Flamingo - Art, Craft & Culture - A photographic revival
“Photography is the exploration of fantasy and a creative outlet.”
Sigi Kolbe
The exploration of fantasy and her interesting view on reality draws you like a moth to a candle when you stand in front of one of Sigi’s works. The combination of colours, shapes, textures and a high dose of a magical atmosphere makes you frown in concentration, tilt your head at different angles, move a few centimetres away, move closer again and then stare in awe at what you have in front of you. It’s difficult to put her work into a specific category, as she photographs classical landscapes and portrait images, but feels equally at home in digital manipulation and surreal work. And all of it has a special element that firstly makes you wonder, “How was that done?” and then think, “Wow, what an interesting change to everyday life!”
“Photography has certainly taught me to see the world from an entirely new perspective and digital manipulations have allowed me incredible creative freedom. I certainly believe that reality leaves much to the imagination.”
Co-photographer and friend, Tony Figueira, explains Sigi’s photographic revival as follows: “Sigi starts off with a photograph, adding bit by bit, changing light and tones, clipping and converting, composing, getting ideas from ideas, and developing themes without knowing what the final outcome will be.”
The outcome is a fantastically successful photographic experiment. “I am drawn to colours and compositions and have found photography a useful aid in many of my works. I love black and white photography and I love photography with fabulous colours. I adore the combination of the two. I have combined photography with my paintings and drawings and have loved the interesting results that came from this marriage.”
Through her work as a painter, Sigi was introduced to photography many years ago but only recently decided to pursue it again after attending a workshop for amateur photographers with Tony. She calls the workshop a means to hone her digital camera skills and afterwards continued experimenting and shooting on her own. She is self-taught in Photoshop and uses this skill in most of her works, either to process, enhance or for digital manipulations that reflect that fantasy aspect. “Digital technology has changed the way you approach photography and with the computer as darkroom, the sky is no longer the limit.”
Sigi uses a Canon EOS 400D, a standard lens, two larger lenses (the biggest being a 300 mm lens) and home-made reflector boards. “That's it. I don't have a studio, lighting equipment or any of the other gadgets at the moment. I would dearly like to invest in a remote controller and some backdrops in the near future.” Sigi had her first photographic solo exhibition in October of 2009 at Studio 77 in Windhoek.
