I first became acquainted with the work of Chloe Sheppard when she sent her US photo diary to the site. She works exclusively in film and over the past few years has created a style all her own. In the past year her work has been featured in Dazed, Miss Vogue, and she created her own sold out zine . Her photos have a warm melancholy tone accompanied by film grain and the never ending spinning mind of the teenage girl.
I caught up with her to see how much things have changed in the past 12 months and what is inspiring her today…
What keeps you motivated?
The idea of becoming the person I know I can be. I would like to move to New York City and I hope one day I can, but I can’t be lazy like I’d like to be most of the time. Sometimes I find it difficult to even get out of my bed and just want to lie in it forever being a misery. But that’s not going to get me where I want to be, so I just have to remember that.
What have you learned about your work in the past year?
That it’s constantly changing, getting better I think. I’m more aware of what I’m wanting to put out now, whereas in previous years I’ve just been shooting and posting for the sake of it. In the past year I’ve found some true muses too, and they encourage me to want to make my work better. I’d like to portray them in the best way I can because they deserve it.
Has your approach to shooting changed?
Nowadays I feel like I only want to work with people who really get my visions and my aesthetic, or who I’m fascinated by. I also like to think a lot more about locations, I’m quite fussy about where I shoot now which can be a real pain at times ha, especially this past winter because nowhere outside has been right for my ideas.
Describe one of your favorite memories.
One I constantly think of is from back last July. I was in New York with a good friend, and we were over the water in Long Island. We’d been in Coney Island a few hours before, where I’ve taken some of my favourite photos. There’s this huge ‘pepsi cola’ sign and we were sitting underneath it, just staring across the river at New York City. The skyline looked so amazing and I just found it so surreal. We stayed there for a long while, it was so warm I could’ve fallen asleep on the grass and not cared. I just got crazy overwhelmed at how happy I was to be alive in that moment.
What new artist or musician have you discovered lately?
They’re not new so I’m not sure if this counts exactly, but recently I’ve really been getting into Mazzy Star. Be My Angel, I’m Less Here and Fade Into You are the ones I’ve had on repeat the last few days.
What’s on your computer or phone desktop?
My laptop desktop right now is a photo of New York City in the 70s. Where/when I wish I was.
Take a photo of an object in your room that means something to you. Why?
I found it hard to pic one thing, so here’s a photo I took to use up some film a while ago, of a corkboard filled with things on my wall. It’s got pictures of my family on there, me from when I was younger (n cuter), photos from last year when I lived in London and visited New York, a setlist from a show of one of my favourite bands (Twin Peaks) and just general memorabilia from things I wish to remember. There’s also a wind chime hanging on it which I’ve had since I was like 6/7, so a pretty long time haha.
If you could only take 3 things with you anywhere, what would you take?
It’s cliché, but probably my camera, iPod & headphones. Or if I could just take one big thing instead, I would take my bedroom with me everywhere haha, it has everything I’d ever need.
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Discover more of Chloe’s work:
