While exploring the world of photographers, I happened to stumble across the blog of Amanda Norman. Although very unusual to a viewer’s eye, I happened to feel a unique connection almost to the photography she has. Her unique theme, Gothic and horror, and the images themselves seemed to coincide with the particular style I have in my own work; a sort of dark and slightly almost Gothic style itself.
Amanda Norman is a Classic Horror and Gothic photographer. Her own definition of classic horror, her main inspiration is, “Classic horror are the films of yesterday that today still stand the test of time.” All of Norman’s photography and jewelry is inspired by her love of these themes. Her main focus in photography is in cemeteries, taking pictures in black and white, sometimes even with darkened black edges to each photo to deepen the meaning and feeling of the photo. One thing she always looks for while shooting is for interesting angel statues as they always seem to grab her attention and have some connection with her.
The following are some of her photographs that I liked and plan to use as inspiration in my own photography:
I really like this piece; one thing I like about it is how the main focus in on the angel figure, which is off centered and is looking into the photograph itself. I plan to use this as a big inspiration in my own photography, as I love all the angel status and tombstones, and find them uniquely beautiful. I would like to find some of these statues and successfully capture them in their beauty by using compositional techniques, especially grid of thirds like this photograph.
What I like about this image is how just one stone is the center focus of the photograph; as well as this, I like how the leaves help frame the picture, and how the dark frame around the outside adds depth and darkness into the piece. How I will try to use this as inspiration in my own is by adding the dark edges as a border to my own photography, and try to frame photographs with the nature around it.
What I like about this photograph is how Norman was able to capture such a large field of the tomb stones, all of which are unique. I plan on using this as inspiration in my own photography as I want to capture successful images capturing a large field of tombstones .
What I like about this photograph, just like the one above, is the large capturing of multiple stones. As well as this, I like how the stones are in a row, creating the “leading lines” compostional technique. I plan on using this as inspiration in my own piece by finding interesting looking tombstones that are arranged in a lie, that I can use to create this compostional technique.
Melissa Reid: Art Portfolio Blog 