Up the Staircase Quarterly: Eleanor, tell us a little more about yourself. What are you up to when you are not taking photographs?
Eleanor Leonne Bennett: I am a 16 year old internationally award winning photographer and artist who has won first places with National Geographic,The World Photography Organisation, Nature's Best Photography, Papworth Trust, Mencap, The Woodland trust and Postal Heritage. My photography has been published in the Telegraph, The Guardian, BBC News Website, and on the cover of books and magazines in the United States and Canada. When I am not doing photography I research fine antiques, practise karate, collect vintage enamels, bears, and the publications I am included in. I read a lot about psychology, psychiatry, crime, and contemporary art. I am providing cover art for the British Journal of Psychiatry in January 2013.
UTSQ: How did you get involved with photography? Tell us about your first significant experience with the art form.
ELB: The first time I took photographs it was for a nature diary competition that I entered as a 12 year old. I lost the competition but had the OCD to become a better wildlife photographer. That eventually turned towards more contemporary subjects as I grew up. Now I adore a lot of architectural themed work. I have been taking photos for 4 years.
UTSQ: Your photos are so unique. What inspires you? How do you choose your subjects? Do you set a scene or do you shoot spontaneously?
ELB: It is really a mix of both. I sometimes shoot on commission, but the majority of the time I take them for myself. If someone needs a cover picture for their book, it could be a canoe, a postbox in the snow, or a hand print from a slap, I'll have the images in my archive. It is almost completely random and that transfers to even planned images. I find an offshoot for my creativity and follow it. I always desire to create images that my audience is unsure of. I try to be unique as often as possible.
UTSQ: How would you describe your style of photography?
ELB: I find myself heavily involved with horror and contemporary photography. Contemporary allows me to take any image, and I feel most free doing that. I greatly enjoy illustrating for Sci Fi magazines also. I was at first strictly a nature photographer and then street portraiture tempted me away to learn how to broaden my horizons.
UTSQ: Do you have a preference between shooting digitally or with film? What is your opinion on digital manipulation?
ELB: I shoot digital due to the cost to myself. I would like to broaden my horizons to become a film photographer in the near future. With digital manipulation there is the case that everything can be done well as well as done badly. Know your limits with your raw image. Nobody wants to create a sows ear from a silver purse.
UTSQ: How important do you feel a support system is for an artist? Do you see yourself as a more solitary figure, or do you share and discuss your experiences with other artists, your family, etc.? How have the people in your life reacted to your successes?
ELB: Family wise I am very solitary other than my Mother who gives me any guidance she can give me. I am wired to a lot of publishing houses, magazines, and artists, all of which seem to me like a big family. All of the friends I have are fellow artists and photographers. I greatly enjoy to connect and share my art with the world. With all that in mind I do hate to follow/start trends. I like to create and then move on.
UTSQ: What is your best advice to other photographers?
ELB: Find your style. Ask yourself the purpose of your imagery. Do you exclude anyone - are you a voice of all people or only yourself?
UTSQ: Finally, Eleanor, if you could have a meal with anyone, dead or alive, real or imaginary, whom would it be, and what on earth would the two of you eat?
ELB: I think for me it would have to be Beatrix Potter. She was my earliest influence in my love of the natural world and art around the age of 4. Now I have many people who I admire but she was there at the earliest point in my life. We would have a picnic of fancy chocolate, fancy cheeses, some haggis, clotted cream fudge, and ginger wine.
Eleanor Leonne Bennett: I am a 16 year old internationally award winning photographer and artist who has won first places with National Geographic,The World Photography Organisation, Nature's Best Photography, Papworth Trust, Mencap, The Woodland trust and Postal Heritage. My photography has been published in the Telegraph, The Guardian, BBC News Website, and on the cover of books and magazines in the United States and Canada. When I am not doing photography I research fine antiques, practise karate, collect vintage enamels, bears, and the publications I am included in. I read a lot about psychology, psychiatry, crime, and contemporary art. I am providing cover art for the British Journal of Psychiatry in January 2013.
UTSQ: How did you get involved with photography? Tell us about your first significant experience with the art form.
ELB: The first time I took photographs it was for a nature diary competition that I entered as a 12 year old. I lost the competition but had the OCD to become a better wildlife photographer. That eventually turned towards more contemporary subjects as I grew up. Now I adore a lot of architectural themed work. I have been taking photos for 4 years.
UTSQ: Your photos are so unique. What inspires you? How do you choose your subjects? Do you set a scene or do you shoot spontaneously?
ELB: It is really a mix of both. I sometimes shoot on commission, but the majority of the time I take them for myself. If someone needs a cover picture for their book, it could be a canoe, a postbox in the snow, or a hand print from a slap, I'll have the images in my archive. It is almost completely random and that transfers to even planned images. I find an offshoot for my creativity and follow it. I always desire to create images that my audience is unsure of. I try to be unique as often as possible.
UTSQ: How would you describe your style of photography?
ELB: I find myself heavily involved with horror and contemporary photography. Contemporary allows me to take any image, and I feel most free doing that. I greatly enjoy illustrating for Sci Fi magazines also. I was at first strictly a nature photographer and then street portraiture tempted me away to learn how to broaden my horizons.
UTSQ: Do you have a preference between shooting digitally or with film? What is your opinion on digital manipulation?
ELB: I shoot digital due to the cost to myself. I would like to broaden my horizons to become a film photographer in the near future. With digital manipulation there is the case that everything can be done well as well as done badly. Know your limits with your raw image. Nobody wants to create a sows ear from a silver purse.
UTSQ: How important do you feel a support system is for an artist? Do you see yourself as a more solitary figure, or do you share and discuss your experiences with other artists, your family, etc.? How have the people in your life reacted to your successes?
ELB: Family wise I am very solitary other than my Mother who gives me any guidance she can give me. I am wired to a lot of publishing houses, magazines, and artists, all of which seem to me like a big family. All of the friends I have are fellow artists and photographers. I greatly enjoy to connect and share my art with the world. With all that in mind I do hate to follow/start trends. I like to create and then move on.
UTSQ: What is your best advice to other photographers?
ELB: Find your style. Ask yourself the purpose of your imagery. Do you exclude anyone - are you a voice of all people or only yourself?
UTSQ: Finally, Eleanor, if you could have a meal with anyone, dead or alive, real or imaginary, whom would it be, and what on earth would the two of you eat?
ELB: I think for me it would have to be Beatrix Potter. She was my earliest influence in my love of the natural world and art around the age of 4. Now I have many people who I admire but she was there at the earliest point in my life. We would have a picnic of fancy chocolate, fancy cheeses, some haggis, clotted cream fudge, and ginger wine.
