I haven't posted photography here for ages, and I was quite desperate to find something good. When you start browsing through fashion photography, there is always a point when you have strong impressions of deja-vu. So, when I stumbled on Kip Carroll's photostream on FlickR, I was quite relieved : original fashion photography was still existing.
What striked me the most in the Dubliner's photos was first the gorgeous outfits his models were wearing. Then, I was enthusiasmed by the threatment. Each of his photos are stunning, almost harsh. There is something dramatical in the models' eyes, the poses are theatrical. Those women have got stories for sure, and the shots are short films about one or two of them.
Kip Carroll also uses collages, superimpositions of coarse, dynamic textures, such as a painter or a lacquer who would freeze silhouettes in Chinese gloss paint with an intense brush. For background, those fairies, or princesses of strange tales, have got gloomy streets, dark nights and desolate landscapes. I am especially sensible to the desert roads, very moody. The girls seem to roam alone, sad and pretty.
Black lace transforms them into witches or midnight walkers. They are stronger than they seem to be. Their face up, fierce, proud, looks the onlooker up and down. Carroll gives them a nobility of shadows, offers a personnality to these creatures of the catwalks. It is more than gorgeous outfits, more than pretty faces, more than fashion photography. It is art.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kipcarroll/
http://www.kipcarroll.com/home.html
Thank you
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