Meet Feature Fortnight Winner #04 - Cara Conquest
Jul 26, 2022
Every fortnight at The Full House Club, we hold a photography challenge that all members can get involved in. The latest theme was an interpretation of TIME and this picture of Cara's alongside her powerful words clinched it. Time is, 'splitting it, doubling it, trying to find more of it, space for it, feeling disjointed and out of time, wasting time, counting down, wishing it away. Hoping it would slow.' Here is Cara's story...
1) Tell us about you
Hello! I’m Cara, I live in London – one of the most tumultuous love affairs of my life – but I hail from Joburg, South Africa. I am always a little homesick, even 20 years on.
I love to travel almost more than anything in the world, seeing new places, meeting new people, new food, new cultures ALL OF IT. I’m lucky in that it marries up with my other big obsession which is BOOKS, and my job in publishing lets me do just that. I get to visit cities all over the world, talking about our books and helping grow our business. The camera is the first thing packed in my hand luggage without fail.
I’m a mum to one boisterous and brilliant six year old boy, whose awesome autistic brain makes me see the world differently, helps keep me grounded in what counts, and has taught me how to advocate for what matters.
Other than photography I’m passionate about mentoring, coaching and supporting women creatively and professionally. I write in my spare time, facilitate Artist Way collectives a few times a year and volunteer with literacy charities.
And when I’m taking myself way less seriously I’m reading tarot and trying unsuccessfully to align my day to day with the moon phases.
2) What got you into photography? Has it always been a passion or is it new to your world?
I have always been the documenter of my friendship circles, point and shoot cameras at the ready from my teens, upgrading to a DSLR about 8 years ago, and then more recently to mirrorless – but I only really started to dedicate proper time to taking it seriously over lockdown and I am now fully obsessed!
3) What do you love most about photography and how does it benefit your life?
Photography is a different way to tell a story and that is probably at the core of my creativity. I want to find the stories we tell ourselves, we hide from, the ones that weave us together, the ones that surprise us, the ones we only dream about – and make them tangible. I use photography to express how I feel, to capture a moment I want to cherish, to see the world differently. Portraits do this for me in a hugely confronting, intimate, celebratory, and ultimately, affirming way. I could take pictures of peoples’ faces all day long.
4) What three words describe your style?
This feels like an impossible question to answer as I am still figuring that out
Intimate, immediate, impactful? Love me a bit of alliteration.
5) What inspires you in the everyday that you inject into your imagery?
I am always looking for the extraordinary in the everyday. That can be surreal, beautiful or the unnerving, unsettling, that juxtaposition is fascinating to me. I prefer more candid shots, catching the unguarded moments where you get to see the multifaceted aspects of people. We all have so many different faces we show to the world, I really like to find the ones that are the most hidden, which is why I love the use of shadow, cropping, not necessarily showing the full frame. Often the devil is in the detail.
6) What tips would you share to get the best pictures?
I like to think about the story I am trying to tell, or the feeling I am trying to evoke, before I start shooting. There’s definitely flexibility here, sometimes this changes as I work, but it offers a good scaffold or jumping off point – a path or direction that I can veer from if needed, but a starting point nonetheless. Then I think about light, of course, and what the mood I am after is, and go with it. I always allow myself some warm up time, the first shots will be awful and that’s ok. It's like blowing off the cobwebs, just get them out the way and then get to the good stuff.
7) In what capacity will photography feature in your future?
I am starting a new personal project launching later this year, hand in hand with the creative coaching work I am doing – and then using that as a springboard into working more closely with other artists I admire to create work, taking on some paid contracts and beginning to expand into other areas of interests within the space. Ultimately I would love for it to work side by side with my professional career, bolstering my creativity and supporting others on the path too.
You can find Cara's Instagram pages here. Be the first to know about personal projects!
