Viona Analysis.

Titled ‘Cherry Blossom’ by photographer Viona. She is known simply by her first name, not much personal information about her age and life is available but she has been an experienced fairy tale themed photographer for a few years and labels herself as ‘Mistress of fantasy & queen of mysterious worlds’, this photograph was created from her personal interests which involve her attempts to grasp the gracefulness and elegance of women, freezing time and opening doors to other dimensions in a visually magical way. It links with a lot of modern photography work such as Victoria Frances, both artists and many more of this theme are presently working which shows the theme is popular and links with peoples social interests in the fashion and fairy tale theme of photography. Viona holds events and creates costumes as well as taking photographs and presenting her thoughts in this way. The photograph links to gothic literature and the imagery we see and props such as castles, unicorns and woodland settings in her other photographs show that this could be a strong influence.  The exact year this photograph was taken is unknown but we can tell it is modern because of the advanced editing skills that have been used – photoshop, DSLR camera.

The process involved a summers day to present the pale pink shades of blossom as positive and bright like the weather. Also costume is very important, colour especially because this matches the blossom. For the editing it looks like she has created a separate layer to paste the selected part of the photograph (the women/fairy) onto after lightening the background to create a magical mist effect. There looks like there is a high brightness and lack of contrast on parts of the tree to soften them and show the fairy as the focus point and what we are first drawn to and not letting harsh shadows produced by the plants overtake the contrasted colour on her wings. There is a sense of other worlds and dimensions of space in this photograph created by the way the fairy looks like she has entered out world by the light around her presenting a portal. The photograph is available in large canvas prints, the size can be chosen but I think it works better quite large, around a meter or 2 so that we can see the minute detail and the power of the colours can work, if it was too small this would be overshadowed. The composition has movement because of her position to the right, she is not staged completely in the centre, this shows that the shot is almost sneaking up on her for a shot and not setting her up especially for one. Colour is the most important formal element, the hues are similar – all pinks and greens which are softened so that they blend well as a relaxed composition. Tone in these colours presents the shadow in a way that shows us the reality of the colours but not too contrasted. The shape of the wings is important because this matches the roundness and softer blends of pale pink, they create a decorative look and the power of the photograph is very strong in a happy and magical sense because of this roundness and soft tones.

The title links us to nature and this relates to fairies being seen as pretty creatures in the woodland, her being by flowers and blossom rather than something artificial shows this more and relates to their classic stereotype. The genre I would associate this photograph with is portraiture and also documentary because it represents what Viona thinks of in a visual way. I think that the subject is presenting the beauty of women, she aims this and we can see it, the women is centre point symbolising her as most important and the silence created by the calm surrounding shows her as the only one. The pink represents the soft beauty and emotionally this photograph draws you in which can be an aim for women in general towards others. The narrative can be interpreted, we could link it to a woman’s loneliness or individual and standing out beauty, or a fairy tale story involving fairies. Viona quotes "Thousands of fans across the globe are watching closely how Viona transforms her ideas into pictures, costumes and events. As much as possible she tries to draw people into her magical world, where possibilities are only limited to one’s imagination." Showing that our imagination can take control of how we see this photograph. The fairy looks relaxed and calm which influences our mood.

Visually I think that the work is beautiful and I am drawn to the contrast between the misty faded colours and the fuller brighter ones. It reminds me of Frances work but more focused on the scene and colour rather than a close up portrait. It is a relaxed piece which mellows my mood, I like it because of the colours and how they stand out to me as beautifully chosen and the way the costume goes with this so well and the whole composition is so natural because of her positioning in herself and the photograph. There is a sense of sweet smell and soft touch too.