Corrine Day

Corrine Day, a well known semi fashion photographer who died only a month ago at age 45 from a brain tumour (a problem with brain cancer that she had dealt with for around 10 years) was the first, and only fashion photographer that made me realise that I wanted to take photos. It was around my age that she started taking photos, and it was around when she was 25, that she 'discovered' Kate Moss, and took those famous photo's for The Face magazine 20 years ago. I was about 17, and had bought a now very rare book called 'Kate: The Story', a photographic retrospect of Kate Moss' work from the beginning to around 1998/9. The book at the time was still relatively new I suppose, but is almost impossible to get. Unfortunately for me, I tore the book up in a rage, but kept my favourite picture, as seen below, which travelled with me and donned many walls of the houses I inhabited during my time at university.

My dream of photography and fashion photography has since been put on hold, and it wasn't really till the event of Day's death that I fully realised that to make a dream come true and to start creating something that I agree that I'm good at, you have to really do it. When I lay in the bath on the day I read the news of Corrine's death, I felt very sad, but unusually, inspired to be someone and try something, and to interpret my ideas, and to start creating something that I will love and will be my own vision, whilst at the same time involving my knowledge of fashion.


I studied her while I worked on my photography A-Level those years ago. Alongside with photographers like Hellen Van Meene and the work of Tracy Emin, I created 'self confessional' gritty, black and white photos that echoed the fashion trends of the early 90s that were deemed controversial for their promotion of heroin and anorexia. Below are a couple of photos of some of the photos I did about 8 years ago. The girl is an old friend I have lost touch with called Lizzy. She was perfect because she was very tall and very thin and very pretty and naturally photogenic and willing to pose anywhere and wear anything. We were running round Selly Oak and I was just taking photos. The other photo is a self portrait. I think I was about 18. I remember it being very hard to take, as the wire I had to take the photo wasn't very long. Now everything is digital, it is much easier, but do you sometimes think that has taken the fun out of photography?