Feature: Earl Carter
Words: Stephen Bennett Posted: 8 June, 2011
Driza-Bone is pleased to present some of the wonderful work of Australian photographer Earl Carter as part of an exciting new collaboration.
Earl Carter is a freelance photographer with an impressive career stretching over twenty years. Earl is passionate about working in Australia, and his work is strongly influenced by its life, spirit, art and architecture. This inspiration drives all of his work, whether it’s on home ground or for one of his many international shoots for clients, which include British Airways, Qantas, BHP, Conran Design, Irish Tourist Board, Belle magazine, Vogue Entertaining and Travel, Vogue Living Australia, Elle Living Australia, Elle Decore Italy and Martha Stewart Living.
Creative Director Stephen Bennett spoke to Earl Carter about his incredible landscape images and their shared passion for the rugged climes of outback Australia.
SB: Looking at the shots I have selected, can you
tell us why we’ve picked them, and why we love them so much?
EC: Well, that’s because they are quintessential Australian images—iconic. The beauty in them is raw and genuine.
SB: Can you tell us about the Silo shot (centre spread)?
EC: The one with the silo is just outside of Adelaide, on the fringe of the western districts, which is interesting because that whole community is built around the one industry (wheat)— or it used to be. The iconic silo that you can see in the shot is no longer used.
SB: These look like personal shots …
EC: Yeah, yeah absolutely.
SB: That may be why I’m drawn to them—they seem like they come from genuine experience.
EC: Yeah, the rawness about it is what is appealing, really. It is genuine. There is nothing fabricated there or altered or ... it’s what it is, right? In its raw state.
SB: So, thinking about your early shots all over the world in every country, what would you say is unique about Australia? Is there a fundamental difference, or is the appreciation of the Australian landscape relative to personal experience?
EC: No, no! The difference is fundamental. It is quality of life. We are blessed here, and we have big skies.
SB: You have also taken some amazingly raw shots in Africa.
EC: Different style of life. You know, we have so much desert. If you want to get technical, actually it reflects back into the sky, so there is a faint greenish light in the sky. Whereas, if you were in jungle in somewhere, in Brazil for example, there is a much larger proportion of green light because the light hits the forest and canopy and bounces back. Australian light is raw and harsh by comparison. Sounds a bit wonky but it is the truth, it really is. You go to Europe and you don’t get that. We spent years trying to emulate European light and then the Europeans come out here and try to shoot our light. A bit of a cross-over [laughs].
SB: As you mentioned, you take your photographs on location while you’re travelling. Is that something you always make time for? Do you put aside days to go out and take these shots or are they sort of captured in the moment?
EC: They are captured in the moment. I mean, you rarely dedicate time. But you always find yourself in unique environments, and being a visual person, you can’t help but to record them. The aim for me is to capture the essence and intent of the image—it’s ‘real life’, you could say.
SB: You experienced a series of coincidences beginning with your journey to the Himalayas, and involving a photographer called Alfred Gregory. Tell us that story.
EC: I was in the Himalayas by myself in Bhutan, and I found a book that contained pictures of all of the expeditions to the top of Mount Everest. The photographs that captivated me most were by a guy called Alfred Gregory who documented the first successful Everest climb. He took a famous photo of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on the South Eastern ridge in 1953. I came back to Australia and somebody said that they had bought a photograph by Alfred Gregory and I thought, ‘That’s a bit weird’. Then when a friend in London mentioned him, I thought, ‘It’s ridiculous that this guy’s name keeps cropping up so much!’ It turns out that Alfred Gregory was British by birth, but he ended up moving to Melbourne. So I went and visited him in Dandenong, where he lived, and we struck up a friendship. Sadly, he died last year.
SB: So with your commercial work, have you ever had a client request that you shoot only on film?
EC: Yeah, most recently. Twelve months ago. They said, ‘How do you want to shoot this?’, and I said, ‘This is just perfect for the Max Dupain style of photography’. And it’s purely because of the technical restrictions of the film that narrow and sharpen the contrast.
SB: A lot of your photographs have come from film and slide film. Do you have a preference for film over digital?
EC: Which do I prefer? Ah, film by far. My ideal situation is the darkroom. You may not have a computer in there, but you will end up with far better results. You can spend the day shooting and come back to process and develop the film to the best you can possibly get. Hopefully the next generation of photographers realise that ‘Oh my god, those photographs taken in the ’50s and ’60s are so incredible. I want that look. How do I do it?’ And the way you do it is by going into the darkroom.
SB: It’s interesting that this use of film ultimately comes back to the pursuit of authenticity. If you had shot your photo of Mount Everest in digital, would it have been different?
EC: Yes. Because in digital you see everything going on down there in dark shadow. And I don’t know if it’s necessarily important in that photograph. I’d rather see, visually I’d rather not see the detail of what is down there. In digital you have ability to recall every bit of information. But shooting in film gives the photograph curvature, and an authentic ‘look’.
SB: We think of Driza-Bone clothes as authentic, rugged, and real—would you say that those kinds of things are also what you look for in your photography?
EC: Entirely.
SB: Like Driza-Bone, I think you appreciate something that lasts; for example, film endures, where digital keeps evolving quicker than we can keep up with.
EC: I think where digital is useful is in achieving that heritage look within the digital frame—and I think that’s what you guys are doing too.
SB: Definitely. We're in the modern world.
EC: Because I don’t want to go and walk around with a ’50s Driza-Bone coat! Like you guys, I’d rather produce something modern, but with a rugged and heritage feel.
Further reading: www.earlcarter.com.au
