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Vile Electrodes by Tim Willcocks

Vile Electrodes by Tim Willcocks

Willcocks portrait exhibition: extended!

One Shot. I heard about this exhibition from one of the artists who’s been photographed. One Shot. One snap of the lens and that’s it, photoshoot ended. Next! However it’s clear that photographer, Tim Willcocks wanted to capture – and has been successful – the core intrinsic essence of the person. Their uniqueness. Captured in a single image. One chance. The exhibition has now been extended for another week, along with opportunities to chat to Tim Willcocks himself. HOT’s Zelly Restorick writes.

Personally I loved looking at Tim’s photographic portraits hanging on the walls and the ones gliding past on the computer screen, seeing who I recognised and watching a fascinating ‘photoscape’ of the amazing faces and characters of local artists, the creative energy of this town. The painters and dancers, knitters and musicians, performers and sculptors…. etc, etc. One of the town’s Unique Selling Points, one of the things that makes this area so unique: the sheer incredible energetic innovative creative energy that flows through its veins. Vitalising. Energising. Evolving.

Due to popular demand, this exhibition, One Shot, has been extended from a single weekend for another full week. “I’ll pop by and meet anyone who wants to have a chat about the pictures,” said Tim, “and next Friday (26 October) I’m there again at 7pm.”

Grace Latter for HIP

Grace Latter

ZR: What was your inspiration/catalyst for the show?

TW: I knew I wanted to make portraits using film, allowing one shot only using a medium format film camera. The style and quality of the images I wanted can only be created in this way, and I’ve always loved the look and feel of portraits taken using this approach.. they are unique. The incredible number of creative people in the town, which is growing by the day, made them the obvious subjects.

ZR: Why Hastings and St Leonards people?

TW: I’ve put down roots here, Sally and I have brought up our daughters here, it’s culturally rich, and in a great location. There’s a really positive vibe in the town… I’ve heard it said that you can’t get anywhere here in a straight line because there’s always an interesting distraction.

ZR: Why the creative folk?

TW: There is an affinity between creative people, I’ve found that they have so much in common in terms of their world view, politics, ethics, and I put this down to the creative impulse. It’s a positive, energetic and compassionate view that I really relate to. Ultimately the people I’ve photographed have a huge amount in common.

ZR: You mentioned in the short and very humble talk you gave at The Stag that in a previous photographic life, you once spent a whole week photographing Schaeffer pens. Is doing this better than, as you said, ‘photographing things’?

TW: The process of photographing people in the way I do creates a conversation, I get to know them, this makes the photograph more real, and I try to build that dialogue into the photograph, to create a narrative. This is possible photographing landscapes for example, but it’s not the same for me.

Toby Barelli

Toby Barelli

ZR: What would you like from this exhibition?

TW: To get all the people I’ve photographed into one room, so that they can meet and discover their differences/similarities, swap ideas and views, and maybe even get together and collaborate in some way. I’ve seen this happen when people come to the show… it makes it all worth it.

ZR: Are you carrying on photographing people? And if you are, only creatives?

TW: I’ll always concentrate on photographing people – and not only creatives. I want to move on to projects which illustrate social inequalities that, as a species existing in 2018, shouldn’t occur… we should have evolved beyond this by now. But I want to do this in a positive way by concentrating on people who go out of their way to improve the lives of others, sometimes against the odds, people who have the energy to keep going.

ZR: What’s your connection with Hastings – and what do you like about being here?

TW: It’s at the end of the line, the end of the road, it’s closed in but there’s no feeling of living in a vacuum about it, it lives eats and breathes and has a very strong and unique identity. It takes in influences from people living here and who settle here (as I did 30 years ago). There’s a real sense of belonging, and I’ve never lived anywhere else where people love living where they do as much as people do in Hastings and St Leonards.

Emily Holt

Emily Holt

ZR: And why did you choose The Stag?

TW: The Stag is arguably the oldest meeting place in the area, it’s intimate and friendly and is a great place to get people together. The feedback I’ve received is that it’s been the perfect place to exhibit the portraits and launch the book. This could be achieved in any room big enough to have people in and there are some great locations here, but for this show, given the subject matter, The Stag felt right. Nicole and Nick are creative people themselves, and their help and input has been invaluable.

Links to Tim Willcocks’ work:

Instagram: timwillcocks_photographer

#oneshotfilmportrait on Facebook and Instragram

Website: Tim Willcocks

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Posted 08:58 Tuesday, Oct 23, 2018 In: Photography

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