Hasselblad Heroines shines a light on female photographers around the globe as they make their mark in the photographic industry. Through these spotlights, each Heroine shares their experiences, tips, and inspiration to fellow photographers, encouraging them to bring their creative visions to life.
BÁRA PRÁŠILOVÁ
Bára Prášilová is a conceptual photographer, art director and director based in Prague. Her surreal images balance on the edge of beauty and weirdness, in between real and fictional setups, originating from her sense of absurd humour and affinity for the lightness that helps her to cope with serious topics. Instead of solely relying on post-production as to render a magical ambience, Bara works with real props and objects, which lend her subjects a rare authenticity. She meticulously plans all of her shoots in advance, and her detailed sketches, custom-made props and costumes are usually part of her exhibitions. Recently, she has branched out into the world of moving images, creating videos based on her stills, which has created another outlet for her to build a new reality. Bara was named Hasselblad Master in 2014 of the fashion/ beauty category.
CLARISSA BONET
Clarissa Bonet is a Chicago-based artist whose work explores issues of urban space in both a physical and psychological context. In featuring urban landscapes as both the background and feature of her works, she adds people for contrast and points of reference, showing the ways in which people interact with these spaces. In planning her work, Clarissa scouts the city of Chicago for locations where she can capture the exact moment of interaction between architectural angles, natural light and shadows. “Natural lighting is a big part of my artistic practice and it can be challenging at times. Part of my working process is wandering the city streets and looking, observing and reacting to the things in front of me. Part of the things I’m looking at while I’m wandering is lighting. I use light as a tool to create a stage for every day, a stage for these small dramas to unfold on.”
ISABELLA TABACCHI
Landscape photographer Isabella Tabacchi searches for mountains, lakes, and rock formations that embody the spiritual greatness of nature. She travels around the world from her native Northern Italy to exotic locales spanning from Namibia to the Lofoten Islands. Drawn to majestic scenes exuding a sense of grandeur, Isabella edits her work to produce a mood that reflects the emotions she felt in the moment of capture to create her ethereal landscape compositions. “I love to collect emotions in the landscapes that I experience during my photographic adventures,” says Isabella.
To achieve her vision, she combines her emotional connection with nature with detailed planning before embarking on her treks, often studying the light cycles and weather of each location.
TINA SIGNESDOTTIR HULT
Tina Signesdottir Hult is an internationally recognized fine art photographer located in Norway. Tina has many awards and honors behind her, including the title of 2018 Hasselblad Master. Specializing in fine art, portraits and conceptual themes, Tina is self-taught and driven by a great passion. When shooting, she is 100 percent present in the moment and finds it most important to express herself, communicate, and create emotions in her work. She never uses a flash, only natural lighting as it provides sensitivity and feeling you don’t get with artificial lighting. Tina’s photography mirrors the expressive and the beautiful. The essence of her work embraces fragility and vulnerability and, at first glance, seems simple and uncluttered. Closer examination leads us to perceive amazing complexity in the subtleties of expression she captures in her models’ faces. “As I grew as a person, my inspiration changed. Today I find inspiration more in myself, and life and nature, and all the beauty in it.”
