TALKS
2025
The Photography & Video Show — London
Wet Plate Collodion – The Dark Art
A talk exploring the history, process and unpredictable nature of wet plate collodion photography.
Spirit Photography in the Victorian Era
Exploring Victorian spirit photography and the relationship between early photographic processes, spiritualism and attempts to photograph the dead.
Experimental Analogue Photography Processes
An exploration of alternative and experimental approaches to analogue photography and what can happen when we move beyond conventional photographic processes.
Underexposed: Women and Minority Genders in Film & Analogue Photography
Panel discussion exploring representation and experiences within film and analogue photography.
2024
Society for Psychical Research — 47th International Annual Conference, Derby
Visualising Exceptional Human Experiences Through Photographic Art
Presented by Callum E. Cooper on behalf of Corrine Gretton West.
Contributors: Callum E Cooper, Haley Morris-Cafiero and Jose Neves.
A presentation of developing research into exceptional human experiences and the possibilities of using photographic art to communicate experiences that can be difficult to represent.
Northampton Museum & Art Gallery
Spirit Photography in the Victorian Era
A public talk exploring Victorian spirit photography, spiritualism and the photographic processes associated with images claiming to depict spirits and ghosts.
The Photography & Video Show — NEC Birmingham
Wet Plate Collodion – An Introduction
An introduction to the history and practice of the 19th-century wet plate collodion process and its possibilities within contemporary photography.
Haunted Landscapes: Using the Emulsion Lift Process
Exploring my Haunted Landscapes project and the use of Polaroid emulsion lifts to create photographic responses to locations associated with ghost stories and unusual experiences.
2023
Royal Photographic Society — Contemporary Group
The Dark Art
A presentation exploring my experimental analogue practice and wet plate collodion photography.
The Photography Show — Capture Online
Everyone's Talking About AI
Panel discussion with Brooke Shaden, Calvin Chinthaka and Panikos Hajistilly exploring artificial intelligence, image-making and the implications of AI for photographers and the wider creative industries.
Society for Psychical Research — 46th International Conference, Royal Leamington Spa
Visualising Exceptional Human Experiences Through Photographic Art
Conference poster presented with Callum E. Cooper, Jose Neves and Haley Morris-Cafiero, introducing developing research into exceptional human experiences and photographic art.
Exhibitions & Selected Projects
Haunted Landscapes — Discover Northampton
Polaroid Emulsion Lift Installation
Haunted Landscapes explored locations associated with local ghost stories and unusual experiences through Polaroid photography and the emulsion lift process.
Rather than attempting to present photographs as evidence of paranormal activity, the project explored atmosphere, uncertainty and the relationship between places and the stories attached to them.
The Polaroid emulsions were removed from their original photographs and transferred onto transparent glass. The finished pieces were displayed as an installation, allowing transparency, light and the exhibition space to become part of how the photographs were experienced.
Alongside the exhibition, I delivered a Polaroid emulsion lift workshop, allowing participants to experience and respond to the process themselves.
The project became an important part of the development of my PhD research and my interest in how audiences experience photographic processes as well as finished images.
Identity Inside — HMP Leicester
A photographic project exploring identity and the effects of imprisonment.
The project considered how incarceration can affect an individual's sense of identity and used photography to look beyond the label of "prisoner" towards the individual and their experience.
The project received press coverage through the University of Northampton and regional media.
Experimental Photographic Practice
My wider practice has involved a range of analogue and experimental processes, including:
Wet Plate Collodion
I use the physical and unpredictable qualities of the historic wet plate process to explore subjects including identity, memory, neurodivergence and exceptional human experiences.
Polaroid Emulsion Lifts
By removing the photographic emulsion and transferring it onto alternative surfaces, I use distortion, fragility and material change as part of the finished image.
Film Soup
Experimental alteration of photographic film allows chemical reactions, unexpected colour, deterioration and chance to become part of the image-making process.
Spirit Photography / Photographing the Unseen
My ongoing practice and research explore both the history of spirit photography and contemporary experiences described as ghostly or paranormal.
Rather than attempting to create photographic evidence of the paranormal, I am interested in a different question:
How do we photograph an experience when the most important part of it may not have been visible at all?
Media, Interviews & Features
2024
NLive Radio — Open4Business
Guest appearance discussing my work and experience as a photographer.
Analogue Wonderland
Featured as an Analogue Wonderland Ambassador, discussing my experimental analogue practice, neurodivergence and Dark Art Sessions.
2023
Digital Camera World
Featured as a panellist for Everyone's Talking About AI, discussing artificial intelligence and its implications for photography and image-making.
Research & Academic Practice
Practice-Based PhD — University of Northampton
My current PhD research explores how photography and other forms of artistic practice can communicate exceptional human experiences (EHEs), particularly experiences described as ghostly or paranormal.
These experiences may be ambiguous, multisensory or not primarily visual, creating an interesting problem for a medium traditionally associated with recording the visible world.
My research has developed through experimental analogue photography, film soup, Polaroid emulsion lifts and wet plate collodion and has more recently expanded into drawing and photo elicitation.
The next stage of the research involves working directly with participants to explore how images can support people in remembering, articulating and reflecting upon experiences that may otherwise be difficult to communicate.
Associate Lecturer — University of Northampton
I have worked as an Associate Lecturer at the University of Northampton, bringing my experience as a practising photographer and researcher into photography education.
Society for Psychical Research
My research into communicating exceptional human experiences through photographic art has received research funding from the Society for Psychical Research.
Awards & Recognition
NNBN Awards — 2024
Runner-up — Micro Business of the Year
Corrine West Photography.
The Societies of Photographers
In Camera Artistry Photographer of the Year
Recognition for my wet plate photographic work exploring late-diagnosed neurodivergence.
WORK IN PROGRESS
My practice is currently in a period of research, experimentation, and development.
Photographing the Unseen
Ongoing PhD research exploring how photography and other forms of artistic practice can communicate exceptional human experiences that may be ambiguous, multisensory, or difficult to represent visually. I am currently moving into the participant-led stage of the research, using photo elicitation alongside photography, drawing, and experimental processes.
Photography for the Overwhelmed Person
A new project exploring simpler, more accessible ways of approaching photography when creativity feels overwhelming. The project is developing from my own experiences of neurodivergence, creative burnout, and returning to photography after a period away from making work.
Slow Photography, Busy Brain
An ongoing exploration of analogue photography through a neurodivergent lens, looking at experimentation, perfectionism, unpredictability, and what happens when we find creative processes that work with the way we think rather than against it.
New experimental work
I am continuing to experiment across analogue photography, drawing and alternative processes as my research develops, with new work currently in progress.