Annie Collinge: Linda
In this image: Linda Leven
Annie Collinge: “I had just moved to New York and was looking for something or someone to do a project about. I was walking along 5th Avenue one afternoon with my boyfriend and we saw Linda.”
In this image: Linda Leven
“I followed her for a couple of blocks, trying to get the courage up to speak to her and she disappeared into Home Depot on 23rd street. I happened to have my camera on me so I asked her if I could take some photos of her outside. She was up for it. So I took a couple of images in the street.”
In this image: Linda Leven
“She said that if I wanted to take any more photos I could, and gave me her number – that’s where it all began.”
In this image: Linda Leven
“Linda and her boyfriend are into photography and they do shoots on weekends. Their shoots are very theatrical and she likes to juice them up in photoshop and make them look very dramatic. For her, I think my pictures are a bit tame, but what I like about her is she never questions why I want to photograph her a certain way, she just enjoys the process.”
In this image: Linda Leven
“We also have a mutual love of colour, the idea of ever dressing in black is hideous to her and for me colour is one of the most important things in my work. My work if often about human interactions with objects and adornment, most of the time an idea comes from an object I find in a junk store or flea market and I then work out how I add in the human element. “