Congratulations to British-born conceptual photographer, Ruby Hyde who placed 1st in the 5th Edition of the Boynes Emerging Artist Award.

WHO ARE YOU?

My name is Ruby Hyde and I'm a conceptual fine art and fashion photographer from Somerset, England. I work primarily with natural light, viewing the process of creating my work more as painting than as a technical endeavour, often using Photoshop to elevate my work beyond the bounds of reality. As a result of this photographic style (and a love for moss, believing it to be the BEST plant), I spend a lot of time in the woods and would absolutely live there if I could. My dream job is a witch who lives in the forest, granting ambiguous wishes to lost travellers.

What inspired you to begin utilizing photography?

I was an avid creative writer when I was younger; to the point where I ended up having a few poems and short stories published. Unfortunately, when I was a pre-teen, I developed certain mental health difficulties which made it incredibly hard for me to get the words out of my brain and onto the page.
I needed a way to tell stories without having to try to turn the vision in my brain into words and after discovering the work of other conceptual photographers, I realised that photography was a medium where I felt I could express myself in the way I needed.

Can you discuss the inspiration and thought process behind "Displacement?"

"Displacement" initially started off as an experiment of sorts; a challenge to myself to use light that didn't come from the sun. I didn't really have a plan in mind, but I knew I wanted to create an image with an oil painting aesthetic. I'd just moved into a new house, so everything I owned was still in boxes, but I'm nothing if not innovative. My light source was a lamp balanced on an upturned laundry basket just out of frame and I had my camera on my tripod precariously set up on the stairs above me.

I drew inspiration from the way painters such as Henry Fuseli use colour and shadow and used this to create a surreal scene with the feeling that another world existed within in it, just out of reach.

Your work is quite surreal, can you tell us why you utilize this particular style?

Above anything else, I am a storyteller at heart and my work is driven by a hunger for connection. In the same way that a film or a song does, I want to lure the viewer into a different world for a moment and this particular style of photography allows me to communicate emotive concepts in images that need to be digested rather than simply glanced at. There is so much beauty in darkness and walking that line keeps me excited by what I create; I love juxtapositions.

Your work in particular seems to utilize the colour red quite often, can you explain your attraction to utilizing this colour in your images?

I am an absolute sucker for using red! Colour has such power and red in particular can symbolise so much and has such impact within an image. My love for the colour is very probably rooted in my love for dark fairytales; cloaks, apples, blood drops on the snow- red is woven throughout these stories and that dark beauty has stayed with me as I've got older.

Can you explain why you choose Photography as a medium for your work and voice as opposed to others?

If it weren't for the existence of Photoshop and other editing software, I don't know if I would have chosen photography as a medium in the beginning. I wanted to be able to create a visual story, not just capture something that already exists, so it wasn't until I discovered images from artists such as Brooke Shaden, Alex Stoddard, Kyle Thompson and Erik Johansson that I realised that that aspect of photography was possible and fell in love with it as a medium.

I am entirely self-taught and the first images I remember taking were of a girl in my GCSE art class levitating in the woods. That was my starting point, then I worked my way back down to simpler images as I got a feel for my style.

Have you experimented with other mediums? If so, which ones and how?

When I first started creating visually, it was with drawing and painting. I really enjoyed it but I struggled with translating the image in my head onto the page and the fact that it takes longer to produce the final product allowed self-doubt time to jump in and shoot me down before I'm even close to finishing.

Photography allows me to paint my thoughts in real-time; I am a very visual person, so with photography, I can see everything forming in front of me as I'm working- I just need to put the pieces together.

Can you talk about your biggest learning experience during the process of photographing someone?

If an image almost works, then it doesn't work.

This was probably one of the hardest pills to swallow in the beginning and it's led to me scrapping far more images that I did when I started. A concept either hits the target or it doesn't; if there's something in the image that's slightly off, then the whole thing falls apart. That was a tough thing to get my head around, but it's meant that I think more objectively when setting out to create an image and thus am prouder of the final pieces.

What projects are you working on currently? Can you discuss them?

I'm currently working on a new series called "The End of all Things", which is a body of work that grew out of my experience of the mental illness that consumed my teenage years. It's probably the most personal work I've created to date, which makes me feel equal parts vulnerable and excited.

Explored through surreal, almost cinematic images "The End of all Things" acts as an outward projection of the sense of liminality that comes with living in your own personal apocalypse. Ultimately, this series is about coming to terms with the time I feel I've lost to my illness, exploring my will-they-won't-they relationship with death, and my reconnection with the world around me.

Lastly, I like to ask everyone what advice they would give to their fellow artists/photographers, what is your advice?

Your creativity and vision are infinitely more important than the equipment you have. Don't be intimidated by other creatives who seems to have top of the range cameras, lighting, lenses etc. The strength of your vision is what will drive your success, not whether you have the best tools.

To view more of Ruby Hyde’s work:

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