Intro To Digital Photography – Portraits Unit Blog Post #5: Artist Study

There are several photographers who have interesting and unique styles that I would like to take inspiration from in my portrait photographs. One of them is Jovana Rikalo, who is most well-known for her fairytale-style portraits.

Rikalo’s works usually place a large emphasis on not only the subject of the photo but their surroundings as well. She uses many props, decorations and lighting effects to create her iconic fairytale feeling, which is something that I would like to try and imitate in my own photos. Her photos also have really intentional compositions that integrate the props into the photo in a really natural way, and the props add interest and meaning to the photo in ways that would be hard to achieve with just the subject alone.

Another photographer who inspired me is Eugenio Recuenco.

His photographs often include elaborate setups and backgrounds, with many props just like Jovana Rikalo. However, Recuenco’s props are usually more focused on the background than the model, although there is still a lot of consideration that goes into how to present the people in the portraits. These photos often have a feeling of abstraction to them, which relates to the abstract way I want to portray the concept of procrastination in my portrait photos.

The next photographer that I want to take inspiration from is Nirav Patel, who uses light and shadows to create interesting effects and patterns in his portraits.

These images often use some form of smoke or mist to accentuate the effect of the light, and the different shapes of the light and shadows add an extra layer of visual intrigue to the photos. It’s a really unique style, and to me, it invokes a feeling of solitude (the swirling of the light reminds me of bored afternoons lying on my bed and watching the dust motes in the air while daydreaming about dragons). The dark but rich colors, combined with the lights and shadows and the poses of the models fill the pictures with emotion.

The last photographer that I find interesting is Alessio Albi, whose works have a cinematographic feeling to them.

One thing that I noticed about Albi’s portraits is that most of the time, the subject of the photo is staring directly at the audience. This, combined with the surroundings and atmosphere of the photo, creates a striking impression on the viewer.