How did you decide to become a photographer ?
A Welsh artist who has just graduated from University, it was in my final year I really began to embrace and focus upon the type of artist I wanted to be and the style of work I wanted to create.
Out of University I am looking to gain experience in the publishing industry and am looking to set up my own magazine in the coming months which would fit along my personal style of work whilst highlighting and featuring a range of other artists.

What are your inspirations ?
Along the way, artists who have inspired me include Jan Family, Maurice Scheltens and TONK. These are artists who exemplify the ability to see the creative potential in everyday objects, and most importantly, to make art fun. From these artists I learned the importance of keeping a sketchbook and just taking the time to explore and experiment within it. Most importantly, to have fun when creating art.

Artists such as these are three of a long list of creative people who illustrate the changing styles of contemporary photography. Scheltens may not be representative of the whole contemporary commercial photography industry, but his success has allowed for a lot of inspiration to be drawn from his work. Illustrating the transformation in commercial and fashion photography throughout the last decade.

Fashion photography is no longer as glossy and sleek as previous years due to a backlash against the digital and unobtainable beauty of glossy magazines. Instead, with the industry opened up by the grunge photography of the nineties, artists are free to create raw, challenging, unique and sometimes obscure photography.

This in many ways is what inspires me to keep experimenting and pushing the boundaries of what I think I can achieve myself.

What is your process for your Collage Fashion Series ?

These images in particular explore the idea of fashion being different layers on each individual, and how we can all have a diverse range of personal styles and can not necessarily be labelled as being of a particular fashion scene.

Fashion is in many ways just a layer, and the individual may have several layers to define their character rather than just one. Something that I think is important to consider, and not to, as the saying goes, ‘judge a book by its cover’

What is your process for your Water and Ink series ?

Although these Ink images may not instantly appear to relate to the collage images, they still are very much process driven photographs. By producing a soft and very natural portrait, I wanted to create a classic looking image but with a modern twist to it.

The addition of the ink was in tribute to the medium of paint, inks, and generally the history of fine art. Again, this is in tribute to my own fine art background that has been of great inspiration to me.

More information at www.rachelrichards.co.uk

TAGS: Interview, London, PHOTOGRAPHY, Rachel Richards