SHE IS FRANK
In an age where a constant barrage of self-promotion - be it through deeply personalised blogs, reality shows or the continuous streams of information through any number of social media outlets - is considered the norm, it’s refreshing to come across someone who defies this tedious familiarity. The photographer behind moniker She Is Frank is one of these people, casting aside personalisation of her work in favour of a more ambiguous profile. As Frank would say, “the less you know, the more you want to know”.
Having an impressive client list that includes Alice Mccall, Arabella Ramsay, We Are Handsome, Wheels and Dollbaby, Fashion Journal and GQ Magazine as well as working with some of Australia’s most beautiful models, you would think that keeping her awesome self on the down low would be a relatively difficult thing to do… “For me, it’s all about my work and I really want that to be a strong message because in this industry there is a lot of pretentiousness and a lot of bullshit. I don’t think that I’m so interesting… photos of me? That’s not interesting. It’s the photos I take of other people that I feel I need to show.”
Frank’s work is not that of your average fashion photographer often depicting beautiful women in unusual and sometimes unflattering situations, but always with a touch of humour. The fashions take a backseat to merely help tell the story rather than ruling the photos. “I think everything should have a sense of humour, even if it’s a really serious photo there should be a little element of something weird or fun in there… What I’m always drawn to is that really effortlessly, raw photo that looks like it’s just been quickly taken and there’s nothing really set up. To me, that’s more real. I like photos where there’s a flaw. Odd set ups or something which has blown across the shot… the things that aren’t meant to happen and they end up happening. To me, that’s beautiful.”
Despite her ever-growing client base and constant stream of work, the lack of control over the final product saw Frank reaching in a new direction. “In commercial work, whenever I hand over my images… they kind of get raped in a sense. They get cropped, they get some big ugly logo on it or they don’t use my favourite picture. There are all these things that you try and have as much of a say about as possible, but at the end of the day you are doing work for someone else.” “Fire and Ice” is Frank’s first book and solo exhibition and is entirely her own. The book sees the harsh glacial landscapes of Iceland extremely contrasted with Australia’s burnt outback and fiery model Simone Holtznagel. “I feel like I’m always looking at my work on screens, so it’s just such a novelty to see my work printed in a beautiful way. So the book was kind of just a way to do my images justice.”
Travelling to Iceland in the middle of winter might seem like an extreme length to go to for art, but that was one of the reasons that drew Frank there in the first place. “As much as I like going to all the big cities like New York, London and Paris, I also love going to really remote, obscure places and Iceland is just the most amazing place I’ve ever been in my entire life. Their politics, their landscapes, they just do everything to perfection. No other country has anything on them… Everyone in Iceland says it’s the land of fire and ice because it’s icy on top but there is so much volcanic activity too. I really liked that title.” Due to the countries limited access to sunlight in winter, Frank found she had to time her days to take the perfect photos. “There was only a 4-hour window during the day to take photos. When the sun sets here, it sets. It’s gone. There are no nice long slow sunsets. But it wasn’t even just the timing that was an issue, it was just so cold to actually have your camera out… you can’t really operate a camera with gloves so you would have to take your gloves off but it was just way too cold. It was intense.”
After the launch and success of “Fire and Ice”, Fank’s back to busying herself with client jobs, flying between Melbourne and Sydney pretty much every week. “I’m working on some big fashion campaigns and editorials at the moment and I’m planning an overseas trip soon just to take two weeks off and go somewhere I love where I can just take photos for me. Lately I’ve bee so busy only taking photos for other people, for clients, that I’m sort of craving to do my own thing and take my own photos… I just love to travel. I get very bored and tense quickly if I stay in the same place for ages. I’m obsessed with travelling and moving around all the time and I’m sort of doing everything I can not to have a 9-5 job lifestyle, cause that really scares me.” While there may not be another book in the works right now, we’re sure it’s only a matter of time before Frank’s gorgeous work sees print again.
Images courtesy of She is Frank
Published in PITCH Zine, June 2012