Member Article

Capturing sound - on camera

The quest of a North East based photographer to capture an image which evokes a particular sound in the mind of the viewer will be featured on national radio this weekend.

Andrew Heptinstall’s journey will be the focus of Radio 4’s ‘An Image of Sound’ – to be broadcast on Saturday February 7th at 3.45pm and again on Friday next at 1.45pm.

And the images of the Boldon raised and now Northumberland based photographer, will be available for people to see on the BBC website at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b051w066 when the programme is aired.

On his quest, Andrew, 50, spends a day at Hadrian’s Wall with blind contemporary photographer, Rosita McKenzie. There he discovered how she used all of her other senses to create her imagery.

Travelling to Australia to explore the sights and sounds of the great outdoors and visiting an exhibition by Edwin Smith in London, Andrew explores the components needed to construct such an image, while Professor Fiona Macpherson, from Glasgow University, adds insight into the human senses we all deploy.

The result is a series of images which Andrew hopes will conjure up the same sounds in the minds of all the people who see them. “We can all imagine sound if we see a moving image, say on television, with the sound turned down – waves crashing on a beach, a windy day beside trees, traffic rushing past, even lips blowing a kiss,” he said: “I wanted to explore whether sound could be represented in a still image and that was a challenge.

“It has been a tremendous experience and I am not sure I have succeeded but I have certainly learned things which I can apply to my daily work as a photographer. I have always used a sense of movement to bring images to life but capturing something which evokes sound will further engage the viewer and hopefully improve their experience of looking at the photographs.”

The programme was the idea of North East born producer in the BBC’s Natural History Unit at Bristol, Andrew Dawes. He says: “All I had to work on was a conversation I had with Andrew nearly a year ago about whether sound could ever be heard by the viewer of a photograph. Whilst he has developed a photographic mind-set to capture the visual, I thought about this project through the imagination of a radio producer, immersed in sound not vision.

“Sound has the ability to enhance mood, to change emotions, to enrich or subdue. Music scores in films do this well but my own personal emotional experience is via sound in the natural world. I spent a lot of my childhood in the 1970’s watching wildlife in the Coquet Valley in Northumberland.

“That stayed with me and 30 years later all I need to hear is the rich bubbling call of the curlew and I’m transported back there to Coquetdale, a warm sunny day, amongst the heather topped Simonside Hills. This is what inspired the programme and it has been a fascinating journey for me.”

Andrew Heptinstall studied photography at South Shields Marine and Technical College and Cleveland College of Art and Design before starting work with a graphic design agency in Newcastle.

He also worked for Rowntree in York before establishing Andrew Heptinstall Photography 11 years ago. As well as developing his art through exhibitions and commissions he works as a commercial photographer for prestigious clients such as Express Engineering, Galliford Try, Zanussi, English Heritage, architects and publishers, advertising agencies and local authorities, hotel chains and bespoke furniture designers.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Paul Dobbie .