Oh lovely, turn your head tiny bit towards me, chin down
beautiful, turn your right hand in a bit cause it's facing, no, the other hand, left hand in
soft, soft, soft , yes, lovely.
You know that feeling when you look at a photo and you're like
that's the one, that's the feeling I look for, for everything, like for my dresses
the clothes, the models, everything, I'm always looking for like, that feeling
lovely, I Iove that, beautiful
I think creativity is about tapping into the things that make us unique.
It's a combination of our interests strengths and passions
that create the uncommon.
If we can find a way to bring those things together, that's special.
My work, if anything, is unique to me
because it's these many threads of my life
that come together to weave a tapestry
and that's the magic you want to hold on to.
I'm Bella Kotak and I'm an artist.
I think it's a very English thing
where you have like a dress-up box and all your clothes go and then you can make
all these characters up and I think when it comes to my photo shoots I try and,
I think that's, that's what I do, I play dress-up.
So, the first concept that we did was in this beautiful venue called the Lost Orangery.
I often say I'm a fine art fashion photographer
but really, I simply love to create these little worlds
where I get to curate, assemble and capture a story.
For this first shoot I wanted to go with a very whimsical fairytale vibe
so I decided to make a giant butterfly from newspaper actually.
So to go with the butterfly, I decided to use a soft floral whimsical dress.
I thought that together, there was a beautiful visual.
It's the ideas and sketches in my notebook, knowing the models I like to work with,
the props, the flowers,
having clothing from designers on hand.
It's like a palette of paints,
these are the bits and pieces that I bring together to create something
and the act of taking a photo
although incredibly important is just one part of the process.
Many of my shoots are very structured and planned however others are more spontaneous.
It's not unlikely for me to get a creative itch and call a model,
put her makeup on, grab a bunch of stuff and go for a drive around and see what happens.
I still like working like that. I want to keep this fun and exciting,
so it can be unplanned and casual and happen organically if I choose.
It's very important for me to keep myself as free as possible to create.
Yeah, we got it, we got it, you're a vision, vision.
So for day two we actually went and shot at a local woodland,
and I've created some of my most magical images in that place.
So I want this to be a young guy, kind of growing up.
I shoot a lot of women, like girls blooming into womanhood
Isaac is at that age, it's like blooming into manhood.
And I thought it would be really interesting to see how I would interpret that.
That's the concept for today.
When I'm shooting I'm always looking for that one shot,
if I come away with many, great, but
I'm always looking at a location thinking where's the story and in that story
where's the hero shot.
Taking photos for me is an escape, it always has been.
In my previous career where I opted for a more traditional path as an architect
I became quite unhappy and unfulfilled, but ironically, as an architect
I needed to learn Photoshop which in turn led me to photography.
So we had all these flowers as I knew we would
and I wanted to shoot a picture that was inspired by these beautiful floral paintings
of women just floating in flowers by Zhang Hao.
So I wondered what it would look like if I interpreted that into an image of my own
where I controlled exactly the flow of her body and movements
and we'd place the flowers around her as if it felt like she was
emerging from this world into this beautiful character.
And it was this artistic outlet that would take me away from my unhappiness.
And so I want every image to take the viewer somewhere,
to experience that escapism to some degree.
If taking the photo is one step in my creative process
and the planning and curating is another
post-production is definitely where it all comes together.
Photoshop led me to photography, it's my first love.
Editing is where I can enhance the feeling I had on set
or bring together the original vision.
I feel so fortunate to have found the path I'm on right now.
Too often I hold myself back in parts of my life but photography is the exception
I'm not weighed down by thoughts of failure, I take chances
and I push my boundaries.
I think if you can find something in life that you can fully immerse yourself in,
not hold back and be honest with who you are,
then you're on the right path .
I'm Bella Kotak and I'm an artist.