Interviewed by Medina Shala
Tell me a little bit about yourself?
My name is Euan, I currently live in London but I’m from Scotland. I studied law and work as an adviser for an organisation called Citizens Advice. I have always been fairly creative in my spare time and as well as photography I spend a lot of time making music with my twin
brother.
How did you develop your interest in photography?
I first became interested in photography around 2017 when I moved to Copenhagen. I realised I didn’t have many pictures of my friends and because my phone was so slow and rubbish to take photos with I started taking out disposable cameras with me wherever I went. I think I got through about 10 – 12 disposable cameras within the space of a few months before I got my first proper camera. It was my dad’s old Nikon FE, which is a 35mm film camera from the 70s. It’s a lovely camera and still the camera that I use today (although I had to buy a new one from ebay because I unfortunately didn’t treat my dad’s one with much care).
For many years I didn’t post or upload any of the photos I took, which were mainly of my friends and places I visited. However, during the pandemic I started taking multiple
exposures and uploading them on instagram. For those who don’t know, a multiple exposure is when two or more photos are layered on top of one another. This is done on film by taking one photo and then readying the shutter for the next exposure without progressing the film forward, meaning that the second exposure is taken directly onto the first. You can get some really interesting results with this and although I still take a lot of regular photos, this method has been one of my main creative outputs for almost 2 years now.
What motivates you to create?
This really changes from time to time; different things motivate me. When I started I really just wanted to capture images of my friends, and this still motivates me today. I think there is something special about looking back at pictures of your friends, especially when you have captured a candid moment, and their personality is so apparent in the photo. In terms of double exposures, I find it more difficult to pinpoint what motivates me. I think it has something to do with the uncertainty involved in film photography generally and particularly in double exposures.
You never quite know how a film photo will turn out once it’s developed and this is especially the case when you start layering pictures. Sometimes the result is awful and messy yet sometimes it comes together to make something really striking. I have never discovered a formula for how to make the perfect double exposure and I don’t think that it exists. However, I think that in a way this is what motivates me – trying to find that perfect formula that will take the uncertainty out of the process and allow me to make a beautiful image every time (although as I said, I don’t think it exist.
What is the best advice about photography you’ve ever received?
I had to think about this question for a while, because much of the advice I have received about photography is very technical and may not be particularly interesting for many people. So rather than a specific piece of advice, I would like to answer with a more general lesson that I learnt from a good friend of mine, David, who is a brilliant photographer and who also shoots mainly on film.
The lesson is to be very precious with each exposure and to not waste photos. It’s something that is particularly important with film as you only have 36 exposures per roll and there is nothing worse than getting a roll developed and for it to come back filled with pictures you wish you hadn’t taken. David is very considered when he takes photos and it’s not uncommon for you to see him raise the camera and look through the view finder and then lower it without actually taking a picture.
The lesson that he taught me is that you don’t need to take every photo that you consider taking. I now ask myself every time I look through the viewfinder whether I really want to have this photo developed and the answer is often no. This approach has improved my photography generally and encouraged me to think more carefully about the photos I take.
How is your personality reflected in your work?
I found this question difficult to answer as I haven’t thought about it before. Looking at my work, one aspect which stands out to me is that my double exposures look deliberate and considered. It requires planning and foresight to produce a clean double exposure and I
think that in a way this is the part of my personality that come across in my photos. Generally, I am quite a disorganised person and I think I have a pretty chaotic mental process. However, I find that becoming immersed in something creative, like photography, is calming and allows me to focus on a single thought process. I think that this deliberation comes across in my photography. Perhaps this also goes back to the question “what motivates me”. I think that part of the motivation to engage in something creative like photography is that I find it calming.
What is your all time favourite quote?
I wouldn’t say that I have a favourite quote, but one that I often find myself saying or thinking about is “variety is the spice of life”. It’s from a poem by William Cowper (I had to look that up as I had no idea where it was from), but it really just means that variety is what
makes life interesting and I think that’s very true; it’s important to keep trying new things!
Photos by: Euan Grimley
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