Polly Chandler is a young photographer who recently earned her MFA. She is making compelling black-and-white large-format work, and garnering attention worldwide.

(Video, and interview, below)

Polly Chandler…

”Cropping is for farmers”

(All photographs on this page are Copyright 2007 Polly Chandler, and are not to be reproduced anywhere without the written permission of the photographer)

Interview, below, by Eric Rudolph

Polly Chandler’s dreamlike large-format black-and-white work grabs the viewer’s attention in a powerful way.

The mysterious images use real life settings made to appear mythic and otherworldly via the abstracting power of B&W, along with the dramatic photographic tool of selective focus. Chandler uses the 4x5” view camera’s swing-and-tilt movements to blur significant portions of most images.

The overall effect is an intriguing, dreamlike sense of mystery, evoking a cinematically off kilter and somewhat sinister world that is visually fascinating and irresistible.

The Austin, Texas-based Chandler makes these striking images during off hours from her day job as a photographer with the Texas State Legislature. She recently completed her MFA in Mass Communications and Media Arts, specializing in photography, at the University of Southern Illinois in Carbondale.

There’s much more at www.pollychandler.com, including long lists of her awards and shows. Also see her MySpace page:

http://www.myspace.com/pollychandler

(bwphotopro wishes to acknowledge Britain’s terrific Black & White Photography magazine for bringing Chandler to our attention, via a large feature in their September 2007 issue.)

We thought we’d let Polly Chandler tell us about her work and approach, directly:

Where do your ideas come from? 

Sometimes I'll see a certain location or have a particular person in mind, and an idea will stem from that. Other times I don't necessarily have an idea fully formed. Then I trust my intuition, rather than follow a linear way of thinking.

Do you sketch shots out first?  

I do try to sketch out photographs beforehand, although part of the excitement of shooting for me is that the images usually turn out quite differently than I first envisioned. It's often a surprise for me, and part of the continual exploration and discovery of myself as a photographer.

How does doing selective focus in camera (instead of in post) impact the session/final image? Does it alter the creative atmosphere, or change your approach to the subject?  

It is important to me that my decisions in my image making are done in the field. 

Nothing is an afterthought; everything is done in-camera. 

My photographs represent, among other things, my experience and my interpretation of a particular place and moment in time. To manipulate the image later takes something away from that for me; it's a sort of detachment from staying in the moment. 

Also, it's a part of challenging myself as a photographer, to create the image I'm looking for in the field and on the negative, rather than "fixing" it later. I also print full frame (cropping is for farmers) to show that I pay close attention to everything in my frame, including the very edges; nothing is an accident. 

Shooting this way does slow everything down and the subject has to pay close attention to the process

Talk about B&W--why you concentrate on it, what it means in terms of visual language, why it is so powerful.  

I think I'm drawn to black and white for a couple of reasons. To begin with, it was my first love, my first exposure (pun intended) to photography, and I'll always be attracted to it as an art form. 

Also, my work isn't meant to represent reality but rather my perception of experiences, my memories, and my search for my own identity; and I believe black and white lends itself to that. 

I feel that color is (obviously) how our eyes see and because of that tends to contribute to a sense of "reality", whereas black and white allows me to explore a lack of reality or accuracy, in reference to memories and experiences.

How does using the 4x5 view camera change your approach?  

Using a large-format camera slows everything down. It's often cumbersome to carry all the equipment around on location, and once set up, it's sometimes difficult to move the camera around (compared to medium format or 35mm). 

I think because of the physical difficulties and the cost of film/processing, I tend to pay close attention to every choice I'm making with each sheet of film rather than shooting from the hip, so to speak.

Much of the B&W is Polaroid. Why that choice?  

I initially began using Polaroid Type 55 as a student to save myself the time of processing 4x5” sheet film, but as I began to use it more and more I fell in love with it, for other reasons as well. It's beautiful film. The grain is so tiny (ISO 50), and the tonality I get is beautiful. I can proof in the field as I go and make sure I get the shot I'm going for. (Polaroid Type 55 produces both an instant [positive] print and a large-format negative. Type 55 is used in view cameras via a special film holder/processor, which turns the view camera into an instant Polaroid camera. - E.R.)

Tell us about your darkroom/favorite materials and processes.  

I print on a Zone VI enlarger, using Ilford Multigrade Warmtone FB paper, and Ilford PQ Universal Paper Developer. I have a simple darkroom with a stainless steel sink.

What’s next for you? 

I don't know what is next for me, just that I want to trust myself to keep making the work that I'm drawn to and to challenge myself as a photographer.

-ends-

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Sleepwalking:

In "Sleepwalking" (above) I use a delicate and airy yet dark drape that’s pulling back out of the frame, to swathe the face of the model. I appreciate the irony here:  the face of the model is in sharp focus, yet her identity is denied by being sheathed with a veil. I’m tackling my idea of the way we might go through our lives, caught up in our own ideals without looking beyond our own viewpoint, essentially with blinders on. - Polly Chandler

Alice:

My intention in "Alice" (above) was to use the image as a way to voice spiritual destitution, using the weather to create an oppressive and melancholy mood. The figure is dwarfed in size in her environment as well as in the frame. The wardrobe is key in conveying this message because its Victorian-era design references both conventionalism and the oppression of spirit and gender. The photograph comes from my experience in grappling with the notion that a spiritual belief will move one through a traumatic period. - Polly Chandler