Craig Kerrecoe meets Neil Graham-Cameron & Sioned Eleri...
I meet with Sioned Eleri and Neil Graham-Cameron outside St. Michael's Church on Trinity Street in Cambridge, as arranged. Trinity Street begins at one end as Trumpington Street with the world renowned, rather impressive, Fitzwilliam Museum, designed by George Basevi and opened in the late Nineteenth Century. The road then turns into King's Parade as it passes the equally well-known and iconic Kings College Chapel and the wonderful but frequently overlooked, neo-Gothic Gatehouse. King's Parade becomes Trinity Street and then again changes to St. John's Street before colliding with the end of Sidney Street. There are several commercial galleries in and around this area and even the Church we meet outside has an exhibition programme, of sorts. It's a nice place to stroll if you are even remotely creative or architecturally inclined.
Neil and Sion are here with their cameras, as is often the case, in the hope that they will discover tiny fragments of this beautiful city they haven't seen before. They are dressed sensibly in what I assume are their 'working' clothes and it makes them look a little like tourists, especially with cameras swinging from their necks. The streets are filled with them this morning- tourists, that is...and photographers probably! This is one of the most photographed and photogenic cities in the country. Frankly, it warrants the attention. We walk along the middle of the cobbled street in the direction of the River Cam.
Craig: You both use slightly
different techniques and equipment to produce your images.
Why is that?
Neil: I've always used film, but I did react to the
introduction of digital cameras.
Sion: You were given one as a Christmas present weren't
you?
Neil: Yes, and it was fun to see instant results- but I
could never take it seriously.
Craig: That's interesting. What do you mean?
Neil: When Sion and I got together we talked about the
pluses and minuses and I decided that I much preferred my
thinking time to be spent on selecting, composing and
making important picture judgements rather than on, what
seemed to me, to be an endless range of cameras setting.
For you it was the other way around wasn't it Sion?
Sion: Yes, I suppose it was.
Craig: What happened?
We stop outside one of the better known commercial galleries and all peer in, quite tentatively. It's not a very passionate place but so few commercials are these days. It's all very nice..nice and safe. We continue on, avoiding a speeding cyclist as we go.
Sion: I decided to give film a go again and bought a 20 year old Olympus OM1n.
Craig: That's made a difference has it?
Sion: Absolutely. The simplicity of a manual camera has changed the way I take pictures. Instead of filling up a memory card with hundreds of snaps I'm now considering each image properly before I take it.
Craig: So have you moved back to film permanently now?
Craig: The final image that you both produce is very similar. Is that deliberate?
Sion: Some of our pictures are quite similar, though it's not deliberate, I don't think... Part of it is because we're almost invariably out shooting together, but I think there is more to it than that, as we often 'see' the same image.
Neil: Yes, that's it. As we frequently work side by side, Sion or I will spot a picture and will take it. Having selected a possible image, one or other will also recognise the potential and with a slightly different view point, lens and personal camera setting, repeat that shot.
Sion: We've talked about this before, haven't we?
Neil: Yes. Whilst similarities exist, I think we often produce very different images. Personally, I find this rather fun, seeing what has been left out and/or included. It is worth mentioning that we do have very similar mindsets in many things creative. I should also say that we often take the mickey and whilst watching one of us will come out with a discretely critical remark like 'crap shot that'.
Sion: This is nearly always ignored by the recipient, of course!
Craig: Glad to hear it!
We reach the end of St. John's Street
which joins Sidney Street at the junction with Bridge
Street. We head left down Bridge Street and are virtually
mobbed by a rapid succession of 'punt reps' trying to sell
us boat trips- I blame Neil & Sion as they look like
they might be tourists! The first three get polite rebuffs
but the remainder get a swift shake of the head.
Craig: Do
you have favourite shots by each other?
Sion: I certainly do have my favourites from amongst Neil's
pictures, although they might vary a bit depending on mood.
Neil: You like my Prague shots, don't you?
Sion: Yes, I particularly like those photos, because of the
wonderful texture that can be seen in the buildings and
building elements,windows especially. I think my current
favourite is a shot of some steps taken in Cambridge. Its a
black and white image, and I love the way the light falls
on the stone..its one I can look at often without getting
tired of it.
Craig: And what about you Neil? You have favourites of Sion's work?
Neil: Oh yes, very much so! There is a frame on our website called 'Sunblock' which I think is brilliant, a punch in the eye to view - enormous impact. 'Window' is another shot that captures different depths of the window image. It is beautifully composed with the patterns at two levels -on wall and pews- seen as both soft and sharp but still very much 'belonging' to each other.
Sion and Neil have been together for a good while now and married last summer in Norfolk. I wonder if their personal relationship has an effect on the images they produce.
Craig: Is your 'photography' relationship symbiotic or competitive? Would you be doing the same things with cameras if you weren't together or do you feed off each other?
Sion: Not sure its a strictly either-or thing. There is a bit of competition; I think that's only natural, as we're both out seeing the same things.
Neil: Yes, I agree. We do things together so, by definition, personal influences are brought to bear.
Sion: My picture taking has changed a little since we got together, in that it's become more architectural - I'm pretty sure that's due to Neil's influence. There's more shape and less landscape these days, concentrating more on light and lines rather than views and trees. I suppose that could be seen as symbiosis of sorts.
Craig: It sounds like you get the best of both worlds really?
A double decker bus passes over the bridge, interrupting our conversation which causes me to suggest that we walk through Quayside and along the river towards Jesus Green. It's a lovely walk- the footpath is actually a timber jetty suspended from the side of the buildings along the river. The apartments in this building enjoy a spectacular view across the river and over to Magdalene College. As we walk along the jetty in single file, I continue.
Craig: I'd like to talk more about the work you do now. It's an obvious thing to say, but you both seem to delight at sunlight and shadow- you've just said Neil that you love the way that light falls onto an object. Is that what it's all about for you both- light and shade?
Neil: Photography is light...
Sion: Well, there is a quote about photography being a process of fixing the shadows so, yes, I would say that's what we tend to concentrate on. Light, shadow, shape and form-my photography concentrates more and more on these basic elements these days, and I suppose it has become more abstract as a result. Rather than creating specific pictures, I like to think of them more as 'found' images.
Craig: You come here a lot don't you?
Neil: We 'do' Cambridge a lot as we love the city and taking an average year, we probably visit it to take pictures on forty or more days.
Craig: Any other favourite places to photograph?
Neil: Away from Cambridge we tend to move into Norfolk and explore the byways. Again, the type of weather, the direction and height of the sun et al, might mean another mile or so at 15mph or the application of the brakes and a look around! We don't have particular pictures in mind when we set out - but we like to seek out images that are less than obvious.
Craig: What about life photography- people, in particular?
Neil: We do like people pics but the paranoia surrounding taking such shots had intruded into the decision making process. Go back a while and you could photograph virtually anything, child, public building you name it, and you were not seen as some sort of a threat!
Craig: Political correctness is restricting life photography?
Neil: Sion has a few really inspired shots- the 'Old Man With Pipe' reminds us both of what might be described as a typical Cartier Bresson street picture.
Sion: Some of my favourite images by other photographers are people pictures.
Craig: Anyone in particular?
Sion: Yes, Robert Doisneau, for instance. He took some fantastic shots of people and children which I never tire of. I don't do a lot of this myself though as Neil has just said, it's not so easy these days. Although the beauty of Cambridge is that every other person is carrying a camera, so you don't stand out so much.
Craig: Who else do you admire or respect?
Neil: There are a number of photographers we admire, including Elliot Erwitt, Eugene Atget, Alvarez Bravo... Sion's already mentioned Doisneau and I think we'd both agree that he's our favourite - at the moment, at least!
Craig: What is it about Doisneau?
Neil: There's a humour and joyfulness in his images - especially his pictures of ordinary Parisians - that leaps from the page when you look at them. Some may have been staged, but also he was such a familiar part of the society where he was taking pictures that people relaxed and didn't seem to notice the camera.
Sion: Yes, there's a wonderful picture called 'Fox-terrier on the Bridge of Arts'. It's in four elements really- working from the back we see the cityscape of Paris; in front of that is an artist and his easel, with a picture of a reclining nude on it; moving forward again is a man with his back to the camera, leaning sideways to see the canvas, then at the front is the dog, looking straight to camera - perfect composition, with the eye being led from the dog and onward into the picture. Looking carefully, you can see a shoe and part of the model's foot as she sits on a bench.
Craig: If Doisneau uses his sense of humour in his images, which facets of your own personalities manifest themselves in your images?
Sion: Ah, leaving the easy questions 'till last, eh!? Given that many of my more recent images tend to include the shadow of something but not the thing itself, or shadows forming the shape of something quite different to that which is creating the shadow, maybe I should start to worry about some facets of my personality!
We reach the end of the jettied footpath as it leads into the corner of Jesus Green. There are lots of young mothers with posh pushchairs, feeding the ducks- the clement weather brings them out. Sion, Neil and I simultaneously step 'off' the footpath onto the grass. This action is automatic and self-preserving- the cyclists dominate the footpaths through the cities many parks and some of them travel at considerable speed. Walking on the grass is the sensible thing to do in Cambridge.
Craig: Do you use humour, like Doisneau?
Sion: I certainly think my sense of humour is at work in some of the juxtapositions I find and take pictures of.....there is a quirkiness in some of them that reflects my own, I think. What about you Neil?
Neil: Photography is an emotional experience for me. It stimulates observation and attentiveness. This might be an appreciation of a view of ‘natural’ beauty, but, it can also express itself by being drawn to, and excited by, more abstract forms and shapes modelled with strong light and dark shadow.
Craig: Sounds technical rather than emotional?
Neil: With a number of years designing three dimensional and two dimensional objects behind me, my instinct to record such shapes is inbuilt- but it's more than that.
Craig: How so?
Neil: Well, mood can strongly influence the image as well. You ‘see’ the image in your mind then evaluate the scene by looking through the viewfinder and asking, “How do I capture those visual ‘triggers’ that made me see the image in the first place?"
Evaluation and translation is a part of the image-making process for most Artists, whatever the medium or subject matter. We 'see' an image and have to convey it in a way that enables the viewer to understand 'aesthetically' what we are striving to achieve. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't- it's all a matter of translation really.
Neil & Sion bid me farewell and wander off in search of some abstract corner of the city as my mind turns to coffee. Not literally, of course - what was I saying about translation?
