substructure magazine

SUB_STRUCTURE MAGAZINE

ISSUE #1

UP AND COMING CREATIVES

SUB STRUCTURE

SEPTEMBER 2012 ISSUE

IMAGE: JOE EARLEY

SUB_STRUCTURE MAGAZINE

CONTENTS

up and coming creatives –

3

INTRODUCTION

4

ALEX CATT

12

DOUBLE TAKE

14

ADAM GRUNING

22

OUT AND ABOUT

24

NICOLA PORTER

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JOE EARLEY

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STEPH MEAR

SUB_STRUCTURE MAGAZINE

THIS MONTHS ISSUE

INTRODUCTION

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SEPTEMBER 2012 ISSUE

S U B _ S T R U C T U R E is a magazine which focuses on up and coming

creatives with lots to offer. Each month we focus on a particular five to tell us about their work, their past, present and whats in line for the future for them. As well as this the magazine also looks at what other interesting things are happening in the design world and how you can get involved. This months issue focuses on creatives J O E E A R L E Y , ALEX CATT, NICOLA PORTER, ADAM GRUNING & STEPH M E A R . All but one have recently graduated and are on to exciting

new ventures within their chosen fields.

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UP AND COMING

ALEX CATT PHOTOGRAPHER

Alex Catt has recently graduated from the University of Brighton with a first class BA Hons in Photography. I asked him a few questions on what hes up to now and what has inspired his photography work.

When looking through your website I notice that the majority of your photos are of landscapes, some bleak, some beautiful, some very thought provoking. What draws you to shooting such scenes?

I think working alone puts me in the sort of headspace that allows me to find these scenes.

Most of my photographs are the result of various drives or walks, usually by my self I think the journey plays a key role as it lets me detach myself from everything that is going on and focus on seeing.

Your series ‘He headed Inland’ & ‘Moonshine’ both focus on smuggling. The series themselves are ver y different. ‘Moonshine’ focuses on two caves whereas ‘He headed Inland’ explores a coastline, a much larger area, from day to night.

What made you want to explore the subject of smuggling? Did your feelings change about the subject as your explored into it more?

The project began with a fascination into the two caves on the Dorset coast, I just really liked the feeling of exploring them in complete darkness. It wasn't until I researched into them more that I found they had been used for smuggling, which gave me some background to them. I decided to only photograph in those caves for the "Moonshine" project as it gave me a solid base to make work, I needed this kind of structure so that I could really explore the caves well and make photographs I was happy with. I moved onto the Dorset coastline in a more general way for the "He headed inland" project, as I wanted a broader area to research into. My feelings changed a lot in the period of time I spent there, as I researched more into

ABOUT

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THERE IS NO SUN WITHOUT SHADOW

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UP AND COMING

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THERE IS NO SUN WITHOUT SHADOW

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ALEX CATT

the history of the areas I was photographing it became strange being there, wondering what places these smugglers may have used, or what paths they walked.

‘There is no sun without shadow’ is a very personal project. You describe it as photographing a journey and you can definitely sense that within the photographs you took. Did you feel it important that you reflected your feelings via your work?

I think that during the course of making those photographs it was incredibly important that they were personal to me. I wanted to try and portray how I was feeling in the images which hopefully happens in the majority, it was a really worthwhile project for me as it helped express how I was feeling at the time in a creative way and gave me a way of thinking about things differently.

Do you have a favourite project/image?

I think my most recent project "There is no sun without shadow" is my favourite work, mainly as it really means something to me.

You have a lot of variation within the images you shoot. You seem to look at all aspects in an image, the curves, the lines, the shadows, different angles, its quite refreshing when a photographer doesn’t stick just to what they know best.

I wasn’t sure if this was a conscious decision?

I think, or at least hope, that it is a somewhat conscious decision. I am a sucker for lines, and things cutting in from the corners of frames and such!

I notice that on your Flickr and website you have shot a lot of portraits, you enjoy shooting portraits, is it something you’d like to do more of?

Portraits really interest me but I find it quite hard to make them, I think I prefer photographing landscapes as it is a very solitary act for me. With portraits there are so many things that can change in an instant, expressions change so quickly and it is hard to capture what I want to see. A landscape doesn't move much, its just waiting for the light.

You use both digital and film cameras, which do you prefer and why?

Film, I seem to use my digital less and less now - only really if I have some commissioned work where film is too costly!

ABOUT

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UP AND COMING

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THERE IS NO SUN WITHOUT SHADOW

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ALEX CATT

HE HEADED INLAND

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UP AND COMING

You have recently graduated from University studying photography, do you feel your time studying strongly helped you develop as a photographer?

I graduated this year, three years of studying really did help shape how I think towards photography. I think it was a really important time, being around the tutors and also fellow students, really helps you progress as an artist as everyone is in the same place, with lots of different ideas and ways of looking at things.

Do you think your past has affected you in a way that is lucrative to what you're doing now? Can you tell me a bit about where you grew up and how you go interested in photography?

I grew up with my parents owning a nursery, which grew various plants - it was also pretty out of the way and not near any large towns or cities. So I think from an early age I had a certain link to nature, which is what I seem to be most interested in photographing currently.

Tell me more about you and what you do now when not studying/ photographing, hobbies, interests and do they help influence what you do as a photographer?

I am currently working at a Youth Hostel in the New Forest to save up some money, I’m heading to Spain for October as I have been given an artist residency there, which I am really excited for. When I'm not photographing I read quite a lot, a sort of mixed selection of authors, recently I have been reading a lot of Albert Camus and Henry David Thoreau, when I feel like something more playful, Kurt Vonnegut is my go to guy.

Are there any other photographers you take inspiration from? Be they known famously or unknown and closer to home.

Alec Soth, Tereza Zelenkova, Peter Watkins, Marten Lange, Mark Power to name a few.

Where do you want to be in ten years time?

In an apartment somewhere with nice furniture, not worrying about anything and content.

Could you describe yourself in 1 word?

Minimal To view more of Alex’s work visit www.alexcattphoto.co.uk

ABOUT

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ALEX CATT

MOONSHINE

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DOUBLE TAKE

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1

2

13 1 KRISTY OVERLAN GEOMETRIC LOG JAM A great process for this geometric pattern, red film & screenprinting.

2 ANTONY GORMLEY SCULPTURES A somewhat ongoing project for Antony throughout his career.

Human sculptures, different shapes and materials were used.

5 3 RACHEL COMEY SPRING/SUMMER ‘13 Rachel Comey unveiled her 2013 collections this week at New York Fashion Week.

4 THIS IS REAL ART MUSICIANS UNION

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A testimonial campaign designed to recruit more musicians. With copy set using concert tickets.

5 KRISTA CHARLES MATCHBOOK VIEWS Krista finds the location of the matchbook on Google Maps and then draws the location on the inside of the matchbook.

6 MAXIM LEURENTOP TRIPPSTADT GERMANY

Maxim is in his third year studying Graphic Design in Belgium. As well as design he takes some great photos too.

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ADAM GRUNING FINE ARTIST

Adam Gruning has just graduated from Staffordshire University studying Fine Art. Adam got interested in Fine Art through what he thinks is natural progression after realising that his previous subject he studied at college (BTEC Music) wasn’t what he wanted to do. ‘At that time all of my friends were going off to Uni and I felt a bit lost not knowing what to do next. I’d always had an interest in photography and thought about doing an A level in it and working part-time. I was late for applying so just turned up at Newcastle-under-Lyme College the day the course started and asked if I could join. Luckily the lecturer said yes and it just kind of went from there. After getting my first SLR I started to experiment more and started to think about what I was doing with a camera. I was became more interested in what I was photographing and started to make interesting objects just to photograph, and after being pulled to one side by my lecturer I was told I should think about looking at fine art degree courses rather than photography for higher education. Now that I’m freelance though I don’t know whether I see myself as ‘fine art’ as such. I do as much design work as I do artwork, its more about the context you put it in which determines whether its fine art or not. I’m not too concerned yet whether I call myself a fine artist or not, just as long as I’m doing something art related.’

Adams favourite piece of work is ‘Shit Sprayed Chrome’. ‘Popular culture and objects of popular culture have always been an interest to me, however recently ideas of how the visual culture I live in is overwhelmed with image and icons operates, where its values are places, and its mythologies develop has been at the centre of my practice. ‘Shit Sprayed Chrome’ attempts to create a conversation between notions of Guy Debord’s ‘Spectacle’ and the medium of photography, both commercially and in a gallery context’. Adams piece ‘White Painting’ was a development piece which lead up to ‘Shit Sprayed Chrome’. ‘‘White Painting’ was a development piece that lead up to ‘Shit Sprayed Chrome’. I was really interested in semiotics and symbols of contemporary society at the time and wanted

ABOUT

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QUOTIDIAN

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UP AND COMING

to create a piece referencing ideas within this, however when I reflected on the work now I realise that what I was actually doing was responding to my environment. I had come from a group (foundation degree course) of various specialisms to a fine art group (BA Honours course), which was dominated by painters. I always wanted to paint but didn’t have the skill.

I couldn’t paint like the people there so I tried to approach my work as they would. I’ve never been a craftsman when it comes to art my skills lie more in concept and idea but I wanted to put something onto canvas. I built familiar shapes and pushed them through the canvas, creating a painting that was semi-sculptural, kind of referencing 1960’s modernism and what painting was or could be. I photographed each part of the canvas and created multiples of the piece through photographs. I’ve always tried to keep things clean, minimal and, in a sense, efficient in my art and looking at the painting now I think it demonstrates beauty through simple forms.’

ABOUT

SHIT SPRAYED CHROME

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‘What is ‘Quotidian’ about?

‘This was one of the first pieces I did when I began to become interested in everyday objects in art. The work attempts to reveal how our relationships with commonplace objects can be altered through minor changes, by adjusting a products desire and value through alterations in its material and removal of its branding. Along with this, the objects function and purpose is brought into question as it has gone from being useful to useless, allowing the viewer perceive the object as familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time. This bringing into question the nature of the object as well as our routine associations with them. ‘Quotidian’ is something that I want to revisit in the future; I would like to make the objects from porcelain, increasing their desirability and beauty. I still like the idea of just by changing such routine; throwaway objects through what they’re made from can have a huge impact on how we view them.’

Adam has recently been accepted into an Artist’s Residency. ‘The residency is the first the gallery (Air Space Gallery) have done of its kind, set up solely for graduates. It lasts for 6 months, which is unusually long for this kind of residency and includes a solo show, mentoring, curating and project managing opportunities as well as practicing artists to talk to and get advice from. It’s been really beneficial to come straight from Uni to the residency, has given me something to get stuck into immediately rather than looking round for work.’

Have you ever wanted to venture into different styles of work?

Throughout Uni and I experimented a lot with different styles of work and ways of working. I think this is what’s nice about what I’m doing now; there’s no pressure on having to produce work of similar style because I’m not at all well known to have a style. It just kind of happens that the work I make tends to be very simple, minimal and design based. The only real thing I feel I can do in my position is to trust my instincts in what feels right and looks right, and this determines the style of my work.

Do you think your past has affected you in a way that is lucrative to what you’re doing now? Can you tell me a bit about where you grew up and how you go interested in art?

I grew up in Stoke-on-Trent in a modest house on a fairly typical ‘new build’ housing estate.

I had a fantastic childhood that when I think about it just consisted of constant laughter, playing and listening to Marvin Gaye or Diana Ross through a prehistoric Techniques cassette player that took up a large part of the dining room! Although I don’t think this influenced the work I produce; I do believe it had a huge influence on how I work and approach what I do. I hardly ever sit down and begin something without music on or maybe a comedy on TV. Nothing was ever taken really seriously either and that’s had a good effect on how I work. I try not to get over stressed or see what I do as having some kind of huge importance; however theoretical or profound a piece is, its nothing to get hung up over,

ABOUT

ADAM GRUNING

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its fun and I try and approach it with humour. I’m not sure how I got interested in art really, I started off like most people as a kid with drawing. I used to draw all the time! I remember drawing in my maths books at school and my teacher would mark my work and then the drawing I did. I used to draw anything, and just really enjoying it. I think that was probably why I got so interested in it was because I enjoyed it more than anything else.

Are there any specific memor y or memories that play out in your head that influence the path you’re taking with your work? And if that’s so, where would you like to go with art in future and what’s your plan?

I think just the general freedom and support that I’ve always been lucky to have throughout from family and lecturers have allowed me to explore my work without feeling pressured to do something I haven’t wanted to. I’ve been lucky to have the time to get a hold of my ideas of use them to the best way I can. I’ve always enjoyed having quite a diverse practice, whether its photography, illustration, ready-mades or curating and art direction; I hope for my career to explore these. I don’t know if I want to be pigeon holed as someone who does a certain thing, I would like just to use my creative thinking across all areas of the art and design industry.

Tell me more about you and what you do now when not studying, hobbies, interests and do they help influence what you do as a artist?

I’m very fortunate that since leaving education I have had lots of opportunities come my way and not had a lot of time for much else other than work. I like to be busy, but when I can love my yoga and just getting out of the studio for a walk or something. As my friends live all over the place we set aside one day a month to meet up for a meal or a trip somewhere to catch up and that’s something I look forward to very much. I don’t know whether these have a direct influence on my work as such, but just making sometime to get away from my work clears my head and allows me to look at things better.

Where do you want to be in ten years time?

Being a millionaire on a yacht in the Bahamas with a super model is too cliché right? ha ha.

I’m not quite sure that’s really want I would want anyway. In ten years time I hope to be fairly established as an artist and creative thinker, working on some great projects, as an individual and as part of a collective. Part of me would like to open up some cheap rental artist studios to give emerging artists a kick-start so maybe something like that to be under way. I would like to have seen more of the world than what I have done already and to maybe have someone to see it with. But I don’t know, lots can change in tens years, I just hope to still this be happy and still enjoying life.

You can view more of Adam’s work at www.adamgruning.com

ABOUT

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UP AND COMING

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WHITE PAINTING

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ADAM GRUNING

QUOTIDIAN

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OUT AND ABOUT

Design events and attractions you should check out this year.

‘SIGNS OF THE TIMES’ ENGLAND, 1991 MARTIN PARR

LFW AW 2011 TEMPERLEY LONDON SHOW

BENCH OF PLATES AL_A FOR THE BENCH YEARS AT THE V&A

SHARP DRESSED MAN PETE ZELEWSKI PILGRIM AND AMBASSADOR CAR RAGHUBIR SINGH

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WHAT’S WORTH GOING TOO

Seduced by Art: Photography Past and Present The influence of historical painting on photography from the mid-nineteenth century to today is the subject of the National Gallery's first major photography exhibition.

Paintings by Constable, Degas and Ingres among others have been paired with photos by practitioners such as Martin Parr, Craigie Horsfield and Richard Billingham in a bid to draw out how and why fine art traditions have been translated by the medium.

London Fashion Week Spring/ Summer 2013

Ever ything Was Moving: Photographs 60s & 70s Sep 13th – Jan 13th 2013 A major survey of international photography covering big name photographers working during the turbulent ‘60s and ‘70s. The 400 works on display range from the familiar, to the rarely seen and focus on images by Bruce Davidson, William Eggleston, David Goldblatt, Graciela Iturbide, Boris Mikhailov, Sigmar Polke, Malick Sidibé, Shomei Tomatsu and Li Zhensheng.

The time has come once again for London to

The London Look exhibition Until September 30th 2012

be inundated with beautiful people wearing

Make the Horniman Museum and Gardens

even more beautiful clothing as the world's

one of your London Fashion Week stop-offs

most well-respected fashion editors, writers

this season, to be inspired by The London

and entourages take their high-profile seats at

Look photography exhibition. The work is the

London Fashion Week to prepare for spring/

result of a competition from the Horniman and

summer 2013.

lifestyle website, Londonist, which challenged

London Design Festival 2012 September 14th – 23rd 2012

amateur and professional photographers to consider the style of Londoners and capture the essence of the city through street photography.

London Design Festival celebrates its tenth

Whittled down from 350 to just 14 striking

anniversary with hundreds of events across the

images, you can expect to find London’s

city showcasing various design disciplines.

eclectic style frozen in time.

New projects for 2012 include the 'Global Design Forum' (Central Saint Martins, Sep 18) , with speeches, panel discussions and presentations, and 'Townhouse' (Sep 19-23), an 'adventure in contemporary living' curated

by Jane Withers in a Thomas Cubitt-designed Georgian townhouse. Trafalgar Square hosts a series of 'designs you can't see', taking visitors on a journey using immersive sound installations. The V&A is the festival hub venue; the museum will stage a staircase installation

by Rolf Sachs and host a variety of events.

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NICOLA PORTER ILLUSTRATOR

How would you describe your illustration style and When did you feel you found your specific style?

My illustrations are quite detailed, linear, black and white illustrations. When using colour in a piece I usually work with water based materials such as inks, water colours and acrylics. I also love getting my hands dirty in the print room whenever I can. A lot of my favourite pieces are screen printed, most probably because of the process undergone as well as the finishing results. If necessary I use Photoshop to edit or tweak an image but will always try to keep my illustrations as close to the hand drawn original as possible.

I have noticed you use different kinds of media in your work, screen printing, watercolour and inks and die-cutting. What is your favourite type of media to use and do you feel it is important within your work to experiment?

Over time I have realised that in order to get new and fresh results it is important to experiment with materials and techniques and to stay clear from getting to attached to just one material. Before University I would always draw with fine liners until tutors began encouraging us to use dip pen and ink instead. I preferred this new medium so much more that this then lead me to try a variety of new materials. I feel most comfortable working with dip pen an ink mostly as although it is a very unpredictable material to use, some accidental marks and drips can work out quite beautifully and create added charm to a piece.

Have you got a certain mind process you take on when you are about to illustrate? do you have to be in a specific environment?

I usually work best wherever I am able to spread all my papers and equipment out.

Sometime I find I have days where nothing seems to work and days where I can get straight into the swing of things! Any work that I feel isn’t very good one day I’ll keep on a pile somewhere until I come to look at it next and I hopefully don’t mind it as much!

ABOUT

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BEN HOWARD TALENTHOUSE COMPETITION ENTRY

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UP AND COMING

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CHICKENS!

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NICOLA PORTER

I love the way you use colours in your work, especially your chickens project and your screen printing work. I have also noticed you don’t use colour on some illustrations. What is the thought process you go through when adding colour?

Does it depend on the feeling you get from something you’ve illustrated? I’ve noticed that it is mainly your drawings of animals which get the most colour added to them, I wasn’t sure if this was a conscious action or if you just add colour when you feel it needs some?

There is no process to this really, it’s simply down to whether I want to add colour to a piece today or if I don’t. It sometimes depends on what the subject is that I am drawing also. For example, the chicken and their feathers, there are some lovely colours that I feel it would be a shame to not include in the image.

What is your favourite project you have done so far and why?

So far I don’t really have a favourite project. I have work that I feel positive towards or I feel has worked well but I continually try and better each piece from the last.

You have recently graduated from university, how have you found going out into the industr y there is a lot of competition within the creative industry, are you finding it hard to get your work noticed?

So far I since leaving University I have been very lucky to have won a competition in London and I got a placement at a Print Company also in London. I gained great experience and friends from both of these brilliant opportunities. Illustrating is a crazy competitive industry and all you can do is keep going with it, wherever you can.

I’ve found that what I’m doing now with my life and what I find interesting stems from my childhood and the way I was raised. Do you think your past has affected you in a way that is lucrative to what you’re doing now? Can you tell me a bit about where you grew up and how you go interested in illustration?

I can’t think of a specific thing that happened when younger or a reason for why I’ve gone down the routes I have. During school, art and P.E were the only subjects I really enjoyed, I never seemed to do quite as well in the others. I went on to join an athletics club as a child and continued to draw whenever wherever. I used to love Jacqueline Wilson books and the illustrations that were used throughout when I was a child. I would practise drawing the illustrations from the books, I remember knowing that this was one thing I wanted to do when I grew up! I was eager to do well in art and get where I wanted while still young. As I came from a family that weren’t creative I was praised ABOUT

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UP AND COMING

greatly by them for the work that I would do. This was the main thing that encouraged me to continue with it as well as it being a passion and great joy of mine to do. When I got to art college we got the chance to try out areas of all art and design, from which I went on to specify in Graphics, illustration and digital media. My drawing developed and my eyes were opened to a whole new world of art that I was less aware of before.

Is there any specific memor y or memories that play out in your head that influence the path you’re taking with your illustration? And if that’s so, where would you like to go with illustration in the future and what’s your plan?

As a child I would always have pencil or crayon in hand producing a new masterpiece for the fridge door. Family members would question where I had gotten my creative abilities from as no one in the family could draw for toffee! All it is I’d say, is down to practise and a none stop childhood where I never stopped drawing!

Tell me more about you and what you do now when not illustrating, hobbies, interests and do they help influence what you do as a illustrator?

Lately as I have been so busy I haven’t had much chance to do anything none art related. As I have left University now, friends are now back at home all over the country, I use any spare time that I have to visit friends and family. I also have a blog that I keep updated daily and I try to keep fit by going running.

Are there any other illustrators you take inspiration from? Be they known famously or unknown and closer to home.

There are many people out there that continually influence the way I work, the choices that I make and the attitude that I choose to have towards everyday life. It would be impossible to specify those that have inspired me most throughout life as there are simply too many. As well as colouring page after page of colouring books, painting hard boiled eggs and building houses out of lego, as a kid I would watch countless amounts of cartoons on TV, whilst attempting to draw the characters. Animated programmes probably inspired and influenced me most as a child without me really realising!

Where do you want to be in ten years time?

It’s scary to think what I may or may not have achieved over the next ten years. I hope to have had many exciting experiences to look back on. Many a memory of travels, successes, a possible wedding and birth are what I hope to be able to look back on! To be settled in a successful job and to be happy and amongst happy people is my main goal for the next ten years!

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ON WHERE NICOLA’S CREATIVE SPARK COMES FROM:

NICOLA PORTER

'As a child I would always have pencil or crayon in hand producing a new masterpiece for the fridge door. Family members would question where I had gotten my creative abilities from as no one in the family could draw for toffee!'

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BEN HOWARD TALENTHOUSE COMPETITION ENTRY

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NICOLA PORTER

FIVE DAYS IN MOROCCO

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JOE EARLEY PHOTOGRAPHER

What made you get into photography?

Before I was born my parents used to collect old camera's from boot fairs and displayed them around the house. When I was came along and went on to do my growing part, I enjoyed to explore in the loft and see what cool things I came across, The camera's started to catch my eye, with all there different shape, sizes and colours with buttons left, right and centre. My dad dabbled a little in taking photographs and said if I was to manage a whole week at school without taking a day off he would give me his Minolta x-300 ( I hated school with passion, any chance to get a day of and pretend to be sick, I took it ) so I managed a whole week at school and got the camera, then from then on I started to take pictures, and as I got older the passion grew from inspiration of friends, now here I am.

Most of your photography series on your website are of places you have been, mainly landscapes. A lot of the places come across bleak but beautiful, is this intentional? What makes you want to shoot landscapes, particularly ones which only have a hint of civilisation?

I always told myself I want to shoot more portraits but my confidence with telling people what to do isn't so good, that’s why I enjoy photographing landscapes. Nothing better than turning up at a completely fresh and unknown place to my eyes, and set up for a photograph, knowing I don't have to make a conversation with it and can enjoy it for hours and hours, you cant do that with portraits.

I have noticed a lot of vehicles in your photography, is there a reason for this?

It’s amazing what a lone vehicle can portray, whose is it, how did it get there etc.

Are these the feelings you feel when photographing them? what is it about them?

I’ve been interested in classic cars for quiet a few years now and the interest in making photographs of cars began when I saw a old camper van left to rot with a piece of tarpaulin

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ISLE OF SHEPPEY, 2011

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ON SHOOTING PORTRAITS

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'Nothing better than turning up at a completely fresh and unknown place to my eyes, and set up for a photograph, knowing I don’t have to make a conversation with it and can enjoy it for hours and hours, you cant do that with portraits.'

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JOE EARLEY

MATT, 2012

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just covering the front window, the feeling of neglect was to much for me to handle and it really upset me to see a car get in such a state. So I made a series called in need of attention exploring the feelings a car enthusiast feels when he comes across a car in such a state, if you look at the image of the volkswaven in the series you can actually see the almost shell-shock look on the front of the car portrayed by the headlights. I then began trying to make pictures of vehicles in a solitary way, completely on there own in a landscape, for reasons I cant really explain at the moment.

I've noticed that the weather often plays quite a large role in your photographs. Do you attempt to venture out with a project in mind on specific days and at specific times, or is it more of a spontaneous thing?

Yes exactly that, I make the effort to only shoot in overcast situations, it allows me to put more mood into the photograph and also shoot from what ever angle I want and not be disturbed by sun glare making its way into the lens, I enjoy the flat feeling to the photograph.

I am aware that you definitely prefer using film cameras. Have you got any favourites in particular and what is it about film which you love?

I shoot mostly Medium format, I use my bronica sq-a which takes 120mm film and produces a 6x6 image on the negative ( square crop ) and I like to dabble in 35mm range finder camera's brought from boot fairs for little money, always nice to get a bargain!

Do you still enjoy shooting digital?

I don't really have a huge interest in it anymore, I use my digital camera to document work and the odd day trip as it is very nice to be able to upload straight away, there is that aspect, still doesn't have the same feeling to it though unfortunately.

Do you consider perspective and composition in your photographs as a major factor in their success?

Composition is everything, when I come across a place I want to photograph I will frame it in my head first. I have a grid on the ground glass of my camera, so I spend around 5 minutes setting up the image so all my lines are perfect, if I line is out and its not straight when I process, I will wait on the weather to do its thing and shoot it again, otherwise the print will play on my mind!

What is your favourite series? What do you enjoy shooting most & what sort of thing would you like to shoot if you could?

The isle of Sheppey series, was real nice exploring a new place that wasn't far away from where I live at all, the weather was perfect, we met some cool people, had some nice conversations are saw incredibly quirky things. One dream I have is to travel to Switzerland in my mini, drive some beautiful roads, climb a mountain and camp at the very top, then wake up to a beautiful sunrise and share it with someone special.

Where would you like to go with photography in future and what's your plan?

I'd like to start assisting when I finish university or maybe work for a printers, then move on to do commission based work for publications, that’s the plan/dream.

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JOE EARLEY

IN NEED OF ATTENTION, 2012 Tell me more about you and what you do now when not studying/ photographing, hobbies, interests and do they help influence what you do as a photographer?

Skateboarding is a huge part of my life and always will be, we've been on many rad trips and experiences have always been ones to remember, I enjoy going on adventures on my bike, riding into the abyss, collecting old cameras from boot fairs, drawing, miniatures, music, Also enjoy using the sewing machine, making things that I know I cant afford and that more than able to make for nothing, I want to travel when I finish university and see the world.

Are there any other photographers you take inspiration from? Be they known famously or unknown and closer to home.

Anyone who has the ability to make a series of images work, Alec soth, Nich Hance McElroy, Simon Roberts, JJ Gardener, Jem Southam and many more

If you could choose 3 guests for your perfect dinner party past or present who would they be?

Mum, Dad & Nan.

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UP AND COMING

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DUNGENESS, 2012

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JOE EARLEY

DUNGENESS, 2012

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UP AND COMING

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STEPH MEAR FASHION DESIGNER

Steph Mear has recently graduated studying fashion. Her course covered illustration, designing, making and knitting. Steph chose to focus on illustration in particular. ‘When I’m designing I usually have my desk space surrounded by images that inspire me, lots of colour and scraps of images and lots of media to work with, for example; pens, paints, pencils and charcoal. Mear grew up in a little town in Cheshire in what she calls a happy and loving environment, she has fond memories of her childhood and remembers wanting to constantly make things, play and cut up clothes. ‘When I was younger I was always cutting up clothes, I got bored really easily and wanted to reinvent everything, this also included my mums clothes! I have a strong passion for styling as well as designing’.

On commenting on what she gets up to and her interests Steph says ‘I have an unhealthy obsession with charity shops! I buy jumpers and blouses constantly. I love clothes from past decades and being able to see second hand clothing in charity shops being reinvented in main stream high street shops just inspires me more to look for the bargains. I also love to see new things and take lots of photographs (even if it is using Instagram!) Being able to see things and capture them can be a heavy influence and be used in the future.’

Steph takes inspiration from many people. She loves the Olsen twins and Nicole Richie for not just their style but the confidence. She also loves Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney because of the simplicity and Mulberry.

Describe yourself in one word.

Happy

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CREATIVE ENVIRONMENT

STEPH MEAR

'When I’m designing I usually have my desk space surrounded by images that inspire me, lots of colour and scraps of images and lots of media to work with, for example pen, paints, a range of pencils and charcoal.'

SUB_STRUCTURE MAGAZINE