Although I wouldn’t consider myself a religious person for some reason I find myself drawn to religious architecture. These sacred spaces allow a private, personal and non-public place of contemplation.
For this ongoing project I use a pinhole camera as it gives the images an ethereal quality. Also, working with film and without a viewfinder allows me to experience the peaceful reverence of the environment whilst photographing it.
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© Katrina Rees | www.katrinarees.com
This exhibition was originally shown at my local café, Deluxe, which is a bit of an institution in Wellington, with Ukelele Orchestras and low flying Conchords regularly sighted there. I’ve been living in the neighbourhood for the best part of fifteen years and the café has been a constant comfort throughout – same food, same music, same faces.
I have two daughters, aged 4 and 8. They’ve grown up coming to the café, little ‘City Girls’ feeling very pleased with themselves as they sit at their table, counting the marshmallows in their hot chocolates and soaking up the surroundings.
I’d planned on a series of portraits for the space and wanted to give the customers a feeling of being watched; a slight sense of unease as they riffled through their morning papers and sipped their coffees.
Rather than frames, I wanted it to appear as if there were a series of windows lit from within, with the subjects peering out at the various goings on. I figured that children would bring that slightly otherworldly, Village of the Damned feel to it.
There’s a lot of indignities that kids have had to suffer throughout the years at the hands of photographers – being decked out in their finest and then all manner of squeaky toys waved at them, with the last resort of farting noises and poo jokes, before a blinding flash of light at the first hint of a smile.
They say never work with children or animals, and there’s good reason for that. Most kids of an age tend to be pretty transparent about how they’re feeling at the time, for better or worse. But I admire their honesty, and given the chance they can bring a quiet dignity to proceedings. Or pure savagery, so take your pick.
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© Ian Robertson | www.ianrobertson.co.nz