Ailera Stone
Ailera Stone is a 22 year old London-based photographer from Lithuania. She first started photography when she was 15 where she signed up on DeviantArt which is the largest online social network for people who love art, it is a website that aspiring artists can use as a platform to promote their work. Ailera Stone was inspired by the artists on DeviantArt to create her own work. Initially, when she first started taking pictures, she focused on portraits and conceptual images, only in 2010 did she gain an interest in fashion photography. Her work has been in publications such as, Coco magazine, Glacier magazine, Atlas magazine and many more. Her images are extremely colourful and has an ethereal atmosphere surrounding it, quite similar to Jingna Zhang's work, another artist that I have been looking at, but a big difference between them is that Ailera Stone tends to tell a story through her images, there seems to be an underlying theme of this within her work and that is was inspired me for my first shoot.
What I like most about her work is the way she edits her photographs, they are extremely filtered which reminds me of a scene from a fairytale. Her style of editing changes depending on the images themselves, for example, her project 'I cried a river over you' is quite bright and lively, the editing reminding me of Instagram filters with the multiple colours, compared to 'Moonlight poison' where it is quite dark and ominous which gives off a completely different feeling to the former. In my opinion her style of editing is what makes her photography unique.
What I like most about her work is the way she edits her photographs, they are extremely filtered which reminds me of a scene from a fairytale. Her style of editing changes depending on the images themselves, for example, her project 'I cried a river over you' is quite bright and lively, the editing reminding me of Instagram filters with the multiple colours, compared to 'Moonlight poison' where it is quite dark and ominous which gives off a completely different feeling to the former. In my opinion her style of editing is what makes her photography unique.
The setting and props used in the image on the left creates a fairy-tale like image, especially with the forest setting and the use of smoke in the photo. Furthermore, it has a mysterious atmosphere surrounding it, almost witch-craft like due to the similar looking models and their facial expressions are blank also, the flower crown accessories further adds to the witch feeling since it's almost like they are one with nature with the flowers and the fact that they are surrounded by nature.
The image itself has a warm saturation which makes the viewer feel like the photograph was taken in autumn and it makes them wonder what the story behind the image is, it makes them ask questions such as why they are in a forest and what are they planning to do with the basket of flowers. This is what I want to take forward into my own work, trying to tell a story through the images. |
Jingna Zhang
Zhang Jingna is a photographer based in New York that focuses on beauty, fashion and fine art who was born in Beijing and moved to Singapore at the age of 8. She started focusing full time on photography when she dropped out of art school and by 20, had worked with Mercedes Benz and Ogilvy, Harper’s Bazaar Singapore and Mather Taiwan. She was awarded Photographer of the Year at Elle Awards and has many personal projects.
Her fashion photography and her personal project – Motherland Chronicles, is what drew me towards her work. Looking at her fashion photography, she seems to work with a lot of nature, flowers in particular and she seems to have an obsession with wind in her pictures as her models always have flowing hair. I love her use of the wind as it adds movement to the images which helps to give life to the images.
Her personal project, Motherland Chronicles, has a very ethereal feeling towards it and is very fairy-tail like. These photos compared to her fashion photography images, have very different atmospheres, her personal project has a very dark feel towards it and the image themselves are quite dramatic and dark in colour whereas her work with the magazines are the opposite, the use of flowers give the photos are calming atmosphere and make the images look bright. These projects gives off almost opposite atmospheres and this was achieved by her use of background colours and makeup styles.
Zhang Jingna a photographer that is my main inspiration for my personal investigation due to her use of colours in fashion.
Her fashion photography and her personal project – Motherland Chronicles, is what drew me towards her work. Looking at her fashion photography, she seems to work with a lot of nature, flowers in particular and she seems to have an obsession with wind in her pictures as her models always have flowing hair. I love her use of the wind as it adds movement to the images which helps to give life to the images.
Her personal project, Motherland Chronicles, has a very ethereal feeling towards it and is very fairy-tail like. These photos compared to her fashion photography images, have very different atmospheres, her personal project has a very dark feel towards it and the image themselves are quite dramatic and dark in colour whereas her work with the magazines are the opposite, the use of flowers give the photos are calming atmosphere and make the images look bright. These projects gives off almost opposite atmospheres and this was achieved by her use of background colours and makeup styles.
Zhang Jingna a photographer that is my main inspiration for my personal investigation due to her use of colours in fashion.
Jingna Zhang's work expresses femininity through the use of flowers and elegant clothing and this can be seen throughout her work and the image on the right. The dark background against the model's complexion helps to draw the viewers attention towards her face, which has a very seductive expression, this contrasts against the delicacy of her clothes and the flower she is holding.
Within the image, there is a lot of neutral tones such as the background, the clothes and the model's makeup with the exception of the dark red lipstick, this draws the viewers attention to the lips and flower as it is the brightest objects of the photograph. Just be looking at the image, you can tell that it was shot professionally due to the lighting, the background and the slight movement of the model's hair indicates that there is some sort of breeze or fan, if it was shot in the studio, used. I really like Jingna Zhang's work and I wanted to bring forth a lot of her techniques into my own work such as her use of flowers, elegant clothing and fan to add some movement to her work. |
Nicholas Goodden
Nicholas Goodden is a writer and photographer based in London who works for global brands, creating visual content. The content that he produces include looping micro-video, light painting, 360 degrees photography and urban photography. I like his light painting and urban photography in particular and I feel like it ties in with my theme really well. I can use his work as inspiration to create my own series with fashion. I mainly like his use of bright colours in his light paintings and graffiti photography as it gives the pictures almost a fantasy-like feeling with his editing style. His use of colour is what pulled me to using him as inspiration for my work since my personal investigation is based on fashion and colour, I can use his work as inspiration for the colour side of my theme and eventually incorporate fashion.
Kenneth Lam
Kenneth Lam is a photographer from Hong Kong that is based in London that focuses on mainly fashion photography. He studied fashion photography in the London College of Fashion where he was able to gain skills that led him to the success he has today, he currently works with multiple big companies such as Harvey Nichols, Harper's Bazaar, GQ and many more. Other than fashion, Kenneth Lam has projects that are personal to him such as "The Lam family: GROWING UP ISSUE 1" I like this particular project because it is something that is a part of his life and from this, you can get a look into his family life.
Looking at his work, he does not have a particular style that is consistent throughout his work, some of his editorials look quite vintage and and some are brightly lit that are clearly photographed in a studio. One editorial that I have taken a liking to is "White as rice", the aim of this project is to 'question one's belonging with the colour white in fashion and the colour white in heritage and culture'. I liked the simplicity of the shoot, the model is wearing white clothes and the background is quite plain so the focus is all on the model. I wanted to use this publication as inspiration for my own shoot based on the colour red.
Looking at his work, he does not have a particular style that is consistent throughout his work, some of his editorials look quite vintage and and some are brightly lit that are clearly photographed in a studio. One editorial that I have taken a liking to is "White as rice", the aim of this project is to 'question one's belonging with the colour white in fashion and the colour white in heritage and culture'. I liked the simplicity of the shoot, the model is wearing white clothes and the background is quite plain so the focus is all on the model. I wanted to use this publication as inspiration for my own shoot based on the colour red.
Terry Richardson
Terry Richardson is an American fashion photographer who has worked with very influential companies such as Marc Jacobs, Supreme, Aldo and more. He has been successful for many years now and with the fame, came some judgements. Since his work consists of images with explicit undertones, he has been accused of using his influence to pressure his models into doing sexual behaviours and poses they were uncomfortable with, some of the accusations go as far as engaging in acts with the photographer himself. Despite this, he still is one of the most influential photographers in the industry.
His work is quite simplistic with the models being the main focus of the photograph, he uses a plain white background to bring all the attention to his model, his images are quite controversial and explicit as they involves nudity and sexually suggestive ideas such as the 1st and last photo above. His work revolves around this repetitive theme of celebrity and sexual innuendos with the plain white background.
What I like most about his work is that the photograph is just of his model and nothing else, the use of the white background and effortless the outcome of his work is, the plain background forces the viewers to look at the model and fashion style. Another thing I like about his work is the fact that he does not care on how controversial his images are and despite the accusations he still continues to do what he likes.
If I were to use his work as inspiration I would steer the outcome of the images away from the suggestive ideas that Terry Richardson does and more towards my theme, fashion and colour, so I would use his layout to create my own images.
His work is quite simplistic with the models being the main focus of the photograph, he uses a plain white background to bring all the attention to his model, his images are quite controversial and explicit as they involves nudity and sexually suggestive ideas such as the 1st and last photo above. His work revolves around this repetitive theme of celebrity and sexual innuendos with the plain white background.
What I like most about his work is that the photograph is just of his model and nothing else, the use of the white background and effortless the outcome of his work is, the plain background forces the viewers to look at the model and fashion style. Another thing I like about his work is the fact that he does not care on how controversial his images are and despite the accusations he still continues to do what he likes.
If I were to use his work as inspiration I would steer the outcome of the images away from the suggestive ideas that Terry Richardson does and more towards my theme, fashion and colour, so I would use his layout to create my own images.