Inspiration Collection - May

Highway Kind by Justine Kurland

Travelling with her young son in a van across the US, Kurland photographed the great American landscape and the fringe communities who live and interact with this wilderness. Exploring masculinity, a life away from mainstream values and the disintegration of the American dream, this is a fascinating portrait of life on the road, and of America.

Photo by Sabiha Çimen

Seeking the unexpected in photography 

I'm always returning to aperture for interesting and unique photography articles. I stumbled across this piece on using the unexpected this month and it's a great showcase of different talent, styles and approaches. Getting to hear all about the story behind each photo displayed makes for a great read, and gave me a whole list of new photographer's work to explore.

Vivian Maier

This month's photography great is Vivian Maier, an American street photographer whose work wasn't discovered until after her death. Working as a nanny, she took over 150,000 photographs in her lifetime, mostly of the people she saw in the streets. Following its discovery and widespread publication, her work attracted critical acclaim and Maier's photography has been displayed worldwide. A documentary about Maier's life and work was made in 2013. Whenever I come back to her work I'm always so in awe, Maier had a true talent for capturing the world and people around her.

Photo by @ribsy_

How to shoot portraits

Ribs' channel is one of those Youtube goldmines - packed with so much useful guidance and advice, with videos on everything from reviews to photography history. I picked a video on shooting portraits for this month - it's built off of practical information and tips that will actually be helpful for anyone interested in improving their portrait work.

Taken from the video on Jetro Emilcar

The Unexposed

I loved this series from Negative Feedback - I can't believe it's taken me so long to get around to watching this. It's a four part series, produced in collaboration with Canal180 exploring photographers who offer a 'genuine and differentiating point of view on youth culture'.

The photographers talk through every step of their process, from their initial inspiration right up to an analysis of the final piece. This is an incredible series, compiled in a really engaging way - here are two episodes from the series, focusing on Jetro Emilcar and Maria Baoli.

Photo by @gakuyen

Kodak Ektar review

As you might have guessed from previous month's inspiration collections, I'm a sucker for photography vlogs and film reviews - and this video is the perfect mix of the two. Gaku takes you around Tokyo as he experiments with a roll of Kodak Ektar. I love being able to see a new city through someone else's eye and Gaku creates some beautiful shots. Alongside this, it's an in-depth and analytical review of the film stock - useful and enjoyable to watch!

Photo by @alexburkephoto, who featured on episode 17

Contact sheet podcast

Born out of a desire to connect with other photographers, each episode of The Contact Sheet podcast explores an individual's work and approach and dives into the specific realities of working as a photographer. There are weekly episodes with a wide range of photographers, discussing questions such as, How did their style evolve? How did they find their direction? And what were the challenges and decisions they faced along the way?

Photo taken from the Soon to be gone story 

Tadas Kazakevicius

I stumbled across Tadas's website this month and instantly became a fan. His projects are divided up into stories, and his work definitely captures that narrative quality, with these incredibly intimate portraits, many taken across Lithuania. His work is poignant, sensitive and elegant, and I loved working my way through his projects.

Author: Becca Knight