This year I think I am definitely leaving a strong stamp on my photography portraits. I have spent quite a long time looking at the portraits of people I have taken so far and they just keep reminding me on a great time I had working with all these people. In my little library of faces that is still developing, and trying to find a place somewhere out there, I am finding something very recognizable to my character – if that makes any sense. I feel absolutely honored with the amount of trust and intimacy that my models are giving to me. For some models the final photograph is not just about looking beautiful in the end or however you want to call it… for some the whole process of preparing and participating in a photo shoot is more than that. They can release one very intimate and personal part of themselves, or just for a few moments they can be something that it is really hard to be in real life. Each of us has something inside ourselves that might be very strongly protected from the outside world. Most of the time I photograph people I have never met in my life and you have a very small amount of time to connect with them, make them relaxed and try to find out who they are. That can be a very hard job, most of the time if I work on personal portraits that is probably the most crucial factor that will make a portrait successful or not. Personally I am a very camera shy person, as for me that can be a very personal thing and if you don’t want to be someone else and transform into some other character I am not sure that I would like to show to the photographer what I really am. It might sound a bit dark, but what I am really trying to say is that I really admire all the people I worked with for the level of trust they gave me, looking straight inside them and them not being shy to tell me how they feel about it. There are few photographers that I truly admire for the level of quality in their work. Some portraits I’ve seen are truly a piece of art, going through them you feel you know so much about person, about their day, about their emotions that reflects through the wrinkles on their face or their eyes…Looking at them I see that I have a very long way ahead of me but at the same time it is something that makes me feel really excited and determined to reach that amount of quality and power in the final work.
Latest
Oxford Fashion Week
This year I covered few runway shows for Oxford Fashion Week. Some of the locations were absolutely beautiful and I was overwhelmed with the beauty of Oxford Examination Schools where one of the shows was happening. I think that the beauty of Oxford is well hidden behind the walls of universities and colleges. Events were covered with many interesting aspects…confident models, busy backstage areas, very strange music intro on Concept Show, many photographers and some really great great designs. When the lights went down, and the models appeared on the catwalk, all eyes and camera lenses were focused on them. Some of the shows were technically very challenging because of available light and I think that was the moment when all photographers started to work with each other. I actually enjoyed that part quite a lot. I was very pleased with the results in the end. I absolutely love dramatic looks, strange contrasts, uneven lighting and different angles. You have a very busy night aiming for the best result and you are completely in that. You almost forget to enjoy the other part of it, to observe details of the designs or the reactions of the public, your mind and your hands are completely focused on camera settings and available lighting. The next morning you sit in front of the computer looking at your work and then you smile. I smiled because I loved what I could see in front of me, and I smiled because of the fact that I do something I absolutely adore.
Tulip.
Sylvia Plath - Tulips
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"The tulips should be behind bars like dangerous animals;
They are opening like the mouth of some great African cat,
And I am aware of my heart: it opens and closes
Its bowl of red blooms out of sheer love of me.
The water I taste is warm and salt, like the sea,
And comes from a country far away as health."
Simplicity
I took photography of my Orchid today. I find it very elegant and beautiful.
Oxford City Singers – Christmas Concert
This concert definitely gave me Christmas feeling! Oxford City Singers were great and they made excellent atmosphere this Saturday! Events like this one always make me feel happy as I am one of the lucky ones that can turn hobby into a profession. I always have fun with my work and I genuinely enjoy in every event I am attending. Especially when you have bunch of cheerful people with little Christmas hats and beautiful voice.
Personality
Portraits are something that I am lately very interested to play with. I am trying to find my own way doing it through discovering something about the person I am taking photographs of. Intimacy of someone’s home, hobbies or emotional state are some of the things I am trying to concentrate on. When you get to know a person better you get an idea of how a portrait is going to look and how you can best reflect their personality, showing what they are. Unique. It is always interesting to photograph people, sometimes you get out of them something they were not aware of…you watch them seeing their own photograph, sometimes feeling like they are seeing someone else…I love to work with people, from the beginning when we try to get know each other, until last phase when they are looking at a result that we created together.
Autumn and Yosipa
Seems like autumn and Yosipa came at the same time. There was something very elegant, glam and quirky in this photo shoot. I had a lot of fun painting on her body and trying to make her comfortable laying on the ground among apples and leaves in not so warm a temperature. People always seem to see only the photograph and not trying to imagine what could happen behind the scenes.We had someone making glasses full of paint to create “magic potions”, we took some time to clear ground of old apples and dog poo, bringing furniture out together with books and tea cups…my dog trying to get out and jump on Yosipa who was covered with paint…yeap..pretty cool photo shoot. And fantastic photos in the end!
Lucie Eadon
This is Lucie. A wonderful person and passionate actress, living in her little paradise surrounded with a lot of love.
Lucie is simply magical. She has enormous energy for creativity and this photo shoot was a huge inspiration for me.
Chickens, dogs, broken glass, old ruin, air riffle and a pregnant woman was an entrance to another world of imagination.
Lucie, thank you.
