Digitalab Featured Photographer: Emma Case
This month’s Digitalab Featured Photographer is the incredibly creative , always passionate and downright very talented Emma Case. Shooting Weddings is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Emma’s creative output as this post will attempt to convey!
Emma is a Photographer currently based in Birmingham, England. With her husband Pete they have been shooting weddings for the past 8 years, committing to an honest approach within their work and their communication with their couples.
Shooting on both film and digital Emma and her husband Pete have worked on several commercial campaigns, overseas charity projects, local documentary photo stories and weddings all across the globe, from Serbia to San Francisco, Zambia to New Zealand.
For the past five years they have also run their own workshops for photographers as well as guest speaking at photo conferences around the world.. including Nine Dots, Fearless, Snap and A Bit More Soul.
Recently, they both have founded the IDo Community, a space where members of the online community can give their time and skills to raise funds and create awareness for various charities and non-profits.
Emma has also set up Deaf Refugees UK organising a trip to the Calais Jungle to offer hearing aids and communication support for Deaf refugees.
Who inspired you to become a photographer?
I’m not sure a person inspired me as such. I feel that everything in my life has always geared towards being creative. I studied Theatre and was an Actor for about 10 years and photography was sort of a happy accident.
Since becoming part of the photography community, who inspire me the most are the ones that create from a very honest place.. who are true to their own voice, one’s who are curious about the world and how they fit within it.. and that goes for any creative field.
What is your all-time favourite photography shoot?
Am I allowed more than one??!
I was lucky enough to head out to Zambia with the charity Soundseekers and document the work they are doing to improve the lives of Deaf and hard of hearing children and adults in the developing world. I am fluent in British Sign Language and have worked within the Deaf community so this project was particularly special to me.
Another shoot that stands out was with the arts organisation Multistory. I was commissioned to take photographs of allotments and their tenants in and around the Black Country. For me.. this is the work that I am really interested in making. It’s social documentary and a wonderful way of archiving stories that might not be told.
An image from Emma’s ‘Soundseekers’ project
How would you describe your photographic style?
I would say honest. As a wedding photographer I have always been fascinated by the ordinary, the everyday and what place that has within the contexts of a wedding. I feel that there is extraordinary in the ordinary and feel that it is just as important to show.. to tell the whole story and to find beauty and meaning in the more mundane things.
What is your camera of choice and why?
The workhorse is a Canon Mark III, 95% of the time with a 35mm 1.4, but if I had the choice to just take one camera out for the day… hmmm… that’s a toughie. I am a big Polaroid shooter and have done a 365 project on Polaroid and continue to shoot on my SX-70 regularly but I also have a Mamiya 645 which is an absolute pleasure to use and the results make me squeal with delight!
What one piece of advice would you give to any aspiring photographer?
Invest in exploring who you are.. and enjoy the journey. That probably sounds lame advice but in our current world of constant bombardment of imagery, being surrounded by versions of ‘success’ it’s easy to be caught up in what and how you feel you ‘should’ shoot. For me that is a sure fire way to stop listening to your own wonderful, individual voice.
Is there something that you would love to photograph more than anything else?
I’m currently doing a personal project on Liverpool fans and it’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a while now. My Dad played for Liverpool in the seventies and I was wanting to explore how it felt.. in that particular era.. (especially as now the game and the business around it has changed so much). I chose to head to Anfield and talk to the lifelong fans, hear their stories, take their portrait. It’s been a pretty wonderful, cathartic process as it is such a big part of my life but at the same time I wasn’t even born at that point. I feel very much at home at Anfield and I’ll be heading back their next season to carry on with the project.
An image from ‘RED’ – Emma’s ongoing project on the fans of Liverpool FC
Follow the links below to see a greater range Emma’s work and to find out more about the fabulous projects she runs and takes part in;
Weddings
http://www.emmacasephotography.com
Commercial / Personal
http://www.emmacasephoto.com
Workshops
http://www.thewelcomehomeblog.com