Liz Ham
"...we were all transfixed when he let his daughter show us how to hypnotise a chicken!"
Final edit
Title: Teddy Girls
Featured: Oyster Magazine
The image of Cassie and Georgia in boys underwear and holding the chickens also featured on the cover of Art Monthly in August 2011
Outtakes
Q&A
Give us some background on this project.
I had discovered some old photographs that British Film Director, Ken Russell, had taken of Teddy Girls (or ‘Judies') posing around old bombed out buildings in London around the mid 1950’s. In 2010, The Global Financial Crisis was taking hold, and I had also noticed a return to old fashioned pastimes like knitting, mending, gardening, having chooks, and up-cycling, etc. It felt like a good time to make a fashion series that commented on these revived ‘make do and mend’ practices, during a major recession, while also referencing the trailblazing style of these post war girls adopting the Teddy Boy aesthetic.
Why was the final edit selected over the outtakes?
Editing is always so hard. This was a pretty epic shoot that occurred over two days with 5-6 models each day, so there were a lot of images. It was a personal submission that I presented to the magazine, so essentially the final edit decisions would have been made by myself and my long-term collaborator stylist, Jolyon Mason. We would have chosen the final hero images based on what we felt worked as a story, and would best suit the pages of this magazine.
Any cheeky moments during this project that you'd be willing to share?
It’s not a cheeky story, but anecdotal, and not something you see every day! I had sourced the two chickens via an ad on Gumtree and the guy who hired them out brought his two daughters along to the shoot. We were all transfixed when he let his daughter show us how to hypnotise a chicken!
Shed some light on how you got involved in photography.
I was always very interested in art, and surrounded by it but, frustratingly, I didn't feel like painting or drawing were really my thing. I took up a photography elective in high school when I was about 14 years old and it was love at first sight. I started entering competitions and winning a few prizes. I just loved everything about photography – the history, the chemistry, the meditative time in the darkroom, and the ability to imagine something and make it happen.
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
Music, films, and art, primarily. I don't look at many fashion magazines anymore, but mostly love to track popular culture and new subcultural trends, etc.
Describe the photoshoot that defined you as an established photographer.
Well, it is probably a much earlier precedent to this Teddy Girls shoot. It would be my first submission published, again, by Oyster magazine. It was called ‘Gleaming’ and was inspired by skate culture. It was all black and white, so it felt like my earlier documentary work was fusing with my interest in fashion, and thus my style was kind of born from that shoot.
What’s it like being on set with you?
I would hope to say that it’s fun and not too stressful! I like to have everything super organised and mapped out, with multiple models and locations. It needs to be that way. I sometimes storyboard each and every shot I have in mind but working this way means that when unexpected things pop up you can actually go with the flow, and embrace the unexpected. Generally, there will always be an anomaly that appears and that’s the most exciting part! Like discovering an immaculate hearse and approaching the owner and suddenly grabbing the models and shooting with that as a prop. A cute pair of random greyhounds walking by get cast in a shot, that sort of thing.
Do you prefer a large or small team on set?
Both. The more people on set the more you need to traffic manage and organise everyone but, from that dynamic, an energy can really develop. It really depends on the shoot, though. There are certainly times where a very intimate set is warranted.
Describe your ideal project.
OMG this is so hard! Gosh...well it would probably be working with someone like Patti Smith, really - that would be totally inspiring and yet terrifying at the same time!
Express what your work means to you.
Photography is my job but it’s also my passion, and my art. I should probably get another hobby!
What cameras are you packing?
Canon 5D’s, and a variety of film cameras - my old Nikon 35mm’s, Pentax K1000’s, a Fuji GA645, a Fuji 6x9 (The Texan Leica) and my trusted Razzle camera - a custom converted large format rangefinder.
What were some of the major factors that influenced you to reach your photographic style?
My love of the documentary genre, and photographic artists like Sally Mann, Carol Jerrems, Duane Michals, Diane Arbus and Nan Goldin.
What would you like to be known for in the creative industry?
I would hope that people recognise me for fusing these genres together and producing images that entertain, inspire questions, and provide an insight into subcultures or cultural history.
Social media for artists… Give us your thoughts.
I was a very early uptaker of Instagram and was part of its community when there were only around 5000 users, internationally. it was a really unique and inspiring place! I hardly even use it anymore, but I see its merits for marketing and research.
Do you have any suggestions to budding artists?
Shoot what you know, or what intrigues you. Be kind. Don't be a dickhead. Be aware of your privilege. Feed your crew!
Why do you think it's important for outtakes to be featured?
It’s the blooper reel, the behind the scenes stuff that we always love! Like I said, the imperfections are sometimes the exact elements that make a photograph really amazing. It’s also fantastic insight to see the ‘how’ that goes behind a photograph.
What’s next for you?
Revisiting my archives and specifically the Documentary work I made in the 1990’s in order to see what was actually left out then – my own personal outtake editions!
Share a quote you live by.
“Unless you photograph what you love, you are not going to make good art” - Sally Mann
How can people follow your work?