A Small Voice Podcast is the source material and images are her copyright and from her website Juno Calypso
Ben Smith’s interview of Juno Calypso on A Small Voice podcast says so much about the world of photography. It is a subjective world. Juno got a grade C for her photography A level and says she was told her work was rubbish for several years. She is disarming in her honest response to questions with many ‘oh….I don’t know’ or ‘who fucking knows.’ This included the question ‘how are you going to make money.’
Photography is also serendipitous. Juno set out on a path to practice and prepare herself to shoot models. That is where she thought she wanted to go. However, she admits to being introvert and shy and does not like interacting with others to set up shoots. This extends to her not using assistants. As she practiced shooting herself the idea of Joyce emerged. The name Joyce comes from a character in Edward Scissorhands of the same name.
Joyce
There are so many things to see and like in her images. The use of harmonious colour in this image and the use of lines from the sofa and bed to draw the focus to Joyce. Separation and space around Joyce help the framing. The mask attached to a remote control creates a science fiction type image but also hides the face from us. As I look longer the bottle and plate again well separated catch my attention. The longer I look the more questions arise and more possible stories emerge.
She says she is not technically expert and just works things out by trial and error until she gets the effect she wants. She claims to not fully understand lighting but when I look at her work I think she has an instinct for it. She shot with full frame and a Canon 5D but found working with the full frame was too heavy and cumbersome when working alone. She has been amused when people congratulate her for sticking with full frame when they look at images she produced on her 5D. She is also amused when people tell her what she meant with her work saying something like ‘whatever you can write my intro then…’
Joyce
She says this image arose out of an incident around her love of pork luncheon meat. A friends mother saw her eating it once and said how disgusting how can you eat that. This is her response blown up to large scale. She still loves pork luncheon meat.
She comes across as a rebel and was often in trouble at school admitting she hung around with the wrong crowd. This rebel streak kept her committed to her path as she invented Joyce while studying for her degree at the London College of Communication.
Joyce Joyce
Juno took Joyce to a romantic hotel in America to produce her Honeymoon project which won an International Prize from the BJP in 2015. Sample images below. Inspiring work.
Categories: Contextual Research SP, Coursework SP, Sustainable Prospects