Aline Smithson – Lenscratch, mothers & velour tracksuits

As you know I’ve come across a lot of artists through the website Lenscratch.com and do urge you all to check it out. Recently Karen Constine recommended I talk with the founder of the resource – Aline Smithson, so that’s what I did. After reaching Aline, was only to happy to chat.

Another lovely person who is all about giving, sharing information and providing a free resource for everyone. It’s a hell of an effort to write regular and find time for your work too (i know this). But after 14 years, Aline is still going strong and now has a team of writers alongside her. What is unusual about this site is everything here is free and it was done this way on purpose and all the staff are volunteers too. Very commendable they provide this for others.

Aline is a not only a talented photographer but her roots are in painting, so you will see some of this in her photography. What I really liked was the different projects she has worked on and some of these are just so much fun. It’s not something I have seen a lot of so nice for a change. Though we will only get to talk about a few of these like “arrangement”, “the lonesome doll” and “in case of rain” you really should delve in to her website to look at her portfolio. Arrangement is about her mother and has been exhibited in Russia, Korea, China, France, Italy and the USA.

There are a few statements Aline made during the podcast and tells you about her thought process to photography. The idea of lenscratch was to give back to community, but also she is a big believer in being patient. In fact I took this quote:

“your work may not get celebrated now, but when your turn comes everyone will celebrate you”

Personally I really love this and we go on to explain why she talks about this. We also discuss:

only shooting film
board games
hard drive failure
Velour tracksuits
peer reviewing
how to get noticed
hand painting

Links

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/alinesmithson/

Website – http://alinesmithson.com/

Friends

For all your c41 developing needs – https://filmdev.co.uk/

Large format cameras, medium format & accessories – https://chroma.camera/

Great and affordable zines from Static Age – https://www.staticage.co.uk/

Facebook group

Don’t forget this resource is there for anyone, need to let some steam off or chat about life? Then come be around other creatives and help each other – https://www.facebook.com/groups/photographerstheraphy

Extra content

Aline was kind enough to send over these shots we discussed during the podcast.

Extra content

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