With the vast amount of fashion magazines readily available as digital editions these days we are literally being flooded with fashion images on a daily basis. The frustrating thing about this is that there only seems to be a handful of photographers (or photographer duos) whose work makes up for the majority of the published images. That surely is one of the reasons many fashion editorials nowadays come across as repetitive, unimaginative and forgettable. I enjoy the work of a lot of the big guns in fashion photography, but I still cannot help but wonder why some talented photographers rarely ever get booked for blue chip magazines?
One of the photographers whose work has stood out to me a lot lately is Elina Kechicheva's. You won't find her work in any of the Vogues or Elles of this world. The publications she seems to somewhat regularly shoot for are the various editions of Marie Claire. Not really the number one source you would check for striking, unique, different fashion photography (although they also use Jacques Olivar a lot, another favorite fashion photographer of mine).
source: elinakechicheva.com
The way Elina harmoniously fuses her vision with the fashion and the chosen locations and models in her stories is sublime. She works with light, reflections, water and colorful make-up in a unique way. Her editorials often seem very cinematic and I can only assume that she is very directional and fastidious when it comes to the posing and positioning of the models and the usage of props. I wish more was known about her and her way of working, but it's hard to find any information about her on the web (The biography on her website simply states, "Elina Kechicheva was born and raised in Bulgaria and has been working as a photographer for the last 14 years."). I think she's awesome and I consider myself a big fan. Check her website and also her thread on TheFashionSpot to see more of her impressive work.
