5 Minutes With Epson | Megan Bowers-Vette

November 2017

We caught-up with Megan Bowers-Vette, portrait, fashion and art project photographer from Whangarei, New Zealand to talk more about her passion and the latest project that she has been working on. This is her story.

“Since when I was in high school, I was heavily influenced by early fashion photographers and thought that would be what I would do; however it has taken me on many different paths over the years. I studied at Wellington Massey University; Bachelor of Photographic Design. I went on to study Art at Northtec, which is a great little art school, with amazing tutors and the quality of work turned out is amazing. I started working more in Auckland when I attended the Kingsize Studios scholarship program about 5 years ago. It was during this time that I really started to think of the importance of a personal project.

I have had really great mentors along the way that really believe in me and support me. In the art school years it was NZ Artist Ellie Smith who was a major influence on me. There are a lot of NZ women photographers that inspire me a lot, Yvonne Todd, Lisa Reihana, Fiona Paddington to name a few. Also in terms of fashion work I’m very inspired by Sara Orme, who I was lucky enough to assist for a couple of years.

When I want to start a new project, I just clear my mind a little bit. I tend to just follow intuition on a shoot. Speaking of what technology/gear I use for my photos, I’m pretty simplistic, I once read Ansel Adams said all you need as a photographer was a 50mm lens. I have a Sigma Art Series 50mm and I hardly use anything else for personal work. I am also not a fan of heavily Photoshopped images so I tend to use minimal Photoshop.

My latest project is called “Us” which involved interviewing and photographing 50 men and women from New Zealand and Australia who have experienced sexual assault. When I started this project I decided that the only rule I would have for those who participated was that there would be no anonymity. Show your face, say your name, be proud of who you are, speak your truth. Anonymity sends a signal that there is still something to be ashamed about, and that wasn't what I wanted for this project. It is normal and totally acceptable to feel guilt and shame about what has happened, but I wanted to connect with people who had worked through that and were ready to show up and stand in their truth. For the project to be as powerful as I intended it to be I needed to show the beauty of who these people are, perfect and precious within the scars they bare.

The things I want to say to the audience are: you are not alone. You don’t have to keep these things inside. There is nothing to be ashamed of. If you know someone who has been through this, listen to their stories and learn how to give the right support. You can thrive despite assault, as individuals and as families.

A lot of the feedback I have received in regards to this project says that they all look open, strong and beautiful. So for me that completes the objective of how I wanted to photograph these amazing people. I asked them for a place that was special to them, and to wear whatever they chose. After that I really just followed my intuition with them with an aim to show them as they really are.

I used an Epson SureColor SC-P800 printer with Epson Velvet Fine Art paper for the Us project and it was amazing. I liked how easy it was to go from the light room to the printer with minimal adjustments to get perfect colours. The prints looked amazing on the Velvet paper, it was so lush to use. As someone who would like to develop the Art prints side of my career further having an Epson printer would certainly be an investment, the quality is on par with what you would get at a professional lab, so it would work out economically.

I realized recently that my heart is in love with creating art with my camera. I have always felt that way but in recent years went off track a little chasing commercial work. I will still continue to shoot commercially but I realize that working on something that truly inspires you or piques your curiosity is the only thing that truly motivates you to make art. I have a plan for a few more exhibitions over the next few years, and I will also continue to shoot the “Us” project for online platforms.

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