Words & Images by Hannah Laycock

Interview by Hannah Roberts

What inspired you to make your series “The Vessel”?

The work is kind of looking at (which most of my work does) my experiences with multiple sclerosis. At that time I was at a point where I was questioning where my life was at in terms of my relationships and I was living with my parents. I moved back due to my health and also because my dad was diagnosed with ALS, so I was helping to care for my dad. It was a pivital point in my life cause I had trouble coming back to scotland and thinking of where I was in my life in terms of my age and pressure that I put on myself. It pushed me to explore the themes I was living through, love, loss, disease as well as being in a complicated relationship. Lots of uncertainty and it was a reflective period in my life.

Describe your creative process in one word.

Intuitive

If you could teach a one-hour class on anything, what would it be?

Cyanotypes. The certain modern age that we live in now we kind of lose touch, especially with photography and everybody kind of thinks theyre a photographer. We have such instant access with smartphones and things like that. It goes right back to the basics of analog photography. With cyanotypes you are literally using sunlight to expose images, you are not even in a darkroom. I quite like the idea of reconnection to nature and being able to ground people in that teaching setting. Technology is great but it becomes quite a distraction and I think breaking things down and using a tactile process like cyanotypes really helps bring people to that sensation or experience.

What drove you to pursue photography?

I experimented with a lot of creative mediums as a child and I don't exactly remember when I first came across using a camera. I had a camera as a teenager although I can't remember how I had acquired it. Initially I was photographing my friends as a teenager and then it progressed because I felt I could get more of an instant result even though back then it was film. There was still a bit of a delay but back then it felt more instant and I felt like I could engage with my emotions a bit more using photography as a medium for that. I then went on to college to do some exams and one of them was in photography. I had a really great teacher at the time which pushed my interest in photography. It was analog, black and white photography so it was again a different pace but I just fell in love with it. I knew that it was the medium I wanted to use in my creative practice.

What was the last book you read or film you saw that inspired you?

It’s not necessarily a book that I recently read but it is one that is quite meaningful to me and that would be Just Kids by Patti Smith.

What advice would you give to people just starting out in photography?

Experiment with analog photography, especially young people nowadays you're surrounded by a lot of technology and to fully grasp and have that immersion within photography I think you should definitely explore the analog side. Get into a darkroom and experience that tactility you get with analog photography. Also get into digital stuff as well but I think it really helps your understanding of photography more if you have that initial awareness of the analog side of it, especially from a historical standpoint. It's just that magic that you get when you see your images appear on the paper.