think if it weren’t for my professors/peers I would have significantly less work available to the public than I do now because I dislike so much of my own art. As I said before the hardest thing to do is to see your work objectively so not having the amount of feedback I did while I was studying in college has been the most difficult transition. I went from getting daily feedback to very little. But I’ve always found it very easy to go and shoot on my own without being prompted. I studied at a community college before I went to UConn and there was only one photography class there so I really did everything on my own back then.

YCS: Your work was exhibited in the Magenta Foundation Flash Forward Festival Undergraduate Photography Now show. What were your display choices and how did you determine these? Is there a final resolve that best suits your practice?

SS: The Undergraduate Photography Now show was put together by the curators. I had black frames and white mats for my two photographs. So far all I’ve really done in my career is framed pieces because before recently all of the shows I had been involved with were student related and very formal. Moving forward I think it may be in the best interest for my work to move away from the norm. I’m not sure what it is yet but once I have the funds to experiment more I’m sure I will figure out what is best for me.

YCS: Who are your mentors and how have they influenced you?

SS: The only mentor I’ve ever really had was one of my professors from UConn, Frank Noelker. He is pretty much the only reason I graduated from school. I’ve had a really rough few years and although he didn’t know me at all, when I transferred to the university he was extremely caring and kind to me. He always gave me honest feedback about my work and was very understanding about my current circumstances. It’s extremely hard to go into a program where many of the teachers know and have had a close relationship with certain students for years. As I said before, I often feel like an outsider and he was one of the only professors that helped me feel like less of a stranger there.

YCS: You have achieved a number of online features for your work including F-Stop Magazine and Phases Photography Magazine. Has self promotion and regular submitting proved constructive for you? How do you plan to expose your work going forward?

SS: Yes, when I have free time I spend most of it looking for online magazines, blogs, etc. to submit my work to. If it wasn’t for self promotion I would not be where I am today. It’s extremely helpful to me to see what people are drawn to with my photographs because again, it’s hard for me to look at my work objectively. Although I have my favorites they may not be my “best” pictures so through social media it’s helped me to learn that there’s no point hiding my “mistakes” or pieces that didn’t work out the way I planned. So many of my mistakes have ended up being the reason I am even on so many blogs and websites. Also I feel that the area I’m from doesn’t have a huge art scene so social media is really my best option for promotion and exposure of my work. I plan on submitting to more juried shows and exhibitions in the area and maybe some day have a small solo show at a local gallery.

YCS: How are you currently existing as a creative practitioner, and is there a longer term outlook you work towards? What is your attitude towards the sale of your images?

SS: Currently I am trying my best to take photographs when I can. My day job is very hectic and at times draining so being motivated on my days off to go out and shoot is hard. Thankfully I have at least one day off a week and the weather has improved significantly so I’m hoping to create a regular schedule for me to shoot. I have so many ideas right now but until I can get more sleep/finish building my darkroom it’s been hard. I spend less time shooting and more time self promoting than anything. I enjoy selling my images because the thought that someone has a piece they consider worthy of display in their homes or wherever they may be is an honor. And receiving money for something you created and love to do is always nice. At times it’s frustrating because I see photographers who started promoting themselves on social media (especially Flickr) at the same time as me who are way more “popular” than I am/able to sustain a constant income by being a fine art photographer. Sometimes it makes me feel like I’m not really a fine art photographer since I make so little money from it and am not very well known but I’m trying to get out of the habit of thinking that way. Maybe someday I’ll have the financial success as a fine art photographer as others, maybe I won’t. But the fact that there are people out there, no matter how little, that consider my work worthy of purchase is still an incredible feeling.

                             Image Copyright belongs to Samantha Sealy.

http://cargocollective.com/samanthasealy

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MARGAUX ROY, 1990, FRANCE

YCS: Your work observes partial form, muted colour and ambiance, to express overlooked everyday detail. Meaning is applied unconsciously, often via later association. What key themes occupy you and why? How did you become aware of them?

MR: I started to take pictures very spontaneously. I didn't have a theme but my photos expressed beach, sun, fragments of lives, colors. I didn't know why. I keep taking these kind of photos. But I'm more aware of what I do, before and after the shooting. I try to be less naive than the past.

YCS: There is an intuitive aestheticism to your composition style. What role does conscious editing therefore have in your process? Would you outline how you produce an sequence? Why is the portrait orientation so dominant?

MR: Editing is very important for all photographers. For me, it's half of the work. It give directions of what you want to say. I started to take photos in the portrait orientation when I started to make videos, in the horizontal format. It was clearer in my mind, to think "okay, I am going to shoot a video, so use the horizontal format". I usually carry my camera outside. When I see something interesting, I take a picture. Back home, I select the pictures I prefer, and try to sort them in order to tell a story.

YCS: Of what part of you does photography provide fulfillment?

MR: I always share my time between personal work and professional work. I appreciate when people enjoy the personal work, which I do for  myself. I made a very personal video named "J'ai pas de bande-son". It took me one year to show it to people, because I was afraid of reactions. Finally, a couple of people send me messages to tell me that they enjoyed the video. I didn't expect to that at all!

YCS: You achieved your photographic degree at Gobelins in 2012. Was it a straightforward decision to study photography? What impact has formal learning had on your work?

MR: No, it used to study economics for 2 years. It was a mistake! I always wanted to do photography but my parents thought that there weren't jobs in the art field. After two years following night classes in art and a lot of dinners talking to my parents, they finally were convinced and they let me progress onto a photography school. It obviously has had a big impact on my work. I learnt a lot of things, from using a camera (I used to shot in Automatic mode), to retouch with Photoshop. It also opens my mind to other style of photography. I am more accurate when I take a photo and when I see photos by others.

YCS: How do you envision the final presentation of your series? What draws you to this resolve over others?

MR: I will probably make small books one day. And I would like to print some of my photos as well. I am still in the thinking-process at this time so it's difficult to talk about it. Nevertheless, I write my ideas down in a notebook!

YCS: Your work is regularly featured online, having been published by Its Nice That, Paper Journal, and Dust Magazine. You've also achieved some commercial work with Mint Magazine and Pictoresq. Do you generate these opportunities yourself, and how? What benefits have they provided your career so far?

MR: I sometimes submit my work via email, when I think that it will suit the style of the webzine/brand. And people contact me as well, by finding my work on these kind of blogs. It's a bit early to say that I can live with photography at this time. I am currently travelling in Australia. I decided to spend one to two years abroad, to improve my English and discover other things than the Parisian life. I grew up in Paris, did my studies and I will probably work in this city. I wanted to live in an other place for a short period of time, even if I don't do things directly linked to the photography.

YCS: Moving image is increasingly prominent in your practice, with "I have no soundtrack" extending the observations of your photography to multiple layers. What does video offer your creativity that photography doesn't?

MR: The video process helps me to create a narrative, which is more difficult when I take photos. I am really interested in the sound process. Sometimes, I can convey emotion thanks to the movement of the subject and the sound. I don't want compare photo and video. They are different, you work on them differently, even if the image is the common thing.

YCS: How are you existing as a practitioner right now? How does photography feature in your salaried work? Has it proved challenging to establish a freelance career?

MR: As I said previously, I will spend from one to two years abroad. I don't think I am a good example at this time, but I have a lot of friends who work, in digital retouching companies, or assist photographers. So, yes, you can live with photography ! But, for most of people, I think you need time to become a freelance. Photography is not only taking pictures, it's also how to run a budget, how to be with a client, how to find location, models, how to print a book etc It takes time!

                                   Image Copyright belongs to Margaux Roy.

www.margauxroy.com

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ELIN KARLSSON, 1986, SWEDEN

YCS: There is an overt autobiographical nature to your work - you explore personal history enveloped in ideals of family and intimacy. Your series' serve to test these ideals by challenging trusted depictions of them. How did you become aware of your main interest, and why does it captivate you so?

EK: There is an autobiographical structure to my work. It is something that has been developing for the past few years, in particular since I started my MA in 2012. I suppose to begin with I was looking for a way to make honest work. But I don't think of photography as therapy. The most important thing for me is the narrative, it's almost secondary that it is autobiographical. We all have stories to tell and mine just happen to come from my family. Another strong interest for me is how we believe photographs. My work has become a way for me to test that. For the series "Second Child" and "The Family" I visited local portrait photographers. First together with single father and their children. We met up outside the studio that I had booked and without knowing each-other we let the photographer take pictures of us as a family and in the photographs we look like one. There is a lot of work like this. I suppose what made the work I did fascinating for me was that we lied to the photographer- they absolutely had to believe that we were an actual family. It was an absolutely nerve-wrecking process to go through, I was so scared that the photographer was going to call our bluff. And since these fathers were all single I was filling a vacant spot for them too, if only momentarily. Some of them wanted to meet up again after, so in this was the lie started to mix with reality, that for me becomes an interesting life to live, because it is complex. 

After doing these portraits I began going to photographers for other family style photographs. For "Second Child", I went along and told the photographer I was 20 weeks pregnant, expecting a little girl. I hope to have children one day so that act brought the future into the present, for me it felt quite comfortable to pose like that. I suppose lying becomes a way to enact our futures. Eventually what is real and what is lies becomes confused. It's a little bit like memory. Memory is a very personal thing, and it can be hard to trust it to be accurate. In the work “Prologue" I visited Sweden and places related to memories of an incident when I was forced to have sex about 15 years ago. It was something I had never really spoke about, and in many ways it feels like something I have totally made up in my mind. It's a part of my life that is so far away from my life now. I grew up in this tiny place in Sweden, it was in the middle of nowhere. It was a place where everyone knew everyone and there was very little influence from elsewhere. Gender roles where very fixed and that is something I reflected a lot on after that happened, I became interested in gender politics. I felt like equality was a way for me to prevent that other people had similar experiences. It's also interesting to think about the politics of a place and how we behave in situations like that. All of these thoughts underpin my work. The work I am making comes from the same place, things that I have spent a lot of time thinking about, personal mythologies or narratives that I have not necessarily spoken about a lot. I am the authority on these narratives, and that is essential for me to be able to make the work.

YCS: The resulting compositions employ devices such as text narrative, found imagery, and construction. At what point in your process do you determine the appropriate strategy, and what factors influence that decision?

EK: It's hard to pin point this as I see it as a continuous process. I suppose making work, for me, is about consuming things like essays, other exhibitions and films. And also talking about the work with a lot of different people. It quite often seems like things just fall into place. I am making new work at them moment so I’ve started off story boarding the series. I am now collecting the images and the objects that will become the work. I am accumulating material at the beginning of a new work and I end up with lots of stuff, so there is a selection process. I curate the work from my collection which consists of a mixture of found images, text, objects and newly made photographs both landscapes and from the studio. What I use is determined by how it is progressing the narrative. It’s very important for me to see the work in its physical form, so I do a lot of printing and use a wall in my living room to try things out. If I think that something is missing or wrong I try to express it in another way. A body of work is for me never fixed, but I see all of my work as continuous and aways progressing- images or objets used in one body of work could be used again in a slightly different form in another work.

YCS: How did you first become interested in photography, and why do you continue it as a long term practice? Of what part of you does photography provide fulfillment?

EK: There are a few different things that made me interested in photography. When I was 10 or 12 I won a camera in a competition. It was a point and shoot, 35mm camera and I used it a lot. I think after that my father allowed me to use the family camera. That was magical, such a huge responsibility, it made me feel very important. I was fascinated by the camera and the inside of it, growing up using film I felt that you had to know your camera. One of our family mythologies was that my grand father had trained as an optician with Carl Zeiss in Germany, that had been a major achievement. I think we have still got his leaving certificate from the 50s somewhere. Optics was highly valued and when I became a little older I started visiting the Hasselblad Centre in Gothenburg where I lived. I saw the Bechers and Lee Friedlander and started thinking about photography but I didn't study it until much later. I’ve seen some wonderful exhibitions there, one that stands out is Sophie Calle.

YCS: You have studied photography to MA level, achieving this education in the UK. What made you seek academic learning, and was location intentional? Brighton has a strong photographic community; would you recommend a creative geographical base?

EK: When I went to uni I had already been living in the UK for a few years and life was a bit hectic. At the time I was living on the Isle of Wight, working as a breakfast chef, I was a little lost I suppose! Going to uni was something that was always an option and I remember my brother taking me on a trip to Catalunya for a week to sort me out. Photography was something I was clearly curious about so I applied to UCA, and went to study in Maidstone because it had a river and I can’t live far away from water. It turned out that the course was really great too. When I left my BA I was reading Joanna Lowry and David Green “Stillness and Time: Photography and the Moving Image" and they were both teaching in Brighton, so the course really fitted my work. It ended up taking me in a new direction, it was a perfect course and I met some really wonderful people. I think it’s very important to have a base to work from and Brighton is a great base, but I would hate to become comfortable in that.

YCS: You have exhibited as well as published bookworks. Is there a final resolve that you repeat; why does it suit your work over others?

EK: The work is always made with showing it in a gallery in mind, because my methods involve curating I suppose it suits a gallery and that is where it naturally belongs. In the process the mind just goes there when I work out sizes and methods. You sort of naturally think: "that work would look great with this frame in relationship with this.” With the new work I am making at the moment as well as thinking about it as a gallery work I am much more aware of the book as a final form. It is interesting to think of the book as a method at the beginning of a new work.

YCS: In 2012 you founded Introdex Magazine. How easy was it to establish in terms of your editorial experience? Would you outline its initial inception, through to the practicalities of maintaining it. What value do you see remaining in the editorial platform for photography?

EK: It was very straight forward to set up Introdex. I had been working with a publication project and worked with Permanent Gallery’s archive and seen the zines that they had been publishing. I wanted to give a platform for the new work that I saw and combine emerging and more established artists. It has grown into a quarterly publication each issue is loosely themed, which helps me curate and think of what works to include. It gives a purpose to continuously consuming new work and it becomes another output. Quite often I will see something that sows a seed for a new issue. I think the value of Introdex is to provide a platform for work, with an exchange between new and established photographers and writers. It resembles a gallery and although it’s called a magazine it feels to me more like an online gallery. There is always a value in seeing new work, that has got to be it.

YCS: You have participated in several group shows, as well as recently achieving your first solo show 'Familiar Constructs'. What methods do you use to generate these opportunities? Do you find alternative strategies such as formal talks or writing about photography useful for exposure?

EK: I work with two different groups and often opportunities will come out from that or from other people that I meet and work with. For 'Familiar Constructs' I worked with curator Sunil Shah. We got to know each other in Paris 2013 and he was a great person to collaborate with for the exhibition. Talks and essays are great too, like with the publishing work I do, these become another form of creativity and thinking about photography form a slightly different perspective.

YCS: How does photography feature in your salaried work? By what means do you fund your practice?

EK: I think about this a lot at the moment and it’s a tricky one. How much is my practise effected by how I earn my money? For me there has to be a separation between my income and my work. I am thinking about this because I make my money from mixture of assigned work, teaching and project assisting in arts. So photography, or art, provide me with all my income but I want to keep my personal work away from the paid work I do to fund it. With the teaching that is not an issue because you are talking about photography as a practitioner and an academic but with the assigned work you have to be really careful I think. 

Sometimes it works out differently and you end up getting opportunities that pay from exhibitions that you are involved with. This year I am working with Alice Mallet and Sarah Michel curating the Diep-Haven festival. That came about when I was exhibiting in France a few years ago, so being open to those opportunities is important to me.

                                                     Image Copyright belongs to Elin Karlsson.

www.elin-karlsson.co.uk

[you-can-see]

MOLLY MATALON, 1991, USA

YCS: Your work appears to sway between portraiture and still life in an exploration of familiar social definitions. Would you expand on the broader themes that connect your subject matter and how they came to be of interest to you?

MM: Upkeep, artifice, class, feminism, idealization, performance, obsession and desire. I am generally interested in what it means to be a woman in the world…and I grew up in a very particular part of Florida that embodies these themes and it all informs my work.

YCS: There is use of posing and the constructed alongside a sense of the awkward in your composition – in what way do you use these devices to address representation? How did you come to isolate this as your compositional approach? Additionally, what do the bold nature and colours signify?

MM: There is a clear awkwardness, “realness”, and unpolished-ness to how I go about making a portrait.  I’m interested in the uncanny and subtlety. These are all intentional devices and are byproducts of making pictures out of practice. I like to announce that I am in control of the picture. When making a portrait it might be suggested that the sitter has control of their image. I teach freshmen and pre-college students and they often have several pictures of their friends giving the peace sign, or flicking off the camera, or acting like a model. To me this is a result of not being in control of your picture. “sit like this, move your legs this way, look over here and follow my hand” A lot of people think they know how to “be” in front of a camera and sometimes it is not the best way for me to see them. As far as colors go...I like when there is a suggestion of the coordination between background color and the character of the subject.

YCS: Of what part of you does photography provide fulfillment? Why do you continue it as a long-term process?

MM: Photography is the only thing I know all of the ins and outs of. I know where it came from and I’m working everyday to keep up with where it’s going. It is my tool for relating to my loved ones. It’s a reason to travel even when I can’t afford it. It’s a long term process for me, I can’t go out and take pictures for three days and make it into a project, I’m very calculated and I need to think about what pictures are saying.

YCS: You have recently completed your BFA at the School of Visual Arts in New York; why was the academic route to photography the one you selected? Would you reflect on the effectiveness of your educational experience? How will you continue to inform your work outside of that formal framework?

MM: When I was in high school and it was time for people to start applying to colleges I had no real interests besides taking pictures and listening to music and I didn’t have any friends in high school so I didn’t want to go to college where everyone was going. It is biggest financial burden I’ll ever have. School was good for me because I am a hard worker and come from no money, a lot of the people I graduated with have a lot of money so I felt like I had to work really hard to prove to myself that I had made the right decision and that I am a good photographer. Learning about the history of photography and being in critique classes where I could verbalize how I felt about pictures was what felt most effective. SVA is one of the only schools that has a direct photography major, no painting or drawing classes unless you went out of your way to take them. Photo do or die. I think I used the first year of school to find myself. I became friends with a tight knit group of people who all have very similar interests, tastes, and goals within photography. It’s surprising how many people in a photography major actually don’t know what’s going on in photography. Having just graduated honestly it’s been hard assimilating to a ‘normal’ life outside of critique. In the last year of school my friends and I created a unique critique class led by Joe Maida . It is a small class of 7, myself, Corey Olsen, Tim Schutsky, Caroline Tompkins, Pat O’Malley, Zak Krevitt, and Jake Sigl. We still meet since graduating and are in the process of having a group show in Madrid in February.

YCS: You were mentored by Kathy Ryan (of The New York Times) during your studies; what did you gain from that experience and do you recommend mentoring as a development tool? Do you have current mentor(s) and how are they influencing you now?

MM: I was paired up with Kathy through a program at my school, so it’s hard for me to recommend people mentoring (with someone as big as Kathy) as a developmental tool. Again, I come from a privileged position from a great art school where many of my teachers have become my life long mentors. Kathy was a real treat. She is super smart and as we all know, has great taste. It was really exciting for me that she supports my work. I like to think I am my own mentor right now, there are certain close friends I feel comfortable enough with to talk to them about new work I am thinking about.

YCS: You have achieved a number of editorial features already including Matte Magazine and Landmark Magazine, as well as a commission to shoot Stoya for Dis Magazine. How did these opportunities evolve and what advantages (such as income or exposure) have they provided? How do you plan to expose your work going forward – are you a natural networker for example? 

MM: All of those people contacted me through the internet. Matt Leifheit is a good friend of mine with impeccable taste. Lots of exposure, none of them provided income, the Landmark Mag paid me  some money as a result of their kick starter. I am a natural networker I love the internet and I hate the internet.

YCS: Having both published and exhibited your work, what final resolve do you find best suits your practice? Your online portfolio presents images in staggered collaboration with each other, is this indicative of your display style more broadly at all? How do you determine your display choices? 

MM: I think my work can live within multiple venues. Tumblr is kind of a sketchbook for my work. My website is a little more refined after much consideration to pick out what goes there. My website is kind of a compromise I guess, you have to have one if you want people to find you. It’s not the best but it’s doing its job.  I think ultimately it depends on which body of work, but I think my pictures belong in book form.

YCS: How are you currently existing as a practitioner? Where do you aim to position yourself professionally? 

MM: I am a freelance photographer and I want to be making more pictures. 

      www.mollymatalon.com

Image Copyright belongs to Molly Matalon

[you-can-see]

KIRSTEN TRIPPAERS, 1989, BELGIUM

YCS: Your work explores human impact on the landscape, through subject matter ranging from land markings to built structures. Are you conscious of (or interested in) any specific cultural themes that unite all of these elements? What does your work chiefly deal with, and why?

KT: Astonishment. Nothing beats reality. I’m very amazed about the arrangements of various elements and structures I just come across in some places. This can be in a landscape, a garden or a street. I also deal with the nature and culture paradox. Does true nature still exist? Maybe, at first sight. Some areas give us the impression of not being altered by man, but they may have been, even decades or centuries ago. Usually, there’s always something that is shaped, cut or thrown away by human hand.

I'm researching whether the images I capture here, in Belgium, would resemble images made abroad. I guess they would, because the human urge to shape and control the environment is something universal. If you take a look at photography from all around the world you see this is a recurring theme. I’m following a few photographers who are making interesting work revolving around these issues among others. Shane Lynam’s series 'contours' and Wouter Van De Voorde’s work, for example. I also love the diverse work of the POC-project members, a network for contemporary images, an initiative of French photographer Charles Fréger. 

YCS: The images you produce feature quiet details. This facilitates an open and patient viewing of the work. Why are you inclined to compose this way; from where has this visual style evolved, and is this interpretation of the subject matter intentional?

KT: I’m a calm person, an observer. I like silence. During my childhood years, I would look out of the car window all the time while we were driving somewhere. During my photography studies, I learned to work with a large format camera. It forces you to work slowly and be patient. Everything, every little detail, the exposure, the composition,… just has to be right. This certainly influenced the way I photograph. It has to be right in camera. Just recently I purchased an analogue Mamiya M645, a medium format camera, I’m looking forward to making some new work with it. You can find some images from a series I’m working on right now about the terrain of a former zoo on my blog. 

The work from the photographers from the 'Becher-schule' and also new topographics influences me. This seemingly objective approach of reality is something I like. I never felt the need to stage anything. Which of course doesn't mean my photographs are objective, because that would be impossible.

YCS: What first drew you to photography? Of what part of you does it provide fulfilment? Why do you continue with it on a long term basis?

KT: As an observer, photography was a natural choice for me. Capturing the world as I see it, hopefully getting other people to look more closely too. I like the whole process - seeing an interesting scene, looking for the right point of view, photographing it, sometimes returning multiple times to capture it, post processing the work and presenting it. I guess that’s what keeps me going. Especially the analogue process is appealing, more so than digital for me. It’s more magical, and like I said before, it takes time. I just recently read a perfect quote from Eric Thomas: “Fall in love with the process, and the results will come.”

YCS: You have studied to MA level, achieving your postgraduate degree at MAD, Genk. Why did you study further, and would you discuss the value of your overall experience? Why was an academic engagement with photography the path you chose? 

KT: It wasn't easy to decide what to study when I was 18. I went for photography because I wanted to study something I loved, not necessarily something that ultimately would result in a job. My parents had a hard time settling with this idea, but they supported me every step on the way. It was a guess at the time, but I still think it was the best choice I could have made. It was very enlightening, because it was an academic study, it also required psychology, sociology, art history, economy,… classes. It wasn’t just about learning to make 'beautiful' pictures. I never wanted to make 'beautiful' pictures, at least not for my personal work. I can make a beautiful picture of a sunset, but that’s not what I want to do. Getting people to think about what they see, about their surroundings, is more interesting for me.

YCS: Is there a display choice that you repeatedly select (and why)? What strategies do you use to achieve opportunities for display?

KT: My series Landscape3 are lambda prints mounted on dibond. Not too big, not too small, big enough to see the details. That’s important when photographing things with loads of detail in medium or large format. I should seek more opportunities for display. I always have the feeling my work isn’t done yet (and it probably isn’t) and postpone taking part in calls for work. But eventually people have to see your work, so I’m working on a new website with more photographs. Also one where my photos are presented bigger and in an horizontal scroll, maybe. The relationship between photographs is very important. They influence each other. Online presence is important these days. Still nothing compares to a physical print, so maybe in the future I’ll make more work of prints and try a self-published book.

YCS: Who are your mentors and how have they influenced you? 

KT: While studying photography, I had a few teachers who really inspired me and urged me to take it to the next level. They weren’t of the steering type, they just asked questions. They let me reflect on my work, but they were also critical. I guess they influenced the way I look at photography. After completing my study, the almost daily feedback was gone. The peer evaluation was very important and instructive. This is something I know I now have to actively seek for. I’m very happy with my partner, he’s very critical too and it’s very important for me to have someone by my side who supports me and understands my work. 

YCS: You achieved an opportunity with Steve Bisson’s Urbanautica and Benetton Foundation’s workshop Zero Branco. How did this chance arise? Workshops seem to be a frequent tool for you, having also achieved a Masterclass with Lynn Cohen – what do they offer your practice as environments for learning and development? 

KT: Steve Bisson’s Urbanautica is a very powerful online platform. I was following it for a while when I saw the information about the workshop. I responded to the call and was selected to participate. It was a very intense one-week workshop with other photographers from Italy, Canada, Spain and the United Kingdom. We each conducted research about a specific agricultural topic in the region. My theme was water and I ended up photographing structures in the landscape that deal with water. It was very interesting to see the process of all the photographers and to help each other in this process. This workshop resulted in an exhibition, Zero Fotografia, consisting of both images and videos.

These workshops are a good way to meet other photographers, which I wouldn’t have the chance to meet in other circumstances. Because they are scattered around the world for example. Like meeting Lynn Cohen. She’s an amazing photographer I really look up to, so it’s great to be able to meet someone like her.

YCS: How do you currently exist as a practitioner? By what methods do you maintain commitment to personal work, do you run a studio or achieve grant funding for example? Have you managed to connect photography with earning a living?

KT: I have to be honest - I didn’t photograph very much after my studies a couple of years ago now. I needed a little break, so I followed an arts teacher-training program for a year. I’m still looking for the right balance. I’m getting somewhat restless lately, so it’s time to get out and photograph. Currently I’m teaching photography and photo editing classes. It’s a great way to work with photography every day and still being able to make personal work.

                      www.kirstentrippaers.be

Image Copyright belongs to Kirsten Trippaers.

[you-can-see]

OLIVIA STONNER, 1986, USA

YCS: Your work proposes renewed visions of familiar structures and natural occurrences. In reinterpreting them through abstracted composition, you encourage a nonrepresentational subjective view. What exact themes does this core idea explore, and why is it of interest to you? 

OS: My current work is rooted in the organic symmetry we find in nature and how it has translated over as models to use in our man made environment. With a focus on how symmetry is found in architecture and how the construction of geometrical figures making up the image create an equilibrium. This is rendered by perspective. With the intention to force the viewer to look at a structure in a way they would not commonly perceive it. Skewing the scale and perspective serves to create the illusion of uncertainty and heightens your perception of the surroundings. Allowing the viewer to pick out figures and patterns that they are comfortable recognizing. We as humans are drawn to symmetry and patterns because we are able to make sense of them; they become anchors we can base our reality in. For me, I am interested in the basic pleasure the patterns create. 

YCS: The compositions you create entail a form of viewer engagement. How pure is this approach to perception – are any further devices such as technical manipulation or post production involved? Are such considerations relevant to you in your dialogue with the audience?

OS: I'm a very straight forward photographer. I use a medium format camera and a 4x5 field camera. All I want from my end result is for it to look just like it did on my ground glass. I don't use any type of manipulation outside of the camera. I do feel that a pure approach is relevant to the audience. I want them to make the connection that this is something they can see with their owns eyes if sought after.  

YCS: Can you recall the first experience that encouraged you to start taking pictures for yourself? Why do you continue? Is there a particular image you made that holds especial value?

OS: I started taking pictures when I was in my early teens. I started by photographing my friends who were skateboarders. I wanted to capture the lifestyle we were all trying to live at the time. From there I made a pin-hole camera and started experimenting with that and other types of cameras.

I have continued to take pictures because for me, it's my outlet, it's the way I see the world, its my favorite way of expressing myself. There is one particular image that was a breakthrough image. During my sophomore year in college I created the first image that would come out of the series 'Lucid'. It was untouchable at the time but I knew if I worked hard enough I could use it as a launching pad. With time, I did. It was a rewarding experience. 

YCS: You gained your degree in 2010 from the School of Visual Arts, New York – how adequately have you found it (and New York) prepared you for all elements of creative life? Has the cost of education in relation to job availability reverberated with you? What lessons did you gather on continuing to educate your practice?

OS: SVA did a great job at preparing me for my creative life, but it is always what you take from it not what is given to you. NYC was a great place to be in college because of the diverse culture and consistent access to art. The cost of education has overwhelmed me, just like so many others. Sometimes its hard to keep your head above the water, but you remember that you love what you do and you will work three jobs, if need be, just to do it. Being an artist is not always a choice, you will find a way to educate yourself or learn new things along the way. The best thing to do is surround yourself with creative types, they will push your boundaries. 

YCS: You were mentored by Ellen Carey during your studies; what did you learn from this experience? Would you recommend a mentor as a development tool? Has it been easy to obtain something similar outside of the educational framework?

OS: You wont see eye to eye with everyone, and there is a real beauty to that. Having a mentor can be a very rewarding experience. I was lucky to have a few mentors along the way that had a connection with my work and to my process. It's not so hard to obtain a similar experience outside of schooling. You will find that a mentor can be someone who is not that far from your own age or using a different medium entirely.  

YCS: Printing on Japanese Kozo paper is a noted detail of your presentation – what is the significance? You exhibit consistently; is that your preferred mode of final resolve, and would you outline its further details? How do you generate platforms for this?

OS: I like to experiment with different processes and papers. I found that Japanese Kozo paper had the qualities I was looking for for the projects Lucid and Translucent, which were heavily influenced by zen practices. The paper is thin and allows light to pass through easily, illuminating the image. I do feel that exhibiting my work is something I strive for. I feel that once you see the images and the installation you gain an understanding of what my work is about. You can have a conversation with the work up on the walls, not through a screen or in a book or magazine. You can see the paper it is printed on, the size it is intended to be viewed at, and the other elements that might be incorporated to heighten your experience. If you put yourself and your work out there enough you will find places that would like to exhibit your work. 

YCS: You were selected as one of PhotoBoite’s 30 Under 30 Women Photographers in 2013. How did you learn of this opportunity? Describe the point you reached to feel ready to apply for this award? What advantages (or visibility) has it provided you so far?

OS: I was lucky to be selected as one of PhotoBoite's 30 Under 30 Women Photographers. I found out about PhotoBoite through an acquaintance who had been selected the year prior. To be honest, I was not sure if I was ready. I had just formulated the project, Visual Pollution, that I submitted and it was very much in it's beginning stages. I felt that it was a visually strong project that had a defined direction. I thought, well, what do you have to lose anyway? It has encouraged me to fully immerse myself in the project, including traveling to photograph. It has also encouraged me to apply for fellowships and other awards to further my work.

YCS: Where have you positioned yourself professionally, and to what extent is photography involved? How do you balance earning with maintaining a creative practice? What have you defined your best working environment to be –do you work from a studio space for example, and where are you located?

OS: I am currently a gallery director. I deal with painters more than photographers, but am working on incorporating more photography at the gallery. I have to work two jobs in order to maintain the expense of film and chemicals, so it often can become difficult to make time to shoot. I always have my camera with me, so when I see something that strikes me I am able to capture it. I work best outside. I always feel more comfortable in nature, where its quiet and you can hear yourself think. I am currently living in Hudson, NY, which is in the beautiful Hudson Valley directly across the river from the Catskill mountains, just two hours north of NYC. Being surrounded by so much beauty makes being a  photographer all the more enjoyable. 

       www.oliviastonner.com

Image Copyright belongs to Olivia Stonner.

[you-can-see]

SOPHIE DAVIDSON, 1990, UK

YCS: Your work has a diaristic nature, recording the people and environments of your general existence. While your more formal series’ extend this into considerations of gender or location. Personal connection seems imperative to your process. What exact theme(s) does your photographic interest pursue, and why?

SD: I think I mainly take photos because I am interested in people. I like meeting as many interesting people as possible and photography is the best excuse to talk to people. If I see someone around a lot or even if I've just seen their blog it's easy enough to send them a message and ask to photograph them. I choose people generally because I'm interested in them as a person as well as their appearance. I think my photographs are a basic documentations of my encounters, I present people in the way I see them or the way in which I feel they will look their best, but I am very interested in gender roles and the idea of "the female gaze." I'm interested in photographs which represent this without being seedy, photographers like Lina Scheynius and Elinor Carucci do this really well I think. I saw a lecture from Jennifer Blessing on Rineke Dijkstra and empathetic photography and that made a lot of sense to me. I'd also recommend the book "Singular Women" for anyone interested in female artists and their history, or rather lack of. I actually made my Girl Zine because I was a bit down about trying to be a female artist (/generally female) and the statements from the girls really helped me a lot and I'm very grateful for it.

YCS: The resulting compositions are consistently quiet and measured, the portraits offering an alluring glimpse into the subject. How did this come to be your visual style, and to what degree is it conscious? Would you outline your approach to portraiture – what are your essential ingredients for achieving images of people?

SD: When I am photographing someone I really make an effort to try to get to know that person as much as I can in the time I spend with them. Generally I'll start a shoot with just getting a drink with someone and explaining what I'm doing and asking them about themselves, although this is a dangerous move as I have been known to spend 3 hours talking to someone before I remember I'm supposed to be photographing them. I think you have to be genuinely interested in who you're photographing. If your subject feels you're being genuine they will project their best selves. As a whole my "photoshoots" are extremely relaxed, they're normally shot in a location known to myself or the subject, no lighting or equipment other than the camera. My top tips are to be self deprecating, I always enjoy dropping in a few drunk stories and to remember that as a whole people are pretty nice. 

YCS: Can you recall the first experience that encouraged you to start taking pictures for yourself? Why do you continue?

SD: When I began studying AS Art I was told I was achieving a U grade and a possible way to get myself out of this circumstance would be to take an interest in photography, "because anyone can do it." At first I was quite disinterested because of the reasons I began but as soon as I got into the dark room and started working with film I began to really enjoy it. I bought "Tulsa" by Larry Clark and got really into him and Nan Goldin for a while. I'd already been reading fashion magazines since I was 13 so I knew of and admired Corinne Day and Juergen Teller but had never really thought about them seriously until then. I actually didn't submit any photography in the end, I spent my A Level year making sculptures out of wire,which I did get an A for but I'm pretty embarrassed about now. I continue because I don't think I couldn't, I get jealous of people going on holidays more because of the photographs I could have taken than the tans they come back with. I'm battling with that idea of "would you rather have the experience or the photograph?" Admittedly most of the time it's the photograph unless it's food related.

YCS: You maintain a consistent online presence. This appears to be an extension of your lifestyle, but are you also aware of how it may have proved useful as a professional or creative tool? What have been the pros and cons of using a blogging platform?

SD: I am very aware of my blog and how much it has helped me with getting work. It's weird because I now live with 4 girls that are well known "bloggers" but none of us spend that much time on the internet since we've moved in together. I pretty much just go on Tumblr to update my blog whenever I have some new work I like and to visit a few favourite blogs but that's it. I've found the biggest downside of blogging is image overload, especially with Tumblr. I'll go to like a post and find I've already liked it and I can't even remember seeing it, I think that's why I've stopped using it so much. The upsides are of course the wide audience you can gain and I've never met a person that I've liked on the internet that I haven't liked in real life. Also it's great to have a way to look at photographers I admire and to see any updates they have rather than waiting on them to update their websites. 

YCS: Independent publications are a reoccurring final outcome of your works. What is it about bookform that suits your practice over the alternatives? How do you typically govern layout design, and printing sources? You’ve also worked with Antler Press on an edited zine, how was that initiated?

SD: I really enjoy buying photography books, actually any books. I really love the physical aspect, being able to bookmark pages and lie everything out in front of you and it's always much nicer to find a printed photograph you love rather than trying to find a good quality version online. 

With my own books I like leading someone through the work, I like the idea of order and the fact that the viewer is seeing the images how I want them to be seen. I normally lie all the images on a table, stare at them for a few hours and then try to put them into some kind of order then I'll just transfer the digital files into an InDesign book. I have made a new book recently that is more of a serious zine but I've looked at it so many times I'm not sure how I feel about it any more.

I worked with Antler Press because I couldn't fund the New York zine myself and I'd convinced a lot of people whose work I really admire to be in it and I didn't want to let them down. I sent them an e-mail and in the end it turn outs it's actually run by my ex-tutor, Oliver Udy, which I was pretty happy about. 

YCS: You’ve just graduated from Falmouth; will you leave with any reservations about the formal study of photography? The first year afterwards is often hard for transitioning to self-sufficient creativity; what are your immediate plans for continuing your practice?

SD: I really enjoyed studying photography at University but I realize it's definitely not for everyone. I had a foundation year and a gap year before I went so I was pretty certain of what I wanted to do and I think that definitely helps. I heard so many people on my course say they couldn't wait to not touch their cameras for a few months on our last day and I was just thinking "I can't WAIT to take photos!" Although I didn't say it out loud because I didn't want them to think I was a nerd, but to be honest I am and I don't mind.

I've just got a part time temporary job at Waterstones (which I'm pretty excited about, 40% discount) and then I really need to get my act together and try and e-mail some agencies and sort out my website. I've got a little project I'm doing called "Sad Plants" which is pretty self explanatory and a few commissions but that's it for now.

YCS: I like your “...the more you do for yourself the more others will ask you to do for them...” advice. You have achieved some editorial opportunities with Chinti & Parker and Unreal Estate; were these developed out of this ethos? What is your best (goes without saying) tip for interacting with and delivering for commissioners?

SD: I have spent the last 4 weeks living in London and I've hardly sent any e-mails. E-mails, I've realised, are very important and not so scary to send as I think they are. I think this ethos is definitely true and I can't believe I'm not even taking this advice myself right now. I've found when I've put my work online consistently I always end up with more feedback or work from the work I've posted, it's very important to keep your work up to date. The Chinti & Parker and Unreal Estate commissions I actually got through friends, firstly a friend showed my blog to someone at Chinti & Parker and she liked it so asked me to take some photographs for them, which was probably my dream commission because I got to shoot my beautiful friends in some beautiful clothes. Unreal Estate is actually owned by a friend of mine so that was also pretty lucky! I think for commissions you have to do everything as quickly and smoothly as you can, always talk with the client to check they like what's happening. Also I think you need to work out some times whether someone is doing you a favour or if you're doing them one because it can be annoying for someone to be pestering you when you're helping them out and they don't realize how long it takes to scan film in properly (jeez). 

YCS: You have also achieved constructive experience by regularly assisting Jamie Stoker. How did this become part of your repertoire? What does it offer you in terms of professional insight? By what further methods have you developed your creative background?

SD: Assisting Jamie has been really great. I asked to assist him initially for our "Client Brief" module in second year, we had to shoot some commissioned work or intern. I sent Jamie an e-mail because I'd admired his work for a number of years and thought I could learn a lot from him and I have. He's a technical whizz and it's great to work with someone who is (fingers crossed) just a few years ahead of you so you can get an idea of a good path to take and some relatively close to home tips. It's been really interesting for me to see his professional progression over the last year and he's doing so well. I've spent the last few weeks assisting at an e-commerce studio to try and learn some technical tips and today I actually assisted on an ad for Strongbow which was very interesting. I think you just have to take every opportunity you can and learn as much as possible. 

          www.sophie-davidson.co.uk

Image Copyright belongs to Sophie Davidson.