In a bid to save a bit of money, I recently transferred my photography portfolio over to a new host, and as such I was fondly looking back over my a fashion photography days, and I thought I would start a new mini series of posts to feature some of that work, and to tell some stories about those days, as the archive is now collecting dust (virtually and in reality). As such, a new mini-series of posts has been born - adding it to the pile.
My fallow period began after college. Most of my friends went off to university to delve into their various interests, but I still didn’t know what to do with my life (still don’t, but that’s besides the point) and I didn’t want to undertake a degree without being fully committed to it. I eventually did go to university several years later, but as it was then, I was cut loose from education and very much directionless. The subsequent months thereafter were very difficult. I felt as though I lived at the Job Centre, and quite often I was forced to work at certain places for free in order to gain experience. One of the most egregious of these was being made to peel security tags off old DVD stocks in HMV. My shifts weren’t too long, but that was the only blessing as by the end of each day my finger nails were bleeding from the repetition. As you can imagine, I gained very little experience from this, other than the confirmation that the working world could be a bit shit. This placement only lasted about a month, and at the end of it, instead of offering me some actual paid shifts, they booted me out and shipped in another dope from the Job Centre. Hundred of CVs, many enforced Job Centre courses, and dozens of unsuccessful interviews later, and my optimism was just about spent. All of that grief for £50 a week…
The upside to this period was getting to do some volunteering in an Oxfam store, which did actually provide me with some useable experience, as well as the chance to meet a great many lovely people. I also managed to read quite a few of the (now Legacy) Star Wars novels during the breaks at the enforced courses I attend too, so at least those weren’t a complete waste. As the tedium of job seeking took it’s toll, I also found myself with a great deal of free time. Much of that was poured into videogames, of course, but I was itching to do something more creative. I had always been interested in photography since a very young age, and I pursued it as one of my A levels at college for a bit but ended up dropping the course in favour of my other classes in my second year. This killed my passion dead for a long time, but while looking for work, I ended up purchasing a cheap digital camera and it reignited my interest in the medium. I then dug out my dad’s old Nikon F and as I relearned the intricacies of the practice (both digital and analogue), my mind was set. Photography was going to be my thing. I started out with still life and nature, but I eventually started to want people in my shots. I was signed up to websites like DeviantART and Flickr at the time, and I was seeing lots of fashion editorial and portraiture work uploaded there, and I was inspired to give it a go. There was only one snag, I didn’t know anyone. This will make me sound really old now, but I put an advert in a local publication called the Friday Ad, and that’s how I got in touch with one of my first models. I also used the website ModelMayhem too, and eventually I built relationships with several modelling agencies in London, which made things far easier!
Over the subsequent years, I built out my kit, getting myself a Canon 5D Mark II, a handful of nice lenses, and a raft of 35mm/120/Instant cameras. I refined my style too, and put together bigger and more exciting photoshoots, bringing together teams of models, stylists, designers, hair stylists, and make-up artist. This led to my work being published on dozens of websites, in a bunch of magazines, in a couple of books, and being shown in several exhibitions in my home town of Brighton, in London, and even New York - exciting stuff. This went on for about a decade, and during that time I learnt how to direct, compose, edit, develop, and publish, and these skills have proved eternally useful. Eventually my interest in fashion and editorial portraiture waned, and my focus shifted towards more conceptual work. This was around the time I decided to enrol at university, and there my [VR]Ography work was born. I already knew how to take photos by the time I enrolled, but I wanted to build my knowledge of the craft in a more intellectual capacity, and so I opted to a three year BA in Photography at the University of Brighton. I chose that one partly because it looked good, but also it was about a ten minute walk from my house… I like convenience. My fashion work continued a little bit thereafter, but the frequency in which I was setting up shoots diminished considerably, and it has now been a good few years since. Suffice to say, it was a big part of my life, and of course, it leading to my time at university ignited my passion for wiring, so it’s all linked in some way.
In putting this series together, it’s my goal to remaster my older work, to revitalise my portfolio, and to share it in a more concise format. A big task, but hopefully it’ll be interesting to devote a little slice of the blog to feature the work and to share some behind the scenes. Nothing to do with videogames, but hopefully you’ll forgive the occasional diversion into navel-gazing. In the next instalment, we’ll take a look at a one of these shoots in-depth, so be sure to check back then if photography is of interest to you.
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