Eden Young Artists Awards: Rainer Weston

 Interview by D-Photo October 16, 2014

It was a humble Facebook status that caught our eye, when Rainer Weston simply stated, “Forgot to make a post about this ... Recently I won Best Photograph/Digital Work and the Best Overall at Eden Young Artists Awards.” We managed to track Rainer down and asked him a few questions about what inspired him to get into photography and where he's headed in the future. As far as we can see, he'll be one to keep an eye on.

D-Photo: What inspired your interest in photography and how have you pursued that interest?

Rainer Weston: I was drawn to photography after a compulsory photo studies class in my first year at art school. I had never picked up a camera with manual controls before then, but I was instantly hooked. Photography was always something I had wanted to try out, being familiar with the work of photographers such as Robert Frank, Duane Michals, and Vincent Serbin, among others. However I could never justify spending (what was at the time) a lot of money on something I thought was just going to be a hobby. At first it was the immediacy of photography that attracted me, seeing it as a very efficient means to acquiring an image. Being a technically minded person though, I quickly became obsessed with the craft of photographic image production. I would pore over books, magazines, and web tutorials learning about different cameras, sensor types, flashes, lenses, as well as lighting and retouching techniques. Eventually it just made sense to go with it and I'm now in my third year of study at Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design majoring in Photography.

How long have you been working behind the camera?

I picked up a DSLR for the first time in late 2012, just before my 21st birthday. So it's been about two years now. I come from a creative background of both music and art, but I'm also a very technical person, a tinkerer at heart. Photography is the perfect outlet for me in this respect.

How would you describe your style of photography?

I dabble in many different styles including traditional street and portraiture styles. The work that I am producing right now occupies a territory that I like to think is akin to a kind of neo-surrealism with a sprinkle of pictorialism. Photography has changed a lot in the last twenty years and it's a strange and exciting time to be a producer of images. The democratization and miniaturization of digital camera technology has significantly lowered previous barriers to entry. Now nearly everyone holds a highly capable camera in their pockets, which means people are creating all kinds of images now that were previously impossible. The amount of images in circulation has also gone up drastically, but the quality of the pictures hasn't necessarily followed suit. In my opinion we are in a renaissance era of photographic craft, which has added value amidst the endless seas of mediocre vernacular photography. Photographic images have also become highly untrustworthy, with intuitive photo-manipulation software available that anyone can use. Yet the internet and social media oriented structures we live by encourage them to disseminate around the world like never before. This circulation gives them a new kind of power, one where truth is intrinsically tied to virility. With my work I try to keep all these things in mind, embracing the falsehood of photographic truth as a stylistic trope through the use of introduced lighting and costume.
Read the full interview at D-Photo

To see more of Rainer's work, or to follow his photo a day project, head to rainerweston.com