DIY darkrooms to vivacious color theory: Photographer Jenny Brough discusses her process to capturing energy with the click of her camera
Credits
Photographer: Jenny Brough
Styling: Jordan Kelsey
Team: makeup Pep Gay @Managment Artists+world group using nars, hair Claire Moore using fudge professional, nails Edyta Betka @David artists using opi, models Mumin @the squad, Mary @the squad, Molly @anti-agency Shade @youth, Daberechi @img, set designer Ibby Njoya @the magnet agency movement director Yagamoto @The Magnet Agency, casting direction Jonathan Johnson @Jon Johnson Studios, floral stylist Harriet Parry, retoucher Monica Chamorro, lighting assistants Ho Hai Tran and Phill Bradley, styling assistants Nicolo’ Pablo Venerdì Bettiol, Alexandra Rogawski, Nasra Mohamed, Dara Smith, set assistants Tom Hope and Sophie Simpson, makeup assistant Mee Kee Song, hair assistants Erika Freedman and Jack Reynolds, special thanks to Alva East Studios and Pro Lighting
Jenny Brough photography: a darkroom in Sussex
About two years ago photographer Jenny Brough built a darkroom at her home in Sussex. The artist finds inspiration and focus in this small space, shut off from the distractions of the digital age. There, she finds possibility and freedom, «It’s like my little world of just freedom». Brough’s editorial photographs are all shot on film which she says is a return to her roots as a photographer. When executing a photo shoot one has to remember that the team is on the same boat. Collaboration means understanding a photo from all perspectives. For this shoot in collaboration with stylist Jordan Kelsey, Brough says the creative ideas were flooding her brain well after the shoot had wrapped. The team created multiple collaborative mood boards in advance of shooting the photographs. The creative team wanted to capture the essence of energy and were inspired to reimagine materials. «We tried not to buy things in a specific way», says Brough, inspired by the availability, or lack thereof, materials during the current pandemic. For the sport-inspired shots metals were retooled to fit the models and create outfits. The entire team was involved in reshaping old materials into something new. «Even the flowers and stuff we had dried grasses and things. Not everything is wasteful you can create art with like dead things».
Reusing materials in photography
Reusing materials shaped part of the brief for Brough and the team but they also looked at different types of energy to represent though photos. Static energy, electricity, and representing bold colors of elemental Hydrogen are all incorporated into the final photos. Brough is no stranger to using color in her work. Her love grows deeper as the shade becomes more intense. Bold color usage is not something she sees enough so she decided to create work using eye-catching hues. The contrast between black and bold colors often find their way into her work. The color of Brough’s work is expressive and is a visual example of the freedom she finds in editorial shoots. As an artist who is constantly learning, her work is informed by every photo shoot she has ever done. Every collaboration, every stylist, model, and celebrity has given her something new and she carries all of that information with her to that tiny DIY dark room in her shed.
STEPHANIE MARIE HORTON
The writer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article.
Stephanie Marie Horton
