Colette has always been engaged in all varieties of art but didn’t connect with photography until age 11, when she took a photography course at an art school in Pennsylvania. Since then, she has been working extensively on augmenting her knowledge and experience with photography and on developing her technical proficiency and ability to story tell. She recently founded her school’s photography club with the hopes of sharing the beauty of the medium with her community.
Colette loves a broad range of photographers. One of her favorite photographers at the moment is Ashley Armitage because she admires her attention to lighting and the stories she tells of the several women she photographs, but her favorite artist of all time is Patti Smith, as her eccentricity and poetic lyrics and narratives have moved her in a particularly meaningful way.
Outside of photography, Colette enjoys reading a good book, listening to music, watching films, spending time with her friends and her family, and conversing about David Bowie and Freaks and Geeks with anyone who desires to listen.
From A Room
For all my life, I have been an observer and historian, always taking mental snapshots of everything I notice. That said, there is this natural extension of attention to details encompassing me with the camera, as all my photographs are from the perspective of an onlooker.
I am a firm believer in being able to reach a level of comfort and tranquility in photos in a myriad of ways- between the subject and the photographer, the world, with each other, and I think that by establishing a feeling of comfort, there is a greater sense of realness in the pictures.
The atmosphere and environment of a photograph is something that is of immense value as well. To me, someone’s room is a very accurate representation of who that person is. The organization, decorations, and color schemes can allow us to learn about that person and their interests and lifestyle.
The idea of comfort must exist in someone’s room as well because it has likewise been extremely important to me that for this project, my subjects are in a space of their own where they feel comfortable with me and themselves.
As a young woman, I see everything with a female-infused gaze. I notice myself gravitating toward female artists and continuously crafting projects about femininity. There is a distinct comfort level that exists amongst girls.
Comfort is something that pertains to each of these facets of a photograph. I chose to capture teenage girls in their bedrooms to not just to record girls in their essence but to show them feeling one with themselves, and I hope that these images also serve as an informal introduction to each of the girls in these images.