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ESSAY CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT
Vicky Slater
Colourblind
Alain de Botton wrote…..”Portraits can reveal sides of yourself that you are unused to seeing, over which you haven’t extended ownership….they can pick up on features that you don’t identify with and made no claim over….aspects of yourself that you don’t recognize and haven’t yet made friends with. Your character can be read from different angles, in different lights, through different lenses, through different lovers.”
It could explain why I can take a portrait of someone and think they look beautiful whilst they wrinkle up their nose and say it looks nothing like them. It could also explain some of my feelings about these photographs.
When I began this series it was simply an exploration of pinhole photography, something I hadn’t tried before. I soon found myself seduced by the saturated colours and the painterly qualities that pinholes could produce, all the time turning the camera on myself as I was reluctant to ask someone else to give the amount of time that these pictures require. Obviously not being able to see through the lens, I couldn’t compose these long exposures so never really knew what I was going to get and there are many, many more failures than successes, especially as I am deliberately moving slightly during the exposure, to express a feeling of time and motion. And though I find it interesting how unfamiliar the images are to me, they are a “me” I don’t know… it’s the colour, the abstractness and sense of passing time that keeps me making more.
Bio
Vicky Slater resides in Salisbury, Southern England with her husband and three children. She is passionate about photography, using mainly vintage film cameras and natural light. Whilst she loves all methods from pinholes to polaroids and digital to darkroom, she always finds herself returning to colour film and a medium format camera. Vicky is interested in the passing of time, memory, simple beauty and honesty, and has a headful of projects that she wishes to pursue, given the opportunity. She has had one solo portrait exhibition and contributed to many others. Her work has been published in various books and magazines, is part of many private collections, and has been merited with Fujifilm distinctions awards.
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Editor’s note:
Please only one comment per person under this essay.. Further discussions should take place under Dialogue..
Many thanks… david alan harvey
“Honest photography” can be how the photographer looks at the world or how she looks at herself or maybe even how she wants to visualize her own mind… And probably other things… sub-categories with a twist of “this” and a hint of “that”. It can lead to so many definitions.
So maybe slightly unfair to expect your own definition of “honest” when judging someone elses work?
kathleen, you’re saying that if you can’t see the whole truth of something then it’s dishonest?
this isn’t important work, it’s colourful pinholes,i doubt it’s going to change anyone’s life.
i try to make pictures i like, that mean something to me, if others find something in them that they can relate to then that’s great but selfishly i’m not considering anyone else whilst i make them, unless others are involved.
photography is a challenge to me, not because i’m trying to pass on a message or impress anyone, but because i want to see how close i can get to what i feel.
i don’t need to make public the ‘brutal honesty’ you’d like (though you may find more of what you feel is missing here in my flickr stream)…..these are me experimenting on myself…….i don’t feel the need to expose everything to everyone but i do understand what you’re after, you’ll just need to look somewhere else for it….i generally prefer my honesty mixed with kindness, whether it’s pinholes or portraits.
Dear Vicky,
funny and nice to see you pictures here on Burn. Before I knew about you being published here, I found your flickr gallery by coincidence when I was looking for interesting flickr sets to feature on the Norwegian photography web page http://www.fotojournalisten.com (where I am the editor). Please have a look.. I really like your pictures, especially though the very sensitive and tender youth portraits. When I first saw your work, I was sure you were a very young photographer (girl) taking pictures of your friends. I do NOT mean you are not young, he he;-) it is a huge compliment as your style is very playful and you obviously communicate extremely well with the teenagers.
Please have look at my blog to promote interesting work done by female photographers http://www.heartbeatphotography.org, we would love it if you want to submit!
Best, Andrea Gjestvang
Andrea,thanks, the portraits are what I love most…I’ll hop over and take a look at your blog, thank you.