With massive thanks to this top team : fashion model Chloe Webb, fashion director Amanda Marcantonio, fashion assistant Corin Ripley, makeup artist Sally Kvalheim, digital operator Julie Stewart, lighting assistant Sujata Setia, producer Karina Diall at Hearst magazines, and Angela Evans-Hill at the Wimbledon Common Ranger’s Office. With special thanks to Sujata Setia for all the wonderful behind-the-scenes photography.
SUMMER STARTS HERE! fashion photography by Wendy Carrig
This Thursday 30th June I will be giving a career talk to graduating photography students as part of the Starting Out conference at The Old Truman Brewery, London.
I will be talking about my career as a student photographer documenting the Peace Camp at Greenham Common, the benefits of working as an assistant photographer, and my work and current practice as a freelance photographer.
The conference is hosted by AOP X Free Range and as well as talks there are portfolio reviews (I will be reviewing portfolios on Saturday morning), and an opportunity to see all the graduate shows including the finalists and winners of the AOP Student Awards.
Starting Out continues until Sunday 3rd July 2022 and is FREE! You just need to register here to attend.
The Creative Life is a unique coaching platform for freelance creatives founded by Sheryl Garratt, previous editor of The Face and The Observer magazines.
Do you have a tip, tool, talk, book or other resource to share with us? Something you go back to again and again, or wouldn’t be without in your creative life.
BOOKS – I love a pocketbook crammed with info that you can just pick up and read a random page to get a quick inspo fix. My current three are :
Think Like an Artist by Will Gompertz – genius tips gleaned from genius creatives.
For a longer read I will go to Annie Leibovitz‘s excellent At Work.
TALK – This inspiring interview with photographer Stephen Shore X David Campany, recorded in 2019 at PhotoLondon, describes Shore’s photographic practice taking us on a journey of his photographic life through choice of cameras and film.
TOOL – Pen & paper. For creating mind maps – paper has to be at least A3 for my large handwriting. I also complete the morning pages exercise from Julia Cameron‘s The Artist’s Way. Both processes help me brainstorm ideas and problem solve.
TIP – Wear a jacket with four front pockets and keep the same four essential items, keys, phone, money etc. in each pocket. This is a good check list for leaving home, especially at short notice!
We all need a support network. What’s the most valuable group, forum or organisation you belong to.
I am proud to be a founding member of f22 – women photographers at the Association of Photographers. The group was formed in 2019 as a reaction to the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements that swept through the film industry, when we realised that the photographic industry also has historic gender imbalance and discrimination. Our aim is to increase the visibility of women photographers and encourage best practice at all levels from student to accreditation. We hold talks, workshops, group exhibitions, and next year we will be launching an international Photography competition for female identifying photographers.
Who or what inspires you?
People never cease to inspire. Their personal style and own unique story, and the unexpected way they can react to a situation. I love the element of surprise that a new face, or space, presents and how this can be explored to greater depths by the most important and inspiring element of all, light.
What’s the biggest challenge in your creative life, right now?
Over the past eighteen months maintaining visibility has been a challenge. With difficulties of meeting in real life there has been more demand for posting to online platforms so we don’t just ‘disappear’. I personally love Instagram, and I think it is a genius tool especially for visuals, but it is easy to become a slave to the swipe. As a photographer I really want people to appreciate my work in real life. I want them to hold my portfolio in their hands, to feel the quality of the paper that my work is printed on, and to appreciate the beauty of handcrafted prints on a gallery wall. To that end I have started creating and sending out postcards of my photography in the hope that viewers may linger longer. It feels there is definitely a place aside from screens for this type of tactile marketing.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out as a freelance photographer – or indeed as a creative of any kind?
Practice your practice. Whatever it is you do, do it as often as you can. For photographers make sure you are shooting something everyday, even if it’s on your phone. Look at your work over a period of time and you will start to make connections and create stories and see your style, your unique way of storytelling come to the fore. I have an ongoing project that I started in lockdown. I was desperate to create yet didn’t feel comfortable about taking my SLR onto the streets and so I started shooting on an old iPhone. I rediscovered a more simplistic way of creating and I like the naive quality of the images. The disciplines I learnt from this process have already begun feeding into my professional practice.
So learn your trade, be really good at what you do, but push creative boundaries and always challenge yourself. Tick the required box then go that one step further to get a different result. You may be surprised at what you can achieve. There is always more!
This Q&A interview with Sheryl Garratt was featured on The Creative Life last November 2021.
Click here to find out more about The Creative Life.
I am delighted to discover that I have also won both the Documentary and Landscape categories in this years Julia Margaret Cameron awards! Again, my complete and sincere thanks to the JMC judging panelfor selecting my work, which I hope will help to highlight some of the issues illustrated below :
WINNER DOCUMENTARY SINGLE :
This is Kate Morrissey who received a custodial sentence as a result of her heroin addiction. She is now an NHS manager, and leads campaigns to bring about reform of the criminal justice system. See her moving and inspiring TED talk “Do we truly believe in rehabilitation?”
WINNER LANDSCAPE SERIES :
‘More Wallander than Broadchurch, this small seaside hamlet sits between vast wastelands and the Channel. A singular ribbon of mid-century houses, with strange street furniture and incongruous planting, standing in exposed isolation at the Edge of England’. A series from my project Urban Palms.
HONORABLE MENTION DOCUMENTARY SERIES :
These images were taken last year on the road from Cardiff to Greenham Common. I documented a reenactment of the nine day 110 mile protest march that started the Greenham Women’s Peace Camp – the largest female-led protest since suffrage. To find out more about this initiative please take a look at the work by activist group Greenham Women Everywhere, or check out my previous blog post on this event here.
Massive congratulations to all the other winners and finalists in this year’s JMC awards.
I have just been announced as a winner in the 18th Julia Margaret Cameron awards. This is hugely exciting and I am very grateful to the judging panel.
WENDY CARRIG | WINNER | ADVERTISING & FASHION | SINGLE
The JMC awards, an international photography competition for women photographers, take their name from one of the most important and innovative photographers of the 19th century Julia Margaret Cameron recognising her pioneering contribution to photography.
With the recent demise of the ‘traditional’ glossy magazine, I am grateful for independent publications like RakesProgress, and photography awards such as the JMC, as important spaces for photographers and other creatives to showcase personal projects.
Many thanks again for taking the time to look and read.
Big thanks to party hostess Manon Molenaar at Models1. Florals & ruffles styled for GH by fashion directorAmanda Marcantonio, assisted by Corin Ripley. Afternoon tea and party games were styled by interior stylistMichelle Lester. Perfect party makeup & hair by Ian McIntosh at Arlington Talent. Many thanks also to my Photo assistant Julie Stewart, and digital operator Mr.Mark Griffiths. We photographed at beautiful Stonewall Park through JJ Locations, and our shoot was produced by Karina Dial at Hearst.
I am extremely honored to have this project selected by the judges – Jennie Ricketts trustee at Autograph Gallery and the Martin Parr Foundation, and Isabelle Von Ribbentrop the Executive Director of the Prix Pictet.
The Greenham Women’s Peace Camp was the largest female-led protest since suffrage, and led to the international ban of Cruise missiles. But this extraordinary event has largely been written out of history. Last year the activist group Greenham Women Everywhere recreated the protest march from Cardiff to Newbury [that started the Peace Camp] to once again highlight the achievements of these remarkable women.
It was an honor to walk alongside and document this new protest march from Cardiff to Greenham Common. Below is a series of 15 selected works, from this extensive project, that have been shortlisted for the 37th Association of Photographers(AOP)Awards.
Walking for 110 miles over nine days, the pain of polluted roads and thunderous traffic was accompanied by camaraderie and song.
Original Greenham Women shared inspiring, and sometimes terrifying stories, of their time spent at the peace camp, with a new generation of impassioned activists.
Their aim, to highlight the urgent crises of the climate emergency, nuclear weapons escalation, daily violence against women, extreme hunger, and social inequality, could not be more timely.
Having my work chosen for this category, in a genre I am not generally known for, really means a lot to me. I hope that my photography will help highlight the important work initiated by Greenham Women Everywhere.
Many thanks again to the creative teams : Art Director – Jo Bell, Styling – Sophie Kenningham, Hair & Makeup – Helen Walsh and Dina Catchpole, Models Dayane Gomes and Kate Orr, and special thanks Perfect Bound Magazine.
Many thanks to The Times for featuring one of my images from the Greenham Women 110 mile protest march.
Bringing together original Greenham Women with a new generation of activists. “Walking in the footsteps of our foremothers to highlight the multi crises of the climate emergency, nuclear weapons escalation, extreme hunger, social inequality, daily violence against women, and more.”
A series of this work has been chosen as a finalist in the 37th AOP photography awards.
I am very pleased that two of my images have been selected for FASHION. This category was judged by one of my photography heroes Koto Bolofo whose work I have hugely admired for many years.
I am also honored to have work selected in the PROJECT category – a series of Black & White photographs from a portfolio I created last year documenting a one hundred mile protest march by the activist group Greenham Women Everywhere. PROJECT was judged by photography expert Jennie Ricketts together with Isabelle Von Ribbentrop from Prix Pictet.
All photography will be exhibited at the AOP Awards party on April 20th, where the winners will be announced.
As part of this year’s International Women’s Day celebrations it was my huge honour to be part of the curation panel for WOMAN an exhibition of extraordinary photography by f22 Women Photographers at the AOP. The final roll call of women & non-binary photographers selected for inclusion lists some of the foremost photographers working in the industry today :
Rhiannon Adam, Carol Allen Storey, Eleanor Bentall, Julia Bostock, Eleanor Church, Heidi Coppock Beard, Nadia Correia, Felicity Crawshaw, Sophie Ebrard, Jillian Edelstein, Julia Fullerton-Batten, Nancy-Anne Harbord, Olivia Hemingway, Elisabeth Hoff, Chantel King, Jenny Lewis, Laura Lewis, Sandra Lousada, Hannah Maule Ffinch, Carolyn Mendelsohn, Anne-Marie Michel, Patricia Niven, Laura Pannack, Kate Peters, Zula Rabikowska, Helen Roscoe, Jo Sax, Carol Sharp.
The exhibition was created by the f22 working group, and is featured throughout March on the AOPawards.com site and the @f22aop and @AssocPhoto Instagram.
The #SheTakesOver initiative was created by advertising agency adamandeveDDB to highlight women and non-binary photographers working in the creative industries. The campaign runs throughout the Women’s History Month of March, and creative work submitted by talent can be seen on the @she.takes.over social channel and those of their partners Campaign Magazine, Free The Work and Equal Lens, as well as signed agencies and companies from around the globe. “All this with the important aim of getting talent commissioned.”
Do check out the work of some super talented creators.
I’m pleased to support and take part in this initiative. The images shown here were all selected for inclusion. Image credits :
Photography by me Wendy Carrig assisted by the Julie Stewart.
behind the scenes photography by Julie Stewart
I last photographed Kate Orr in the noughties. Together with Jo Bell we worked on editorial and advertising assignments both here and abroad. I’ll retrieve some of these from my archive to share here in the coming weeks.
And in case you’re not familiar with rakesrogress magazine, it is a most beautifully crafted & inspiring independent print publication dedicated to ‘the art of gardens, plants and flowers’.
I am very proud to have one of my images selected for the Turner Contemporary Poster Exhibition together with this roll call of extraordinary artists.
The exhibition is part of the Turner Contemporary Open which runs until 20th February 2022. The various posters can be seen dotted around East Kent railway stations creating a kind of art trail treasure hunt. Please let me know if you spot this one.
My featured image is part of an ongoing series titled On This Line That Divides. An exploration of the extraordinary Dymchurch Wall, a four mile sea defence on the south Kent coast overlooking vast sands, and where refugees have recently come ashore.
Tomorrow I will be presenting a workshop titled ON ENTERING PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS. The workshop was originally created by @f22aop women photographers, responding to the fact that women weren’t entering photography awards in the same way or numbers as their male counterparts. The workshop will cover how entering photography awards can improve confidence in your photographic practice, help gain visibility for your work, and how this can progress your career.
Massive thanks to all the teams I had the good fortune to work with throughout another extraordinary and challenging year. My thanks also to you for taking the time to respond to my posts. Your support and encouragement is always greatly appreciated. I wish you a happy, healthy, and truly inspiring new year X
More new photo stories coming soon, meanwhile here is a snapshot of last year’s highlights as chosen by Instagram’s #2021bestnine. Click links for full team credits.
Thank you for your continued support and kindness throughout another extraordinary year. I wish you and your loved ones a safe and happy holiday and an inspiring and fulfilling 2022.
Jennifer Cole @LindenStaub & Annika Dop @Models1 were the stars of this GH Christmas fashion story. Fashion director Amanda Marcontonio put on the glitz, with assistance from Millie Moss. Make up artist Lisa Valencia added the sparkle and sheen, and hair artist SvenBayerbach created all the quiffs and curls. Many thanks to my assistants Declan Slattery on lights, and digital operator Bruce Horak, also producer Fiona Andrews at Hearst, and the manager and staff at The Dixon, Tower Bridge.
We can still put on the glitz, even if it’s just for a party in our own front room! Life is for living. You can’t kill the [Christmas] spirit x
What a joy to work with the lovely Lisa Snowdon again! I began photographing Lisa in the nineties for various brands and publications, and worked with her more recently here. You may know Lisa for her work in TV & radio presenting. She has also created the Get Lifted podcast encouraging conversations around self-care and the menopause.
Women can often feel invisible when they hit their fifties, and so clothing company Kaleidoscope created their #circa50 campaign to help address issues around ageism. To support this they chose to work with a creative team who also fitted their #circa50 criteria. It was really refreshing to work with a fashion brand who want to celebrate age “both in front of and behind the camera.”
Many thanks to the brilliant team – L to R : Zoe Irwin hair artist, (Wendy Carrig photographer), the fabulous Lisa Snowdon, makeup artist and perfumier Amanda Grossman, and fashion director Tracey Sayer . Team photo by digital operator Gemma Gravett and studio lighting by Julie Stewart. My special thanks to Ed Watson and team at Prew for making this happen.
To see more of the campaign featuring Lisa and shot by me, do check out this great feature by the good people at The INDUSTRY Fashion.
This is Kate Orr wearing the grey dress, or as she calls it “the brown dress”.
“My lovely spotty brown dress caught my eye in Primark and became a staple item for castings back in the day. I seem to remember a few of us (models) had that dress at castings. Nobody minded, we all wore it differently. I kept my dress for about 10 years and wore it a lot. It was still good to go when I sent it to the charity shop. I have a few key items in my wardrobe that I have had for over 10 years, and I still wear today.”
Many thanks to supermodel Kate Orr. Hair & makeup by Dina at Frank Agency. Styling by Kate Orr and Sophie Kenningham at Frank Agency. Photo Assisting by Julie Stewart. Extra special thanks to Art Director Jo Bell. Photography by me Wendy Carrig at A&R Creative agency.
This grey dress was bought from a charity shop and shows a ‘made in Spain’ Primark label. But #whereismyfabricfrom and #whomademyclothes? Any clues?
No new clothes were purchased in the production of this photoshoot.
WENDY CARRIG 