Q & A: Tamara Dean
Fine-art photographer, Tamara Dean is an explorer of the informal rites of passage and rituals of our youth. Capture delves into the artist’s mind as she traverses from career to career, from photojournalist to artist.
There are some photographs that can only be captured in the moment. After the shutter snaps, they refuse to exist again and cannot be recreated without something missing. Then there are photos that are constructed, placed into a reality where they can breathe. Tamara Dean just happens to walk the thin line between these two paradigms. After completing a Bachelor of Design at the University of Western Sydney in 1998, she found her way to photography working as a photojournalist for the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) and as a member of the Oculi photographic collective, which she was a part of for a decade. Along the way, she has produced numerous solo shows including Ritualism, Divine Rites This too Shall Pass, Only Human and most recently, The Edge.
Her works have received numerous awards, including a $10,000 High Commendation prize in the 2013 Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize, and are exhibited both nationally and internationally. She is currently completing a Master of Fine Art at the National Art School, Sydney, while she further develops her artistic practice.
Capture: You’ve worked as a newspaper staff photographer and fine art photographer? How did you balance the two?
Tamara Dean: I took a voluntary redundancy from Fairfax in 2014. The balance was always a challenge in terms of time management. Balancing my life as a full-time staff photographer, a mother, and working on my art photography meant that most of my personal work was done on artist residencies such as the Art Omi International artist’s residency in Upstate New York, which I was lucky enough to be nominated for last year.
Capture: When and why did you decide to broaden your practice from photojournalism to fine art photography, and what were the challenges you faced? Was there a particular moment you decided to diversify?
Tamara Dean: The point at which I returned to my fine art practice was precisely when I had my children. Everything about the way I worked changed. The reason was twofold: one was that I could not possibly dedicate the time I needed to create strong documentary works, and secondly, my focus shifted to a process of diarising and planning shoots in a way completely at odds with anything I had done before. This period of early motherhood led to what was to become an exciting and liberating direction for me.
I turned my focus to conceptual photography. I went from spending my whole time shooting to spending months planning and about an hour shooting. I would wait weeks, months or years for images to take shape. Somehow, in the first three years of motherhood, I came up with my Ritualism series. I shot it in places mostly within a 10 kilometre radius of home, and in Hill End, an idyllic rural setting where I would go on to do many artist residencies.
Capture: Have your roots in photojournalism affected the way you approach your fine art practice and the way you shoot? How do they complement each other?
Tamara Dean: Absolutely. I feel that my recent series The Edge straddles documentary and conceptual photography. This series is about the informal rites of passage that young people create with the natural world, experiences which are sought out instinctively - things we are familiar, with like rock jumps and rope swings by the river, and places that we all know of where we push our physical and emotional limits as we become more independent and discover our sense of self. What was exciting for me in this series was that I asked people to take me to their secret places and to show me what they do there.
For instance, if it was a rock jump, even if they have jumped before, it was still quite challenging and I was able to photograph them while they were completely engaged in the moment. In this way, despite my having instigated the visit, my aim was to still maintain the sense of integrity of their moment, and thus the intimacy and candidness of my early work.
Capture: You commenced a Masters of Fine Arts at the National Art School, Sydney, in 2012. Why did you decide to pursue further formal studies?
Tamara Dean: I needed to work out a way to build the time into my week to continue developing my art practice. The Masters was a great way of formalising that time and develop the conceptual side to my work in a way I had not been able to previously.
Capture: What are some of the valuable lessons you have learnt in the field that you could not have learnt through formal education?
Tamara Dean: While working at the SMH, the skill which was the most challenging to learn, and which has served me best, was, ironically, that of directing. Intuition and sensitivity are also equally important.
Capture: You’ve been awarded artist residencies from New York to Broken Hill. Which of these were the most rewarding and why?
Tamara Dean: My artist residencies in Hill End were wonderful experiences where solitude was an important part of my process. And then my most recent residency, the Art Omi International artist’s residency in Upstate New York was incredible, as I was working alongside 30 artists from around the world. This offered up other rewarding aspects including the chance to collaborate, which I did with Iranian artist Bahar Behbahani, and also incredibly valuable studio visits by prominent New York critics and curators.
Capture: Who are some of your greatest inspirations, both inside and outside of the photography world, and why? And where do you draw inspiration for your artistic bodies of work?
Tamara Dean: In my early career, I was drawn to photographers such as Mary Ellen Mark, Sally Mann and later, the late Australian photographer Carol Jerrems. They all had a way of photographing girls and women in a way that portrayed their strength or power. Their works felt unflinchingly honest and immediately would draw you into a powerful narrative. Much of my work was photographing my female friends, so this struck a particular chord for me. Mary Ellen Mark photographed a young woman named ‘Tiny’ and her journey into adulthood. The power in this work is as much in her commitment to this woman’s story over the years, as we watch her life choices and the way they play out as the incredibly powerful environmental portraiture.
Another key work which influenced me and which equally leans from documentary towards the conceptual is Carol Jerrems photograph Vale Street. Despite this being a set up, it had all the power of a real moment. By all accounts, this was largely due to the interpersonal relationships between Carol and her male subjects, with whom she had complex relationships, as well as the chemistry between the boys and her female model. I started getting excited about the potential of creating scenes in which real human interactions and relationships would play out, but within parameters I could set in terms of the theme, the location and under my desired lighting conditions. And some of my major influences have actually been painters such as Rembrandt, John William Waterhouse and Norman Lindsay.
Capture: Your images give the impression that they are captured rather than constructed. They are almost omniscient in the way they are shot. Can you outline your approach to producing your fine art images?
Tamara Dean: Ebenezer Rock Drop is a really good example of the way I am currently working. I put a call out on Facebook for teenagers around the age of 18 who would be interested in being involved in this body of work. Funnily enough, I didn’t get replies from young men but instead from their mothers and sisters, one of which was a colleague from work who offered to take me to this place on the river where she and her brother would go with their friends. We went down to this amazing hidden place where there were a number of pretty hairy rope swings and rock drops. I spent a couple of hours observing them interacting with each other and with the landscape, and working out how I would approach the shot. The time of day in which I shoot is very limited so we arrived early and aimed to have the location and scenario worked out by the time the light was right. The place I ultimately chose was situated along a thin, high ridge. You had to walk through dense bush to get to it, so we all made our way across to the location with lights, stands, batteries and cameras. It was a logistical challenge, but well worth it. I observed them as they got their nerve up and a number of them jumped while I photographed them through this process of familiarising themselves with the cliff and the river. When I could see the light was right I started placing them and directing their actions and gestures based on my observations of them over the previous couple of hours. By the time the photograph was taken, they were all in directed positions; they knew where to look while the boy was jumping. While it appeared to them that the photographic moment might be the jump itself, the strongest image was the pregnant moment before he took the plunge, conveying a sense of the emotional tussle he is going through.
Capture: How do you plan and execute your plans for your bodies of work? Do you follow a formula or does each one require a different approach?
Tamara Dean: It is my usual practise to do an interior study of my subjects before doing an exterior shot. I generally do my studies in a place where my subjects feel comfortable; usually their bedroom or my studio to attain a sense of intimacy, and so as to see how they interact with the camera. I give them a loose idea of what I am trying to convey. Through a collaborative process, we try different ways of exploring the theme over a few hours. I generally use the natural light afforded in the room and block out the light I don’t want. I feel that keeping my shoots as low key as possible, with as few people present as I can manage, allows my subjects to reveal parts of themselves to me that would otherwise remain hidden. It is usually just myself and sometimes an assistant. It is this collaborative process that allows for interesting narratives and emotionally charged images to emerge. If I am to go into a shoot with the image completely preconceived, I find that I limit the potential of the work. I prefer to enter the process with a concept, which I encourage my subjects to bring a part of themselves to. I will direct towards an image I have in my mind’s eye, and then see where the shoot and my subjects take it.
Capture: Your painting, Mirra, 2014, was picked as a finalist for the Portia Geach Memorial Award 2014. You seem to have many creative outlets. How do these all influence your creative process in photography?
Tamara Dean: I feel that my painting and my photography feed into each other. I love both mediums and the way in which I am able to bring the light I aspire to in my photography into my painting. They go very comfortably hand in hand.
Capture: Do you have any advice for other photographers wanting to take their careers in a different direction the way you have?
Tamara Dean: I think while you are doing something that you love, you can afford to take risks. I have always enjoyed a challenge, so I think challenging yourself constantly is something I would put at the top of the list.