Mair Thomas Interviewing Myself

Interview by Mair Thomas with Jade Vickers: 

Sunday 18th of October

MT - When did your interest in photography start?

JV - I started college when I was fifteen years old and I studied art and design, so I would say I have always been quite the creative person, I enjoyed my years in college a lot. After college I worked for a few years and my creativity became less and less, I would do the odd drawing or painting at home but I started to forget how much I enjoyed it as I was always so busy and then around five years ago, I received a Canon Rebel XS camera as a present. It made me so happy, I started to notice the things around me, the shapes in the trees, the patterns on the wall, the mountains near where I lived in Bethesda and it  really made me appreciate the beauty around me. I wanted to learn and gain experience, so I put together a makeshift portfolio and gave applying to college and university a shot. Then I had my interview at Llandrillo and received an unconditional offer and I was made up, now I have learnt so much about myself and photography in the past few years, I don’t know what I would do without it. 

MT - If you would not be interested in photography, what would your other career have been?

JV - Well to be honest I haven't thought about that that much but before I started uni I had many different jobs, all of which I do not feel were right for me apart from one. It varied from warehouse work to cafe work, I managed to hold down a job in a cafe for three years before Covid rules affected that and now I do not have a job. In the summer’s though I would go to festivals and do litter picking, this job was right for me in so many ways but also not right for me in many different ways too. I had the most amazing experiences and met beautiful people and most importantly found my passion for photographing people in these events, however it was too easy to drink too much and have to much fun when working and this became all too stressful for me, but I am so glad it happened as I never would have known how much I love to capture and document people having an amazing time in a festival/party. So basically the answer to the question is I don't really know, I was just going with the flow and I didn't really know what I wanted to do before I came to Coleg Llandrillo. 

MT - How has your work developed from the FdA to future ideas developing for the BA?

JV - In year one I was still experimenting with my style and learning about myself as a photographer. I was trying to figure out which kind of photography genre I was interested in. I feel that the first year enabled me to realise that I was creating photographic art, based on my own feelings and ideas to create conceptual images. I created a book based on a poem I had written about my anxiety, I wanted to create images that coincided with the poem. From this I felt very inspired and I wanted to then become a visual storyteller, which is what I did in the second year, I created another personal book however this time it was a bit different as I combined images from childhood that I had found and scanned in with images that I had taken throughout the summer in festivals. I then created a modernised scrapbook with quotations from my mum and I included a story at the back of the book, a documentation of my life from when I was a child to my life now whilst involved in these events. Now for the BA I am hoping to create another story, perhaps a book or a even a video, this time a little different as the circumstances have changed a lot, due to COVID there are no longer events like festivals being held, so this has had a very big impact on my style of photography and you could say an impact on my path. Anyway due to this I have been documenting illegal raves that have been happening around the country, in Wales and England. I am using film at the moment I have been using an Olympus, OM10 and a Yashika point and shoot, experimenting with both colour and black and white film. 

MT - Who are your main inspirations for your work? 

JV - At the moment I have been looking at many different photographers and artists and I would say that my main inspiration would be Seana Gavin, who  is an artist based in London, known for her dreamlike compositions, she overlays and combines images from old and vintage photographs to create scenes where the past and future exist together. Seana Gavin is also well known for her photographic work which documents the time she was involved in the rave scene during the 1990’s following the ‘Spiral Tribe’. I would also say that Matthew Smith who is a British documentary photographer who is based in Bristol, he documented the rave scene in the 90s, is one of the main photographers I have been looking into I have been in contact with him and I am going to use this information in my dissertation and use the research as a primary source. I have been looking at loads of photographers  on Sweet Harmony: Rave Today, an exhibition held in London, I've used this site to get inspiration and it has been very useful and interesting. 

MT - What are your long term goals after the BA?

JV - I can imagine and picture myself working in event photography, but due to the current circumstances I can imagine I may have some challenges along the way, but I am willing to try my best to pursue my passion.  I would like to eventually be working in this environment or become self-employed. My work to me is considered as documentary and a visual storyteller and I do feel I am heading in the right direction when it comes to the production of work in a documentary context. I am contemplating moving to Bath or Bristol to do my MA in photography after a year out. 

Below are some examples of my work that I have produced for this year.