Thursday 12 January 2012

Rosie Hardy Interview




I wanted to do this for a very long time and just earlier today I contacted the lovely Rosie Hardy and interviewed her :D

she's the most talented down to earth person ever <3

And she even told me that in England my name "Reem" means awesome :D



Note: some of these quastions and answers were sent to me by Rosie because they were answered in a previous interview!



And here goes the lovely Rosie Hardy !



introduce yourself please.

Ahoy! My name is Rosie and I'm a 20 year old photographer living in Manchester, UK. I've been shooting (badly) since I was about 17 and learning ever since. I've been lucky enough to be "discovered" on flickr by Maroon 5, and photographed the band and their album cover last summer. Flickr has been a massive part of my life, without the community on here I'd be pretty much nowhere!



How did you learn to take photos?

I learned to shoot with a point and shoot camera in my bedroom. I was inspired to go outside & shoot new ideas and concepts after seeing other photographers' stunning work. In terms of the technical stuff, it was all a case of trial and error and getting very  frustrated at my camera!



who was your biggest supporter when it comes to photography and life in general?

My parents are amazing, and so is my boyfriend Iain. All of them are always there to chat, and my dad is great at business, Iain is great with talking to people and my mum is just lovely  so they're all massively supportive and helpful!



How could you describe your photographic style?

I would say my style is surrealism in a realistic, relatable scenario. A big part of my work is being able to people relate to the characters and be able to draw their own messages from the pictures. I like to have a strong concept, as well as a whimsy aesthetic.



Which Flickr users most influence your production and why?

I've been inspired photographically by Lara Jade, Mike Bailey-Gates, Chrissy White & Alex Stoddard. As well as being awesome photographers, these guys are also really friendly! As a whole though, everyone who takes the time to support me and comment on my stuff & message me has inspired me - to keep on photographing when times get hard and to be a nice person as much as possible.



What mood do you like to be in when you're taking a photo?

Sadly sadly I'm usually pretty depressed when my best pictures happen! Which I guess is a good thing as I haven't been shooting as much recently :P For me photography has become my dump for all my sadness. Instead of carrying it around with me in everyday life, I'll pick a word which describes the feeling and turn it into a concept.



What cameras do you own? And which lenses?

I have a Canon 5D Mkii, my favourite lens is the 50mm 1.4. I own a 35mm 2f, an 85mm 1.2, a 24-70mm 2.8, a TSE 45mm 2.8f and a 70-20mm 2.8f. Love em all! My babies!


wich lighting condition do you prefer to work with and why?

Love natural light on a dull day post-rain. I love reflections on windows and pavements, the colours just jump out so much more and it's beautiful!

Could you please describe your creative process from the idea to the final result?

Sure. So usually I've gotten sad about something, bit girly and put on some disney songs or the american beauty soundtrack. I'm feeling pretty mopey and I try and pick a word that sums up what I'm feeling. The one I came up with last night was "deflated" which I thought could come with a lot of visual possibilities. I try and use items and concepts which are familiar to a lot of people - that way the ideas which we attach to them strike certain chords with people that you can play with. For example, an ice cream. People associate this with happiness and sunshine, but by having a girl in a wet city street, holding an ice cream with is melting all over her hand (playing on an extreme) it creates an "aha" moment (the person gets it) and also makes people feel sad for the girl (or the ice cream). It's simple but it's beautiful. Once I shoot the idea, I take it back onto my computer and edit until I twist the image into what I see in my head. Upload it to flickr and voila!

What is your number one fear or frustration when comes to working as a

photographer?

As a photographer I have to deal with different aspects of photography - wedding photography and my personal/conceptual photography are great examples – when I'm doing weddings I automatically have to switch the way my brain works, and think about how the images would fit into an album etc instead of being displayed as a singular piece in my portfolio. My frustrations lie in the changes I have to make to my mind - sometimes I forget how to switch back, and as a result my images become disappointing to me.



What is your process when taking photo's, from getting ideas to editing?

Usually, in what I would consider to be a successful photo + shoot, the location comes first - if you have a good location to work with, the concepts seem to flow more easily for me. Before a client shoot I always try and visit the location first so I know what kinds of concepts would work well. Then it's a case of just thinking "how far can i take this?What can I do to this that is completely out there but still plausible?" I try to have a mental list of all low-budget materials that can transform easily - like paint, flour, flowers, books, water. Then I try and pick one out and combine it with the location. For example,

I was on the bus the other day and we drove past a pretty wall with some purple flowerscreeping over the edge a little. My first instinct is to just put a model there "and make it pretty", but then I got to thinkin' - I could take purple powder paint and completely

drench the model, or throw it in away that left a "human shaped space" behind her, or make her a dress out of purple flowers... there are endless possibilities! Another good method of thinking up concepts for me is to think "What would *insert inspiring photographer here* do?"






what is the definition of  beauty to you?

A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have awonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth,but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face likesunbeams and you will always look lovely.”

―      Roald Dahl,        The Twits



have you ever had image issues? hated anything about your looks?

Ooh I think everyone has. I had terrible skin and was constantly trying to lose weight throughout my teens. My hair fell out when I was 16 and again this year, so it's been a weird one with my looks - but quite fun with the alopecia, and a good way to make new friends and talk to people in the same situation.
you seem to wear a white dress in a lot of your 365, lots of people wants to know where did you get it :) ?

I bought it from a shop called "Dorothy Perkins" so many years ago! It's very tatty now!
  

Where do you hope to go with your photography
 I'm not sure yet, but I know I want to say something with it, I'm just not sure what.Right now, I'm just having so much fun creating pictures that I love, and showing in a photograph how I see the world. I take just about any job I am offered because I am still experimenting and finding my own ground, and trying to apply my own style to different kinds of photography. In the next 5 years, I'd like to have made a decent income to support my crazy prop-buying sprees and have a studio of my own.

Do you think you have an original style that is you own?

No, I think my style is a mix of photographers I have seen and worked with, and people whose art I've seen and enjoyed. Maybe all rolled up into a giant ball it's technically my own style, but really the elements which make it up are just elements I love in other peoples' work, and their inspirations work, and their inspirations' inspirations' work and so on and so forth.


so I hear that you published your first book! was it so hard for you to turn all that information into written material?

 I think putting information which is so visual (like editing) is so hard to pin down - that's why this month I'll be making video tutorials for people!


what type of photography do you find challenging?

I'm shoddy at landscapes! I need to inject something weird and surreal into pictures, which is why I love portraiture so much!


do you go for photoshoots by yourself or do you like company?

I love company! I do most of my personal work on workshops now, either 1-1 workshops or group workshops! It's always so fun to have people there, and always ends up being enjoyable!








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