Victorian buildings are splattered with the spots of light. Golden patches illuminate the sandstone balustrades, brighten red rusty bricks, highlight handsome arches. Tired buildings come alive. Young glass towers that know nothing about the city life, catch the sun and share the light around.
She wears strength and darkness equally well, the girl has always been half goddess, half hell.
Nikita Gill
Recent months were like a crazy rollercoaster. I worked on many different projects in parallel and most of them have to be kept secret until the right time comes. After few months of creative crisis I came back with an enhanced power to imagine and photograph. Yoga, herbal teas and healthy food have found their way back to my daily life. If I want to be in this business for good I need to learn how to cool down my shaken nerves and nourish my body to save myself from walking on walls.
Tonight, I am sharing with you a session with Belgian artist Daphne Huynh, captured in midsummer, on my birthday. Daphne is an adventurous woman of many talents including acting, modelling, burlesque and pole dancing and photography. She's a true artistic soul and though our session was short and quick, captured in Regents Park in incredible heat, I think we managed to pull of the atmosphere of darkness and mystery. We walked around the alleys of Regents Park looking for most dense bushes and lushy leaves to convey that atmosphere of darkness despite the ubiquitous sun. I hope we will get to collaborate again in the near future and get to shoot a more elaborate concept. Or maybe not, it's nice to do a good old school spontaneous shoot in the nature.
Model (plus make-up and hair): Daphne Huynh
Styling and Photography by me
Location: Regents Park, London
Published by Kat in Photography
How to make the most of the summer in the city when you’re a photographer on the top of full time employment? Photowalks! Today I am sharing photos from one with Margarita from couple of weeks ago. Sunny highlights and side streets in Marylebone make a wonderful background for photography walks and making new friends. Days are long and warm, we no longer need to suffer with the darkness of the winter nights that prevent us from taking beautiful photographs.
Published by Kat in Photography
Usually imaginations runs ahead of reality, but once reality speeds up the imagination can’t keep up. My last few weeks in a nutshell. I’ve been embracing the wave of invites to collaborations. Calming down little disasters and I kept dancing so that I won’t loose my mind again. That’s why it’s been so quiet on the blog here. But I promise you I have not been idle. I am sharing with you some of the photos from May.
What set out to be a casual photowalk with a newly acquainted model Asia turned out to be a really lovely collaboration and the longer we chatted the more we got along and the photos were turning out better and better! In this rollercoaster of events I did not have an opportunity to sit down and plan a more purposeful shoot with her yet – that we could bring entire team on board and shoot for a magazine submission.
Asia herself is full of energy and describes herself as a one-man-team, apart from modelling she’s also a radio show presenter on Wandsworth Radio and currently gathering material for her documentary. Keep an eye on this girl as she definitely has a lot to say:)
Published by Kat in Photography
Hello! Today I am sharing with you a photo session with Siana Videva. We’ve got in touch through my dear friend Reya as I was looking to come back from my photography break and Siana started to look her modelling portfolio. We brainstormed around a different idea initially which is going to show up on a blog in not so distant future. However we arranged to shoot entire day and we thought why not try to spontaneously shoot some other photos as well!
I was very pleased to discover that the dresses that Siana brought with her were very swing inspired. To release my thoughts from the agony of consciousness I am listening to a lot of music lately and to relax my stressed body I started dancing. And guess what has become my dance of choice – swing! So the spontaneous follow up shoot could not be better idea:) I actually have a feeling that perhaps in not so distant future when the charleston steps replace my usual walking pace, I will be looking to do more swing inspired shoots across the entire spread from Gatsby girls to pin-up dolls and victory rolls.
And seriously, people, swing is so much fun and the basics are really easy, because the rhythm is so distinctive that even if you miss a step, it’s easy to get back on track. As Ella Fitzgerald sings “It makes no difference if it’s sweet or hot, just give that rhythm everything you’ve got”. So it’s probably a great time to start learning how to dance charleston, because in few years it’s going to be its 100 anniversary and I have a feeling that it’s going to have a massive influence on fashion, design and trends in art and music. Vintage always comes back 🙂
Published by Kat in Photography
“Find what you love and let it kill you” – Charles Bukowski
This is pretty much what has been happening to me for the last few months. Couple of times I wanted to write a long heart to heart post about my creative crisis and how disappointed I am with my photography. Instead I just stopped taking photos. I needed a break. After a stream of successes, when nearly all the shoots I attempted turned to gold, now I struggle with keeping the same quality. I expect all the photos to be better. Better than the best ones I ever taken. But it does not happen. It’s as if I have gone blind. In the chase for perfection I forgot how to see. I am slowly trying to teach myself to see again.
Somehow, I will be trying to come back to the roots. Capture moments, impressions, streets, music, friends and gigs. I struggle with time that fall through my fingers like sand. I need to capture it in a jar before I try to make art from it.
Today impression of London on a spring Saturday. Visit of a friend. Walk through Kentish Town, Camden, Regents Park and Marylebone. And as usual – doors and windows.
This Sunday I met Natalie Kivit. Canadian photographer who just moved across the ocean to London. They say social media is all about hype but if for every 100th person you meet in the web, you get along with one, this is how the Internet friendships start and this is how you can meet minds alike. I’ve met for the first time in person and if it wasn’t Instagram probably our paths would never cross.
We spent entire afternoon talking with passion about photography and sharing perspective. It’s interesting how many observations you can share coming from a completely different background. Also that was a very productive Sunday when it comes to location scouting, you should definitely check out lovely Chelsea Physic Garden in London.
Natalie is a few years younger, after graduating high school, she decided to take a gap year and go for an adventure. This year would be all about photography, meeting people and travelling. She speaks with passion, confidence and determination in her voice but also down to earth practical approach. It’s admirable how much she’s going for it, when so many people her age are waiting around for a permission.
I am sure she will create many interesting things and it’s one photographer worth keeping an eye on. She’s currently publishing on her instagram and facebook. I am really curious to see where her creativity and advantures will take her and while she’s here in London really excited about planning some collaborative shoots.
Good luck, Natalie! Keep going after your dreams and don’t loose your drive 😉
Published by Kat in Photography
A couple of months ago when I was just starting the blog (though it feels like I am just a rookie blogger) I decided that one of the things I would like to frequently feature on my blog was collaboration with other bloggers based in London. My first plan of attack was approaching some bloggers from the contact list on the London Bloggers facebook group and though the response was in general quite positive, unfortunately none of this collaborations worked out in the same month of August because all the girls I approached were away at that time.
One of the girls I approached at the time was Simoni, Cypriot blogger currently based in London, author of Fashionable Rose. We have been in touch on and off for the last few months and at the very end of 2015 finally managed to find some time for a photo shoot together.
Simoni studied Textile Design at Middlesex University in London and after graduation she came back to Cyprus and started her own brand of beautiful hand-woven textile designs. Her brand is called Simoni Textile Designs and as you may guess, the bag presented on the photos is of her own design and production.
We met in Kensington Olympia and had a lovely time talking about or dreams and work on our brands. Simoni told me about her dedication to building her own brand for over five years and I am wishing her all the best with further work on spreading her love for weaving, creating unique designs for each customer!
Published by Kat in Photography
A late post tonight because I was stuck in the London Underground coming back late after work. I avoided peak and the carriages were empty. Underground has transformed from a monster back into the beauty queen.
Ever since I was a little girl I was fascinated with large urban underground networks. I imagined a my twenty something self tall with long hair and a guitar case nearby me looking nostalgically looking through the windows and the world passing by. I imagined passing through the corridors full of colorful posters and giving spare coins to a busker on the way. Coming from a small town where everything was within walking distance Metro was a symbol of a large buzzing cosmopolitan city. I promised myself that one day I will live in a metropolis.
Time has passed. I listened to songs with videos shot in the undergrounds. I learned English, traveled the world, moved to another country. I didn’t grow long hair and I don’t play guitar anymore. I live in London in the city with one of the largest underground networks in the world.The feeling of daily hatred during long and crowded commute is mixed with admiration for complex system connecting every part of London.
The frequent travels in London tubes inspired me to create a photo shoot in the tunnels. This shoot was taken a year ago but I never got around publishing it. It was also one of the first photos we took together with Riennahera. We spent a few hours in the Waterloo stations going up and down the stairs and traveling through the tunnels to get that perfect shot and avoid the crowds. My skills got much better since the end of last December but I still have the sentiments for them.
I know we all complain about the TFL and I overly romanticize the underground but if you could look with a bit differently at this mysterious space, I am sure you will also notice it’s charm.
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Published by Kat in Photography
A couple of days ago before my holiday I had a walk around neighbourhood. I admired the beautiful wreaths that people use to decorate their houses in London. So today a special Christmas edition of doors collection in Kensington.
I am blogging for you today from my hometown Tarnów in Poland. It’s a Christmas Eve and I will keep this post short to bring yet another reason to put smiles on your faces on this lovely day. Have a wonderful time and very merry Christmas my friends!
