Good Chat: Katelyn Slyer

I always had a point and shoot on me. But for my twenty-first birthday, my parents gave me my first digital camera, an Olympus C-5060. When I had a camera, I could create what was in my head immediately, I think that's what really kind of hooked me. You could turn the screen around on the camera, before selfies were a thing. I started to shoot myself and friends in more of a conceptual way. We would create ideas together and then make them a reality.

It's so durable and light, I took it everywhere.





How does that compare to your go-to setup these days?

I’m currently using a Canon 5D Mark III with a 24–70mm lens. I’m pretty obsessed with this one. I've had about eight of them, it's like a second skin. They're getting harder and harder to service and maintain because they’re discontinued. I don't know what the next step is camera wise.

To be honest, I'm a bit of a technophobe, I feel threatened by change. I don't really want to upgrade. I like the chunkiness and the rawness it creates. But I am getting RSI from it. So I don't know.

I'm concerned about that because it takes a while for me to pick things up.





And you come from a photography family, right? Your dad was a photographer as well?

My Dad was a commercial photographer in Sydney. I grew up in Willoughby, we had a studio above our house that my Mum and Dad built, long before digital photography.

My sister and I were basically my dad’s guinea pigs. We’d sit and pose, while he set up the gear. We’d get to shake the polaroids. Some of my earliest memories are of us having to sit really still while he perfected the lighting and my sister blinking through all the flashes. He was a true artist in that respect, he made sure everything was on point. It was an art form to him. I’ve never been able to shoot like he does. I haven't got the patience.

It was really all about the lead-up with film photography. When he was shooting, that was the main focus. I predominantly shoot digital, more for instant gratification. I think that’s why I’ve stuck with it. He has the persistence and patience, and I would love some of that now. So I guess that’s the difference between our approaches.

Now that I've got some time on my hands and my Dad's gear, I'm going to have a play around with his Mamiya RB67 and his old Hasselblad 500. I’d love to get them looked over and make sure they are in good working condition. It's a bit sad that I’m clueless when it comes to these awesome cameras.

He used the Sinar, and occasionally the other two depending on what he was shooting. I’m sure he’s still got the Sinar with the polaroid back somewhere. He had a 5x4 and a 10x8.

I wanted to get them all checked out, so I lugged them from Wollongong to Sydney as I only know one guy who can fix them at Sydney Super 8. When I got there, he wasn't in for that week and I got despondent. So, I put it on the back burner and haven’t touched them. There’s only a few people left that are skilled in this practice that I’d trust. Those people that really know what they're doing they're kind of a dying breed.

I'm definitely in the self-taught department. I dropped out of school and went to art school instead. I really got into it by playing around. But I’m also a bit of a perfectionist and I don’t want to do things that I can’t master immediately. So, photography is the only thing I've stuck at, and that is because I'm compulsive.

A lot of it revolved around art and music because that’s where my interests lay. First it was the Youth Centre. A hive of underage adolescents would hang out, skateboard out the front, start bands. It was a place where kids could establish their autonomy. Every Thursday night different crews and subcultures would hang out depending on the bands playing.

Then as I got older the Oxford Tavern became our regular haunt. It was a dingy old pub with a great beer garden where people would smoke, drink and socialise. It’s now long gone but it was definitely the hub of the Wollongong arts and music community.

Everyone went there before social media, Facebook and MySpace, you’d blindly head out to the Oxford to see what was crackin’. It was how you connected with people. It was chaotic. Very chaotic.

I was a bit of a social butterfly, but I mainly stuck to my crew. Lots of social misfits and punks. I was very much in a bubble and that’s who and what I shot.

Now when I'm shooting, I'm thinking more holistically. I try to consider not just shooting people, but also thinking about the room that they're in, the storyline and the small details. Now I'm trying to create a whole picture. Whereas back then I was just showing snippets, lots of pouts n poses. I was censoring myself and my subjects because there was lots of chaotic stuff going on behind the scenes. It was either romanticised or glorified, but it wasn't really shown as an authentic version of what was happening at that time. I want to make sure that people get the right idea of what it was like, but it's a little hard to do that when the subjects are close to you.





It certainly shows! There's an image you shot which reminds me of a Renie Ellis photo [above].

The minute I took it I thought, geez, that reminds me of a Renie Ellis. I entered it into the Australian Life photography competition, and it won people’s choice. I was chuffed.

Mary Ellen Mark, a gritty documentary photographer. Loved her work. Ellen von Unworth and David Le Chapelle for their highkey vibe, different to my style but definitely influenced my earlier work. Also, Sydney-based photographer Mark Dundas, he was shooting pictures around Newtown area where I grew up. He wasn't a well-known photographer, but I really aspired to shoot like him. I never met him. Well, actually I did briefly. I met him when he shot my friends. I tried to hunt down the photos but I found out later that he passed and I imagine his archive would be pretty special.

I always take inspiration from what’s around me. But magazines like The Face, Drum Media and Rolling stone mag. I had posters all over my walls like most teenage kids. I would rip out magazine pictures and stick them everywhere.

It’s funny how print can shape your vision so easily. The editor decides what poster goes on your wall, and that can change the whole trajectory.

I never thought of it like that. That blow’s my mind!

Oh, and art shows, I went to the art gallery with my dad. The Stills Gallery in Sydney was a big deal back in the day. Dad took me there to share my portfolio when I was really young, “does my daughter have any promise? Is she any good?” It was kind of cute. They gave me a pat on the back and sent me on my way. My dad said, “If you want to aspire to be a good photographer, you get your work into the Stills Gallery.” And then the Stills Gallery closed when I had built up my portfolio to a place where I was happy.

An 80’s punk band called the Disrupters at The 12 Bar in London, 2007. It was just messy. It was the messiest thing I've ever been to. It was just filthy, loud, and fun. All the squat kids hanging off the rafters and everyone squished into a tiny space. I don’t really feel that kinda freedom anymore at shows, unless they are outdoor gigs or overseas shows. You can kind of still smell the stale beer and cigarettes when you sift through the photos.





You can feel the broken glass crunching under your feet. Were you shooting that night?

I took photos, but they were nothing to write home about. I was too busy having fun. I know my mate took some pics that are still circulating but I was very ‘in the moment’. When I'm at a show specifically to shoot, I'm usually hyper focused on the subject and become more of a fly on the wall rather than a participating member of the audience.

Exactly. I was very extroverted as a teen, but as I got older I became much more introverted. Now when I go out, I don’t dress to impress, I want to look like part of the furniture, unnoticed and uninterrupted. I want people to underestimate me and forget I’m there so I can be like a maggot crawling around on the floor, stage, up the walls and in people’s faces.

It is! I've got to be honest when I say those things because not many people will be honest about why or how they do things. I am annoying, there's something in me that likes to be a little antagonistic. I think that helps me with photography.





Have you ever found yourself reaching for a longer lens?

Never. It doesn't give me that buzz. It’s not personal whereas I like to push boundaries. I like to see how close I can get into people's personal space before they react. It doesn't mean I'm like that all the time. It just means that I’m okay pushing past people's boundaries.

I had one recently when I was shooting the Chimers' American tour. I got too close to some guy who was off his face. Because I'm used to working with people who know me I didn’t consider adapting my approach. This was a new place with new people who didn't know me, and I was acting the same as I do back home.

I got in his face and he didn't take it too well. He came back at me, smacking my butt, grinding on me, trying to make a point that you can't invade people’s space like that. Whilst his behaviour was gross and people around me were checking I was ok I was like "Mate, that's nothing compared to what it was like in the 90s."

You notice the crowds are way more respectful and caring and considerate these days. I guess the progression of my art has changed because of the political climate and the way people perceive what's acceptable and what's not.

I have never considered myself rebellious, I was a sad girl, but I found family in a tribe of rebels and free thinkers and I liked the way they challenged me.

As far as meaningful documentation goes it’s always been about archiving the world around me, making a record of my life and my bubble. I consider myself an old soul, a collector of memories almost to the point of hoarderism. But now I think about it in terms of leaving it to my child, it was old photos of my family and ancestors that drew me into photography in the first place and I’d like to be able to pass those treasures down to my son. I guess I’d say that hasn’t changed, only expanded to include the new addition to the bloodline.

I had Sunny during Covid. So it didn't really impact going out and living my best life at the time because nobody else was either. I was happy in my lane chilling. I got to live at my parents' beautiful farm and raise him for a couple of years and so I was mostly shooting him.

Where the lens has definitely shifted comes down to my environment. Parenthood puts limitations on the kind of shows I can go to, who I’m able to surround myself with and how often. There are a lot more day shows and kids in the frame these days. Before Sunny, I would’ve prioritised shooting a drug fuelled party with a gritty aesthetic over a political protest but now it’s the other way around. Having a child has given me a deeper interest in the world outside my little bubble.

I have actually slowed down since he started to be aware of the camera. I've kind of gotten over it a bit because it's more contrived. He's playing up to it, pulling silly faces. So, I'm reading the room. That's his way of going “back off, mum.”

It is, isn't it? But I'll slow down for a while and then pick it up when he's ready for me to document the dorky teenage years.

Yeah, because there are so many rules for shooting gigs at venues these days. The "three song rule" means photographers are only allowed to shoot for the first three songs of the set from a designated area. So all of us are squished together in a cesspool trying to get a unique shot. It's just sad. I understand there are reasons the rules were put in place, but what's the point of being there if you can't do what you set out to do properly? I notice that a lot now that because something bad has happened to someone they make all these rules and then everything just gets so controlled. Nothing's fun anymore.





Is that why you went to Chopped?

I went to Chopped to do something different. I shot the Blamers, whom I met through the Australian Life image as they happened to be the subject. I didn’t know them when I took the pic, but we have become good mates since and it was a good experience for me.

I knew I could take Sunny with me, which was crazy, doing a solo mission interstate to a festival with a 3 year old while you try to shoot bands and burnouts. But it worked well. He’s adaptable.

No, I heard all about it. That's what I mean. I think I'm getting the tame version of everything and everyone's like, "Oh, that was crazy." And I'm like, "Really? Really? Were we at the same thing?"

[laughs] 120%. But even that would have been tame to people back in the 80s, you know. It's all just tame at the moment. Very tame. Politics is not tame and everything else is really tame.





I want to talk about intimacy and trust. Do you have any tips for building connection with a subject?

I’m not sure I can help with that, I feel like building connections is my superpower rather than a skill I’m conscious of. I love match making and it kind of comes easy for me. I like making people feel comfortable within themselves. When I connect with someone and I get a little glimpse of their soul, that's the buzz as well.

I don’t talk much, I’m finding common ground. I've been shooting the kids at the skate park recently. I used to go to that same skate park. It's where I first met my husband. I don't know many places where that happens, where you kind of have different generations all in one space hanging out. So I like that opportunity to connect with them.

I enjoy taking photos of those teens because it gives me nostalgia and I can relive my past a little bit through those photos. I would go on skate missions when I was 17 or 18 and shoot my friends and now I’m currently shooting their kids around the same age. It’s intergenerational. Now I’m shooting my kid skating there. And the light is great!

Being able to capture someone's soul, when the mask has been taken down. Eyes are very important in a portrait for me personally because I feel like that's the window to your soul.





Tell us about this photo [above]. There’s a realness to it.

That was the realest image I've ever shot. That's my husband, his brother, and his grandmother Gigi. It was during covid, they took her home to pass, that was the moment just before. Seeing someone die is really hard and immortalising it is harder.

Life, death, love, everything is connected. And I'm trying as I get older to show that rather than just showing pretty pictures.