On a warm summer evening on the North Shore, one cool word staff photographer (and contributor to ocw's Spring 2008 issue) Kat Arnett sips a much-needed coffee as she explains how she landed in her profession

“[Photography is] something I couldn’t imagine not doing,” enthuses Arnett. “I feel so much better with a camera in my hand. Some people can play instruments all day; I could take photos all day.”

Arnett is a student in the Langara College photography program, and has been gripped by photography fever since receiving her first point-and-shoot camera at age four during Expo ’86. Arnett fondly recalls how the colourful streaks of her overexposed, blurry Expo photos fascinated her, igniting a passion that hasn’t died down, thanks to ample backing from her photo-hobbyist parents.

After an inspiring trip to Europe as a 16-year-old exchange student, Arnett eagerly signed up for photography class at Robert Bateman Secondary in Abbotsford. Entrusted with her father’s heavy steel Nikon F-series camera – considered a rare relic in photography circles – Arnett was on her way as a photographic chronicler of the world around her.

Arnett doesn’t shy away from the suggestion that constantly looking at the world through a camera lens can renders her a perpetual observer rather than a participator.

“I’m kind of okay with it,” she says. “When I’m at events like the one cool word release parties, if I have my camera, I’m interacting in my own way. There’s a lack of social pressure –- I’m not as nervous.”
Arnett goes as far as to say that her photographic tendencies have bifurcated her personality, with her camera acting as a sort of social safety net.

“I feel like there are two parts of myself. There’s the me as a photographer, when I feel happy and confident. When I’m not a photographer, like many artists, I start to feel insecure, and have lots of hang-ups. I feel like I’m an observer anyways, but if I have my camera, I’m doing it for a purpose.”

The dream job

Commercial photography is what Arnett strives to be a part of, and one of the photographers she most admires is Annie Liebovitz. Since age 13, Arnett has fostered a dream to work for Rolling Stone, shooting celebrity editorials.

Arnett is careful to make a clear distinction between the artistic photo shoots seen in publications such as Vanity Fair and the photos that appear in supermarket tabloids that fuel society’s increasingly disturbing obsession with celebrity. She feels “sick” that paparazzi photography is considered a part of her profession.

“When you’re doing celebrity editorials, there’s full participation; it’s not an invasion of privacy. The stars want that publicity.” It is the opportunity to work with the unique personalities of talented artists, and not the glitzy-sleazy Hollywood façade, that excites Arnett about celebrity editorial work.

“I love photographing people – trying to capture and bring out people’s personalities. That’s what I want to do.”

Photojournalism and the changing industry

While her ultimate goal may be portraiture, that aspect of Arnett’s photographic repertoire is currently on the backburner. Arnett’s main photography day job is as a photojournalist for the Maple Ridge Times. She is intrigued by the rigours and challenges of photojournalism, even if it isn’t exactly what she sees herself doing.

“There are photojournalists who cover amazing stories, they’re passionate and they put themselves at risk,” Arnett says. “Their work is so important, but it’s undervalued… there are so many stories that need to be told, but no one is paying attention.”

As a result of her work with news outlets, Arnett has viewed the changes in the industry with much trepidation, believing that the problem goes beyond the Internet replacing print.

“Part of me is really nostalgic about the traditional newspaper industry. I’d love to be able to live in that day, but sadly, it’s dead,” says Arnett.

“The newspaper industry doesn’t seem to understand that it’s not just the internet that’s killing them – it’s the fact that our generation has no faith in media. I don’t think we’re apathetic, I think we don’t know who to trust. This generation is very intelligent, and we do care, but we don’t know how to fully use our power yet.”

How does Arnett see the future of media shaping up?

“I’m a huge believer in the first person story,” she says. “We need to be able to trust news again, and in order to do that we need to get it from the source. We need to find a way to produce and share these viewpoints.”

Arnett believes that the explosion of the blogging phenomenon is playing an important part in the changes.

“Blogs have a great power behind them –- they show that people want that person-to-person connection, as opposed to just a robotic screen telling them what to believe.”

Photography in the film industry

One of Arnett’s many current projects is her work for her friend Maran’s film. Arnett enjoys the opportunity to work in close association with a talented director.

“I didn’t know photographers had a place on a film set,” says Arnett.

“When my friend suggested I shoot stills for his film, I thought, ‘that’s a job?’”

Arnett is currently in the midst of pre-production on the set of her friend Eric Maran’s film Fragile, a short about black market human organ trafficking, where she will work as the stills photographer.

“As a stills photographer, you want to make sure you’re capturing the vision of a director,” Arnett explains. “The photos must be in the director’s style, not yours as a photographer. You want to make the director look good – it’s all about their end product.”

Despite the excitement of being part of a film, Arnett sees the limitations as a photographer.

“You get gorgeous sets, perfect lighting, and amazing actors who emote for the camera. But, [the film crew] did that work; it’s been done for you. As someone who wants to create, I want to be able execute my own vision.”

Surviving in a creative field in Canada

Working with Maran, Arnett has seen first-hand the difficulty of being an artist in Canada.

“Arts in Canada are so under-funded,” she laments. “I admire anybody that has the determination to stick with something for so long that is so vastly difficult.”

For her own craft, Arnett has long since accepted that she will eventually have to leave Vancouver in order to pursue her ultimate career goals.

“There are a lot of extremely talented and artistic people in Vancouver, but there isn’t a lot of structure. For me, I know I have to leave to get my dream job at a magazine. There just isn’t the base of people – advertisers, graphic designers, everything – right now.”

Despite the current lack of opportunities, Arnett sees a ray of hope in the massive changes in communications being brought about by the Internet and technological advances.

“With the industry going through such changes, who knows, things could change here. I think we’re on the precipice of a huge revolution in the publishing industry.”

The digital revolution

Alongside the publishing industry’s transformation, photography itself is experiencing a complete overhaul in the face of the digital revolution.
Like music fanatics who cling to the physicality of their vinyl and CDs in favour of the now-ubiquitous iPods, Arnett feels a strong attachment to the total experience of film photography and processing.

“For a long time, I was a strong ‘film til I die’ person,” admits Arnett.

“I totally relate to the nostalgia of film. There’s nothing like being so involved in the process and not being sure how your photos are going to turn out - the suspense, the smells, the tactile nature of it.”

While Arnett was at first reluctant to switch to digital, she eventually conceded that she had to adapt to remain viable.

“I did make the switch eventually, because the industry was going that way, and monetarily, I couldn’t afford film at the rate I was shooting. Plus, nowadays, being conscious of the environment, knowing the chemicals and waste involved in film – I’m glad for digital in that way.”

Still, Arnett feels a twinge of regret at the virtual takeover of this convenient medium. She feels that digital cameras have allowed photographers to skip crucial steps in the understanding of photographic technique.

“I think we’ve lost something with digital photography,” Arnett says.

“Photographers who are starting out today, without knowing film, don’t seem to value the learning process in the same way. With film, you have to really understand the concepts, or it risks ruining your photo. With digital, if you mess up you can adjust right away…Photography has become a little disposable.”

Arnett sees this disposability in the popularity of online photo-sharing sites like Flickr.

“It’s great that people are passionate about photography, but people don’t realize that there are so many years of work behind being a professional photographer – research, networking, and the business side of it,” she points out. “It’s so much bigger than being good on Flickr. That makes you someone who can take good pictures, but it doesn’t make you a photographer.”

Although Arnett admires the work of lo-fi photographers who revel in the nostalgic snapshot look produced by Polaroid and Lomographic cameras, she doesn’t see herself joining in with that style of artistic photography, preferring the control afforded by her high-tech camera.

“I know that I’m bent towards commercial photography. I have to do what’s organic for me –- people will know if you’re faking it.”

“Being negative is worse than being naive”

Despite being surrounded by the daunting uncertainty of an industry in flux, Arnett likes to believe that the future of the publishing industry, and her profession, is going in a positive direction.

“You need to try and keep an open mind, even though it’s scary…I have a lot of sleepless night nights thinking about how communication is changing. I don’t know if I’m going to be at the head of the battleship, but I want to help steer it.”

Whether she is speaking about the imminent (or, some would argue, already ongoing) revolution in publishing, or her own future as a photographer, Arnett’s hopefulness is invigorating in a bitterly cynical age.

“The idealism hasn’t been beaten out of me. I’m very hopeful, or naïve, as my friends say,” laughs Arnett. “But I think being negative is worse than being naïve – you need to have that hope bubble, or it will all fall apart.”

For someone who claims to get enraptured by details as she documents the world with her camera in hand, Kat Arnett appears to have a fairly healthy view of the bigger picture.