David Hume has started a series entitled 1000 Words and he has kindly allowed the series to be cross-posted to Light Paths. The idea behind this series is simple. David selects an image that interests him from a local photographer, and he uses that image as the basis for a conversation. He kicks off the conversation by asking a few questions about it, and then asks about the photographer themselves, their history with photography and how photography fits in to their life now. The fourth person David has selected to interview is Vicky Dennison.

DH: Hi Vicky – thanks for agreeing to the chat. I came across your work on Instagram and I have no idea of your background, but I was intrigued because I found the work very sophisticated in its aesthetic and hence mysterious. I tend to associate that level of sophistication with practitioners who are working on series or a focused body of work, but yours is more varied and playful; almost like it comes out of a sense of joy and exploration that has a solid aesthetic base, but there’s also a carefree aspect to it.

VD: “Well, actually I ran away to art school to escape from social work in the early 2000s. I’d always dabbled a bit with photography, but not seriously. My mother took a lot of family photos and I got in to it that way. So at art school I had the idea that photography might become my major. In first year of the BA there are all these bits and pieces that you have to do, sculpture, whatever; and I did printmaking and I fell in love with printmaking. But I’d done a bit of photography, experimental photography, and I did use that in my printmaking. But I didn’t finish my degree. I mean, I wasn’t there for the degree, I was there to make a complete change in my life, but it didn’t work out like that because the reality was that I had to go back to work to make money.

But I enjoyed the photography aspect of it; the experimental side. Technically I’m not that advanced, I mean I can produce a good image, but for me it’s more about the emotional impact and hopefully the viewer can feel that too. Of course I care about tones, blacks, light, and composition etc. but Ive always been extremely short sighted too, so often things appear differently to my eyes, more about shapes and form, particularly light. That’s why I love abstract.”