Karla has been a hugely supportive, enthusiastic and positive force in the lab for the last few years, and we're super super stoked and honoured to return some of the enthusiasm and support in her direction for her upcoming debut exhibition and zine launch "Pleasure Drive"
Karla's work is energetic, communal and often frenzied, capturing the vast energy, euphoria and excitement rippling through Perth's nightlife - shooting often with a flash, right up close to her subjects, and occasionally stepping back and shooting a lot of the same friends in more meditative and quieter spaces; by fresh flowing streams or calmly at home.
The results are a beautifully intimate insight into Karla's world; a dance between the playful elation once the sun goes down, and the recovery thereafter. Of people coming together and the bonds that form.
Karla is hosting the exhibition on May 31st, 6pm - 11.30pm. We can't recommend it enough to anyone around Perth. You can RSVP right here.
We were lucky enough to chat to Karla about the project..
FP:: Karla! Thanks so much for being the latest in our Member Spotlight! We've been processing your work for a good few years now and always love what you're shooting. How long have you been photographing on film and what draws you to shoot analogue?
K:: Thanks for having me! And happy ~4.5 years to us, long live independent labs.
Growing up, my Father was the quintessential dad-photographer; didn't care if we had places to be or were trying to talk to him or do something important, he'd slow us down and dial himself in to get the shot whatever the cost, his Pentax SP1000 hanging off his neck at all times. It's funny, we used to protest at all the interruptions or the way he'd trail off into his own world when he wanted to shoot, and now it's become this inherited habit that no one will be able to get me to shake either. I’ll be at the pub with friends and wander off for a while to explore and shoot. It doesn’t matter what others think, good things come when you do your thing.
I got my first point and shoot 35mm camera for my 8th birthday, and in high school I finally nicked my Dad’s SP1000 kit complete with his billion lenses. I’ve been shooting analogue fairly consistently in the thirteen years since (these days with an AE-1, an MJU-III, and XA-4). At last count I've just crossed the 4000 frames mark. Not something I love doing the maths on as someone who isn’t a commercial photographer, but the value it brings can’t be put into numbers. There’s a reason why people rush for their photo albums when their house is burning to the ground.
FP:: You've got your debut solo exhibition coming up on May 31st 'Pleasure Drive,' what's the exhibition about and what inspired you to shoot and collate this body of work?
K:: Pleasure Drive is the lovechild of coming home after some big life changes and reconnecting with the Boorloo and Walyalup broader community. While shot over a range of good times throughout the last few years, it is loosely tied to the chronology of the quintessential Perth bender: from where you might begin your evening, how it evolves and devolves, to all the places you may find yourself in at the pointy ends that carry so much familiarity to our specific local context.
After spending most of last year away from Perth, some of those months in fairly isolated circumstances, I returned with a shifted perspective on what I wanted out of the coming years and, in light of the isolation, a new appreciation for how we connect and the spaces that facilitate that fusion. After those periods of loneliness where I was longing to create those moments, reflecting back on all the times I had taken them for granted, I became determined to treat them with care moving forward. Maybe the gear shift back into party mode is considered a regression to some, but to me nothing has felt more grounding, or more like progress.
Despite what everyone says, things do happen in this city, and I wanted to pay homage to all the joy that has been discovered, and better so all that is yet to come.
FP:: Your photos have an extraordinary sense of intimacy and 'contact' with your subjects. I feel like when we process your work it's a lot of smiles, skin and sweat! What's brought you toward this style of shooting? What do you hope to capture when you head out photographing these scenes, and how do you go about building trust with your subjects to get so close and intimate?
K :: I’ve been getting the latter questions a lot of late. Art imitating life is a pretty simple way to sum it up with accuracy. I’d say I am innately observational and naturally curious, someone who gravitates towards voyeurism and moments of intimacy rather than feeling overwhelmed or weirded out by them. I like watching people, watching them get ready for something they’re excited for, thinking about who they are becoming in those moments when they’re finishing their mascara or finalising their outfit or dropping their friends a pin. It’s a transportive experience, it reminds you of when you were a child watching your parents, knowing something important was about to happen.
A lot of my style comes from reflections on childhood and that perspective of the world; how our point of view is often torso-height rather than face, the way we focus and lose focus, how we’re looking up watching the grown ups converse, the way in which we stare a little too long at things we’re told we shouldn’t before we learned to be ashamed. Where adults fall short I think kids get the way they approach the world the world around them, with curiosity and an openness to experience, right.
I don’t aim for any form of technical “correctness” in my photography and I’m sure many professionals have a lot to say about my exposure etc etc, but I like it this way. If I wanted perfection, I’d shoot digital. I like the character that fucking it up brings. I care more about how things really are than how they look.
I’m comfortable in physical contact and wouldn’t say I often feel awkward in many situations; on the matter of trust I think people subconsciously respond to that. You feed off each other’s energy; when you’re lucid and warm, they’re lucid and warm. Trust that they’ll get you and that you’re treating their presence with care when you are shooting, and they’ll probably trust you back.
Law school kicked off for me this year and a weird side effect reading a lot of cases that feature violence is this concept that you need to shift out of your empathy to get through it; you’re exposed day in day out to all the horrible things people have done to each other and the graphic detail in which they do it. If you stay too close to it, it can eat away at you. So, you try to make what you’re taking in a collection of facts, rather than something that happened to someone. But the collateral damage of keeping your distance from those experiences is a blurring of lines, and you start to lose that sense of closeness to other areas of the life, rather than just what you’re just trying to keep at arms’ length. There’s been points this year we’re I’ve felt very far away from everyone, but I found those feelings of intimacy return at the extremities of experience; in long random conversations with strangers, at packed parties, on heaving dancefloors, when staying up late and not going home, watching public displays of affection. What you see is what I cherish, the hugs, the kisses, the dancing, the absurdity, the frivolity, the moments people share with each other. They became grounding reminders of the hedonism, the joy, the closeness, and all the wonderful things we can be and do for each other in the face of such darkness.
FP :: Your photos seem to gravitate toward raves, the queer scene, clubs, etc. I'm curious if you gravitated toward these pockets of culture before you thought about photographing them or whether it was once you had your camera in hand that you started really leaning into them? Has music been a big part of your life?
K :: Guilty of late nights and a penchant for partying since the early days I’m afraid. I’ve always been fascinated by who we are after dark, the tension that might have with who we think we should be during the day, the ways in which we indulge and engage with the more playful parts of our being. I am a huuuuuuge music nerd (apologies to my neighbours who endure me studying to prog trance at 5am), and often a solo traveller, the two things combined teach you to get comfortable going out at night by yourself, wherever that may be in the world, to have the night you want to have and see the artists you want to see. The more you do it, the more you find solitude in being on your own. Having a camera and observing the world around you with intention definitely tethers you to the moment and gets you out of your mind, out of any anxiety that may come up at the idea of being alone.
Our local queer scene is really having a renaissance, and I think that is wholly owed to independent event runners and local artists. Smoked Trout, NestFM, Club Silly, Rave Relief during Pride, Club Nasty, Kiki Nights, the whole Boorloo Ballroom Community - I could go on. Maybe I just never found it when I moved to Perth a decade ago, but the way these operators have pumped new life into the scene is undeniably life changing and, given the lived experiences of the people these events are for, lifesaving. They’re places in which people can find, and be, their true selves. And like anything in life, the scene thrives with nurture and dies with neglect: take note that it is often of significant financial risk to anyone throwing a party, there are no sponsors or big corporates footing the bill if it flops. So much goes into it behind the scenes and it’s incredibly difficult to judge whether the costs will be covered. So put your phone down, go outside and make hay while the sun shines. If money is tight, reach out to the organisers and offer to help, maybe they need a doorperson, maybe help with setting up or packing down – it won’t always be a yes but odds are they will appreciate any extra help they can get, and most of the time it's really fun! You’re co-creating something special, it’s physical labour and hard work, making something that will gift both yourself and others a lot of joy - it’s an experience that has always left me bonded to whoever I’m there with and nothing beats stepping through the doors on the day seeing it all pay off.
Back to photography, if you want to start capturing the essence of an experience, you must be in it. If you want to capture a party: you have to party. There are no shortcuts and you cannot be there only to take whilst giving nothing meaningful in return. It will translate in the frame if you’re there to cash a cheque and not because this is a moment that you are treating with care, one that is authentic to your life and world. I don’t “work” commercially as a photographer at these events per se, I don’t accept offers of payment: I’m in these spaces because they matter to me. My career pays the bills and because of the position I’m in I would rather feel like I’m sharing in, and contributing to, an experience that will gift myself and others memories that speak into the context of the time and place in which we grew up; that’s what these spaces are.
FP :: Any advice for aspiring photographers who want to head out and take photographs in a similar fashion? I know a lot of people dread the thought of taking photos of strangers with a flash etc. any suggestions to overcome this and shoot confidently?
Ask yourself what you are afraid, then back yourself that you can handle it. You are built to tolerate a lot; you can survive a temporary feeling of discomfort. Approach any confrontation with empathy and grace, but don’t convince yourself that conflict is inevitable because that idea isn’t a truth. To me, the risk is eternally worth the reward. I shoot the odd empty frame or landscape, but overall, my preoccupation is with people. Watching people is what I do even without a camera, and a lot of who you’ll see in my photos are strangers photographed candidly sans direction.
Consider the spaces you’re in when shooting people you don’t know; being on the street in public is a different context to being at a queer event where some might need their anonymity preserved for reasons of safety. The organisers are often great at advising when, and what type of photography, is permitted. Be thoughtful and discerning about whether a situation calls for consent.
It would be remiss of me not to mention here that privilege plays a part in how and what I can shoot; I’m a white girl in my 20s who is clearly using old analogue gear that shoots slow (as opposed to filming on an iphone etc), things might be different if I was a boy or older or racially diverse. But to this day I’m happy to say I haven’t experienced any discontent and instead have shared in many moments of connection with people I may have otherwise missed, some of that is due to privilege but most is probably down to purpose.
Ultimately, I think a lot of it comes down to energy, to intention. People around you can intuit whether you’re there in good faith. Observe with curiosity, shoot with reverence, offer warmth, be open to connecting with people who are nothing like you. If they’re interesting enough for your camera, it would be weird and cold of you if you didn’t want to give them the time of day beyond the frame you’ve gained. One of the photos I included in this selection is of some older gents I photographed in Amsterdam, they were such good sports that they bought me a pint and a sandwich for lunch because they wanted to chat about photography and travel after seeing me wandering around shooting and eventually taking their picture.
We were worlds apart and at the behest of a language barrier, but it was an unexpectedly tender experience, and I always smile when I see that photo and think of that afternoon with them. I know strangers can feel like a threat sometimes, particularly for women, but if you’re feeling up to it, let them surprise you. There is no greater danger in what you don’t know, nor safety in what you do know. Strangers often don’t bite if you don’t and I’ve experienced nothing but warmth, amusement and kindness from them when my cameras are in my hands.
FP :: Thank you so much for doing this little interview! What are the details for your upcoming exhibition and zine release? A pleasure to chat x
K :: No - thank you! It’s been such a cathartic experience. And thank you for all that yourself and Focus Pocus do for our community; photography is rarely a team sport and can feel isolating at times, I think what you’re doing by fostering a scene of (mainly) non-professionals helps people who love the craft grow immensely and stay connected with their process; they can feel confident to keep creating and sharing, and that can only be a good thing for the community and for the culture at large.
The zine launches with a limited run of copies, and larger prints, on Saturday 31st May at 6pm; 43 Wood St Fremantle. All are welcome at the launch, and, in light of the theme, some great local selectors are stepping up to the decks to keep us sweaty and feral. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
