Poetry series:'between the lines'
eden: Natalie Beddows
I took these images on 35mm black and white film using an Olympus Trip 35. I edited them slightly to give them softer colours using Photoshop and also physically manipulated some of them by staining them with coffee. In the images of the crawling plants I made an etch from the original and printed it onto some of my photographs to create different layers. In the ‘Burning’ image, I took a lighter and burnt holes into the back, and then took parts from the same picture and stuck them to the back.
In these photographs, I want to give an insight into the beauty in everyday life by using simple colours and subjects. I want to portray the decline of domestic life and nature slowly withering away, by combining elements of the natural world and contemporary life. I think there is a sense of irony as Eden represents an unspoiled paradise and in my images I want to present the crumbling of life around us.
Burning
Haze
Creeping
Creeping 2
Entwine
My own work is self-labelled as documentary photography, out of a lack of a better title. By carrying a camera daily, I aim to embody the spirit of the Brownie in making the means to photography ready to me at every moment, without obstruction – by doing so, I can take a photograph of anything that captures my eye and interests me enough to preserve. Any of us can do this these days, with a camera readily available in our pockets around the clock – and many of us do so without even thinking about it. Next time you take your phone out to take a photograph, whether it is of your friends or of something that caught your eye, think about how you are participating in the act of documenting your life through photography. Make prints of your favourites, display them on your walls, share them with your friends and family. Follow the tradition of those who came before you and took their own snapshots documenting their lives. Everyone is a documentary photographer today, and this is a good thing.