September 2023 - Featured @ fair Trader. Online blog: Introducing our September artists.
An Exhibition Unveiling Home, Identity, and Community Through Lens and Emotion
Fair Trader - Holmfirth.
An Exhibition Unveiling Home, Identity, and Community Through Lens and Emotion
British-born artist Ellie Waters resides in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Northern England. Drawing from her own experiences of emigration, Waters intricately delves into concepts of home and belonging through her art. Her primary medium is photography, complemented by text, audio, and video, which jointly unveil emotionally rich narratives.
In her most recent endeavour, having relocated to the Holme Valley, Waters undertakes a visual exploration of her new locale. This series chronicles her personal encounters with the local environment, reflecting upon streets, suburban areas, gardens, and others’ abodes. By immersing herself in Holmfirth’s essence, she embarks on a journey of embracing it as her own, unearthing the diverse ways we shape and personalise these spaces...(read full article here).
March 2023 - RPS WOMEN IN PHOTOGRAPHY. Online article: RPS Women in Photography.
College Bank: The Seven Sisters
By Ellie Waters.
After I first visited the flats, I left and wrote a note about clocks. The number of clocks in Sylvia’s flat, two in the lounge, three in the bedroom and four in the kitchen. All ticking rhythmically as I wait for her to finish a phone call. A friend calling to tell her the lottery numbers as Sylvia doesn’t have the internet.
Shelia’s alarm clock propped amongst other essential items on her Zimmer frame. She tells me she met her late husband Barry when she moved into this flat, he was a concierge back when each block had its own. She calls herself lucky, for meeting Barry and for their home which she now shares with her son and carer, Con.
She tells me about her sister who like me, has been living in Christchurch, New Zealand. Thousands of miles away but still connected by regular phone calls, for this she gestures towards the clock. I’m not sure why but in my notes, I write ‘time keeping?’.
Despite the obvious reference to time and the potential lack thereof for the College Bank buildings, I’m telling you these stories to bring attention to the people who call this space home...(read full article here).
Spring 2023 - COLLECT ART. Collect Art Spring issues 2023.
Interview: Ellie Waters.
Where are you from and how does that affect your work?
I grew up in the North West of England, in the small working-class town of Rochdale in Greater Manchester. When I was in my early teens, my parents up and moved me and my sisters to Aotearoa - New Zealand, and it’s there I’ve spent most of my adult life.
These two vastly different environments have come to define who I am, or perhaps I should say, the nature of adapting between the two, has come to define who I am. This pattern of toing and froing comes through in my photography practice, as I frequently move between the two searching - in a sense - for where it is I feel at ‘home’... (read full article here).
March 2023 - DWELL TIME PRESS. Online article: Dwell Time Press
Divorce-19
By Ellie Waters.
A digital diary and out reach, my attempts to stay sane and stay connected with the outside world when me and my parents found ourselves testing positive for Covid-19 at the start of the pandemic.
This project, displayed in digital format, initially through my instagram account and now my website, explores our ‘six week crash course’ with dealing with the virus, and each other.
Project introduction:
Dad was the 49th person in New Zealand to test positive for Covid- 19, kick starting my six-week crash course on how to live with (tolerate) your parents whilst infected with a potentially deadly virus.
If I were to sum up 2020 in one word it would be ‘frantic’ or ‘cheese-on-toast’. It was treacherous, scary and overall slow but for me it was also precious. It was a period of time I otherwise would not have spent with my hilarious – and at times highly agitating – parents... (read full article here).
Jan 2023 - DOCU MAGAZINE. E-Book: Best of Documentary and Street Photography VOL 8.
Interview: Ellie Waters.
Tell about yourself a little bit... How did you become a photographer?
Photography found me, kind of. I went to university with the intent of studying printmaking and the year I attended they got rid – literally, of the printmaking department. My next option was photography, which sounds super uninspiring but it was sort of the opposite. I loved it from the get go. I loved that I was able to create whilst exploring, whilst being out in the world connecting with places and people that I otherwise would never have connected with.
In recent years, I’ve been working to digitise my late grandad’s photographic archive. He was always mad into photography; I remember he had this little camera and camera case that attached to his belt so he had a camera with him at all times. So, people assume that’s how I got into photography – because of my grandad, I never thought of it like that before but maybe somewhere in my subconscious, photography was always on my radar and in my path.
What has been the biggest lesson you have learned as a photographer?
One of the biggest lessons I have learned (so far), is that there’s no time like the present. Have your camera, be as best prepared as possible and take the darn picture. The number of times I’ve been out and about, seen something magically, mundanely-bizarre and not had my camera or just not stopped and taken the photograph, it’s not worth thinking about. 99% of the time if you go back, it’s gone. Grandad knew! I need a camera case belt.
What advice would you give to a young amateur photographer, who wants to take their photography to the next level?
Look at photographers or photographs you like, research into how and why they’re doing what they’re doing and apply that to your own photography explorations. When I first started photographing, I would get so frustrated trying to achieve a certain look that was just physically impossible to achieve given the gear or way in which I was working. As soon as I started researching more into the work and working methods of other photographers, I found I was much happier with my own results.
And to not get so wrapped up in the small stuff. Explore, be creative. I’m saying this to you, as I am saying it to myself. A fellow photographer recently said to me, “We’re not striving for perfection, just close enough.”
Is that super uninspiring? I nd it super comforting, and it’s allowed me to throw caution to the wind (a little) and enjoy the process more.
In your opinion... What is a good photograph?
I think a good photograph is one which speaks for itself. Don’t get me wrong, a little context never hurts and, in some cases, elevates but there’s nothing quite like a photograph which stops someone in their tracks and think twice, or bring something of their own to something which is completely unrelated to their reality.
How do you feel about social media today? Is it good for photographers, bad for photographers...?
I struggle with social media. I think it’s an amazing tool for photographers, for exposure and connecting with others but at the same time I think it diminishes other forms of
connection.
There’s nothing quite like seeing a print in the esh or engaging with a photo book or such, and there’s nothing quite like meeting other photographers in the flesh, bouncing ideas around and trying to contextualising what the heavens it is you’re up to.
It’s a fast-moving world, which I think is forever sped up by social media. Some art forms are best understood and appreciated at a slower pace. I am a bit of an old soul though.
Place In Time: The Christchurch Documentary Project. Online feature: Place in time
Ko te whanga ko au: ko au ko te whanga.
'Ko te whanga ko au ; Ko au ko te whanga - The Harbour and I; I and the Harbour' is a body of work which began in 2015, during my time at Canterbury's School of Fine Arts. Having recently moved back to the shores of Whakaraupō, Lyttelton Harbour, I set out with the intentions to uncover, and photograph the histories of my surrounding landscape.
For the first six months I Photographed solely at Rāpaki, a small Māori settlement which sits on the shores of Whakaraupō... (read full feature here).