I consider myself very lucky to know Ania Hobson, a young and extremely talented Suffolk based artist, and so when the artistic collaboration theme for week 33 of the Dogwood52 photography challenge came around I hoped this would be a perfect opportunity for us to work together. We arranged to meet at Ania’s studio where she has on display numerous examples of her incredible work, oil paintings of wildlife, portraits and self portraits; she really can turn her hand to anything. Ania spent around twenty minutes sketching my picture with charcoal, which was a real honour, she truly has a natural talent for portraiture. I set up two cameras in order to video the whole experience, and I hope the final chosen image depicts our collaboration.
For me personally this was quite the role reversal! Spending so much of my time behind the camera capturing other people, it was quite daunting to be on the other side being scrutinised and pored over. As Lord Snowden once said, “Being photographed is a bit like being in the electric chair; nobody likes it”. Taking portraits is a real passion of mine and to appreciate how that person is feeling whilst being in front of the lens, or canvas in this case, is really important, and I certainly feel as though I have gained some empathy and understanding! That being said, Ania was wonderful, making me feel at ease with some light conversation and I would highly recommend her.
If you would like to more about Ania and her paintings you can check her out on Youtube, Instagram and Facebook.