Alison Scarpulla

One of my favourite artists on flickr is Alison Scarpulla. Her photographs are captivating, mysterious and incredibly unique. They are like stills from a hazy dream or nightmare.

See more of her work here

William Eggleston

I would love to develop an eye for colour like William Eggleston.

Bruce Davidson

I find documentary photography most interesting when the photos are from a long time ago. The images below are by documentary photographer Bruce Davidson, who followed a Brooklyn gang around in the 1950s, documenting their lives. Most photographs of the 1950s that i've seen have been very polished, stylised and constructed. Davidson's images feel a lot more gritty, real and candid. They capture delicate and personal moments of youth culture in 1950s America.

Beauty Shoot

I've recently been shooting for a mock cosmetics advert. I worked with a make-up artist (Alexandrea Martin) on a shoot for the first time, and she created a gorgeous look. It was great to have the pressure taken off me to do the make-up as well. I have, however, been finding shooting beauty images quite challenging. I didn't realise the level of perfection they have to have before i began shooting. Here are some of the photographs from the shoot, which still need some work on. 

Tim Walker's Inspiration

I watched Badlands (1973) the other day and was interested to see how it clearly inspired one of my favourite photographer, Tim Walker's photographs:

Tim Walker

Badlands (1973)

The film is based on Holly, a young girl living in a rural American town who falls in love with the rebellious, and older, Kit. Together, they run away and go on a killing spree across America. Their adventures are innocently narrated by Holly, which creates an interesting contrast to the ruthless killings. I think the film is beautifully shot and has some lovely imagery:

Series of 6 images

Here are my final 6 photographs from a university project that i recently gave in. My project was based on 1960s fashion and the final images are about a young girl who skips class to go to the fun fair. I shot the series of images as a mock fashion editorial for Lula Magazine.

Justine Kurland

I had a look at Justine Kurland's work today and loved it. Her images are of young, adolescent girls involved in mysterious and ambiguous narratives. Although the photographs are often set in beautiful lanscapes, each image has a dark and sinister undertone. The viewer is unsure whether the bodies that lie sprawled across the landscape are dead or just involved in a childhood game. Kurland's work reminds me very much of the film Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), in which a group of girls mysteriously go missing on a school trip to the countryside (see images below).

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975):

Summer Snapshots

Here are a few vernacular photographs I've found on the internet with that Summer atmosphere that i miss.

Lula Magazine Spread

I received a brief recently to produce a double page magazine spread for a publication of my choice. I chose the fashion magazine Lula as I adore its feminine, nostalgic and whimsical style. The magazine often features editorials that reference past styles, so I chose to do a 60s influenced shoot. I wanted to draw upon the magazine's playful quality and so set the shoot in a sea-front arcade. I'm pretty pleased with the images from the shoot, I love the bright colours and kitsch, retro feel. 

Alex Prager

One of my favourite photographer at the moment is L.A. based art photographer Alex Prager. Her cinematic images portray a strange world in which wig-wearing, heavily made-up characters star in scenarios with dark and mysterious undertones. I love how she constantly references the 50s and 60s in the choice of styling, and also in the aesthetic look of her photographs which often resemble Hitchcock stills. According to Prager, one of the reasons for this referencing of the past is because she believes the 60s and 70s have more aesthetically interesting and beautiful elements, particularly colour. For me, colour is one of the most striking elements of Prager's work. Influenced by Richard Billingham, her work uses an almost childlike colour palette of intense reds, blues and greens, creating an interesting contrast to the darker themes of danger and death.

Sunset

I went down to the beach at the weekend to photograph the sunset. I wanted to reinforce the tranquil atmosphere so used a slow shutter speed which softly blurred the water. Although landscapes definitely aren't my strongest genre of photography, I find photographing them very relaxing in comparison to fashion, and am fairly happy with how these images turned out. 

The Little Sea Maid

"They had splendid voices, more charming than any mortal could have; and when a storm was approaching, so that they could apprehend that ships would go down, they swam on before the ships and sang lovely songs, which told how beautiful it was at the bottom of the sea, and exhorted the sailors not to be afraid to come down. But these could not understand the words, and thought it was the storm sighing; and they did not see the splendors below, for if the ships sank they were drowned, and came as corpses to the Sea-king’s palace." 

The Little Sea Maid by Hans Christian Andersen

Cecile Bortoletti

Wayne Levin