November 2012 – rcarterphoto

A photographer with an otherworldly eye, Bojana (pronounced bo-YA-na) Tatarska first caught my eye in the pages of Dansk Magazine with her editorial spread entitled Gilded. (Sidenote: Dansk is quickly becoming one of my favorite magazines because of it’s dynamic content and wonderfully large photo-friendly format. If you still haven’t checked it out in physical format, do yourself that favor.) Before I even get to her incredible body of work, let’s gather our bearings and set the record straight about Ms. Tatarska; this amazing woman is not only an accomplished photographer, but is also a drop-dead gorgeous fashion model and has 2 Elle magazine covers under her belt (India and her homeland of Bulgaria, respectively). She is college-educated, having studied Art and Communication at the Universite Paris-Sorbonne, having noted that journalism was her first passion before photography. She’s also self-taught in the art of photography!! Bojana, I tip my hat to you!

Her work, in five words, is dazzling, sensual, feminine, fanciful, and incredibly sleek. (Okay, so that was 6 words…sue me.)

Bojana was born in Bulgaria, and is currently based in Paris.
(Fun fact about Bulgaria: It’s the global leader in the production of essential oils, so when you’re pampering yourself with that lavender-scented body oil, give a little mental shout out to Bojana!!)

Visit Bojana Tatarska’s Online Portfolio and prepare to be swept away!

Tatarska herself in all her Bulgarian beauty!!

I first encountered fashion photographer Signe (prounounced SIG-nee) Vilstrup‘s work in the November issue of Dansk Magazine and was instantly stunned to the point of speechlessness for about ten minutes (here’s the spread that did me in titled Maternal Mirror). When I visited her online portfolio a few days later, my bout of speechlessness returned with a vengeance. The sheer breadth of it aside, every spread, every image, is teeming with a sort of magic that does not come around often..unless, apparently, you’re in Europe, in which case you’d be hard-pressed to find a fashion photographer who doesn’t have it (stay tuned for my next Amazing Artists update, about another European fashion photographer who is positively dripping with that same magic).

What captivated me initially about Signe’s work was her brilliant use of environment, and her story-telling capabilities. I have a real soft spot for fashion editorials that have narratives and characters, and she hit it. Hard. In a field permeated by images that sell, it was refreshing to find in her work images that were meant to tell. Her aesthetic is one that I greatly admire, and the consistently dynamic quality of her body of work is something I deeply aspire to achieve. In an adjective nutshell, Signe’s work is ethereal, cinematic, smart, romantic, and effortless.

According to her mini bio, Signe was born in 1977 and now resides in Copenhagen, Denmark, dividing her time between Paris and Milan.