I’m excited to be able to present this interview with the UK-based artist whose work graced the cover of the inaugural issue of our magazine Living the Photo Artistic Life and who has since gone on to become one of the most popular contributing artists in our advanced “AWAKE” Photo Artistry group — and indeed a celebrated artist all over the world. So let’s jump in!
Q: You had an incredible 2015. Just incredible. Now that we’re here in 2016, what would you say has been your creative focus this year, at least so far?
Caroline Julia Moore: At the start of this year I made a decision to work really hard planning model shoots so that I could use my own images in compositions. This has been a challenge for me as I am by no means a professional photographer. I discovered an amazing place nearby called the Art Asylum — it’s a gallery, a photographic studio, and at the same time a building filled with interesting, derelict areas to shoot in. I have taken part in two organised, day-long events, each with several models. It’s been incredible. I have now had numerous studio sessions with models at the same location and have even started getting requests from other local models wanting to work with me. An absolute, unexpected, dream come true.
Q: Did you plan what images you wanted to capture during those events, or did you wing it?
Caroline Julia Moore: Prior to this year most of my artwork has evolved organically, with compositions feeling as if they made themselves. I would occasionally plan what I wanted to achieve or convey in an image, but primarily ideas would evolve as I worked. My process this year has changed quite a lot. Capturing my own images is, for me, a personal and privileged interaction between myself and the person I am photographing. I like to build up a rapport, find out a little about a person, and then create storyboards or mood boards ahead of the shoot, so that I arrive with a fair idea of what it is I am going for and the atmosphere I want to create. One thing I really try to accomplish is for an image to tell a story.
Q: Your recent work is quite surreal. Did you intend this (was it a deliberate move on your part), or did it just sort of … happen?
Caroline Julia Moore: Well, you could say I’ve been particularly obsessed lately with levitation effects and creating eerie, ethereal images. I am not interested in capturing a ‘fashionable’ piece. Instead, I try to give my work a timeless feel and work to make everything seem a little bizarre and off-kilter.
Q: How do the models you work with respond to your style?
Caroline Julia Moore: I have been so lucky. Everyone has been really enthusiastic about being ‘Photoshopped.’ For a shoot with Lizzy D, I had an idea of combining an Indian headdress, a hooped dress, and muddy walking boots. A few days later, just before the photo shoot, Lizzy emailed me an image of a ball gown she had made that very night, asking if she should bring it. I was amazed and, in jest, asked if she would be baking a cake too. Sure enough, she arrived with not only the dress but also a big chocolate orange cake!
On another occasion, Paula there at the studio had the great idea of executing a rather interesting crab-like back-bend for a photo …
Although not normally a model, when one of the scheduled models couldn’t make the day’s shoot, Paula stepped in. She was really nervous, saying, “If I didn’t do this I would always regret it — as I can’t wait to be Caroline Julia Moore-ed!!!” I nearly burst into tears when she said this. I never dreamed my digital art could have such an impact.
Some of the most popular images I have made have, despite the planning, been impromptu. Such as Paula’s crab in ‘The Watcher.’ I started with an idea of creating something really creepy and unnerving and when I looked through the photos of Paula doing a crab and rotated them it really did look as though she was crawling down the wall. When I saw that, I knew I had an image I wanted to carry forward.
Note for Students in Photoshop Artistry Fine Art Grunge: This composition (“The Watcher”) is featured at length in a 2-part video tutorial in Module 4 Section 4, in which I work through the entire piece layer by layer, technique by technique. Be sure to check it out!
Q: Once you know you have an image you want to work with, how do you approach exploring your compositions in Photoshop?
Caroline Julia Moore: Taking my own photos has given me a deeper level of connection with my images and so sometimes, as in the images mentioned here, I actually don’t do that much processing in Photoshop. And I think it’s because the creative process began for me in these images at an earlier stage than it used to. When I have photographed in the studio, I approach a shoot with the aim of capturing dramatic poses that I know I can build stories around in a more visual, photo-manipulative way. And I feel this is where worlds revolve around my image, weaving a new reality.
Q: What would you say are the most important things you have learned over the past couple of years working as a digital artist?
Caroline Julia Moore: To believe that everything is possible. I never thought that I would have the confidence to create my own model photographs. The more I do it, the more I love it, and the more adventurous and ambitious my work becomes. Photographs do not need to be conventional or boring. You can get the most amazing images through interacting with people and being brave in asking them to pose dramatically. And mix up things that should not work together, be outlandish if you want to be. Also, don’t be afraid to ask people to help you in clarifying your vision and in bringing it to life — the fear of not asking someone (because they might think you insane) stops you from getting that exceptional image. But get the image. Whatever it takes. Then Photoshop allows you to move this further, to really show what is you have dreamed up in your imagination. Imagination knows no bounds, which is why I love Photoshop: because what you can achieve in Photoshop is not bound by reality.