Photographic Inspiration

We look at lots of photography here at S+A, as you would imagine. There is a surprisingly vast amount of pretty average work out there; surprising, given how difficult it is to survive as a commercial photographer. I guess that's an indication of the nature of the market. Most advertising assignments don't require the kind of imagery that inspires. While we like to think of our own group differently, the fact is that even we don't put the majority of advertising work we do into our portfolios. Thankfully, editorial jobs have helped feed that need in the past, but even that is getting to be more of a challenge these days. That leaves personal work to do the heavy lifting. Kudos to those artists who manage to defy the odds (money, time, energy and inertia) to successfully create work on their own. Comrade did that recently with the "Three Girls" series below, which were inspired by the amazing "hair designs" done by Carlos Ortiz (many of the props were physically woven into the hair), along with the influence of two of the photographer's personal interests: graphic novels and Renaissance paintings. Other credits go to Elena Arroy for make-up and Gillean McLeod for wardrobe.