Frida Gustavsson by Daniel Sannwald for POP S/S 2012

Loving this POP editorial by Daniel Sannwald. Gorgeous '50s feel and trendy candy-colour scheme.

Angela Carter

(12 August 2011... the last time I blogged. I do apologise! On a further note however, it is one of my new year's resolutions to blog at least 3 times a week!)



Over the Christmas holidays I lovingly purchased 4 Angela Carter novels in the hope that by reading them, they will fuel my imagination. Back in the day, fairytales were used and known to force morals into the minds of young children. These are not the kind of fairytales Carter writes however, she creates stories which explore male sexual desires, articulates feminist ideas and subverts the traditional roles of fairytale women. I'm not interested, however, in her perspectives on politics, society and aesthetics, and her attempts to redefine the fairy tale blah blah blahhhhhhhhhh. As interesting as it is, I have to say, I'm more interested in the mystical worlds she creates and her magical characters and objects which fittingly blend in with the real world. She is my muse when thinking of new ideas for my next shoots. Her words never fail to conjure enchanting images in my mind. After reading an Angela Carter novel, I like to play on the juxtaposition of the real and the fantastic to create strange, beautiful and liminal worlds in my images.

I don't want to photograph realism. Realism is boring to me. I want to photograph things which do not exist and belong to another world or another era. This is also leads me to my other muse of the 1920s - 1950s. I don't want to photograph the modern world because, quite frankly, I'm not inspired by the modern world. I prefer the world we have left behind. The world which no longer exists. Looking back at vintage photographs, I am captivated by the pure elegance and romance which emanates from them.

Publications

This month my work has been published in a few magazines :)

Reverie Magazine issue 3, my 'Retro Summer series'.

Reverie is a both online and print independent magazine recently started up.

I was then published in Reverie's next issue, 4, one of my images also made it to the front cover in the Fashion Fantasy part 1 mag :)

Cupcake Mag issue 6: I was asked to do the front cover of Cupcake's next issue. Bear in mind I took the front cover shot 2 days after I returned from my gap year in Australia (with severe jet lag... it went quite well!

Cupcake* Magazine is a collection of pretty things from all over the world.

Lastly, I was published in Vintage Life magazine, sold in most news agents and WHSmith. Also shot the front cover shot :)

Vintage Life Magazine is a specific retro and vintage publication showcasing everything you need to know about vintage life!

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I fell asleep amid the flowers...

So the shoot with Amber Scarlett went well! We decided on the beautiful model Alex from Milk Model Management to help us create the images!

The sun had his hat on thank god (maybe a bit too much sun though, lighting-wise!) and we spent a lovely few hours creating pictures. Only downside: I had to walk around London with a giant rose! The images will be published... not sure which magazine just yet, have a few which are interested in them :) So here's a cheaky little sneak peak:

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New camera!

Okay. That's it, I'm converting to film. I've had enough of digital! It's boooooooooring and missing that special something 35mm cameras have.

Soooooooooooooooooo, I bought the amazing Canon Ae-1. I wanted the A-1, but hey, I couldn't afford it. So I settled for the Ae-1 with a 50mm 1.2 lens. Altogether £60. Not bad, not bad.

Developed my first roll from this camera today - love it!

I first got into analogue photography back in 6th form where we explored the dark room. I immediately took a liking to it. I love the fact that you never quite know exactly how the pictures are going to come out. Yeah, it's more expensive to work with film cameras, but I really think it's worth it. I think you probably save money in a way because you don't have to pay thousands of pounds on digital camera equipment!



My first film camera was my Dads' (Dad in the image above with my mum). It was an Olympus OM-10, I still have it. It was his favourite camera and he used it to take all our childhood and travelling pictures, so it's definitely very sentimental to me :) It may just be an automatic, but it really is a special camera. It has brilliant colour and quality for a camera considered as compact.

But obviously, I needed to buy a professional film camera. And that's where the Canon Ae-1 came in. It really is a great little camera. Okay it's not little, it's pretty mahooosive actually. The exposure meter works like a charm, the 1.2 lens obviously allows a lot of light through, and overall it gives quite a soft effect which is really what I'm after.

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Worst blogger ever = ME

I can't believe I am THIS bad at blogging. I shouldn't be allowed to have one!

Right, have been published in two online magazines in the past couple of weeks.

Reverie Issue 3 and the new Cupcake issue

My work is also going to appear in the next Reverie issue and on the the front cover of Vintage Life magazine. Waaahoo!!

Also planning a floral and romantic shoot with Amber Scarlett the lovely and talented make up artist this weekend. Looking forward to it! It's set in a beautiful flower garden - definitely my cup of tea!

Oh, My Ophelia

Just came across this Korean Vogue editorial from 2007 - can't believe I've never seen it before. It's so.... enchanting and haunting.











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