Eleanor Leonne Bennett is a prize-winning photographer who is making her third appearance on the cover of Side B Magazine with 7 Days in the Art World. A British teenager, Bennett has won the UK National Geographic Kids Photography Contest 2010 and The World Photography Organization’s Photomonth youth award 2010, among others. She answered questions for Side B about photography, style, and future projects.
What is your approach to photography? What inspires you?
I am very inspired by architecture and unusual occurrences in nature.
My approach is to get as high quality work as possible in a short space of time to capture my aesthetic. Sometimes I used a reduced quality setting to capture things at a high fps [frames per second] if I feel I am very short of time. The most important thing is composing it so it looks like it should do in my mind. I have an idea of the finished product when I photography something.
What makes a photograph work?
Composition. I am very picky on cropping.
If there is one line out or something which ruins the framing I will most likely delete the image. You can have a very interesting subject or something that is truly mundane. Composition makes or breaks it.
The angle and crop are the things of which grab attention. A lot of my best colour images also work in black and white. I try many variations to grasp what I desire.
You’ve won an incredible amount of awards and contests for young photographers. When did you become interested in photography? What are your plans for the future?
Win more contests and to become an established cover artist.
I became interested at age 12 and first started winning first places at 13. I first won an art contest when I was 11.
Can you talk about the cover photograph? [7 Days in the Art World]
Can you talk about “Rain Over Oil”? [This piece will appear in the 7 Days in the Art World issue]
Rain over oil was an environmental image taken by myself in November 2011. It was taken of an oil spill on the road just outside the council offices in Disley,Cheshire. I took about 5 shots and then had to move as there was oncoming traffic.
How do you determine the subjects for a photograph?
I try not too. Very rarely I am told what to do on commission but for my work anything can capture my attention. I’m very inspired by vintage album covers and fashion photography. I like muted colours , empathises on black and white in textures. I am interested in making portraiture more unique also.
What are you currently working on?
An exhibition in Macclesfield with the Marburae Gallery in late November.
A ton of front cover work. Interviews. Trying to get access to photograph a prominent stately home to acquire new stock for my archives.
