A Photograph That Holds Some Nostalgia
The skills we learn on our path to enter our sphere of interest might feel like a waste of time, but the second thought offers to welcome those skills as essential to unlocking the needed experience. Rochelle Marie Adam describes her path to photography, “I felt as though styling was a big detour for me, as I knew for a long time that I wanted to be a photographer. I no longer regret this as it’s given me an appreciation for clothing and all of the important details and information it holds.”
Rochelle developed an approach to work on portraiture photography by creating the required emotion and atmosphere on set. Building a meaningful connection with her subject, Rochelle searches for the angle that will assist in communicating the narrative through melancholy and nostalgia, which allows a viewer to get closer to the prism of the photographer.
‘There is a small supportive community of photographers that work across a fine art context in Australia and New Zealand. As the style of photography I work in owes a lot to the lineage of American and European photographers from the last century, there’s a disconnect here with those who may see my work.’
Sydney
Born and raised in Australia, you decided to relocate to New York for work, eventually returning to Gadigal Land, Sydney, to continue your studies. What are the easiest and the most difficult parts of returning to your home country on a personal and professional level?
Coming back to Australia was rather difficult both professionally and personally. Firstly, I had to adjust to a much slower pace. There are different interests and reference points here within the photography world, and it took some time to find others I could relate to. Having said that, there is a small supportive community of photographers that work across a fine art context in Australia and New Zealand. As the style of photography I work in owes a lot to the lineage of American and European photographers from the last century, there’s a disconnect here with those who may see my work. Straight photography is generally not as accepted in the art world here, galleries tend to favour a more conceptual style. This makes it harder to obtain grants, funding, commissions and be able to exhibit.
In regards to the fashion photography industry — the market here prefers a more commercial approach. Designers and companies are more risk-averse when it comes to imagery and casting. I don’t find most of the fashion industry here particularly interesting. Recently there have been some young designers that are pushing boundaries. I hope they can continue with this momentum and break through the monotony of the industry. On a positive note, the industry in Australia tends to pay freelance invoices on time, unlike in the U.S., where many companies take advantage of freelance workers.
I’m grateful for the things that make life easier in Australia — affordable quality education (though this is changing) and inexpensive healthcare. The safety of this made it easier to study without having the distraction of working too much to keep up with these expenses, giving me the time and space to reflect and then refine the vision of what I want my practice to look like. It helps that Sydney is a particularly beautiful city, I feel inspired by my surroundings living here. I don’t see myself staying here long-term. However, with the restrictions in place for the pandemic, which have been particularly strict in Australia — travel outside of the borders is not easy. I hope that next year it will be safer to move about the world more freely.
‘I felt as though styling was a big detour for me, as I knew for a long time that I wanted to be a photographer. I no longer regret this as it’s given me an appreciation for clothing and all of the important details and information it holds. My background in styling comes out in my work.’
Fashion Styling
Before the shift to photography, you worked as a fashion stylist in New York for several years. What was your experience of the city?
I miss NYC and will return soon. It’s a tough city to live in, and it’s not for everyone. NYC is a place that I feel free in. I see this in the way I can choose to be completely anonymous or choose to be seen. The vastness of the city never gets old. My experience with people in NYC was mostly positive. There are a lot of people who are enthusiastic about things and want to help you out. I love this element of American culture — it’s earnest. Australians, for the most part, are friendly but are more reserved with this kind of generosity. I think they are protective of their creative territory as there are fewer opportunities here. This is a generalisation, but it’s been my experience personally.
How do you think being a stylist shaped your taste and decision-making in directing your photographs?
Originally I felt as though styling was a big detour for me, as I knew for a long time that I wanted to be a photographer. I no longer regret this as it’s given me an appreciation for clothing and all of the important details and information it holds. My background in styling comes out in my work now and influences the way I see. Clothing can truly change the tone of an image and help build a story within the frame. I think styling is a really important job — especially within the higher end of the fashion world. The stylists that work within this area have an amazingly vast knowledge of references — film, books, travel, etc. — their minds can be like a library. I was lucky enough to learn from some of the best in the industry.
‘Portraiture is my favourite area within photography. It can be a challenge as there is sometimes a way a subject may want you to perceive them that can differ from what you see.’
Creating a Story
Focusing mainly on documentary portraits and landscapes to build a story, you come to create deeply emotional images. The feeling of melancholy and light nostalgia engulf the viewer pushing them to reminisce about their own experiences. When working with people, what is your style of communication to create the atmosphere that will tell the story you want?
Thank you, I appreciate these words that you associate with my work. These are some of the feelings I would want the viewer to experience.
Portraiture is my favourite area within photography. It can be a challenge as there is sometimes a way a subject may want you to perceive them that can differ from what you see. I feel most comfortable in small groups or one on one scenarios, even if it’s with someone I haven’t met before. I enjoy getting to know people and am rather talkative when photographing. I ask a lot of questions, and in turn, my subjects tend to ask the same of me. The more I get to know someone, the more it influences what I see in them. I guess I’m forming a connection, and the result is a photograph that holds some nostalgia for my time spent with them. I see myself as a spiritual person. Every day I’m confronted with the fleeting nature of life, and I think the melancholy aspect in my work speaks to this feeling. It’s taken a lot of time to get to a place within my practice where I can more clearly present these feelings in my work in a way where the viewer may also experience them.
‘As I know from a lot of other photographers working on an edit for their book, it can be hard to not include images that you love and feel attached to. However, if the image didn’t add value to the atmosphere of what we wanted the book to convey, we didn’t include it.’
Before This Comes to Pass
Congratulations on the soon to be sold out book release! The book was published with Tall Poppy Press, Australia. In this debut monograph, you bring to attention the need to balance between the present, the past, and the future, in a way reminding of your decisions to leave the known with the aim to discover the new. The aspiration and excitement are parallel to a tint of heartache, leaving people and things behind. What were the main criteria to select images to include in the book? How was it like to work with designers, Matthew Dunne and Lora Ward, on the book?
Again, thank you for the way you’ve distilled the ideas from my book, definitely an accurate description of what I feel the work speaks to.
Matthew Dunne is both the publisher and the interior designer of this book. Matt works across many areas with photography — he’s a photographer himself but also writes for different publications and now has expanded his work into publishing. He started Tall Poppy Press this year, and this will be the first monograph published. Tall Poppy is a much-needed new Australian publisher. Though the direct market is small here, this imprint will reach a wider audience globally.
Working with Matt on this book was a great experience. It was helpful to see Matt’s point of view in terms of sequencing. He came up with some unexpected ideas that worked well to set the tone and pace of the book. We worked intuitively on the edit at first. I sent Matt a big stack of printed images I had made over the past few years, printed small like a deck of cards. I printed the same stack of images for myself. Due to the pandemic, we weren’t able to meet in person as a travel ban was in place. Instead, we made it work with many calls, texts, emails over months to figure out what would make sense.
Matt was familiar with my work and understood the recurring themes I wanted to present. It was important to have a tight edit, and we were able to reach this point. As I know from a lot of other photographers working on an edit for their book, it can be hard to not include images that you love and feel attached to. However, if the image didn’t add value to the atmosphere of what we wanted the book to convey, we didn’t include it.
Lora Frances Ward designed the cover for the book. I’m excited to share this once the print has been finalized. Lora is a dear friend that also once lived in NYC and now lives in Byron Bay. I’ve always admired her art direction and design work, and we’ve worked together before on a commercial fashion project. I’m still really proud of the outcome of that project. I knew she would be the right person to approach to design the cover, as we share similar ideas and can be on the same page in terms of references. Lora manages to do the precarious balance of high brow and lo-fi to create something that’s always cool. We drew the book cover inspiration from classic style photography book covers, then warped it into something for the present. The result is odd, a bit jarring, and I’m pleased with it. It takes a second look to see that it makes a lot of sense as a cover for this body of work.
Film vs. Digital
In an interview with Nowhere Diary, you shared that you use both film and digital cameras with a desire to move more towards digital. What are some of your favorite aspects of working with each of the formats? Why do you eventually prefer to shoot on digital?
Within my undergraduate art school education, I was first taught to take photographs on film. The process slows you down to consider each frame, which is a helpful way of learning about how to see. I’ve always made some images digitally, however, I haven’t always considered my work with a digital process to be as important as the work I’ve made on film. There is a magic in the film process, the delay in not seeing your work, the subjects or client not being able to see a screen, and then being hyper-vigilant in what they see. This can affect the mood of an image.
I had a big shift in this thinking in the past few years and now love digital technologies. I still employ a slow way of working in my digital process. I generally do not share my screen with anyone, except maybe one or two images to give the subject or client some confidence and trust. The use of a manual focus lens also makes me feel comfortable using digital cameras, as these are the lenses I used with my film cameras.
The main reasoning for moving to digital was due to the subject of my work and where it is viewed. Though I see my work as being influenced by past generations of film photographers, many working in the documentary tradition — the departure can be seen in the contemporary subjects and landscapes. My work is mainly viewed online, and again digital technology within photography speaks to this. I think photographic technology has advanced enough to make images on par in terms of quality to the film I had been using previously.
‘Though I see my work as being influenced by past generations of film photographers, many working in the documentary tradition — the departure can be seen in the contemporary subjects and landscapes. My work is mainly viewed online, and again digital technology within photography speaks to this.’
Next Steps
What project are you working on or planning as the next one?
I have a small solo exhibition scheduled for December this year in Sydney at TSC Windows. Early next year, I will have some work in a group show in Japan. I’m taking a break from working on a defined personal project for a few months. I’ll use this time to focus on external research from films, art, music, books, etc., and I’m excited to see where this takes me.
I’ll be working on more fashion editorials and hope to receive new commissions for documentary assignment work as the world opens back up again.
