In this article, Diane Smyth describes her interview with Nigel Shafran, inside his home. Referencing his photographs from various projects, she writes, ‘They’re prosaic yet they aren’t at all, each portraying apparently everyday scenes. “It’s there, in front of you, you’ve just got to see it,” says Shafran.’ This is something I want to portray in my work. I want to draw attention to the beauty that is in the everyday, if only you pay attention to it.
Again, much like in Charlotte Cotton’s interview, Shafran talks about the everyday things that people do being reflections of who they are, how they are taught and brought up. Smyth notices how his images capture these unconscious actions, through the way ‘Ruth props up sticks of rhubarb in a fruit bowl, or the way a woman turns to adjust her blouse on the escalator.’
Shafran explains that he prefers his personal projects to commissions and fashion photography, saying that if he can’t choose what he shoots and can’t make decisions about how it is presented then it doesn’t really feel like his work any more. He goes on to explain that he likes books, because the artist has consciously chosen a sequence in which to present the work.
Shafran also mentions the French philosopher, Michael de Certeau and his book The Practice of Everyday Life; which is referenced in an essay in Shafran’s Dark Rooms. It might be beneficial to have a look at this text as research for my own work.
One of my favourite parts of this interview is the discussion that Smyth and Shafran have about his project, Flowers For____. Shafran explains that the flowers were given to them when his son was born, saying, ‘We didn’t have enough vases so we ended up sticking them in biscuit tins and everything. And it wasn’t done for any great artistic purpose. I just liked it and thought I’d photograph it to keep it, otherwise I would have forgot about it,’ I like that he chose the subject because it was simply something he would have forgotten about. There are little moments all throughout life which make us happy but are so easily forgotten about. It doesn’t make them any less special or important, but life is so busy and full that we often don’t remember the little things. The idea to photograph them and memorialise these moments is what I love about Shafran’s approach to photography.
https://www.bjp-online.com/2018/05/shafraninterview/
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