Monday 1 September 2014

INTERVIEW // SHOOT: Rachel Fleminger Hudson


I interviewed and photographed a weirdo and friend of mine by the name of Rachel Fleminger Hudson. This London gyal is quite the all rounder. She's a popular blogger, in her free time: a photographer with genuine artistic talent and, although she may not directly say it, a model. We spoke about her experiences blogging and modelling on top of some super exciting up-coming projects.






What is it you do online?
Uhh... online I have a blog... so I do my blog and I also have WeHeartIt which is like a collection of like photos that I find inspirational. It's kind of like where I get my inspiration from and it's really good because it's like a mood board so it's got all my photos in. Uhm... Facebook? Yah? My internet use is probably not the best.


So, how did you start your blog?
I started my blog... umm one day my friend, I went round to her house, she was like "I started a blog!" I was like "Ughh, I'm gonna do that!" so we started another one. And then we basically just wrote rubbish on it for like days. We would post every like second like three times a day and be like BUUGGHHHH. And then uhm... yeah so then I just continued doing it - she kind of stopped after a while and it was initially a style blog and then I was actually like: I'm not actually that interested. I'm more interested in my own style or like things that are around style, more like aesthetic rather than following trends or whatever. So I found that it's actually almost more like 'life style'... Yeah, it's kind of evolved from "style".



So, how did you come up with the name?
I have been asked this before... Okay... I used to have - basically the URL used to be 'tobybumbum'. I don't even know why! We were just like: "Ugh, good name: 'Toby bum bum'" and then we were like: "Okay, actually this is going to be a serious like fashion blog, then that can't be it" so we came up with 'Toby Knows', I don't even know why. I think we thought it was really funny at the time - it's not that funny. I just can't be bothered to change it.



Well it has a ring to it
Yeah







 You do quite a bit of photography as well that you put online. Is that something you could see yourself doing more of in the future seriously?
The problem is - okay - I love photography. I love photography and photography is something that is really important to me and I would love to do it as a full time thing. However, I feel like there isn't enough market in that and however much I think that art is incredibly important, I think that I also need to find something which will be able to accommodate me for doing other things as well.



Something more stable.
Yeah, exactly! And also, I think that I'm also very interested in uhm filmmaking so - that's kind of the same thing - it's the same kind of like showing different asthetics and stuff through other things, I think that's interesting. But at the moment I'm having a massive creative crisis so...



Yeah?
Yeah.


What's this?
I can't like think of anything! I'm not joking. It's like - it's not even like I can't think of things it's like I just think that every idea I have, suddenly I'm like "Oh, that's not original. Oh no.". If it is original I'm like "Ugh! Ugh! Is this what I what I want to be doing with my life?" "What am I doing with my life?". Bit of a breakdown.





Aside from photography, you've done quite a bit of modelling since your blog. You've been for Rookie, i-D magazine, Meedham Kirchoff (said it right) which is pretty insane!? How did these come about?
Yeah! Ok. It sounds very bizarre. But I just get messages on Facebook of people being like: "Can I take photos of you?" and I'm like: "Sure thing!". Although, sometimes I'm like actually - sometimes I'm like "Yes!" and then I'm like 'UGH' - I end up feeling really like... I get really puffy-faced in the morning and I'm just like "Ugh my face is so puffy I can't go to sleep. Leave me alone" But no I do enjoy it, it's fun but it's nothing serious. I'm not one of those who's going to be like "I'm going to go on my gap yeaaar and do modelling".



Do you have any upcoming projects?
Uhmm... I do! Well, modelling projects or like things like that... I'm meant to be going to Barcelona to shoot a video - which is very exciting - for this film. And then I'm probably going to be doing something with a photographer, Katie Silvester, for Lazy Oaf - which is very exciting. And then some stuff with Francesca Allen as well. But then also, at the same time, I've sort of neglected my photography a little bit so I feel like I'm doing a lot more of that and this summer I've taken loads of photos. So I've got loads of photos of my friends which I think is really nice. Yeah, I wanna photograph a lot more because I used to be like really obsessed with that and I feel like because of school ect. I haven't really done anything like that recently  so I really need to get back on that.









"...just show people, force people. Be like 'Read my blog. NOW!' No holding back!"





Would you have any advice for people who want to start a blog, or have something to say or something they want to share?

Absolutely! I think that, to have a blog - anyone can have a blog - but I think that the blogs I find interesting are blogs which... definitely have a different sort of vibe. They gotta have something which is kind of personal to them. The blogs that don't necessarily follow certain trends, which have their own thing going on. I think that... uhm I can't really talk because I'm bad at maintaining the same aesthetic but I think that if you can try and keep that same aesthetic going, that's really good, because I like people's blogs that have the same kind of vibe happening. Uhm... I think that - well for myself I think it's important for people to maybe show more than one thing? So, I think that style blogs, however interesting they are, I find blogs more interesting when they say "I went to this art gallery" or "I saw this film - it was really, really good" I like things which are linked together. So they like clothes from one thing, which links to a film or this music...



So a kind of variety?
Yeah, a variety of things which all kind of like link together. And I like that because when I read it, it's more kind of exciting! 

Also, if you wanna just get people to read your blog, just show people, force people. Be like "Read my blog. NOW!" no holding back!"


Make sure you check out 
Rachel's blog: Toby Knows


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