Ellen Kooi

A photographer I've been looking at a lot for inspiration is Ellen Kooi. Her work is very surreal and maintains a very dreamy look. She works with mostly set-up situations, which is not what I like to do, but I think that through looking at this work I've been gaining a better understanding of elements I want to include in my own work. For my final, I want to really focus on making real situations and tangible elements more dreamlike; using something you could ordinarily see, but in a way you ordinarily wouldn't see it. I think Kooi's work is very successful in creating this new reality; the colors and light diffusion are really beautiful and add a lot to the images.

Tierney Gearon

I found Tierney Gearon's book Daddy, Where are You? in the library and was instantly in love with her work. Documenting her mother's battle with mental illness, Gearon captured some really beautiful images. The portraits in particular were really fascinating to me, they all have this really interesting take on human relationships, especially within a family. The images are so wonderfully composed and have a really great use of color and light.