16 Old-Style Photographic Works by Cally Whitham

Photographic artist Cally Whitham is known for her use of romantic light that brings out the aesthetic value of her subjects. Her subjects are depicted in an almost surreal ambiance, making her work resemble a real oil painting. This interview will show you her deep sense of beauty and how she translates her visions into stunning works of art.

Hi Cally! Let’s get to know you better. Can you please introduce yourself?

I’m a female photographer living in rural New Zealand. I’m interested in finding value in banality; the search for the promise of something, the depths below the shallows.

What inspired you to become a fine art photographer? Was this a childhood dream?

It kind of started with taking mental photographs on car trips as a child. I dabbled in poetry to try to capture the thing I wanted to remember but could never quite find the words and my sketches never did justice to the things I had seen. Once I realized I could keep those images through photography I was hooked. Given these early ideas and desires I guess it was inevitable that I would be drawn to this genre of photography, but it was never a dream of mine as a child.

Does photography influence your everyday life? How so?

It does really, I find myself constantly checking out the quality of light and I still take mental photographs of anything that catches my eye.

I take my camera with me as much as I can so I don’t miss anything and whenever I don’t take it I always see something that’ll haunt me. I prefer to be a passenger so I can take photos as we travel, but more often than not I am the one driving. We live rurally and even a trip to town will have something on the way that I want to capture or remember. I have to remind myself to keep my eyes on the road and often wonder how easy it would be to shoot while driving…

Tell us about your use of romantic light in your work. How important is it to your aesthetic?

It’s pretty cliché, but light is always my starting point. It is usually light that first attracts me to a subject rather than the subject itself. Sometimes it is imagined light, I may see a subject and know the kind of light that should be there, the light that would give a subject the value it’s due. The right light makes or breaks an image, it’s the paradigm shift required to make you see something that may be irrelevant, as having some sort of value.