Ophelia Wynne Might Have Stumbled Upon the Fountain of Youth

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Ophelia Wynne Might Have Stumbled Upon the Fountain of Youth

Her photography celebrates everything about being young and energetic.

Ophelia Wynne is a documentary photographer who seems to get that life isn't all about wasting your days drinking instant coffee under fluorescent strip-lights. Dropping out of school at 14 to spend a couple of years causing trouble in Suffolk and Stoke, by 1999 she was shooting regularly for The Face – her images capturing that kind of genuine beauty and energy that, weirdly, you only find in beautiful, energetic young people, before their days drinking instant coffee under fluorescent strip-lights have driven them all to into the realm of sunken eyes and high blood pressure.

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Over the next months, Ophelia will be exhibiting a selection of her images at The Other Club, a a pop-up club for women of all professions in central London. The photos range from smiling freckled female faces peering out from behind swimming goggles to rows of legs in flesh-coloured tights and kitten heels. I met up with her to talk about gender stereotypes, Blondie and brawling in Helsinki nightclubs.

VICE: When did you start shooting?
Ophelia Wynne: I went to Nottingham Trent University in 1995 – that's when I started shooting properly. But I started using a camera when I was about 11. I used to use my dad’s.

Youth and young women are a main focus of lots of your work, but not in that mainstream sexualised kind of way.
Yeah, they’re not sexy or sexist – they’re quite in your face. That’s what I like, shooting people really close up.

And you steer away from using agency models.
Some are models, some are not. I try to keep the models as simple looking as possible, like they’re the girls next-door who would want to be your friend or something.

It definitely feels very genuine.
I want to keep that. Even when I do fashion shoots, I want to keep it all very organic in a social sort of way.

What photographers inspire you?
Martin Parr for his garish colours, and that in your face kind of photography. Then Nick Waplington, Richard Billingham, Nan Goldin and Wolfgang Tillman.

There’s definitely a kind of truth tying all those photographers together.
Yeah, what you see is what you get.

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There’s a lot of beauty in that.
I think so, too. Somebody said to me that it’s beautiful social documentary, in a way. I suppose I’m trying to make everything timeless. So every image could have been taken yesterday or it could have been taken ten years ago.

Would you ever do film?
I’d love to, but I think I’m very photography-aware. Until I feel that comfortable with film, I won’t do it.

Tell me a bit about when you were working at The Face.
I started off shooting club scenes all around the world for the back pages and worked my way up. One shoot they gave me was in Helsinki for a club scene. I was using a 35mm because it’s really small and you can hide it, so you get the shots you want without people knowing. There was this one guy who was really drunk and wanted to look at the camera, but I was in a really bad mood and said no. So he got me in a headlock and started throwing me around.

Nice.
I went home crying because I was so upset.

I’m not surprised. In direct contrast then, what shoot stands out as one of your favourites?
Blondie. It was 2004 and I was sent over to New York to shoot Debbie Harry and I was like, “Fuck, this is my idol. I’m shooting my idol.” To go and shoot her was fantastic. She was just really nice to me. I got this really great shot for the cover of the magazine. She was looking down in it, and all magazines like to have people looking straight through the camera, but I forced that picture to go on the cover because it’s such a beautiful image of her.

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What were you like when you were a teenager?
A rebel. I left school at 14. It was quite rough and I just didn’t want to be part of it, so I left and was a bit of a street kid.

Maybe that’s why you’re drawn to adventurous teenagers.
Yeah, I’ve just been to Great Yarmouth shooting circus girls.

Amazing. There’s a kind of energy that you only have when you’re a teenager – you can really feel that in your work.
Yeah, I think I’ve got a lot of energy.

I think so, too. Thanks, Ophelia!

Catch Ophelia's exhibition at The Other Clubfrom Friday the 27th of September. Find more information on their Facebook and Twitter.

Visit Ophelia's website to see more of her work.