© Caroline Gray, *Dancing with the light*

Words and Images by Caroline Gray

Caroline Gray’s solo show ‘Undercurrents’ is being shown at Lois Lambert Gallery from March 16 - May 4, 2024. Click here to view her artist page.

How did you develop this series?

Some years ago I took a class of underwater photography – in a swimming pool not the deep ocean. This got me fascinated with the motion of the human body under water, its ethereal and otherworldly atmosphere. At the same time I was into photographing dancers, loving the tension between their dynamic flow and instantaneous nature of the camera shot (“at the still point there the dance is”). What better than combining the two, dancers in water? And adding in some costumes for color and effect. Hiring an underwater camera casing.. weights for the photographers to weigh us down in the water.. and with two friends I made in the class we pursued the project. One luckily had a swimming pool, and we found dancers who were willing to join and give their time and talent to the project together with their costume designer: voila!

The exhibition also includes a few landscapes from another series which with their undulating sand dunes of Death valley resonate with the sense of currents flowing through the earth.

What challenges came up during this project?

Organizing the shoots, preparing the swimming pool, and then having images of this size printed and framed. A steep learning curve in these respects. At that level of enlargement I had to go over them minutely to remove blemishes (and the occasional brick that weighed down the black cloth). But as is my practice I kept post processing lightroom work to a minimum. But nail-biting until one sees the actual printed image. Choosing the paper to print on that would work with both the underwater and landscape images and enhance both … I luckily found a really great printmaker. It was also something of a challenge to decide whether to put glass with black frames or dibond. In the end I chose black frames and glass, but both would look good although very different.

Describe your creative process in one word?

Flow

What inspires you to pursue image-making?

Joy and capturing that zen moment when all comes together in the endless variation of changing light and reflection. I love photographing land and waterscapes at sunrise and sunset – and feeling that the camera is like a further limb – and also an extended means of communicating with others where words fail one in the simple wonder of the world.

© Caroline Gray, *Searching for the spotlight*

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

I love the book Women of Abstract Expressionism.. It inspires me both in photography and painting.. and Joan Eardley the wonderful Scottish oil painter.. she was never without a camera .. her photographs provided subject matter for her paintings..

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

Shoot, shoot, shoot. Never leave your camera at home, except when you are shooting at home. Be open to accidents.

It helped me that I have also trained as a painter (watercolor and acrylic mainly), in terms especially of composition and color palette, but also in a kind of abstraction, of seeing the structural bones of what is before me so that I can balance it out.

Generally for my part it is a matter of training the eye so that all the training operates virtually unconsciously and is not a distraction in the moment (and also to be unafraid to make exceptions to any rule.)