Berkshire College of Art campus was on the back lot of Reading Tech College. My sister's old mini was long gone, I was now driving a red Renault 5. It was a 30 minute ride to Reading. I was made up, I had my own wheels and I was studying photography. The BTEC National Diploma in Photography was a practical course. Over the next two years I learned how to work in the photography studio - how to use studio lighting, medium and large format 5x4 cameras. Initially we (photography students) would photograph each other. Contact sheet of student Steve by myself & myself by Warren King 5x4 contact sheet of student Deryck & fibre based print of student Toby ...
I didn’t have much kit - just a camera, film and lots of curiosity about the world around me. I was always asking my friends if It was ok to make a portrait, or if I could bring my camera along to a gig. Me and my friends were fresh out of school, we were going to 6th form college, we felt all grown up. We had survived school and were now discovering these newfound freedoms and meeting like minded souls.
I photographed the way the light was landing on objects and surfaces around the house. Then I started photographing my family in quiet moments of contemplation, thought and bonding. This gave me a focus, a creative outlet, a distraction?
The reworking of these artworks was inspired by the documentary The Secret Life of Chaos. Which goes into depth the works of Alan Turing’s (pattern formation), Andrey Belousov’s (chemical reactions), Edward Lorenz (butterfly effect) and Benoit Mandelbrot’s (fractals).
Afterwards I made a handwritten poster with one of these images, promoting myself as a band photographer. I got permission to put it up in our local music shop - Kingfisher Music where all the musicians would go.
