Join the conversation
Subcribe to comment rss feedFeatured Photographer
Jane Simmonds
My photography mostly consists of colourful, semi-abstract images inspired by the natural word I see on my daily walks in the Forest of Dean or on my travels further afield. I am more interested in details and small scenes than the wider landscape and like to experiment with in-camera techniques such as ICM and multiple exposures to explore patterns, textures, shapes and colours.
Michéla Griffith
In 2012 I paused by my local river and everything changed. I’ve moved away from what many expect photographs to be: my images deconstruct the literal and reimagine the subjective, reflecting the curiosity that water has inspired in my practice. Water has been my conduit: it has sharpened my vision, given me permission to experiment and continues to introduce me to new ways of seeing.
It’s interesting to see the enthusiasm with which techniques such as intentional camera movement and multiple exposures have been taken up, and the variety of images that result. Perhaps that is precisely their appeal – not only do we like what we see and want a little piece of it, but the joy – and indeed frustration – of incorporating any form of movement into your images is that it is nigh on impossible to replicate an image – yours or anyone else’s. I’ve been watching Jane’s images develop over the last year and it is evident that she has been busy.
Can you tell readers a little about yourself – your education, early interests and career?
I was quite arty as a child and loved drawing and painting but went to a grammar school where that sort of thing was not encouraged and I was steered firmly towards academic success – my degree is in Law although I have never practiced Law (I realised pretty quickly I was not cut out for that kind of life).
Some years ago, we (my husband and I) swapped our urban life for an old miner’s cottage and some land in the Forest of Dean. This had lots of space for our numerous spaniels – we had become involved in breeding and competing at shows with our dogs by then. This took up a lot of time so I needed to find something I could do from home. I was quite good with computers and began to build websites for canine clubs and some small businesses. I also did some freelance writing work for canine publications (including a commission for a book on Cocker Spaniels). I’m still running a number of websites but have cut down somewhat – there are only so many hours in the day I want to be sitting in front of a computer screen.