Holly Wren
A love of people combined with a childhood interest in photography inspired Holly Wren to make a drastic career change. Today, as Keith Wilson discovers, she is one of the UK’s rising stars of portrait photography – and a stickler for straight lines…
She may have the perfect name for a nature photographer, but the preferred habitat of Holly Wren is on location with models and assistants; indoors or outdoors. She can be found working at speed to create colourful lifestyle portraits for major brands, charities and enterprises. It’s a sunny April morning when we meet in the heart of Wimbledon village, a serve and a lob away from the world’s most famous tennis courts. In a café adorned with old wooden racquets and portraits of champions, Holly returns my questions about her unconventional career path to the forefront of commercial portrait and lifestyle photography…
Why choose to take on portraiture and lifestyle photography for a complete change of career?
I did photography as a bit of a hobby straight out of university and felt quite drawn to it. But life happened and I went to work in property development. I worked hard and I was successful with what I’d done. Then after the financial crisis and a year away in Australia, I came back to the UK. Istarted working for a company in London dealing with the planning side of property development. Reading riverbed reports of 300 pages, there’s nothing exciting or creative about that in the slightest! I was doing this job which Ididn’t enjoy and the environment of the job wasn’t exactly the nicest… my boss wasn’t particularly kind to me and I ended up getting very depressed.
This eventually led me to being written off work for three months. I was taking anti-depressants, but it wasn’t helping enough, so my doctor suggested I see a psychotherapist. It was one of the hardest but most beneficial things I’ve ever done – being honest about my feelings. It’s funny how something that seems so terrible at the time can turn out to be such a defining and life-changing time. One of her conclusions was that I identify closely with what I do for a job. Looking at it now it makes sense; I identify so closely with what I do for work that if I’m not happy at work, the rest of my life turns to turmoil.
That defines who you are.
Exactly. She said if that’s who you are then you have to be sure you’re doing something that you love, or are passionate about, or that you can at least identify with. Otherwise you’re just going to be miserable forever.
So how did you react to that?
I was in Clapham South, so I was paying London rents and I was in a job that was paying a very decent wage, and the psychotherapist is saying, “You need to quit your job and do something you love.” Of course I thought, “That’s great, I’ve spent three years at university getting my degree and eight years building my career! How am I just going to go and do something that I love?” Her answer was, “What’s the alternative? You keep doing what you do and you’re miserable.” She says: “Go work in a shop, do something part-time while you build your thing up.” To me that sounded like a step backwards…
Not the easiest of choices to make
I’m thinking, “I’ve got a career, I’ve got this job, I’m earning all this money and you want me to go work for seven pounds an hour in a shop!” She taught me that it wasn’t actually a step backwards. It was a step forwards because it was a stepping stone that’d enable me to do the things that I wanted to do. It’s part of a bigger plan.
So, we identified that the only two things I’d ever been interested in doing were photography or TV presenting. I ended up choosing photography, but what kind of photography do I do? Going through the process with her, I realized I was very social and I thrive on being around people. So obviously it made sense to photograph portraits because then I would always be surrounded by people.
So where did your love of photography first come from?
I don’t really have a defining moment, but my earliest memory is my grandad who was really into photography. He died when I was quite young, maybe eight? But I remember that I used to go to his house and we would go upstairs and he’d project images from a projector onto a white wall in the spare room; me and my sister used to sit on the floor and watch. He was really into photography, so he used to show these pictures and talk us through how he’d taken the picture. I think because he liked it, my Dad liked it and he had an SLR, and when I was about ten he bought me an Olympus OM-10.
You were in a location studio doing test shots yesterday, how did it go?
One of the things I was trying to do, and this is difficult to explain to models
Previous page Ayo Akinwolere The TV presenter in his local pub in Margate Jade Tattoo artist Jade, shot at her studio inE ast London Profoto A1 campa ign Models Charlotte and Rachael on location in Ashridge House for the Profoto A1 campaign
You can’t try to be something that you’re not as a photographer. You’ve got to play to your strengths
because they’re always trying to model, is that a lot of the time I want the ‘in-between moments.’ I don’t want them modelling, Iwant them to be captured during a beautiful and almost candid moment. When they’re relaxed Yeah, but it’s difficult to do. During one shoot I just said to all the models, “You can wear whatever you want, but I just want a portrait of you.” They started modelling and I said, “No, stop modelling! I don’t want you to model, I just want you to be here.” For them it was like, “How can I just be here, when I’m in front of a camera?” During the shoot, one of the shots I ended up liking most was of a girl adjusting her top. She laughed, but at the same time, everyone said that it was a beautiful shot – she didn’t mean to be photographed at that moment, but it was beautiful. Or there was this girl that just closed her eyes – I captured a shot of her with her eyes shut and that also turned out to be a lovely picture.
It’s about being spontaneous?
Yeah, I always call it the in-between moments. The skill in the culling is that you see that and you pick it, even though it might not seem like the most perfect picture. I have to get myself out of the mindset of everything being perfect for that kind of thing, but there’s something I like about those kinds of photographs. Do you have a favourite lighting set-up that you like to use? Yes. Because I’m an environmental portrait and lifestyle photographer, one of my skills is that I can turn up practically anywhere and get something out of it. Sometimes clients ask me to do six or more varied set-ups in a day! I’ve got to be able to look at that situation and deal with it. I generally walk around with a big softbox – just one, because I often don’t have time to set up more than one light. A lot of my stuff is soft light anyway, so having one big softbox I can use in any situation is ideal.
So how would you photograph me in this situation?
Well, I’d ask them to turn off all these horrific warm halogen down lights! Then I’d look for where’s the most light in the room, which is in the front by the windows, so I’d start us over there. But there’s an awning at the front of the building that’s stopping lots of the light… so maybe we’d go under these skylights, and I’d look for a nice backdrop. If we’re shooting a portrait these tennis racquets behind us might be quite cool, because we’re in Wimbledon. I’d try to eliminate any shadows, downcast shadows, and use a softbox to make the light on your face more flattering. Would you use your softbox here? For sure. I’m a big fan of soft light. I like clean white light – a very crisp sort of daylight. In here I could easily do the whole thing using just one two-foot Profoto Octa. If I could get away with it, I’d bring in a three-foot, or a two by three softbox. The bigger the better! But I could overcome most of this lighting in here using just a two-foot.
What sort of lens do you prefer for your portraits?
It depends what I’m doing. For lifestyle, I tend to use the 70-200mm f/2.8
because it’s a beautiful lens, and it’s got great compression. So if you can’t control the background the way you want to, you can blur out a lot of the background and make use of the bokeh. Also, you can be further away from people so they don’t feel like you’re in their face. The angle of view is more flattering on a 70-200mm than if I came in with a 50mm or 35mm. If I’m shooting a static portrait, I’d probably use a 50mm. I bought mine for £200 secondhand and I’ve used it on every single shoot I’ve ever been on.
It is actually quite an underrated focal length!
If people look at my pictures and think there’s no postproduction, when in fact there has been, then that’s a good thing for me
It might also be because I have a real thing about lines…
Lines? Please do go on…
Straight lines. Any lines in the picture, they have to be straight! So, no distortion, and if you go beyond 50mm you’re distorting it, and that’s a no go. So, if there are straight lines, I’ll use the 50mm to keep my lines straight.
What other obsessions are you hiding away from us?
Things growing out of people’s heads annoys the crap out of me! It’s difficult because no matter where you are there’s always something growing out of somebody’s head.
You mention two lenses there, the 50mm and 70-200mm, which of those is your desert island lens?
50mm hands down.
You said that without any hesitation…
I would like to be able to pack a few extra, just in case.
I’m not letting you…
50mm then. It’s not great for really close portraiture – it’s not that flattering – so I’d go up to an 85mm, I love my 85mm. To me, that’s a close portrait lens, but I couldn’t really pull back on the 85mm, so 50mm I can go close if I wanted to. Or, if I’m on holiday and rocking around the streets, I take a 50mm and people will keep asking, “Why aren’t you using a 24mm or a 35mm?” I say, “No, straight lines!” So, 50mm, it has to be 50mm… or my super secret lens!
Oh, what’s that?
58mm. I don’t own it, I just want to own it! If you consider that my favourite three lenses are 85mm, 50mm and 70-200mm, I feel the 58mm f/1.4 is a love child of the 85mm and the 50mm. It’s like the best of the 85mm, but at a slightly wider focal length.
What’s in your kit bag right now?
In my kit bag you will find a D850, a D810, an 85mm, a 50mm, 24-70mm, 70-200mm and a 105mm Micro Nikon. And then two Profoto A1s and I have a set of two B2s; a five-foot softbox, a three-foot softbox, some cheap reflectors and… my favourite toy, my CamRanger! Which I tether so it allows me to use my iPad Pro. It’s so useful it’s ridiculous. It’s wireless tethering, so I can let the model see the photos, let the assistant see them, and the client. All without being attached to a rather clunky computer.
What was your first Nikon?
It was either a D50 or D70.
When changing careers to photography, did you have any
mentors who helped you on your way? Or other photographers’ work that inspired you?
I tend to have little photo crushes on people’s work and then I stalk their website, but they’re not famous photographers or celebrities.
Who are you currently having a mad photo crush on?
Originally, I really liked Stephanie Rausser’s work. She’s an American lifestyle photographer, very feminine, lots of colour. You can see how that has influenced my work when you look at it. Another person I really like is Tim Walker. I love his book Story Teller. What I find inspiring about him is that he’d create all his sets and get it all right in-camera and have a very strong story. He’d have prepared it all! Sketched the concept; know what the background should look like; know what everyone should be wearing; what all the props would be and bring it together with his vision. What I do, on the other hand, is a lot of quick stuff. I guess my desire is to do a lot of big advertising work where you have a day to set up your lights so it’s very curative. I do enjoy that process of the planning, the setting up, then the doing and the editing after the fact.
You stress the importance of getting everything right in-camera, so how much post-processing would you do?
Post-processing should be about taking a great picture and making it amazing. It shouldn’t be about taking an average picture and trying to make it great. Your picture should be as good as humanly possible in-camera and then you can make it utterly insane in post. I’ve seen some pictures where there are things that can’t be done in camera, and it’s the techniques you use in post that make it amazing. If people look at my pictures and think there’s no post production on it, when in fact there has been, then that’s a good thing for me.
Is there a well-known portrait by another photographer that you wished you had taken?
Yes! The picture of the Queen where she’s got her eyes shut by Chris Levine. That is my perfect in-between moment. Nothing complicated about the set-up, there’s nothing elaborate about it, he just got a moment that is recognizably brilliant.
What’s the best lesson you’ve learned so far?
One lesson I’ve learned is that you can’t try to be something that you’re not as a photographer. You’ve got to play to your strengths. A lot of people look at my work and say it’s very commercial, it’s not that sexy, it’s not going to get the most likes on Instagram. Yes, it is very commercial, but that’s what I’m good at, so I play to that strength. But also, and this may sound contradictory, you mustn’t be afraid to change. While you do need to stick to a path and be who you are, if you as a person change or your mood changes, then you have to go with that flow as well. Your photography is an extension of all those changes.
As an example, how has your use of lighting changed over the years?
I used loads of natural light because when I started I couldn’t afford lights and I wasn’t technical enough to know how to use light rigs. So I went with the thing that I could do, which was using natural light. Then, when I moved into work where I had to use flash, I used flash to mimic natural light because that’s what I liked. But, as I’ve developed as a photographer and become more skilled and technical, I’ve started to experiment more with light and that changes the way my images look. That’s because I’m developing as a person and trying different things. It’s so difficult to remain consistent, especially as you grow as a photographer and a person.
What’s next for Holly Wren?
There’s a few things that I’m currently working on really. I’m trying to put together an exhibition for a charity that’ll hopefully be quite big. That’s still to be signed off so I can’t really talk about it and should probably keep it on the down-low. I’m also in the process of developing an app that will be a photographic idea, but I can’t talk about that either! In fact, I can’t tell you anything about what I’m doing because they’re all secret projects! Beyond that, just working lots to make money and pay my rent.
I’m also just capturing the photographs I love, because most of my money goes back into taking photographs. But that’s why I do it and why anyone should keep doing photography. Because they love it.
I tend to have little photo crushes on people’s work and then I stalk their website