Now we're going to move onto, what I consider, to be a less commercial and more artistic photographer by the name of Kirsty Mitchell as her images, literally make me want to cry. They are so beautiful...
Kirsty Mitchell
Kirsty Mitchell's work all has an incredible amount of thought and feeling in it. For her, it is very clearly her way of expressing how she feels. You can see this clearly in her self-portrait collections such as one she calls...:
'Nocturne'
'Nocturne' is a beautiful collection but is so full of sadness and grief. Understanding what has brought the inspiration for these images, I find, really makes your heart sink when looking back at them.
Whilst that may sound like a reason not to look at these images, I find it so impressive that a 'staged' photograph can still bring those emotions out in a viewer. I find it is much easier to do this with snapshots of a sad situation but to bring it out in an artistic sense is much more challenging.
A lot of the images that are now in the 'Nocturne' collection on the website used to be under the heading of 'Le jardin de ma mere' which no longer seems to be a separate gallery but she is very open about what each image means to her and has this all in her blog or 'diary' which can be found here:
Considering the saddest of beginnings to a story, her project 'Wonderland' is one of the most beautiful collections of photographs I have ever seen in my life and if you haven't already seen it, or even if you have, I urge you to look at it now as it takes my very breath away whenever I look through these and I'm certain that whoever you are, you will love them...
The images that she has put together for this project have each had so much work put into them that they are very much each an outstanding piece of artwork in their own right. I find every single one a reason to love this woman's photography.
This is the first of Kirsty Mitchell's images that I ever came across which was part of the Wonderland project:
It's a beautiful image and something I also found particularly interesting about these shoots was actually her behind-the-scenes images as they demonstrate in many cases just quite how much thought has gone into everything she does... I sometimes find myself reading that she spent about two hours beading and painting a necklace that you don't even SEE in the image until you go back to look for it. It's crazy how much every detail is so meticulously and painstakingly put together and so deliberately!
Here she and the make-up artist, Elbie Van Eeden can be seen messing around under the skirt of this model. I like these images as well because I love that they evidently have a ton of fun on their shoots as well as putting all that hard work and effort in. :D
She has worked with Elbie throughout this project and does mention that she could not imagine having shared this whole experience with any other make-up artist. It becomes evident throughout her blog that Elbie has become of more and more importance to Kirsty as the project has gone on. She's a wicked make-up artist as well which helps. ;D
Elbie has even been the subject of one of the series' shots and happens to be one of my favoured images from Wonderland:
Kirsty often mentions that she enjoys that she has made close friends with both Elbie and one of the regular models, Katie Hardwick working on these projects which is a part of what makes them so special.
I know that, even though I love meeting and working with new people, I too freaking love working with Rach, Ceri, Kiera etc because it's so fulfilling achieving something with your friends. :)
I'm also lucky in the sense that all of my friends are just so bloody beautiful and talented!
Another one of my absolute favourite shots from Kirsty Mitchell is this one right here:
... and the behind the scenes shot of it!:
Kirsty Mitchell has so many beautiful images in her collection that to tell you of all my favourites and why would take hours and, frankly, if you're not already, you would soon get bored of reading all my 'rah rah rah, isn't she amazing?'...
And so here are a few more of my favourites but please visit her website and see the rest. You won't regret it...
(You may notice that most of my favourite images from Wonderland also contain the same model, Katie Hardwick, who is in most of the Wonderland series and is also bloody amazing...)
If you like what you've seen here today, here is the website where you can find more images and if you so wish, you can also read the diary entries that explain each image and Kirsty's hard work and inspiration...:
... and here is her Facebook page if you'd care to 'like' it!:
I hope you've enjoyed looking at the work of my favourite photographic artist.
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