My Inspirations

Throughout my education, in photography (and even before that) I was sort of subconsciously collecting sources of inspiration from everywhere. A lot of this came from Pinterest and Tumblr when I was about 14-15 but it’s developed and became a little more sophisticated since (thank god). In this blog post i’m gonna be talking about a couple of my favourite and most inspirational photographers that have kept me motivated and caused me to pursue photography as a skill and creative outlet.

Olivia Bee

‘The Brink of Devotion’ Olivia Bee

I first learnt about Olivia Bee during my college interview. The lecturer wanted to show us her as an inspiration and motivation to pursue photography as Olivia Bee began her professional career during her teenage years. Olivia worked for companies such as Converse to produce an edgy and grungy type of image for their brand (and what better to achieve this than employing a talented teenage photographer). Her personal work reflects her own experiences and surrounds the relationships between her and her friends, however, she also has projects that her fantasy-based and follow a narrative. I was absolutely obsessed with Olivia and her work when I was starting out as a photographer, partly because it was the type of photography I aspired to do at that age and partly because it defied what I knew photography to be. When I thought of photography I thought of pretty landscapes and black and white portraits (nothing wrong with those!), but when I saw a young woman creating biographical projects (including self-portraits) and producing work that SHE wanted AND she could make a living doing this - I knew I wanted to do Photography seriously (cheesy I know).

Elliot Ewritt

Elliot Erwitt

I was given an Elliot Erwitt book from the Edinburgh College of Art Library by the head of the department there at the time during a week of work experience. It was amongst about five other photography books but this was the one I loved the most. Elliot Erwitt is classed as one of the ‘greats’ and has produced iconic work for decades. His work usually has an element of humour and lightheartedness within them and almost always in a documentary/street photography style. His work made me fall in love with the idea of street photography and after reading his books I would go and sit in one place in the city centre and take photos of everything (mainly people walking past and trying not to get caught) just so I could try and produce work that had a similar story to his. I have always loved the photo above and I never knew where it was until I went to New York in 2019 and realised I was standing right next to these statues in The Met and got frustrated that nobody else would be as excited about this as I was.

James Ravilious

‘The Recent Past’ James Ravilious

I didn’t have a clue who James Ravilious was until I began writing my dissertation. My whole dissertation was based on how photographers have documented farming in the UK and the ways it has changed over decades. Ravilious developed a passion for rural farming photography in the ’70s where he was described to go out for hours at a time, photographing whatever and whoever he could. As a result, he built a massive archive of photographs spanning over the course of about a decade showing a realistic and gritty insight into rural life in England during that time. Out of the three photographers I researched for my dissertation, Ravilious was my favourite due to his amazing ability to capture a scene in the most creative and dramatic ways. When you look at the photographs he took, what might look shocking and gritty to you, is daily life to a farmer. Ravilious put across this point successfully whilst also developing his own unique style. He is a huge part of the reason I am passionate about rural and farming photography.

Apologies if this was a bit of a boring post this week. I was in the mood to do a bit more typing and I thought giving you an insight into why I chose photography in the first place could be interesting and could potentially cause you to look at my work in a different kind of way now that you know my inspirations. I have many more inspirations though so be prepared for another similar post!