When did you know you wanted to be a photographer?

I’m an imagemaker. I’ve come to my current visual work trained as a qualitative researcher… I’m a visual narrative inquirer (Bach,1997-2007)… I’ve always made sense of my world visually… and now as I reinvent myself I’ve been composing images with intention since 2011 when I started my Sloppy Buddhist blog… I’m self-taught… I photograph daily… and I continue to learn along the way.

Who are the photographers and artists that have had the greatest influence on you and why?

Photographers, painters, musicians, and writers impact how I compose my life.  Painters have had the greatest influence on me… my mother is a painter… her love of paint and canvas filled our home… she taught me about the use of light… we spent hours outdoors… we read books of the great artists Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent Van Gogh, Picasso… I learned that art spans movements and manifests itself in varied forms.

From Caravaggio to Turrell, each artist used light in a way that shifted the paradigm of experiencing an artwork. I learned “light’s universality” makes art compelling. I continue appreciate the work of painters like Norwegian painter Iraj Nouri, British artist Anne Hardy, Keetje Mans a Dutch painter, and Canadian painter Amanda Boulos… local printmakers June Thomsen and Ron Wigglesworth and artists such as Pudlo Pudla, Etidlooie Etidlooie, and Jessie Oonark shape how I see… and of course music lingers in my hedy head… Nick Cave, Tori Amos, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Ani DiFranco, Valerie June, Novella Vogue… are but a few.

Photography by Hedy Bach

In the 80’s I studied with John Hall known for his hyperreal paintings… that is seeing the world as it is, that is non-escapist, non-idealist and non-elitist… likened to an urban archaeologist his works explore the complexity of contemporary urban life.

I always appreciated text-based public art projects from Jenny Holzer and Barbara Kruger… how they explore language both as a form of communication and as a means of concealment and control… often derived images from the mass media.

Jo Spence a British photographer, a writer, cultural worker, and a photo therapist has influenced my past and current work as she refocused her work towards documentary photography, adopting a politicized approach to her art form, with socialist and feminist themes revisited throughout her career.

In my initial research work the photograph was a form of data… a concrete representation, a ‘fact’ of sorts and it had a ‘function’… to tell a story. To tell and retell stories was mattering. I saw the photograph as “too literal to compete with works of art” because it was unable to “elevate the imagination”… I found composing visual research within institutional hierarchies was almost forbidden… and since transgression is fundamental to art making… I can now continue to work with photographic images but I can wrestle with creative notions of the abstract, unreal, non-representational, and the conceptual… that include feeling sensations of the light, colour, and composition.

Like paintings, photographs are artificially constructed portrayals: carefully composed, lit, and produced.

Photography by Hedy Bach

What is the inspiration behind your photographs?

I find myself looking for moments of juxtaposition… often it begins in a mystery and ends in a mystery… my mother always said ‘take every chance you get’… I see through my lens notions of beauty… politics of knowing… innovations of digital technologies… pressing centuries-old craft techniques in different  directions… I like simple compositions, that at first glance look ordinary, but with a deeper look there is one or two details that make a statement… knowing nothing perfect or imperfect…

I see photography as a verb. So the “decisive moment” exemplified by Henri Cartier-Bresson also influences how I see… along with street photographers such as Vivian Maier and Shirley Baker who showcased normal everyday life… Diane Arbus who deliberately reached out to people on the edge… Sally Mann known for her large-format, black-and-white photographs… at first of her young children, then later of landscapes suggesting decay and death… and Laura Makabresku who is influenced by myth and fairy tales and creates worlds full of emotional allegories—beauty, youth, death, and dreams.

These and other photographers shape my views of the aesthetic.

Photography by Hedy Bach

What was the most unique person or place you’ve photographed?

My father through his death and dying story…witnessing his end of life story in hospitals and hospice has been my most profound photographing experience.

What advice do you have for aspiring photographers?

Follow your heart… dig a deep well… study… read… stare… practice and practice more… don’t fall in love with your work… dig deeper…

If you could have any superpower, which would you choose?

Shape-shifting… I’m water.

Where is your favorite travel destination?

Preferred places Netherlands, Portugal, Cuba… White Rock, BC… and places I’ve not seen yet.

When you’re not photographing, what are your favorite hobbies?

I write, practice yoga, walk my mutt right after dark… hand paint baby wear… I’m never bored.

Photography by Hedy Bach

What do you most enjoy about being a part of InFocus Photo?

My first public photo was for InFocus 2015 titled ‘man and dog’… I was chasing my tail then… and I continue as I learn more about the science of photography… printing and framing… as well ways to re-represent my work… so my work has my hand mark… my signature.

Each year I’ve given myself the challenge to document my narrative of my experiences with the images I created over the year for the annual InFocus exhibitions.

I’ve appreciated the yearly themes… writing my artist statements… creating blog posts… listening and talking with portfolio reviewers… and making connections to the art community in Alberta. These experiences have allowed me to see my growth as an imagemaker. And in the words of Nick Cave, “It is the artist who steps beyond the accepted social boundaries who will bring back ideas that shed new light on what it means to be alive.”

Where can people find you online?

www.bachcreative.com