Seaweed Portraits - My Artistic Interpretation.

Hey everyone!

I'm back with another post about my current project Tides of Possibility, and this time I wanted to share a series of images that I have been working on within the project, titled Seaweed Portraits.

When I first began this project, and started looking into the seaweeds that can be found on my local shoreline in Cornwall, I was astounded at how many different species there are, and the rich diversity in colours, shapes and sizes between them all. Often, seeing them just washed up on the beach or in rock pools doesn't showcase their true beauty, and people often overlook them, myself included. But when you start to look closer, you start to notice their detailed textures and patterns, each one completely different to the next.

After noticing this started my brain whirring, wondering how I could highlight this beauty, and give people a perspective on seaweed that they likely haven't had before.

I decided to try out photographing seaweed specimens in a studio setting, bringing it out of its natural environment to try and create some sort of artistic interpretation of seaweed that is personal to me. I began photographing it in this setting, using a macro lens to really pick up on the details and textures in the seaweeds that I mentioned earlier. I positioned them against a black background, and used off-camera flash to really make the colours of each species pop. There was a lot of experimentation involved, along with trial and error, in the positioning of the flash - the best position for it varied so much from species to species, depending on its colours and thickness. This meant there was no exact equation for getting the shot first time each time I used a new specimen.

My set-up for producing my Seaweed Portraits.

Each new shoot with a different species felt like a challenge, to figure out how best to light it, compose the shot, which section to focus in on, how best to bring out the textures and colours.

Photographing Dulse, a common red seaweed on the Cornish coastline.

But each time I figured it out and got THE SHOT, I felt a huge sense of achievement, and excitement, that I had another species to add to my collection of these pieces.

Gradually as the collection grew, I started to wonder how best to sequence these images as a series. I tried a variety of different combinations, but eventually settled on sequencing them in colour order. Starting with the reds, moving through to oranges and yellows, then to the greens, finishing with the darker tones. It made the most sense to me in my head, and looked the most visually appealing.

I am so proud of this sequence of images that features in this project, and everyone I've shown the work to has had the same reaction: "oh wow, I never knew seaweed looked like this!". This is the exact response I was aiming for with these images, so to hear that reaction from people viewing the work has been so lovely.

I have really enjoyed experimenting with this style of photography, as studio work isn't something I have had loads of experience with before, so it has been a fun challenge to learn how to control the light myself, rather than working with natural light that largely does what it wants.

I have inserted a gallery below, for you to see the final sequence of this work.

So that's it from me for now! I hope you enjoyed this little post about some of my recent work, and as usual feel free to reach out if you have any questions, or simply just to say hello!

I'll be back soon with another post!

Elle x