Respecting and making a connection with both her subject and and its environment are two of the fundamental keys to Leigh Righton’s ability to create imagery with her impact. The Vancouver, Canada based artist focuses on portraiture and enjoys dabbling (she dabbles quite well) with surrealism. Leigh won a photography award in both Communication Arts and Applied Arts for her image of David Lynch in the 2011 Annual Editions. Enjoy her work and an interview after the jump!
Hey Leigh! What city do you live in, and what did you do today?
Leigh: I am currently in Vancouver and for now it’s my home base, but over the past couple years I’ve been back and forth between here and LA.
Today I did a portrait shoot of a local designer for a feature in the weekly paper here called The Georgia Straight.
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SO: When did you first realize you wanted to be a photographer? Do you remember the first time you played around with a camera, and was it something you were instantly drawn to?
Leigh: The first moment I remember thinking photography might be a real professional path for me, was after I put some work up in a group show in a small cafe. Everything had been shot on my little point-and-shoot, my only camera at the time. I was hugely surprised at the end of the night when all my photos had sold (and not just to my mom!)
I have always been drawn to many various forms of art and come from a talented and creative family. It would be really cool if I could remember the first time I played around with a camera, but I’d be lying if I said I did. Honestly, photography didn’t stand out to me as I was growing up. I always loved it, but I also loved painting, designing, sewing, acting… I enjoyed it all and didn’t go out of my way to focus on one particular area. When I was out of school and re-introduced to photography, and when I bought a new camera, that’s when I really got into it. Though I still have plans to work on mixed media projects in the future, photography is my main squeeze now.
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SO: Can you describe what your first big shoot was like? The kind where you had the nerves and it was exciting and scary at the same time?
Leigh: The first time I felt those feelings was actually not a “big” shoot by any stretch. Before I had even done that cafe show, a friend of mine called me and asked if I still had my camera (the same point-and-shoot) At this time I wasn’t at all familiar with how this camera worked, but he convinced me to show up and take pictures of a band and instructed me to pretend I was a Photographer. Apparently a well known hockey player was investing in this band and my friend was being offered free hockey tickets if he could get someone out to take press photos of them. I’m not sure why I did it, because I wasn’t even getting one of those hockey tickets out of the gig! but I went for it anyway and took their photos and pretended I knew what I was doing. I remember one of the band members casually asking how long I’d been at photography professionally and if there was a reason I chose to shoot with a small point-and-shoot camera. I’m not entirely certain what I said to get out of that awkward question, but I think I told him something along the lines of it being an artistic choice and that a real photographer is comfortable with any camera to get their job done. I assume I blabbered my way through it with those kind of made up justifications, but he seemed convinced enough with whatever I blurted out, and my friend went to the hockey game!
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SO: How would you define your artistic style professionally? Would you say you have a certain approach, or vision that separates you from other
photographers?
Leigh: Every shoot I ever do and every subject I work with is approached with individuality. It’s important for me to get a feel for whom I am working with and cater to their needs, styles and desired outcomes. When I have an understanding of where they are coming from and what they need, and then I can better assess what approach to take on the project to get what I’m looking for and deliver what they are after. It’s an important part of my job to know how to read people and read between the lines.
This may sound like I’m talking in circles, but I think every Photographer works differently and therefore separates themselves from every other Photographer to some degree. It may or may not come through in the images, which is obviously the main objective, but I have found a big part of professional photography (especially with models or involved clients) is the experience you create while you are shooting. I hope that my approach produces outstanding images as a result, but it’s pretty subjective.
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SO: How does that style, or your eye, change for your personal work? Is it
somewhat freeing when you get to work on your own projects? It’s still work,
but more personal and your doing it because you love it, not because you’re
getting paid.
Leigh: It would be impossible for me not to approach my personal work differently from my client-based work. The main element that separates the two is not whether I’m being paid or not, it’s that with client based work I am trying to deliver an image that meets their vision which makes the shooting and prep process entirely different.
When I’m aiming to fulfill their vision it often takes a lot of communication to get on the same page. Depending on the project, there can be a lot of discussions, sketches, mood boards and various visual references to help achieve this. I love this kind of work and though I may not have as much creative freedom as I do on my personal shoots, I love it for it’s own set of challenges and how it shapes the way I clarify my own ideas for when I shoot for myself.
I really love working on personal creative’s, for exactly that freedom you touched on. When there aren’t any limitations in place it’s amazing where that freedom can take you and what can come out of indulging on a small seed of an idea. I love collaborating with stylists and make up artists too, their visions can really take an idea to the next level.
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SO: Where do you draw your creative inspiration?
Leigh: I’ve said this before and I know it sounds hokey, but I’ll say it anyway. I draw my inspiration from observing the world around me. All kinds of things inspire me. It might be as simple as a random phrase I hear in passing, or an impression a movie leaves on me. Or an impression a city can make, or person, or a scent. Ideas are weird and I never really understand where they come from, but I find they’re usually most worthy when they’re not forced and come naturally.
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SO: Congrats on the two big awards you have this year in communication arts and applied arts! What do those awards mean to you
personally?
Leigh: Thanks! That’s a good question…
I think a lot of artists waver in their confidence of their work from time to time, be it publicly or internally. Though winning an award doesn’t change whether I pursue this path or not, it really just felt nice to receive validation from a group of respected individuals in my field.
SO: Thanks Leigh!
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SO Note: All images owned by Leigh Righton and cannot be reproduced. Check out more of Leigh’s work on her website here, and her blog here.