Today, let’s take a walk in the mystical ‘Wonderland’ of Kirsty Mitchell, a storybook without words, an unexplained collection of strange and magical characters, set in the woodlands and landscapes that surrounded her home in Surrey.
Kirsty Mitchell, fashion photographer from Kent, is one of the fashion photographers I truly admired ever since I first saw her works. Following Maureen's death from a brain tumour in 2008, Kirsty channelled her grief into her passion for photography. She retreated behind the lens of her camera and created 'Wonderland', an ethereal fantasy world.
She wanted to mix together her backgrounds in fashion design, costume making, her love of art history and film, as well as her passion for the natural beauty of English landscapes. In short, a melting pot of all her everyday interests, channeled into a very personal tribute to the memory of her mother, and the fairytales she read to her constantly as a child.
This is 'The Storyteller': A reference to Kirsten's English teacher mother, a model sits elegantly on a carpet of bluebells enveloped by books.
Kirsty developed a deep bond and respect for the locations in which she was working and strove, through her pictures, to remind others of their forgotten magic and beauty.
She became fascinated with pockets of wild flowers such as the bluebells that would appear for only a few brief weeks of the year. In some cases, she would wait a full 12 months so she could shoot costumes matched to the vivid colours of nature!
She said her 'aim was to portray time passing, an unsaid journey through four seasons, incorporating every colour in the rainbow'.
This is 'Spirited Away': Blooms stand out against a snowy forest backdrop, a promise of the spring to come.
Here: the Beautiful Blindness of Devotion sees a painted girl with eyes closed in prayer.
The Briar Rose is a human rambling rose appearing to grow from the stonework.
For more of her work, you can visit her website. To read more about the journey behind each photo shoot, you can check her blog where she goes into detail about the development of each of her imaginative concepts all the way through production.
Very inspiring work! Unlike anything I’ve ever seen! What do you think?
Have a breezy day,
