I've got my focus on Ludlow College, Carl Beebee

‘I’ve got my focus on Ludlow College,’ Carl Beebee.

Ex Ludlow College student and well known photographer, Carl Beebee, is planning to visit his old college in March 2012 to talk to Photography and Art students.  In an interview for Ludlow College, Carl explained the pathway to his success.

What was your first camera and when did you get it?

The first SLR I ever used was a Canon which was provided by Ludlow College, about 6 months after my course started I bought a Pentax MZ-50 35mm SLR. Digital photography really wasn’t then, what it is now so everything had to be shot on film. Now I use lots of different cameras, 35mm, medium format and digital. I use Nikon 35mm cameras, a Hassleblad medium format camera and my favourite digital DSLR is a Pentax K20, which is a very affordable piece of kit (in comparison to others).

What is your best memory of Ludlow College and Ludlow as a town?

I loved Ludlow College. I went there as a mature student at 18 years old and it really developed me as a person and as a photographer. I still visit the town lots now and I’m still close to most of the friends I made there, including a couple of members of the staff.  I became inspired to take photographs through film. I always loved the look of certain films and would try and re-create and capture the look on individual photographs.   Ludlow College is quite unique in so much that it has two dark rooms so students have plenty of opportunity to experiment with film photography.

Which artists or photographers do you admire the most?

My favourite ever photographer is Helmut Newton, who produced rather risqué images – but they always looked amazing. I always felt his photographs told a story and revealed something about the subject. I’m also a big admirer of Man Ray, Guy Bourdin and Gavin Watson.

Can you give an example of how long it takes to organise an exhibition and can you describe the type of problems that are involved?

It can take months and months from booking the show to exhibiting. There are all sorts of things that need to be done. Choosing work to exhibit, how to present it, then you have exhibition guides to sort out and press to organize etc. Most of the problems I have are all to do with distance. As I put shows on mostly in America, I obviously can’t keep popping backwards and forwards – this is why trusting the people you work with is so important. It’s also the reason that for most of my shows I work with the same people; curators, framers, hangers and printers etc.

A number of your works seem to follow themes like: Dreams, Legs, Selfish, etc.  How much did ideas and projects you studied at college affect the projects and ideas you have today?

A great deal. I’ll spend weeks developing ideas for photographs – sketching, planning, test shots etc. Sometimes I’ll think the image is strong enough so it will remain as a single image, other times I think there’s a few more related images that can be made – which is when it becomes part of a project.

The projects at Ludlow College helped a lot with this process as they help you to think outside the box. Also I still use workbooks and sketchbooks in the same way that I did for each project at College.

Can you make a living as an artist or do you have to keep taking the wedding photos as well?

Thankfully I no longer have to do the wedding photography. I make a living now from my exhibitions as well as working for bands and music magazines. It took a long time and a lot of hard work to get to that point though.

Where do you plan to go next?

Last year I had a very small exhibition in Tokyo – and I’d definitely like to do more there. It’s a completely different culture and I find that really exciting and challenging.


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