Crack

As individuals meander along the path of creativity, there are often epiphanies and moments people pinpoint as crucial to their development as an artist. Without these people wonder what dead ends, side roads and fruitless wanderings may have resulted. Charles Emerson, 28, is a Bristol based photographer who was told at the right time where he should be going.

“May Dad was a painter, so I’d always had that artistic background. He was always in his studio painting away and I found I wanted to do the same thing. I’d always enjoyed painting as a kid.

“I went off to Art College and discovered graphic design and computers. I was completely happy enjoying computers and Photoshop. I was completely seduced by the computer world really. I wanted go down that road, but my tutor on my foundation course was looking at my work and basically told me I was pretty shit at graphic design, but my photos were good so I should go to Falmouth and study photography.”

Without this harsh kick in the computer from Charles’ tutor things may have gone down a different road. After devoting his time to photography at university and immersing himself in his course, Charles has found jobs as a photographer’s assistant to supplement his own work. Now after putting together an incredibly credible portfolio of work, Charles is now acquiring his own photography jobs. This has been a painstaking and long process, but one that has seen the quality of his work rewarded.

Charles is aware of the difficulty it takes to make this transition: “It’s a huge step going from assistant to a full photographer, as essentially you are asking clients to take a gamble and no one likes to do that if they are spending money, even if I come a bit cheaper. The recession might have helped me in some ways, in that because I was a bit cheaper, people were willing to take that chance. It’s a tricky one to get the work, but when you do you’ve got to make sure that everyone is happy.

“One of the biggest things is the kit and the studio. The amount of money you need to set yourself up as a photographer is massive. I’ve just bought a new camera and that nearly cleaned me out. Ideally I’d like a studio, that’s the next intention.”

The DIY ethic in much of Charles’ work has seen him clean out living rooms to create makeshift studio space. It’s also seen him use his equipment to put together a portfolio showcasing original conceptual pieces, still life and portraiture.





“The most recent work I’ve completed is the water flower work with dye. This has been a completely different tact to the work I’ve done in the past.The best feedback I’ve had from any of my work has been the flower pieces. People have said they haven’t seen anything really like it, before or since. I’ve been asked many times what I’ve done to manipulate the photographs to get this effect, when the truth is I haven’t actually done anything. It’s straight up as you see it. It gives it much more validity that it hasn’t been created on a computer.”

Charles’ variation in working method means his portfolio is as varied as anything you are likely to see. As his confidence has grown as a photographer he has been able to try new things with great results.





"I always thought I wanted to be a portrait photographer cut and dry, but over the years I’ve started to do a bit of fashion and now some still life stuff where it’s just me working on my own, in my room, with a bit of paper on the back wall, just doing my own thing with the radio on. It’s started to become something I really enjoy because everything is under your control. It’s a really nice way of working. It’s slow and you can take the time to think about what you want."

One of the most intriguing pieces in Charles’ work involves the smashing of milk bottles into people’s faces. A much more innocent process than it would imply. The results are intriguing, shocking and have made for a highly eye catching piece of work.

“I did the pieces involving milk in collaboration with my friend Tim Grant. We were working in a group of five people, all friends of mine, in Bristol. All the people involved were print makers or illustrators and we were playing a word association game and the words that we got were glass, milk and blow. So we decided to smash people in the face with sugar glass milk bottles. It was as simple as that. The milk had to be warm so it didn’t shatter the sugar glass bottle. It was a hot day too and so was the studio. It must have smelled like a rancid dairy or something.





“I had to practice my timing loads taking the shot because you only get one chance. The light doesn’t recycle quick enough to do a rapid fire, so I had to get my reactions right. It was a different way of working when it’s all a fraction of second. It was tough getting those timings right. We got three really nice finished pieces out of it that we were really happy with.”

On the back of hard work as an assistant and a stunning portfolio showcasing a great breadth of ideas, thought and original concepts, Charles seems poised to take his photography onto the next level. With work as consistently eye-grabbing as his current portfolio, he’s definitely a Bristol photographer worth keeping an eye on – even if it’s to avoid those low flying milk bottles.



http://www.charlesemerson.co.uk
info@charlesemerson.co.uk

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