Raw beauty caught in a moment in time is layed before us in the form of the female body. However, what we see here is not simply an alluring, bewitching subject, but a photograph synonymous with what the image displays. Through analogue photography, combined with a very treasured secret technique, Ellen Rogers has managed to capture our attention entirely in an almost trance like state. Her muses convey a feeling of intimacy and innocence whist maintaining confidence and ease with their natural form – a concoction which is at the heart of all of Ellen’s photography. Having attended Goldsmith’s College she is a London-based analogue photographer and filmmaker and part-time blogger. Read on to hear more about her work and be left anticipating her next ambiguous project. T: Roberta Phillips. lamono magazine
I absolutely love you photographs, your female beauties, and the atmosphere they transmit. I won’t ask you to reveal your treasured technique but could you tell us where you get your inspiration from and the preparation process? Thank you. My ideas come from the people I meet, the films I watch, the books I read, even the conversations I have. They are a collective manifestation of my moods and desires to recreate emotions that I share with loved ones. I prepare these ideas spending time with other creatives to make it as close to reality and the original mood as possible.
There is no doubt that your photographs convey an appreciation for the female body. For you, what is the concept behind them, if there is one? It was my first muse Hana who suggested I worked with her nude. I hadn’t worked with anyone else this way before so I wanted to make sure that when I did photograph her this way it was on her terms and that she appeared as confident, elegant, and comfortable as she was with me in real life. This was as much about her expression of freedom as it was about me and my work. I found working with someone as open minded and comfortable as Hana also made me change my perspective on nudity and how people perceive women who show a lot of skin. I have always been a girl who wears a lot of makeup, high heels, and short skirts, and I never appreciated people calling me a ‘tart’ etc. so working with women who feel liberated by being nude was a revelation to me. I feel that this process is about celebrating the women I know.
What does “feminism” mean to you? Feminism is, to me, the collective term for the battles fought by anyone for equality and rights of women, whether those women are cis, trans, queer or otherwise. It’s an ongoing battle and one that is fought every day.
Can you explain your thoughts behind your mesmeric muses? What draws you to these women specifically? Specifically: their personalities attracted me. Each one is a very different character (Hana, Maxine, and a recent lady called Rosemarie). What draws me to them is the magnetism between us. We get on exceptionally well and more often than not I’m interested in finding out why.
‘Digital photography doesn’t sit well with [you]‘ – could you explain this a little more. What is it about analog that makes it irreplaceable in your photographic process? Oh no no I like a lot of digital art, I just don’t think it suits me. I like the grain, tone, and grade of film. I think digital photography has its aesthetic advantages too but not for the ambiance I am looking for. If digital photography is played up to its advantages I think it can be incredibly beautiful.
How do your personal projects differ from your freelance fashion photography? My commercial work is usually a collaboration with a brand or a stylist for the sake of shooting clothes/products and showing them off. My personal work, however, is not concerned with clothing or advertising anything and this gives me a lot more creative freedom.
Both your photography and your house/studio have a gothic feel to them, would you agree? Yeah I suppose so, I’m not really interested in adhering to niche terms like gothic etc. but I can see why you say that of course. There is an element of gothic literature to the way my home looks or the way my work or, indeed, the way I look. I am inspired by somethings that are considered ‘gothic’ but I look outside of that genre too.
When you lecture at universities what is the one thing that you never fail to pass on to others? Have you ever mentored? I must say when I lecture it’s usually about my own work, but I do stress that commercial work isn’t for everyone. I am not sure it’s for me or if I have the correct temperament for it at least. I think people look to me for an answer of how to be a viable success whist still maintaining an analogue method. The simple answer is that it’s not easy and you have to be entrepreneurial to make it work. This is not something I have mastered either.
You do a fair bit of writing on numerous blogs, is writing a second passion of yours? Oh gosh, I am an awful writer but yeah I really enjoy it. I think it could be a passion if all the passion I had wasn’t spent on making images.
What excites you most in life? Working with a team I really like, collating my ideas with them and making something happen out of nothing. I genuinely love that feeling. I think I might finally be working on something that changes everything (for me). I have found a set of people I never want to lose and I just wish we were all closer together geographically.
And finally, what can we look forward to seeing from you in the near future? This project I speak of, it’s a mixed media endeavour, I can’t say more about it now but it may challenge the way my work is viewed.
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