Victoria-Whitmore

I am a photographic artist working mainly in black and white. I have a passionate interest in old derelict, decaying buildings and the stories and memories that they hold. I am inspired by the existing form internal and external and find the different state of decay of interest. Old buildings contain such character, not only in the style and architecture, but in the personal belongings that are left behind. This makes the building much more interesting and makes you think about the people who have lived there, the history and the memories that are still contained within. I have revisited many places and buildings that I remember as a child and photographed what still exists and what has changed. I feel that photographs are a great way of evoking emotions. Family photographs are a precious way of documenting events in one's life. People who are loved but no longer with us, which conjures up a spectrum of emotions and memories.

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I choose to photograph in black and white, to give the photographs more clarity and simplicity. A lot of my work is about the shape and the form, which I feel would be lost with the introduction of colour. I also think by keeping it mono tone it gives it a historical feel, reminiscent of the 1930 era. Although the conceptual side is very important to me, I want to develop my work into portraiture. I have a great interest in the human form, the bone structure, the shape of the facial features and the eyes, which express emotions. I like to examine the way people move, their body language and the story they are wanting to portray.

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Although I am not averse to using colour photography, as with photographing my buildings I feel that the black and white shows the form and features of the human body in a pure way. However, I want to experiment further with using colour within my work to achieve the same clarity but with more of a contemporary feel to my work.