As regular readers will know, photography is all about ideas. Equipment and technique are great, but they require our ideas to make something happen – and so it was a delight to interview professional photographer Sarah Edmunds (formerly Ferrara) and learn about her approach to portraiture.
“I particularly like the female face,” Sarah explained. “I was lucky enough to attend a school that had an amazing art facility. In my final two years, I studied art, drama and English literature, so I spent a third of my time in the art block. And my art teacher allowed me to do whatever I wanted to, so I spent all my time sketching very detailed pencil drawings of female faces, especially the eyes.”
However, when she left school, Sarah used the skills learned in drama and became an actor following three years of intensive training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. It was only many years later that she turned to photography, beginning first as an amateur and now a successful professional with a highly visible profile on the international circuit.
There was a time when most of Sarah’s photography was commissioned, photographs that clients asked her to create. However, she discovered by putting her personal work out there, clients asked her to do the same for them. “It’s great when a client turns up and just tells me to do my thing,” smiles Sarah.
But what is Sarah’s ‘thing’? Where do her ideas come from? Given her background in art, drama and English literature, it’s not surprising her work is classical and elegant – but there’s an edge, a difference.
Read all about Sarah's approach to her high end portraiture in the current issue of Better Photography magazine! Not a subscriber yet? We'd love you to join - take $20 off with our coupon code IDEAS20.