Bella Kotak

Still think that this is one of the cooler edits I’ve...

Sat, 19 May 2012 23:38:40 +0100

Still think that this is one of the cooler edits I’ve done. Note to self - be more experimental!

Featuring the uber talented Little Twiglet.

Lost in blue skies New series coming soon. Shot last week on the...

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:45:00 +0100

Lost in blue skies

New series coming soon. Shot last week on the beach in Mombasa, Kenya featuring a very dear old friend of mine ^_^

From a series I did featuring littlebabytwiglet: La Bella...

Sun, 13 May 2012 07:00:50 +0100

From a series I did featuring littlebabytwiglet:

La Bella Rosa
Sneaky peek of recent lingerie shoot with my wonderfully talented collaborator and friend, Karolina Laskowska <3 Hope you like it!

Photo by the amazing Bella Kotak
Lingerie designed by Karolina Laskowska
Make up & hair wizardry by Lydia Pankhurst
© Copyright all rights reserved Bella Kotak 2012

Featuring - Little Twiglet ^_^

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 22:59:00 +0100

Featuring - Little Twiglet ^_^

Dawn.. 10/365

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 19:08:00 +0100

Dawn..

10/365

Hi Bella, How are you? I have been following your work since a while, I am not sure if you have noticed since there are many who do :P. Let me tell you that you a very beautiful girl and a talented photographer. As a purely amateur photographer, I like your work not only because of the technique but it is also very inspiring. Yes!! Inspiring, but more on that later ;). Your every image has a simple but definite theme. May I know how do you decide the theme and then plan the actual shoot.TY

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 19:06:06 +0100

Hi, I’m good thank you :) Theme-wise I know I want my work to be almost an enhanced or escaped reality. Something colourful, dreamlike and playful. I guess when it comes to putting one or two images together I usually have an idea in my mind about what emotion I would like to convey, the props I would like to use and then it’s just a matter of tying it into a location with the right model :)

Hey just want to say I really love your work! You're such an inspiration! And when processing your photographs do you usually stitch together quite a few shots to create one photograph?

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 18:46:47 +0100

Thank you so much! And in answer to your question, I guess it would really depend on the image. Most of my work on flickr does have more than one photo put into it mainly because I do tend to shoot a lot by myself and can only do so much and being able to stitch the images together lets me to try to bring to life what I can see in my head. My wedding/ family images are relatively untouched in that regard.

9|365 Sunset clouds taken on the train home.. they looked so...

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 02:01:58 +0100

9|365

Sunset clouds taken on the train home.. they looked so epic.

Feeling so exhausted but happy after today’s excursion in the woods. My legs are in complete agony since yesterday’s random rugby session. Haven’t felt this achey in such a long time >_<

What's in your camera kit? :)

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 01:38:45 +0100

My Canon 450D, 17-85mm lens, 50mm f1.4 (used for majority of my images!), manfrotto tripod, reflector and wireless remote ^_^

Hey.. I follow ur page on Facebook and love your photographs.. How do you come up with such brilliant ideas for photographs?

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 01:35:00 +0100

Hi! Thanks for following :) Haha I don’t know about brilliant but when it comes to comes to putting an image/ shoot together I like to do several things such as going through my props/ sketches/ images torn out of magazines, basically anything to get some ideas flowing. If there’s a particular location in mind I’ll usually scout it before hand so that I have a play in my mind with what I can create in that space. It’s just experimenting really and if it doesn’t work in one angle I’m not afraid to change things up and shift angles/ positions and in some cases even the initial ideas :)

Sweet dreamer.. Taken a few weeks ago on a shoot organised by...

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 01:55:38 +0100

Sweet dreamer..

Taken a few weeks ago on a shoot organised by the lovely Little Twiglet whose face I literally cannot get enough of! Even though it wasn’t strictly taken today I’m totally counting it as a day in my project as it was edited today ^_^

Tomorrow, Niz, Sarah, Sev and I are hosting our first open-to-all meetup in London and in typical British fashion the forecast is.. wait for it.. you guessed it! HEAVY RAIN. *sigh*

We’ve decided to screw the weather and still go ahead with it! So if you happen to be in the London area and fancy joining us for a bit then here’s the link to the page with all the relevant info - here :P

Hope you all have a lovely weekend :)

8/365

sometimes I feel like I’m his pet.. It rained today. A...

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:15:00 +0100

sometimes I feel like I’m his pet..

It rained today. A LOT. I didn’t get an opportunity to take a picture so instead I revisited an old one that I never released. Ah I do love this cat of mine..

7/365

hi, i just wanted to say that i've noticed there are two tree's full of blossom on a field near my house and you've inspired me to go and use them :) also, were your neighbours in when you took that photo?! mine give me weird looks whenever i go out holding a tripod and a camera :| please don't stop what you are doing! xx

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:26:19 +0100

Haha yes go use them! I’d love to see your pictures :) God I think my neighbours must be used to my strange antics by now. I do admit that I find it easier though to shoot in a somewhat secluded / quieter place. Although for the photo you’re talking about, no there was no one home that day (I did knock!) but it was by a busy road. Still for these things I just tell myself that I’d probably never see these people again and with that in mind I just get on with it ^_^

I absolutely love your photography. It's all so beautiful and inspiring. I really love the dreamy feel a lot of your images have. Do you have any pointers or tricks on how to get that dreamy kind of feel? Thanks. :)

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 16:39:00 +0100

Firstly, thank you so much :) and secondly, for the dreamy feel I guess I just like to experiment with different techniques both in the execution of a photo and in the post processing. When I’m shooting someone else I like to hold items close to the lens, or shoot through them. Shooting through flowers for example gives that’s blurriness/ colour and pulls the focus directly onto the subject.

Post processing wise I enjoy playing with textures/ curves/ adding colours with the brush tool in photoshop to create something unusual and really exaggerate the mood of the image. I don’t use presets or actions really, I tend to tailor each image specifically. It takes longer but I find that I tend to learn more this way. So I guess I’d recommend giving curves and shooting through items a try for that dreamy look. Hope this helps! :)

It’s raining and I’m feeling a little...

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 16:24:52 +0100

It’s raining and I’m feeling a little blue..

bluebells, however, pull off being blue beautifully.

6/365

All Sundays should be spent like this.. ^_^ 4+5/365

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 02:17:24 +0100

All Sundays should be spent like this.. ^_^

4+5/365

Getting seduced by all the spring blossoms.. 3/365

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 23:51:05 +0100

Getting seduced by all the spring blossoms..

3/365

spring.. 2/365

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 02:39:21 +0100

spring..

2/365

under the wishing tree.. this tree lives in a neighbour’s...

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 21:43:00 +0100

under the wishing tree..

this tree lives in a neighbour’s front garden. i’d been wanting to lie under it for so long and figured that today was a good day as any to satisfy that craving.

1|365

Resolution

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:06:36 +0100

One of my resolutions for this year was to take more pictures and more importantly to upload frequently. Unsurprisingly I broke that resolution within a couple of weeks! Ridiculous.

So I’ve been thinking of this for a while and I’ve decided that from tomorrow I will be uploading a picture a day Without Fail for a year.

It’ll be a mix of images.. either conceptual, things I liked that day, what I’m wearing.. pretty much hopefully a little online diary.

I’m excited and with spring and summer nearly here I’m also very happy and inspired.