Meet Shelby Nolan-Hoare, student and British Photography Awards winner

The ‘Liminal Space’ series was created as part of the final project of my BA (Hons) Commercial Photography degree at Arts University Plymouth. The series is fashion-led, exploring how clothing, props and set design can be used to discuss themes of nostalgia and illusion. I wanted the images to speak for themselves, and to include elements that are not only technically advanced but also personal to me. I started the project by listing various things that were symbolic of my childhood and used these as motifs to inform my subject matter and composition, exaggerating the ideas of liminal space – a place, or state of mind, during a transitional period – and nostalgia to a degree that is high-fashion and oddly unique.

The project was inspired by the longing I felt at the time to regress and heal my inner child. I was facing personal hardships, and felt low-spirited. This led me to reminisce about a happier, simpler time: which ignited a motivation to narrate through my fashion photographs the inner monologue I was experiencing, of two contradictory states of mind. When you look at the expressions on my models’ faces and compare them to the joyful sets, you feel that tension between two emotions: this adds an unsettling note, while linking to the liminal space concept. 

From idea to reality

Location and set design played a major role in my picture-making process. In a studio setting, I looked towards conveying illusion, using props such as the unveiling of a curtain. Sometimes I would curate a new set entirely: this would involve me free-painting a recurring pattern, such as clouds or checkerboards, to aid the narrative. 

On location, I selected places or activities that felt reminiscent of my childhood, such as the entrance of a fun house I would visit as a child, the inside of a soft-play area, and a field near my family home. 

On most of my shoots, I had a clear vision of what I was aiming to achieve that stemmed from childhood memory. However, on some of the shoots, I had a much harder time deciding when I was content with the outcome. ‘Doll’s House’, which won the People’s Choice award in the Fashion category of the 2023 British Photography Awards, initially took me three trial shoots. I used a range of techniques, such as color-blocking with panels on set, projecting clouds onto the background, and using a different model and outfit entirely. It was through letting ideas roll over from shoot to shoot that I refined my images.

I shot ‘Liminal Space’ with a Nikon D850 and a Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. This combination allowed me to photograph close-up portraits and details in the clothing, while also allowing me to pan out and capture the whole location.

The thing that I found most challenging was that common ground of ‘less is more’. My mind is always swimming with ideas. To stay on topic, I sometimes need to take a step back, and whittle down my ideas to a selection that brings the point across in a way that is clear and tasteful. 

Arts University Plymouth

BA (Hons) Commercial Photography at Arts University Plymouth is a skills-based course that prepares photographers to create everything from technically precise fashion shots to unique concept branding for advertising campaigns.