Photography student Katie Johnston, 19.

Second year photography student Katie Johnston is currently working on her project which stands out from the norm. Entitled Red Lips, Black Heart, Katie will be photographing models dressed as geishas in the traditional costume and make-up.

“My project is about sex. Everything in it relates to sex. The symbolism of what a geisha does, of what she wears, of how she acts; even though she may not know it herself because it’s a tradition that’s been passed down generations. They have got quite a big role in society and I want to explore how sex affects that.”

Katie, from Workington became inspired after watching the film Memoirs of a Geisha and became fascinated by geishas and what they represent in Japanese culture. She also looked at other photographers who have taken pictures of geishas: “There’s a Japanese guy called Araki Nobuyoshi who has done some amazing work of nude geishas and it’s just really beautiful. As they are foreseen as prostitutes from the 1940’s onwards I thought that was quite interesting and it would be cool to do it in my own way.”

Her project is going to stand out by not just having geishas dressed in a traditional kimono, she will also be capturing nude images, like her inspiration: “I’m going to be doing nudes but venues are not always keen so trying to find somewhere that will let you do it is a bit difficult.”
She also explained how she goes about planning for projects such as this one: “It’s kind of hit and miss for me. Sometimes I get an idea and I’ll look it up right away or I’ll write the idea down and forget about it for months then come back to it and then decide which one I want to do,”
“But for this I knew I was doing it anyway so I read research journals about geisha’s lives and things like that.”

Lips of a geisha: one of Katie’s stand out photos.

Katie has been working on her project since the beginning of September and her deadline for Red Lips, Black Heart is in December: “Just because we’ve got a deadline doesn’t mean it stops there, if we want to continue it we can, but I don’t think I will because I think I’ll have about 30 photos when I’m finished so it’ll be quite an extensive body of work.”

The photography student was originally thinking of studying Graphic Design, but when she visited the university’s campus it was the photography department that stood out to her: “It’s the right kind of course for me because I like having time to do what I want but I also like having a deadline so it’s given me the push in the right direction which is nice.”

The course itself is very open as the students can create a project on anything they like: “Our brief this year was to produce a body of work so it’s pretty broad; we have a lot of freedom.”

A model in a traditional kimono, shot by Katie.

One of the main parts of her course is what is known as the ‘crit’, which is where the students show their work to the rest of the class. “I can spend almost £40 on printing so it’s quite expensive.”

Katie explained how they are given the option to use image editing software such as Photoshop. “Some people like it and some don’t but I like it. I see it as the same as a darkroom where you can manipulate images by changing the light settings, you can do that on Photoshop. Some people think that’s cheating and not the same but I think it’s just the equivalent and it’s more modern.”

The budding photographer explained what she plans on doing after she completes her degree: “I just want to make a living out of photography. It doesn’t matter what kind it is because as long as I’m making money I can do what I want on the side.”

To see more of Katie’s work, visit her website at: http://katielaura.co.uk/

Words Helen Parton

Images Katie Johnston