Photo Profile : Aly Harte

I would be lying if I said that I had many memories of my Father who passed away when I was seven. But I do have his Canon 35mm slr, his Cine camera and the old red leather albums that he that he stored in the “good unit” in the living room, third door along.

I have always been labelled the “arty” one of the family but the only common thread through the generations that my Mother could find was my Grandmother’s love of tapestry. Unfortunately for my Mother and deceased Grandmother I am not of the needle and thread variety. In fact it took me five months and three days to finish my front door curtain!

So, I believe my creative genius is a direct stem from my Father. I would also admit that there is an element of inspiration from the grainy 6 x 4 images that he captured of our childhood. They are lovely captured moments and I think he would love my Canon 40d.
Capturing moments (as corny as it may sound) is why I love photography.

My fine art background and Masters in video and performance required me to do this and to deliver them appropriately to my audience. I strongly believe that there are moments to be captured in the most mundane situations in life; a child’s toys stacked like a tower, a walk to the local shop, that odd shaped cushion in one’s lounge.

My digital albums are comprised of images of the work I do as a self employed artist working with young people, the everyday tasks of being a Mother, the random photo shoots that I manage to get bribed into, and images of travel and still frames from my videos.

So much of my own art practice is based around this notion of placing value in the familiar and the familial. The work of artists such as Richard Billingham, Willie Doherty and Martin Creed has given me a sense that it is ok to draw inspiration from your own surroundings.
There are days when I look at my flickr account and think “My my you’re incredibly boring Aly”. But then there are other days when I look through the albums and love that images seem to compliment each other in my photostream.

I have an eye for interesting composition and I am drawn to colour in all it’s varieties. My friends often mock me for lugging my oversized camera bag everywhere, but photographers know exactly what it’s like to think, “I wish I’d brought my camera!” and frankly I don’t like it when that happens.

Links:

http://alymcloughlinharte.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Aly-McLoughlin-Harte/