Interview

Julie Long: Throughout my childhood I would frequently find myself leafing through a book 'The Family of Man' by Carl Sandburg. My parents had lived in the USA during the late 50s and early 60s and had brought it back with them when they returned to London. It is a collection of photographs, exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and was 'conceived as a mirror of the universal elements and emotions in the everydayness of life…'. It is a collection of pictures from around the world which depicts human experiences and is essentially street photography by photographers from around the world. I was, and still am, perpetually moved by the pictures in this book and it still has a profound impact on me.

How I moved from looking at to taking pictures took another 15years. I bought an Olympus OM10 (that never worked properly) and learnt some basic developing techniques whilst working in an adolescent unit where there was a dark room. It was set up by the staff to work with the teenagers but really it was for the staff. This was during the skin head and punk, glue sniffing days and an interesting time to be taking pictures.

However, I lost most of those pictures and it didn’t take long before I ditched the ‘no good camera’. Then, it took another 22years, and after a trip to NY without a camera, before I bought another SLR and my digital SLR a year later. I can’t believe I went to New York without a camera – now I have one I have to go back!!

JL: The idea of the Ealing Group evolved when another LIP member, Mark Mitchell and I unknowingly were linked by the backs of our adjoining gardens. We met up at Ryan's in Hanwell for a drink and said, lets begin an Ealing Group. Mark advertised it in the LIP magazine and in November 2005 we met with 'unknowingly' eight other photographers, all living within 5 minutes of each other in Hanwell. As you know we now have a core group of 13 photographers from west London.

I really like our group a lot. I just think that we work well together, want to learn and we are excited and beginning to grow in confidence as a group. What more could we want… besides an annual exhibition venue in Ealing.

JL: Do I have a style? Not sure; if so, it is evolving and doesn't seem to settle into any one thing. But what I find myself pulled towards is the idea of capturing patterns, shapes, textures and shades. It doesn’t matter what the subject is.

However, I do, too easily, get distracted and pulled away from the task i.e. it's easier to photograph pretty pictures and uneventful moments. I keep trying to focus though and sometimes I get a result. But my potential picture is always ‘about to be taken, at some point in the future’.

JL: Overall probably black and white even though it is a medium I find most difficult to work in. I love black and white Portraits and people photography as there is something about it which can be rather unrelenting and unforgiving which I like.

I love colour photography for colours sake. I am about to go back and learn some black and white processing and printing skills. So I’ll see.

JL: I began with film and then just before getting my digital camera I discovered slide film. Digital is great because it feels so economical. At first, I found it liberating as I could freely use up reams and reams of digital film, taking whatever, whenever. I also liked the idea of instant processing through the computer. I still like that. I still like digital.

But, two years on I feel I want to go back to slide film, to feel limited by a 36 roll film, to take my time, concentrate more, think about what I am doing. Is there a difference in the quality of pictures between digital and film – I don’t know. Is there a difference in the quality of thought that goes into taking pictures, for me, Yes! I have just come back from Venice after taking both digital and slide film. I am convinced my slides are better quality but probably because of the effort I put in. I’ll see when I get to some printing.

JL: In my childhood it was the book I told you about. In my adolescence I was influenced on the one hand by Don McCullen's photography on the stark realities of War and on the other hand the beautiful softness of Ansel Adams' landscapes.

The photographers photographs I find myself being drawn to are Stieglitz’s street photography, Godwin's more bleak landscapes and her collages.

JL: I have just abandoned, for now, working on a project I was doing on Southall, my first home in the UK. I was trying to make a photographic commentary on the remnants of the old working class Southall post-war up until the late 1960s and Southall of today. It's not working and I don't know why.

New projects – they are always popping into my head, so much so I am in danger of not following through on any one properly. I am still working on my Cumberland Road People Project and I am beginning a new, but long term project on 'People Reading'.