Photography - Mark Mawson

What is so fascinating about watching a person, falling into deep water, seen from the underwater perspective?
I guess many people would say, it's the slow motion effect.
But is that the only thing? Of course not. There are also the "wings of water" that suddenly grow on the person's arms, legs, torso and head, the streams of water that lay on the falling, sinking body like fluid, transparent clothes. When you're watching air and water combining, different spaces that add and separate each other at the same time under the surface of an ocean. Or maybe just a glass of water...

Another thought of me is about one of the oldest, most referred and so highly influential motive of flowers.
It would definitely fill more than just a few books or blog pages to write about the historical, poetical and still mysterious ambience of these silent beings here.
Well, the thing about water and flowers of every kind is the fact that I discovered an artist who manages to combine the character and looks of both elements in a really magical way. When I look at his works, their style and technique seem familiar, but they also have a literally deeper impact on me.

Love, tenderness, sadness, loneliness, darkness. You name it, when all these moods and feelings fulfill your heart and mind for a second at the same time, you could be stunned by one of the photo series by Mark Mawson.


Mawson is an award-winning british photographer with many years of experience in capturing a full spectrum of people and places and specializes in underwater shootings. I'm gonna show you a part of his "Aqueous" series, but the selection of pictures was a very tough one again. His website contains a wide range of other works, but especially the Aqueous ones is represented by several galleries.

www.markmawson.com 

(and do not forget to check out his Aqueous movie!)

All pictures in this post are copyright by Mark Mawson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photography - Rafa Zubiria

Do you remember the famous scene from "The Wizard of Oz", Judy Garland's farmhouse blown up by a tornado, getting higher and higher into the sky?
Spontanesly, that's what crossed my mind when I first spotted one of Rafa Zubiria's pictures.

But when I kept looking at them, a mixture of some other, far more subtle moods took hold of me. I remembered my childhood, dreaming of physically impossible things like flying houses, elephants balancing on a mouse' paw, or even myself, hovering over the city roofs. When I took a walk in green parks with my parents, passing bushes and flowers, simple but nevertheless idyllic places that made me feel safe and imagine things.
The visual style and quality of Zubiria's series "No Way Home", looking a little bit like old polaroids or family pictures, treasured in thick photo albums since decades, contribute to these feelings and memories.
All of them do have that impact on me, but of course, some of them are clearly more recognizable as post digital work as well. Maybe that's the only detail I'm annoyed at it. If you wanna present an illusion, it should be done in a nearly perfect way. Filip Dujardin, the Belgian photographer whose works I portrayed in my last post, did that quiet well (at least you need a bit longer to figure out the "fake truth" of them).

Both photographers' series share some kind of playful, dreamy aspect, but in a different way. In my opinion, especially Zubiria's work with its title "No Way Home" evokes a more melancholic character. But anyway, right at this moment, it feels quite wrong the me, comparing the two of them directly. There are similarities, but also clear differences that lead back to their different motivations and backgrounds I think.


If you wanna see more of his very interesting, mysterious and beautiful work, also join:
www.rafazubiria.es
 
All pictures in this post are copyright of Rafa Zubiria.