Photography Inspiration: Brassai

If there was one photographer who live and very much showed his love for the place where he lived in it's Gyula Halász or more commonly known as George Brassaï or Brassaï for short. A Hungarian artist who did a lot of creative work like making sculptures, films, drawing and above all photography. Brassaï first worked as a journalist for a Hungarian newspaper but later moved to Paris wherein he stayed there for all his life.

Photography Inspiration: Helmut Newton

Lately I have been studying the works of classic photographers in my quest to improve and push my craft further. This time I'm featuring Helmut Newton which I consider to be one of my main sources of inspiration. Newton's provocative black and white photographs are often dubbed as innovative that he has become one of Vogue's mainstay photographers and acclaimed fashion photographers of his time.

I couldn't help but compare Araki and Newton since both share the same penchant of mostly shooting women subjects while infusing nudity and sex in their photographs, but both photographers differ in terms of how their subjects are portrayed in the photographs.

Photography Inspiration: Patrick Demarchelier

I have been following Patrick Demarchelier's work since I first saw his photographs in a back issue of Vogue July 2011. I really love his work because the his images are always stunning and clean to the very last detail. After doing my bit of research I was awed to learn that he was able to worked with the great Henri Cartier-Bresson as well as Terry Gilbert while he was building up his career. With a client list that comprises some of the biggest names in the fashion industry, Patrick Demarchelier is one hell of a fashion photographer

Images by Patrick Demarchelier

Simon Bruty & Martin Schoeller Photographs the Olympic Hopefuls

Its Olympic season again and people from across the globe are glued to whatever device they can get a hold onto to get updates from the 2012 London Olympics. Some are lucky (most Londoners are) to be able to watch and see the action in the flesh as they cheer for their countrymen to succeed. Press photographers are lucky as well apart from going to London while totting a humble lens to a behemoth 500mm clicking away, capturing the scenes of the Olympics they also are the first to see the and capture the passion and determination of the participants. Whilst ordinary photographers like me are still dreaming of photographing the different sporting events at London.

In line of the Olympics I found some really interesting, if not outstanding editorial photographs of the hopeful athletes competing for the gold. First off is Martin Schoeller's shoot for Time Magazine, ESPN Magazine and Women's Health.

Gabby Douglas on the cover of Time Magazine

Ryan Lochte on the cover of Time Magazine

Lolo Jones for Time Magazine

Oksana Masters for ESPN Magazine

Allyson Felix

Another photogorapher who did a stunning set is Simon Bruty who photographed such superb images for Getty Images and Sports Illustrated. From Tunisia to Yemen Simon Burty photographed these athletes despite the of what is currently happening to their countries. I learned about this beautiful set while watching CNN's The Brief with Jimmy Clancy just this morning and I was really glad that I caught it because it was really inspiring not only to the athletes but also to us photographers who are striving hard to produce such beautiful images.

(Sources & Credits: spd.org | Getty Images | Trendland)

Alison Scarpulla's Magical Images.

Alison Scarpulla has created this beautiful dreamy and fairy tale like images using expired films, moldy lens and then dunking the negatives to wine or acid and blowing smoke onto the negative. This method gives her images that dark and mysterious feel something like a scene from Pan's Labyrinth.

(Source: Flavorwire | Alison Scarpulla)

Triptychs of Strangers by Adde Adesokan

Germany-based street photographer Adde Adesokan made a rather different way of creating street portraits. Instead of the usual one frame portrait what he did  is he shot three different parts of the subject to create a one unique frame. I am digging this series because to be honest doing street portraits is not a walk in the park, you need to connect to your subject for you to get the shot and not only that you also have the usual factors like lighting, background and such to take in mind before you press the shutter.

Not only did Adde took these really awesome photos he also shared his story behind the images and how he met these people.

Check out his other awesome stuff here.

9 Movies To Watch For Visual Inspiration

One way I beat creative rut is through watching movies, I am always on the look out of movies with stunning cinematography and beautiful set design. Movies from the past as well as independent films are most likely to have that creative visual play, they try to deviate from the tried and tested formula than most Hollywood films churn out.

I compiled a list of some of the movies I have watched that in my opinion can either kick start your creativity or make your usual weekend evening into a nice visual journey.

1. Amelie - Simply visually stunning and easily lovable. The movie is directed by Jean Pierre-Jeunet while the cinematography is done by Bruno Delbonne who is also doing Johnny Depp's latest film Dark Shadows.

2. Funny Face - Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire's stellar acting is just one thing that you'll love in this film. As a photographer I really wanted to travel and work for big fashion and lifestyle magazines photographing beautiful and talented women.

3. Enter The Void - Welcome to the dark side of the vivid city of Tokyo. If you haven't watched this then you are definitely in for a ride but be warned this film a bit heavy and really gritty. Most of the scenes are in first person view making this a little bit different from most films today.

4. Fan Chan (My Girl) - Keeping it simple is what I like with this film. It may not win any award for being visually stunning but to me this movie is like a visual cleaning agent that will leave you fresh and ready to start for that next photography project.

5. Letters to Iwo Jima - One of the few critically acclaimed war movies I really liked. Clint Eastwood did a really great job directing this film. I really like the color treatment in this movie to give it that dark and poetic touch. I can go on and on to what I like with this film but just look at the stills and see what I mean.

6. The Science of Sleep - Michael Gondry's imagination just went wild in this film. After I watched this movie I came up with tons of sketches for a set design just waiting inside my drawer when the time comes.

7. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - A surreal visual treat only in black and white plus the creepy feel. The aesthetics of this movie is just mind-blowing from the simple make-up to the scenes itself. If I where to get my hands on the film I'd take a couple of stills and enlarge it, frame and hang it in somewhere in my house.

8. Control - Another movie treated in black and white but this movie is not the vintage types since it was filmed in 2006 and was release a year after. I just love the sharp contrast and the silhouettes during the gig scene.

9. Blow-up - I will end our list with a film that is centered about the life of a fashion photographer. You will definitely pick up a lot of things from this movie. You are most likely to appreciate that we are now living in the digital age where we don't need to wait for the film to be developed just to see your work.

That concludes our list but to be honest there are still a lot of movies that can give you that visual kick. Movies like Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Across the Universe (although the story line sucks) and classic movies made by Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock. Let's not forget movies from Hong Kong like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the more recent Ip Man movies. 

If you have any films that gives you the creative kick then please do drop a comment!