L'oreal Young Colourist of the Year final entry

                                                                                            
Before                                                                                             After
Hair and Make-up - Anna Last

L'oreal Young Colourist of the Year entry shoot

Currently collaborating with Anna Last an up and coming hairstylist from Ivybridge, Devon, for her entry into L'oreal Young Colourist of the Year.
Hair and Make up - Anna Last

Justin Quinnell interview

Interview with Justin Quinnell, the king of pinhole photography!

How did you get interested in Pinhole photography?

Although I did a degree in Photography years ago, I only started getting into pinhole photography

when I was teaching in a poor area of Bristol (around 20 years ago), the students couldn’t afford

cameras but could afford cans of coke so we made cameras out of them. I realised the potential

and was hooked.

What is it about pinhole photography that appeals to you?

There is no view finder, it clashes art and science after a 150 schism, a lot happens in pre-

visualising the images, elements of time, astronomy, wonder etc, etc, etc, (This is what I go on

about for hours in my lectures!)

Its also cheap, and it is anti commercial, I am involved with the Green Party and was getting

disillusioned with photography and the amount of destruction it can cause pinholing gets around

this.

What advantages does Pinhole have over lens-based photography?

Unlimited depth of field giving a ‘bugs eye view’ of the world, indestructible, you can fit them

in your mouth, you have to make them yourself, no idea what the image will actually be, time

exposures, loads and loads!

Do you think there is still a place for Pinhole now we are in such a technological and

digital age?

Oddly yes, there is only a certain amount of discovery and wonder you can encounter sitting in

front of a computer screen, Experimentation and ‘embracing the accident’ requires effort, not

necessarily technology.

Do you exhibit your work and if so where?

Several exhibitions over the past years around the world, and I have images on my website as

well as yearly participation for world pinhole day.

Do you practice other forms of photography other than Pinhole?

I like my small digital snappy camera but I otherwise only use pinhole (but several different

approaches from 110 colour cartridge to wheelie bin!)

How much teaching/workshops do you do?

Universities and colleges around the UK and beyond, I work part time in a secondary school and

the rest of the time teach or do pinhole.

Do you see Pinhole as a good learning aid or an end in itself?

Both, but it imposes wonder which is possibly the gateway to enjoying life!

What makes a successful pinhole image?

Uncovering the unknown and unexpected.

Have you considered using a digital sensor with a pinhole camera?

Yup, and pinhole films etc, unfortunately modern SLRs have small CCDs and result in poor

quality pinhole images, so dissuading people from the true potential. Perfectly feasible to do

though.

Do you manage to make your photography pay for its self? (this is something that i struggle with immensely)

I have a PGCE so I do cover work in schools when Im not lecturing, also most of my moneyy comes from teaching photography. Books etc make up a smaller part of my income.

What one piece of advice would you give to me as an art student aspiring to make a career in art photography?

Do a PGCE! try to avoid debt! and have fun!

Still Life Final Shoot....

                        
                                       "Psyche Opening..."
Shot on 5x4 kodak ektachrome 100 plus, scanned on Hasselblad H1.

Still Life Practice Shoot....

Practice shoot for still life 'derivation' project, looking at folklore and mythology, dutch still life inspirations, also inspired by J.W.Waterhouse's paintings of Psyche.

Christmas Project...

      
    " We will laugh and we will play, the eskimo way, walking in a winter wonderland!"

Why Photography?

I have always had an obsession with light, as long as I remember I have been trying to find  the perfect way of showing others what it is that captivates me. Words can never quite do it justice? It has taken me until this point to find my medium for the simple reason that I always believed the camera to be truth itself, only recording what is actually there. It wasn’t until I had my own camera (an old leaky petri) that I realised that the photographs I took spoke my language, I was able to put across a message be it a feeling, an emotion or maybe just a very simple thought. 

The very first time I can remember going into a darkroom is extremely vague as it was when my mum was studying at PCA herself and I was very young and so she used to take me with her sometimes when she had to! I can remember that I was absolutely mesmerised the moment I was taken into this strange dark red room, this was only something  I remembered when I was given my darkroom induction at the start of my National Diploma. I walked in and felt an incredible sense of place, I felt like I knew the rooms and from that moment on the darkroom has been my primary habitat, even to the point that my bedroom is now a bedroom/darkroom with full processing and printing facilities. I am a passionate film photographer, I believe it to be far superior in all formats compared to anything digital on the market. I have tried and tried and failed at producing any work that I have consistantly enjoyed shooting digitally, processing digitally and printing digitally yet when I pick up an old film camera with a roll of film in it, I know that I am going to be at my happiest with it in my hand, I know that when I finish that film I am going to be intoxicated with excitement to get home and develop it as soon as I possibly can and I know that once I have seen those negatives I will be filled with an incredible urge to get straight into the darkroom and print all the images whirring around in my mind. This is something that quite simply cannot be replicated on a computer, if I am having the time of my life making the images then it is clearly going to show in the final pieces. 

The camera does not simply record for me, it captures my experiences and the photographs I take tell my story. Every photograph i take is manipulated and transmogrified far from reality before it is even taken. I have a great passion for photography, and especially film, that I believe will never leave me, just as I will never stop drawing or painting or breathing, my photography completely envelops me. I look at the world through my two favourite and most reliable lenses with infinate possibilities screaming at me to be captured as I go about my normal business, be they reality or in my minds eye. Whether they would exist or not if I wasn’t there to experience them is another question altogether. In the multi-sensory universe that we occupy, I believe an image can stimulate and provoke equally to words, and can evoke directly a raw personal response rivaling that of any other senses. 

So why compromise, making photographs is my language and my passion so for all the reasons above........                                               

... I am made to be an artist and a photographer.