I read an article in the British Journal of Photography that fired my imagination and helped me to work out how to unite the two different forms of photography I like to do. The article was about an exhibition being held that features work by photographers who use a pseudonym. By working under a different name it allows them to sell work that doesn’t quite fit in with their main band of work; it frees them to work without restriction or be judged by other people’s pre assumptions about their normal work.
Gosh this was a freeing article to read; I quite often do photography that doesn’t really fit in with straight landscape photography and although my Signature collection allows me some leeway, there are times when I know and feel in my heart that some images I’ve taken just don’t sit well alongside my other work, and so I leave them stored on my SD card waiting until I find that right place for them.
I’m sure we’ve all taken images where we are veering slightly away from our original brief of what our customers expect of us; by creating an alter ego it allows us that freedom.
I love taking things within a landscape; close up of flowers, shapes of trees, animals and quite often things I would describe as arty; the type of images that you might see in an exhibition though probably not on someone’s wall in their sitting room. The article has given me a new lease of life, and I’m seriously considering how to move forward with this.
I guess the first thing is a name, on that I’m half way there; when I lived in Italy the Italians would struggle with pronouncing my name, the ‘th’ sound doesn’t appear in their language, so I was re-christened. I’m not going to tell you what the Italian name is, as the whole idea of the alter ego is no-one knows it’s you, so no pre conceived ideas about your usual work are imposed onto the other you. You’ll need a bit of bio though and maybe even new social network accounts under your new name if you can spare the time. Just think, if no-one knew it was you, what type of photography would you do? What pictures do you leave in storage for the right moment?
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Living in the beautiful rural county of Yorkshire it was perhaps natural for Ruth to have an affinity with the countryside and its wildlife. Creativity is Ruth’s driving force finding an outlet in television & radio she worked for many years as producer for BBC & ITV.
However a love of photography and for being surrounded by nature called her to go back to her photography training and bring pleasure and joy to people through her connection with our planet.
Staying in the moment when taking her images allows her to experience the natural magnificence unfolding before her eyes. It is this moment of mediation, of gratitude, that she evocatively conveys through her images.