William Arnold came into University recently to talk to us about his photographic career. Arnold came into photography late, as his first degree was History and he never studied the subject at school. When starting out in photography Arnold was more interested in the physical forms of photography and not so interested in the digital side. This s where Arnold first started experimenting with cyanotypes, pinhole photography and solar graphs. Arnold’s first photographic breakthrough came when he decided to make a continuous exposure of his own bedroom, which fortunately was awarded a grant by associations of Magnum. Arnold used this grant to create similar photos but landscape versions which unfortunately Magnum were not that interested in so that ended the competition streak.
Arnold’s next project was using iPhone panoramas of the landscape around the college he teaches at as a way to carry on his own photographic interests and drive. He then went on to create other landscape images in his lunch break inspired by the writing by Henry David Thoreau. It was really interesting listening to William Arnold’s photographic journey and how he his developed his practice throughout the years.
Overall, it was really lovely having Arnold come in and talk to us, although I feel like I wasn't’t that inspired by his talk this was only because the subject of his photos were not really what i’m currently interested in. With that being said it was nice to gained some influence from someone I may not have necessarily looked at in my own spare time, allowing me to not be so closed minded when it comes to people I may think don’t matter to me and my photographic practice. Furthermore, Arnold’s talk emphasised to me that you don’t have to have a life time of education and experience to do, enjoy and be good at something you love.