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Tuesday 6 December 2011

artist showcase #6

This week, one of my favourite photographers, and one of the most genuine people I've had the pleasure to meet, Tom Carter.


1. Can you give us a little bit of your background?

Im 20 years old and currently live in France, after studying at Plymouth College of Art for two years. I like camping, learning things and adventures. I'm travelling Europe/America and possibly Thailand next year - get in touch if you want to party hard before I start uni.


2. Did anything in particular make you go into your field of work?

I used to have this cool camera phone that could edit videos, and I used to make horrendously bad bmx videos - star wipe transitions and heavy metal soundtracks were a must. Those were my glory days really. I just liked, as cliche as it sounds, capturing memories, now photography means a lot more to me than that.


3. What inspires you?

The "We're All Friends Here" collective based in Plymouth make some amazing pictures, and for me revealed there is more to photography than weddings and club photos. I love reading books (Henry Rollins, Jack Kerouac, George Orwell), I love films (Lars Von Trier, Larry Clark, Sofie Copolla) and I'm interested in nature, history, music and art. I would love to expand on that, but it would be lengthy and boring I expect! Tom Kondrat, Thomas Albdorf and Dimitri Karakostas are three artists that really intrest me. I feel like it's only in the last year that I have really found a love for all things photography, from experimenting with different mediums to bookmaking to setting up exhibitions, so I find most contemporary photographers interesting in some respect.


4. How do you work?

My camera comes with me everywhere, hence the reckless snapshot style of some of my photographs. But aside from that, if I have a rough idea for a project I'll visit a location a number of times to see the change in light and document different aspects of the location to have more images to play with in the edit. If I'm making a book, I like to print off thumbnails and lay them out. Sometimes I make a mock book, to play with the layout and sequence.


5. What's your favourite medium to work with?

I shoot 35mm colour, often hoarded from Poundland, or lately bought from sneaky Jessops staff. I'm pretty snap happy with 35mm, as I've come to terms with out of a roll of film probably 4 or 5 will be half decent. I also use medium format, currently loving Kodak Portra 160. The neutral colour version is so so nice. I suck at using square format so my main cameras are a Nikon FM and Bronica ETRSi.


6. Which piece of work are you most proud of?

My project 'Wanderlust' went really well, previous to that I found the idea of shooting something just because it looked pretty was shallow and for burkes. I found photographing landscapes was a bit like fishing, really boring and soon your mind kind of wanders and your find you're really peaceful and calm. You don't really care about catching anything, but more so having time to yourself and being reflective. I adopted a deadpan style, and started to find serenity in places I pass everyday. It really sorted me out - I edited the photos into a montage and then made a book from them.


7. What are you upto right now?

At the moment I'm doing a project on an evening spent drinking whiskey and smoking lots of weed at a beach house down at Whitsands Bay. It's probably my most vivid and surreal memory. I'm doing sketches and short pieces of writing to accompany a series of slide photographs. I'm also getting a few friends to hand write their experiences of the adventure too.


8. Anything else you think we should know?

Get in touch you want to bounce ideas off me or chat art, because I want to learn more.

See more here:
Tumblr.
Flickr.
Email - tcarter91@hotmail.co.uk

8 comments

  1. This is so cool :) Great interview and feature.... really love some of these photos. It's always cool to hear about the artist behind the work.

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  2. I love these pictures, and Toms ethos too... Have just had a look at his flickr, and the 'site de mort' photo is stunningly beautiful!
    Good choice of an artist to feature!

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  3. Awesome photos, such a great feature, really inspiring :)

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  4. amazing photos! I love the one with the box of toys :)
    xx

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  5. This has been brilliant and eye opening, I come from Plymouth but live away for uni and it's so nice to hear and see familiar places in an unexpected place like your blog. I've loved this piece, especially as I have an interest in photography and I think I'd have to say that the box full of toys is my favourite on this page. Brilliant idea, thank you! xx

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  6. Thi is great, all the pictures are great! This is such a good feature, really interesting and inspiring :)
    X

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  7. His photos are breath taking. I love the atmosphere he captures - terrific interview!

    sending you happy spells

    amyflyingakite.com

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Thank you for your sweet comments :) if you have any questions please tweet them to me @beinglittle ! x

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