Catherine Day Photography

Well yesterday I finally got around to doing a post about The Dairy in Cardiff and their launch party. I am glad I went or I would not have come across the lovely photography by Catherine Day. So I did a little investigating (by investigating I mean I picked up her business card and looked up her website and email...) and I am glad I did!! The work on her website is really worth a look!! It is hard to chose a favorite photograph from options like Fashion, Beauty and Nudes.I emailed Catherine and asked her a few questions about her inspirations, techniques and her own favorites..

On The Dairy blurb about you and your work it says you were interested in photography from a young age. Was there a photographer you liked in particular or was it actually just taking pictures that you enjoyed?

My Dad was my initial inspiration really, as he would take his camera out on family walks, and I was always intrigued by how a little box could freeze an actual moment, so when I was about five he let me use one of his old 35mm cameras and I was hooked straight away! Although the first time I used it I was so excited to see the photos that I opened the back of the camera and pulled all the film out. Thankfully my technical knowledge has somewhat improved!What is the concept behind your work?
Some of my work is inspired by events, thoughts, dreams and nightmares from my own life. The levels of inspiration differ greatly from one shoot to another, but it's there no matter how subtly. I rarely share these inspirations as they're deeply personal, but they serve the purpose of making me much more emotionally attached to my work, plus it's rather cathartic.

Some images are a twist I've tried to think up to give the image a humorous or dark edge, and others are born from a sudden flash of inspiration that's come from nowhere placeable, or films, books and random things I see in the world. Once an idea gets caught in my mind, it very rarely leaves!Some of your work is very abstract - eg the nude in the bath. How do you go about creating these shots? Also the nude which is just blue paint against black?!

The nudes in the bath were lots of fun to create! The bath was suspended on boxes and filled with a mixture of warm water and pink milkshake. Unfortunately the water was cold by the time it was full and Ulorin Vex (the model) was absolutely freezing the entire time! She was such a trooper though (as always) and endured it to get the shots. Meanwhile, to get high enough to capture the images I was leaning horizontally off a 20ft ladder with an incredibly heavy camera system. It was rather terrifying as I have a fear of being on ladders! To get the abstract look to the photos I used a mixture of Photoshop and magic ;)The blue paint nudes were pretty simple, and I did them for one of my final year projects in University a few years ago. The model (one of my housemates at the time, she had a rocking body!) stood butt naked in the bath, I poured blue poster paint over random parts of her and then using Photoshop erased any part that wasn't paint covered. Et voila! I got a 1st for that project, I was rather chuffed.I really like the series of photographs 'Chemical' What exactly do they illustrate?
The 'Chemical' series is a narrative illustrating the side effects I experienced that were caused by the chemicals in different anti depressants. It's a deeply personal series, but was an awful lot of fun to make!

Here is a behind the scenes look at the making of this photoshoot. The make up artistry is amazing!

And finally What is your favorite piece of your own work?
Oof, my favourite piece! I'd have to say the Chemical series in it's entirety is my favourite, although I really love the latest photo of Sohui wearing a Hello Kitty hair bow by ChubbyBunny. Sohui and myself shoot together quite a lot, and I think it has to be my favourite we've ever done, her attitude in the image is just awesome! I'm going to be retouching a few more of these soon.So there you go this is Catherine Day the very talented photographer and retoucher. I have really fallen for her work - the mixture of purity and whimsy but with dark edges never far away really work. Would love for my collection to be photographed in this white, pure but dark stylised way!

Hope these photographs inspire you and help get you lost in fantasy and I leave you with this photograph of a girl being carried away by balloons. It is the last day of the Bristol Balloon Fiesta today so I will be craning my neck out my window in the hopes of spotting some of the 100 hot air balloons that will be released at six o'clock.Hope you have had a good weekend!
Fashion Fantasist xx