Dorrell Merritt is a student in Photography from North West London. His work balances perfectly between fine art and fashion photography and captures emotions, beauty and pureness.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you started with photography?
My name is Dorrell Merritt, I grew up in North West London. My granddad gave me an Olympus OM-10 when I was 12… which I didn’t use till I was 16. That was the origin of my photographic work.

Why photography?
I got into photography as a continuation of art. I loved it, but didn’t feel as if I was good enough- or as if I could express myself enough. Photography was available to study and I already had a camera. Photography is a craft; you become a creator- a sculptor, a narrator, a painter. Anyone who shoots a film, develops and prints it themselves will know that, those elements of creation are moving; and embed themselves in you and can’t be shifted.


What story do you want your images to tell?
My work is varied… it depends on how I feel… but generally contains morose/sad undertones. Sadness is interesting… it brings out expression and a side of people, which can be beautiful. I look to a lot of art for inspiration; Waterhouse for me, is the King of narrative construction, and makes good use of story adoption and emotive expression. I attempt to tell stories rich in emotions; I attempt to make my work “real” and “immanent”, as opposed to chasing ideal realities which infact cannot be reached. I generally work in black and white- colour has too much bias. Its interesting how we can interpret a picture differently, because of the colours it contains; how we can take it less or more seriously, just by hues. Black and white is stark and bare, and shows only what is truly there.


Aside from direct narrative work, I love to shoot portraits. But these can be narratives also. I love the aspect of insight; being able to show everyone things that they wouldn’t be able to see themselves, or be able to see a person in a certain way. Portraiture is also an honour; someone trusts you enough to represent them- I like that.

What makes someone an artist?
I think what makes someone an artist, is locating the ability to be able to channel energy into something; express themselves- it can literally be through anything.


Links!

What do you think?