C H R I S A L A N W I L T O N
I was brought up and educated in France and have been living and working in England for many years. I'm a self-taught photographer and have always worked freelance, supplying stock photography to image providers like The Image Bank, Getty Images, Alamy. It is a way to make a living doing the photographs of my choice without the restrictions of advertising or editorial work. However the business has changed so much recently that "stock photography" has become an irrelevant term. Most stock images are now commissioned by the art directors of the big players, like Getty and Corbis, following thorough market research and, as a result you don't get much artistic freedom anymore.
I'm now finding greater fulfillment producing fine art prints of my best images. My website is an online gallery offering fine art giclée prints. The creative photography covers nature, underwater, fantasy, sci-fi and concept images. I've a long experience of studio photography and conceptual imagery where everything is under my control. In contrast I also enjoy uw photography where my approach is more instinctive as you never know for sure what subject is going to turn up next. The skill is sometimes to use whatever subject is available, maybe something ordinary that nobody is noticing and make it extraordinary, by the choice of angle, juxtaposition, lighting etc...I always try to capture something intangible that I could not express with words. Capturing the essence of any subject is a work of elimination and the result is simplicity in the image. You never attain perfection but striving towards it, even if it is laborious, can be the most stimulating feeling.
I've always manipulated my images with in-camera multi exposures, masking and duplicating but the arrival of digital imaging is what I was always waiting for: The merging of art and technology, the freedom to experiment with precision and control. The straight uw photography rarely depicts accurately the amazing environment you remember after a dive. I consider my digitally manipulated images to be often a more accurate record of the uw world that your mind and soul remembers.
Often people will ask me about a photograph: Is it real? Difficult question to answer. I could use a brush or an airbrush and paint instead but the result would lack the illusion of reality you get with photography. The viewer is your accomplice and so it has been from the first b&w photographs to the latest digital images. The important thing is to do it your own way so that you can stimulate people visually with your interpretation of the same old tricks. Magic.
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