Caran Caravan Photography Exhibition

Growing up in a musical family and studying fine art in Blackpool led British photographer Caran Caravan (a.k.a. Karen Bentham) to start a career in independent video production.

While directing and editing music video clips for hundreds of indie bands, she developed her flair for recognising and creating striking, distinctive images – subsequently being contracted to Getty Images, producing stock photographs for their international catalogues – while continuing to study art-based photography which culminated  in her being awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society in 1998.

Her current work combines deceptively simple contemporary portraits with a vintage, cinematic feel and often painterly, surreal effects. “People react differently when a film camera is pointed at them so the results are intimate – freezing love and hate, moments of isolation, self-revelation and adoration. I think it’s important for a good portrait photographer to have both a simple understanding of psychology and a degree of patience.”

Caran also experiments a lot in the darkroom, (painting with light and projecting new images from different negatives onto the white space left on prints), as well as during the actual shoot by playing with lighting, gels and water. The results are unique and unplanned. “Film photography is always a surprise,” she says. “The effects could easily be done using a digital app, but it’d be too perfect.”

Caran sometimes makes her own pinhole cameras using small boxes to create paper negatives and turning them into positive prints in the darkroom, an ancient process that yields unusual, dream-like and mysterious images.

Please notice access to the exhibition may not be available if a private event is taking place at the Gallery. You can contact the Gallery staff to find out if the exhibition area is open to the public in advance of your visit by ringing 0113 2181923.