Photographer Research Iain Crawford

                                                            Iain Crawford

                                                                     Biography

Iain grew up in Africa and Malaysia and developed a passion for photography at an early age. On moving to London, he worked as an account handler for Saatchi & Saatchi but left to pursue his photographic career. After spending several years living and working in New York, he is now based back in London but continues to work internationally. His career has lead him to shoot campaigns for many of the world's top brands and receive commissions from a host of top international magazines.

                                                        Why I chose this photographer

I chose Iain because he loves to capture images that have a strong graphic and textural quality while maintaining the personality and emotion of the subject. He loves the mix between paint and model. The excitement and anticipation as we waited to see the next piece of unpredictable chaos was electric. There was something magical about how random chance materialised into beautiful images in front of our eyes.

This photograph is a longshot taken in a landscape orientation. It depicts a woman merged into fog where only the top half of her naked body can be seen. This produces a mysterious feel to the piece as the female can only just be seen. The fact that the fog is pink allows for a very feminine atmosphere to be created. The dark background allows for the fog and subject to be seen clearly as they are light in comparison. The density of the fog can be seen through the tone of pink in the composition. The lighter tones of pink indicate a thicker density whereas the darker tones imply a thinner consistency. Where the fog is thinner, the female begins to become visible. It seems that there is a light source positioned towards the right of the composition as highlights can be seen on the right side of the model whereas there are shadows on the left side. 

This is a close up of what it seems to be a female model who is wearing a wet sheet of transparent fabric over the top of her face. This transparency provides a very light tone of the subjects face. There dark green paint placed over the top half of her face. There seems to be a light source coming from over the top of the subject which causes little shadow where most of the darker tones are on the neck of the subject. However, there are slight shadows which illustrate the form and shape of the subjects face. These shadows also depict the facial features where outlines are created. The shape of the features allow it to be clear that the subject is a woman. The lines on the subjects face and hair illustrate how the fabric is wet which enhances the shape of the subjects face. The structure of the models face is very feminine as she has a petite nose, big round lips, prominant eyes and jaw line.

Here in this photo colour is introduced through the use of paint. It is applied very messily  and rash which seems very abstract but also implies a sense of beauty as can be  considered to be art. The side profile of the subject can be seen through the light  background. This also shows the hair which is illustrated through the long wavy lines seen. There are a lot of shadows caused in this piece which allows for the focal point of the piece  to be the model's eyes and face. This is due to the very dark shadows around the throat  which gradually lightens towards the cheek, implying a sense of form and shape which is  also shown in the mouth of the woman.

Here a particular colour scheme has been created. The overall colour palette consists of blue/turquoise. This is created through the fact that the background, props of balloons and the eye make up all be the same colour. There are very round shapes include in the frame of the piece as in the background there is a circle and there are also two other semi-circles where the balloons are partly out of the frame. These shapes can be seen through contrast between the dark tones and the bright colour. There are patterns seen on the top of the subject. The subject is facing towards the left of the composition whilst looking directly at the camera. Her very serious facial expression implies a mysterious mood as it looks as if she is looking down at the viewers which is also shown through the level of the camera being lower than eye level. It is possible that lighting gels have been used as there are both  colours of blue and red seen on the right side of the subject's face.

How they have influenced me 

Iain has inspired me to create colour schemes in my photography which can be formed by  the use of background, clothing, make up and props all being the same colour. Also he has made me want to experiment with paint and materials which I can apply to the face of the  subject.