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 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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