Inspired by fantasy and fairytales, photographer Bella Kotak creates ethereal images that combine sumptuous color and bountiful nature. Her portraits of women fuse flowers, gorgeous fashion, and picturesque settings, resulting in moments that seem plucked from the pages of a storybook.
Kotak masterfully composes her fantasy photography to be meticulously constructed. This can be attributed to her training as an architect, which is where she learned about the power of photography in the first place. “Whilst in my Architecture course,” she told My Modern Met in 2015, “I was introduced to Photoshop and also to Flickr where I saw many young artists using the program to realize their visions.” She started taking one photo a day for 365 days and became “more and more obsessed” with the technical parts of photography—such as the lens, composition, and color toning. Now, one picture might take her months of planning!
Since last featuring Kotak’s work, she has started a company with retoucher Pratik Naik. Called Fine Art Actions, it makes available Photoshop actions and color collections that you can apply to your own images.
Bella Kotak creates meticulously composed fantasy photography that looks plucked from a storybook.
