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Terry Donnelly talks to Mike Mcnamee - part 5 of 1 2 3 4 5 6

by Mike McNamee Published 01/06/2015

Another Dutch photographer I have admired the work of for many years is Adrian Sommeling. I was fortunate to have a chance meeting with Adrian early in 2014 which then turned into an on-the-spot portfolio review. Adrian had a big impact on me from that meeting, and we have been good friends since. Adrian's vision in his images, and outlook on life in general, is positive and really refreshing, it's fun, feel-good photography which is very contagious and top notch.

Pick your three favourite images, tell us why and describe the making of them.
I have several favourite images, but if I have to pick three, they would be Southbank Smooch, Redemption and Lewis

I entered Lewis in an F1 picture competition run by The Metro newspaper in conjunction with Zoom charity for the benefit of Great Ormond St Children's Hospital in 2014. My picture of Lewis won the competition, and was on display in London at a gala dinner hosted by Suzie Perry and attended by Bernie Ecclestone, Damon Hill and other F1 legends. The picture dominated a right page in The Metro, and hit a print circulation of 1.3 million. But the reason this picture is a favourite of mine, is because it helped to raise awareness and much needed funds for Great Ormond St Children's Hospital. That was worth more to me than any awards the picture will ever win. The day the picture appeared in The Metro my phone rang continuously through the day, with people seeing it in the paper and calling me to tell me about it. I ended up with quite a few copies of The Metro being handed to me by my friends over the following weeks!

Tell us a bit about your Associateship panel. How long did it take to gather the images, how long did each image take to create? How was it printed? (was it printed?)
The pictures in my ASWPP panel were taken from my Conceptual Relationship project and were taken over the last two years. My Associateship application was submitted digitally, which goes against the grain for me, being a print worker, but I wanted to submit the work at the earliest available date, and a digital submission was the fastest option. Fifteen of the 20 pictures were composite works, some were simple background replacements or enhancements, others were more intricate and consisted of a number of different elements combined. All of the images represent relationships that we have, whether it be with an addiction, a partner, ourselves, religion, marriage, etc. The pictures are specifically created in such a way as to challenge the viewer and to make them think 'what does this picture mean?'

The time it takes me to finish an image like this depends on the intricacy of the image itself, along with other factors, but usually I can get an image 90% finished in quite a short period of time, often much less than an hour. The final 10% of an image can take a lot longer, and often does. In any image, it's the small details that set it apart from the rest and these can take the longest to see and address. I will often park an image up for a day or two, then look at it again with fresh eyes. If we look at the same picture for too long in a single sitting, we stop seeing the image; we are looking at it, yes, but seeing it no, we develop pixel blindness. I was thrilled to be awarded the Associateship from The Societies because this body of work fully represented my current style of work and printing.

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1st Published 01/06/2015
last update 09/12/2022 14:59:37

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