Frozen Ukrainian Bride
Thursday, December 30, 2010 at 8:41PM
Yesterday the rather chameleonic Yume Ninja came over to my humble abode for a quick shoot and some damn good food. Although based in Los Angeles, Yume and her partner are visiting the UK over the Christmas season. We had planned to shoot more, including teaming up with Sohui, however snow and fail had left poor Sohui stuck at a bus stop twiddling her thumbs.
I have, for some time, been very interested in the work of Paolo Roversi, particularly when in combination with the genius of John Galliano. Working predominantly with polaroid film, natural lighting and a technique of using long exposures with Mag-Lite flashlights to pick out his subjects creates a otherworldly effect that has become his trademark. Roversi is particularly inspiring when considering his popularity within the fashion industry; although a very traditional and artistic photographer, he has worked with the most "fabulous" names within the "fiercest" magazines. It fills me with joy to see work such as his, and similar photographers, rather than those concerned purely with modernity.
In order to obtain a similar, surreal effect using digital photography, I used a lensbaby composer on my 5D MkII. The lensbaby allows the photographer to select a particular point of focus and blur other points, which is great for this kind of style and experimentation. Yume styled herself, and did her own fantastic makeup; which was all inspired by John Galliano's Frozen Ukrainian Brides, which has to be one of my most adored collections ever..
I do love feedback on my work, so feel free to leave a comment!
Reader Comments (9)
Wow!
I'm so sad I couldn't be a part of this!
The images look amazing :)!!
x
Ooooh I have epic amounts of love for these, I love the lensbaby as you know :D love the lighting and the blur is perfect
Sohui - Thank you! It was such a shame you couldn't make it! I really wanted to do something like this with you guys: http://s54.radikal.ru/i146/0905/91/03ab548465c4.jpg
Kitten - Thank you dear!!
This is gorgeous. I saw a china doll once dressed as a bride, but the china was so pale - no rosy cheeks, and very blonde hair - she was the first thing I thought of when I saw these!
xxSam
Wow, the make up is brilliant, it really makes the images look like fleeting paintings. I have not been looking at make up for a while, but I was given a really really brilliant book for Christmas called, "Makeup is Art" by Lan Nugyen, whos work I don't really like in itself, but she has filled the whole book with incredible photographs and make up art by so many amazing people.
Er, thats enough rambling about that.
I love these pictures!! And the methods of Roversi seem completely infathomable, but from the examples, completely gorgeous. (I really love Sasha, the model in the third picture, for some reason... she was one of the first fashion inspirations I had)
So pretty and wintery! Do adore.
Everything feels perfect. I love the disorienting effect the lensbaby has.
These are really great. I follow YumeNinja's blog too and it is great to see both of you guys collaborating. So inspiring :D
Sam - Ahhh I'd love a doll like that! Yume has such doll-like features, I think she really suits this look, whereas I can't pull off such light makeup!
Koboshi - Thank you very much!! That book looks interesting; I know what you mean though, I haven't really experimented with makeup for a long time :(
Hyena - Thank you dear!
Caitlin - Aww, thank you! I'm a fan of hers also, so it was great to finally be able to meet and work with her!
I heart lensbaby and she looks like sucha doll! Amazing!