FLORA: Adrienne Hulme

Andrew D. McClees (ADM): Hi Adrienne! Thanks for agreeing to do this interview. Could you introduce yourself and describe your photowork?

Adrienne Hulme (AH): Hello, I'm Adrienne, and I live in San Diego now but am originally from Portland, Oregon. I've been taking photos since I was 9 years old, and my purpose in my photography since then has always been to capture the beauty that I see around me. My subject matter is actually rarely people; I usually just take photos of "ordinary" things I see around me, but I like to capture them in a unique way that highlights the beauty in them that others might not notice. I focus a lot on light, textures, angles, and closeups.

ADM: You do a lot with multiple exposures, is that central to the zine? how did you get into doing them?

AH: Yeah so this zine is actually all multiple exposures. It's really the first time that I've made an effort to photograph people; particularly for a personal project. I started wanting to experiment with double exposures when I started getting back into film within the past few years, but since it's film and it's not cheap, I didn't really want to try it if I had no idea how to do it, and waste film. This last year though, I went to The Darkroom Lab's Film Photography Paideia and took a workshop on double exposures with Trev Lee and Aaron Checkwood, and between that and some extra tips from my muse Starla Little, I felt ready to attempt some. Starla is a double exposure queen, and she was also my first model, so she helped me out a ton with the whole process.

ADM: Related to the above -- you shoot a mix of film and digital. Do you find your personal work tends more towards one or the other? If so why.

AH: I definitely shoot mostly film for personal stuff. I started out on film when I was little, but digital cameras were becoming a thing so I switched shortly thereafter, and had been only shooting digital for years. I bought a Mini Diana camera when those were getting popular, but didn't shoot it much because I didn't have a film community in Portland. I bought a Minolta srt-100 at a studio sale a photographer had here in San Diego, still didn't shoot it much for a year, then found Beers and Cameras, got involved with that, and got back into film. I was still shooting a ton of digital all the time, but shooting more film has made me take more time with my shots and slow down a bunch, so I don't shoot as much as I did before. I'm a lot more intentional when I take photos now, so I don't need to take a ton of digital photos of everything, and I prefer the look of film (and not having to edit photos), so if I see something that I want to capture and it's important to me, I shoot it on film. Also all of my personal projects are on film. It's just more beautiful to me.

ADM: Do you have a typical shooting pattern? what does a typical shoot day look like for you?

AH: Not really. Most of the time I'm just shooting what I see. For my actual shoots with people, like the double exposures in the zine, I plan out how I want it to look in advance, and communicate my vision to the model so they can prepare, but on the day of I pretty much go with the flow. My first double exposure shoot I did actually have terrible anxiety because it was my first time shooting a model in studio as well as my first time doing double exposures, so I pretty much had anxiety dreams about every possible thing going wrong for the shoot the night before, culminating in the entire world being engulfed in flames. So then of course I was super nervous up until the shoot, so I was really grateful the model was Starla who is great at posing but also could give me tips about the shooting. After that though it's been great! I just have my generic idea of what it's going to look like but then just see where it goes. Everything just falls into place.

ADM: What drove you to do a zine comprised specifically or focused on Multiple exposures - or what was the inspiration or the thought behind combing models with overlay (underlay?) of flowers?

AH: I've always been obsessed with flowers, they're one of my favorite things in the world. My inspiration for my double exposures was Starla's double exposures of models with flowers. She also has some amazing double exposures with things other than flowers, but I mostly stuck to flowers and plants since they're my favorite. I did try one or two other things on my rolls, but they didn't turn out well. Flowers lend themselves quite nicely to double exposures, especially with models. They give a feeling of fairies or nymphs or something, which are also my favorite. As far as focusing the zine on them - it's really my first cohesive body of work. I actually had no plans to do a zine for a while, because it's not really my thing, but also because I had no idea what to put in it. To me zines have to have a theme, and I didn't have anything I felt like I could compile into a zine. I have received a ton of positive feedback on the double exposures though, so I finally decided this was something worthy of a zine.

ADM: What was your process like, putting the exposures together? did you plan out which model/setting would go with which flower?

AH: I actually did very little planning. I'm thinking in the future I should do one where I write down what each shot was so that I can carefully plan them out, but on these I just had a general idea of what I had done on the first exposure. On 3 out of 4 of the rolls, I shot the models first, and since I would shoot in a certain spot, then move to something else, I had an idea of how I did that when I shot the flowers. On the other one where I shot the flowers first, most of the shots were random, but then I did some with a black background at the end, so I had that in mind when shooting the model on that one. I also exposed a certain way when shooting the models so that the flowers would show up a certain way. I'm also aware that I usually center a main flower in the middle, as well as the model's face or whole body, so they usually line up. Not everything turned out great, but most of it turned out pretty well. It ends up being a big surprise and pretty exciting when I finally get to see them, and some of them turn out way better than expected, and it's kind of like Christmas, haha.

ADM: Do you have more projects like this on the way, or are you more focused on daily shooting at this point?

AH: I have another roll of double exposures I'm working on that will be different, because it's portraits, all different people (which is why it's taking me forever), black and white, and silhouettes. I'm really excited for that one, but I have to hurry up and finish it! I definitely want to do more experimenting with similar stuff, but I need to think of some new ideas. I've been doing a bit more casual shooting otherwise right now, because I've had a lot of other stuff going on.

ADM: What was the layout process like for your zine? How did you decide to sequence your images in the manner you did?

AH: I selected my favorite images that I wanted to use in the zine first, which was more than what I needed. I had my MOST favorite images that I definitely wanted to include, and then some that I liked that weren't as important to fit in there if I ran out of room. Since most of them were portrait orientation, I wanted to have each pair that you would see together to go together in some way, so some didn't make it because they didn't have a good match. Two that are favorites went on the front and back. The actual order wasn't as important to me though, I basically just started picking out pairs and putting them in. I did try to mix it up as far as the models and how the images look, as well as throw in a couple landscape oriented shots.

ADM: You mention a strong love of flowers and fairies, as well as Starla Little's double exposures as influences -- what are your other influences in photography, or art, and were there any specific influences artistic or otherwise for this project?

AH: I've actually never really tried to draw inspiration from other artists or photographers. I have favorite artists and photographers, but I've never tried to say "I admire this person's style, and I'd like mine to be like theirs." I obviously can't isolate myself from seeing things and retaining that when I'm making my own art, but I try to come up with my own ideas and style. Everything I've seen in my life is a general influence, but I don't reference anything specifically when I create things.

ADM: That's interesting that you were reluctant to do a zine - you mention getting praise on double exposures -- out of curiosity why weren't zines your thing? Outside of praise on the double exposures was there anything else that pushed you over the edge to go make this zine?

AH: I always want photos to look their best, and by nature, zines are not really great quality. I'd rather see and make larger prints on nice photo paper or canvas or metal or something that makes them look amazing. The reason I chose to do it is that the community of photographers I'm in is really into zines, and several people in the group have already made some, so it's kinda a thing that everyone in the group aspires to. So I knew that they would all be supportive if I did one, I just didn't know what to put in one before I did the double exposures.

ADM: For those who haven't worked with a model before, but are curious about that process, can you give any tips or advice?

AH: Two of mine were pretty informal because they were friends, and then one was a professional model that I've been following on instagram because another film photographer I follow shot with her, and I love her look. She had posted that she was doing a reduced rate for a month, so I just responded to her story! She was pretty easy to work with too, so I still have no idea how it works normally, ha. I do have a model release that I use for stock photos, which I got off Adobe, and I had her sign that, but you don't need them usually to print photos. I still think it's nice to have a model release for professionals so that your bases are covered. Definitely communicate with them before the shoot what look you're going for (unless you are providing wardrobe and makeup), and if you want to do nudes, that's another important thing you'll have to discuss first. I don't really have any other tips, because mine were all super easy to work with! Definitely don't underestimate their worth though, because having a model that knows how to pose themselves will make your life so much easier!

ADM: Where can people go buy your zine, and see more of your work? I know the zine was on kickstarter - do you, or will you have extra copies available for purchase?

AH: I will have extras, I will probably be putting some up on my Etsy, which is at https://www.etsy.com/shop/LysBleuDesigns or here at: https://lys-bleu-designs.square.site/product/flora/1.

Most of my current work is on my instagram, https://www.instagram.com/bluelily52