CreativeMornings/Edinburgh catches is up with this month’s photographer Jo Tennant
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’m a photographer. I’m a scientist (my degree studies) and artist (because the need to create just keeps intruding). I guess both of these are the best mix for a photographer. The f-stops, shutter speeds and technical geekery capture fleeting moments of lines, patterns and light - all of which might otherwise pass unnoticed.
I print photomontages onto textiles as well.
But I am more than a photographer. Born in South Africa moved to the UK when I was nine, I am now a mother of a fifteen month old little Scots girl. I live in a wonderful and impractical house on the sea in Portobello where I am trying to stop the roof leaking.
I have been captain of a bike, horse and elephant polo team. I am also quite annoyingly geeky about craft beer and wine.
What inspired you to first pick up a camera?
My dad had an SLR camera which came everywhere with us throughout my childhood. When I was ten,my dog was running in the park;trying to find the balance between shutter speed to capture his movement and aperture to expose correctly, then frame and compose … I wanted to learn and master it. Ever since then, I have thought that great photography has the power to tell a story, to make you feel something and to understand. It is satisfying to evoke that in an image.
What subjects are you most drawn to?
People with passion. Their energy is infectious and exhilarating to work with. I love telling their story.
What is your favourite gear you’re using at the moment?
I love my kit, though it’s not particularly high tech. A trusty Nikon and a battery of well loved lenses, a MacBook Pro and the Adobe suite. Technology is brilliant at making things possible but it can never replace the story you tell when you frame and crop beautifully or make the decisions about which moment you choose to portray: the magic comes from that.
Can you list a few of your favourite creative resources (magazines, blogs, Instagram, etc.)
The Do Lectures are my go to for inspiration in life and a kick start on any project.
I love these photographers’ work:
Mickey Smith http://bit.ly/1ETivqS and his Do Lecture on ‘Trust in the Things You Love’ here http://bit.ly/1PuvL0e
Phil Chapman - an unassuming photographer who takes the most beautiful pinhole / repurposed camera images http://bit.ly/1FoRcJA
Laurence Winram - a friend and mentor. His Conemen and Shadow images http://bit.ly/1QY5yET
In addition, getting outside- ideally onto Portobello Beach or into the woods or up onto the hills inspires me. But part of me loves grey streets in sideways weather and finding beauty in that. Just being in the moment.
And making yourself take a photo a day- that ‘silly’ exercise will do more for your creativity and photography skill than anything else.
Please tell us the story behind one of your favourite photographs.
This photo makes me smile. The bridesmaid was taking her duties very seriously, as one does aged six. The bride’s underskirt was hooked on something underneath and so in she dived to fix it. When I’m photographing, it’s a kind of meditation- you need to stay in the moment yet be watching all the time and enjoy being carried along with the subjects. When moments like this arise, you’re there to frame and catch them.
Other photos are purely sentimental and remind me just of a time and place.
This image is of the doorways on the main street in Bowmore on the Isle of Islay. I’d gone there to run the half marathon and whilst staying met a guy who knocked me sideways with his ebullience. We were walking down the street. I remember, awkwardly, I couldn’t think of something to say and that awful shyness of being like a teenager again, so I stopped to frame an image I thought I’d seen instead. Well I think both the photo and the boy turned out rather well: five years later, we now have a fifteen month old daughter together. So this is a personal one.
