Fashion Pixel: Fashion Photography

Wednesday, 16 November 2011

Yuliya Libkina: Creativity Beyond Fashion Photography

published in: Photography, 16 Nov 2011

Yuliya Libkina is an upcoming young talent who works as a freelance fashion photographer and designer. At the moment she is based in Ukraine and Japan and is available for commissions and editorial work.

She has been enjoying photography for a very long time. Yuliya's story starts with her father, who seemed to always carry a camera with him. That's why she too decided to pick up photography as a hobby, which later became a much more important part of her life. Yuliya has worked in both digital and film mediums and is experienced with a variety of cameras. She is confident with Adobe suit and other graphic software.

At the age of seventeen she came to England in search of novelty and eventually attained three A-level qualifications in Photography, Graphic Design and Japanese language. She then enrolled into LCC Graphic Design Foundation Diploma in order to experiment and further develop her skills.

Yuliya combines photography work with design activity and the main reasons for that are a constant search of her own creative way and the opportunity of widening horizons without creating limits and boundaries in experiences. She has graduated London College of Fashion (University of Arts, London) with a BA(hons) in Fashion Photography.

Libkina often finds inspiration in the little things "that might be hard to notice in normal life. I always pay attention to details because I believe that such nuances is what visual culture is actually made of. It's a little bit ephemeral," she explains.

Libkina loves silent movies and vintage clothes, where she also turns for inspiration. "At the same time I adore Japanese musicians, their unique music and lyrics (BUCK-TICK, Suga Shikao etc). There are no limits, really to what inspires me," she says.

Yuliya recently took part in Dreams Exhibition and Capsule #2. In the future she plans to have an exhibition of her own and also keep participating in group events more. "My main goal for the next couple of years is to make myself a name as a fashion photographer here. I am at the very start of this journey and am truly excited with all the new opportunities I can find in this great capital (Tokyo). And one other thing that never changes is improve improve improve!" exclaims Yuliya. Being creative not only in work but also in life is Yuliya's motto.

All images courtesy of Yuliya Libkina©

Wednesday, 17 August 2011

Bruno Maric: An Uncompromising Photographer

published in: Photography, 17 Aug 2011

Bruno Maric is not your average photographer. Though he never studied photography “or anything for that matter,” he managed to follow his dream, and train his eye. Born 24 years ago in Sarajevo, Bosna i Hercegovina (BiH) and currently living in Chicago, IL, Bruno got involved with photography, as he wanted to start photographing girls who he found attractive. For Bruno, photography is just another way to bring people closer. It allowed him to get to know them on a deeper level and make lasting connections. “Photography gives me a reason to want to explore or pursue friendships or relationships with anyone and everyone, anything and everything.”

Maric, as he admits, draws inspiration by many different sources that other might find mundane, such as beautiful girls and women, rock n' roll, rain and the seasons in general, exotic locations in the world, and Paris just to name a few. His drive comes from an aspiration: being able to photograph for a living in Europe, “after all, that's where I'm originally from.”

Bruno is more into smaller markets, such as Amsterdam and Copenhagen, where he wishes to develop young models, without, however, excluding the European fashion capitals where he would like to work more formally.

But Maric hides one more ace up his sleeve: his fashion photography blog, Fashionography, where he posts fashion editorials, behind the scene videos, the work of people that he admires, and of course his own. He opened the blog back in January 2010, and today he enjoys a viewership in the thousands on a daily basis. As he says, “I'm glad to know that so many creatives and regular folks alike enjoy it for the very same reasons that I still like it myself.”

It is worth mentioning that his work doesn’t get special treatment in his blog, instead it is showcased in the same way as any other work. And though you won’t find too much of it, he is building his portfolio one step at a time. Most of his photo shoots are in black and white, giving a nostalgic feel to them, without trying to captivate anyone with his work. He settles for nothing and no one, making his art firstly and foremostly for himself. “I don't try to impress people. That's the last possible thing on my mind. I do what I do because I enjoy it and I do it without consideration of others,” he says.

And though Bruno might not yet be a household name, just wait and see...