Obsessed by oddballs with interesting faces, Eloise Parry is the curious photographer spurning aesthetic beauty in favour of individuality and originality.
First meeting bezzie mate, muse and cult lo-fi London designer Claire Barrow at a nightclub in Middlesbrough when both were just a pair of wide-eyed art college students, this creative duo are distinctly different. Inspired by each other, in love with life and sharing a mutual appreciation for one another’s art, Claire and Eloise spend most of their days cutting up clothes, watching retro chick flicks or working on their forthcoming zine Efiltatish.
Shooting her family and pals in their familiar habitats going about their everyday life, Eloise’s photography is focused on documenting fleeting, beautiful moments in time. Taking spoonfuls of Nan Goldin and Henri Cartier-Bresson and injecting a bucket-load of her own signature style, delicate intimacies are revealed within the images. Never found in front of a lens one might not be overly aware of Eloise’s work, but get set and ready to see a lot more of her dreamy scenes some time very soon. i-D online caught up with the long-haired, Bacardi breezing babe for light convo and a bit of a laff.
You shoot on a Contax rangefinder and Leica point and shoot, why do you favour these cameras over others and how would you best advise aspiring photographers to go about discovering the perfect tool to fit their style? I fell in love with the Contax because of the incredible Zeiss lens. It’s really sturdy but light for a rangefinder, which is good for me as I’m pretty heavy-handed. The Leica camera is small and light with a built-in flash so I can take it absolutely everywhere. It was a present from my dad, he found it on eBay for 30 quid. The only advice I can give is to experiment with as many cameras as you can before investing. Junk shops and eBay are best. Also, to buy a few issues of a photography magazine that parallels the area of photography that you’re interested in and read the reviews of the cameras.
Who is the most beautiful person you’ve ever photographed? The vast majority of the people I’ve photographed I’ve found really beautiful. The picture I think that is aesthetically the most beautiful is a picture I took of Claire in the bath. I like the light on her skin and how she looks quite androgynous. I associate the picture with some really pleasant memories so I guess that informs my answer too.
What single image of yours has had the most interesting story behind it? I took some images of my Great Grandma in bed a day before she died. It’s interesting because I knew she was dying so my approach to photographing her differed completely to how I would usually photograph a person. It changed my entire attitude towards photography, I think I began to learn about its importance.
Can you tell us a bit about your work with Claire? It’s strange because we have pretty different cultural references. It’s more of a mutual appreciation for each other’s tastes. We know what we want from an image and how to utilise each others skills to get it.
Tell me something about yourself nobody else knows? As a child, I would apparently throw a tantrum if my socks didn’t match my cardigan.
What new, exciting talent do you tip for big things? Kayleigh Webster is a real talent in my opinion. Her work is witty, pragmatic and nice to look at.
What comes next for you? Some collaborative work, an exciting editorial with Claire and a big portraiture project about people in bathrooms which I then hope to exhibit.
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