Rachel Baran creates these surreal worlds which you can easily get lost in with your own personal thoughts. I find her images both beautiful and also disturbing to look at, either way the photographs that she creates are always hypnotising to look at.
Telling stories through photography will always be an indispensable part of the art form. Even though this photographer is young and new to the photographic world, she shows a creative that you would see from an experienced photographer.
Rachel Baran loves to push boundaries and freely admits this in one of her quotes about her image ‘This is what it feels like’:
“Making the impossible appear possible has and will always be my end goal.” – Rachel Baran
The image ‘This is what it feels like’ is dark, introverted and full of suffering. All those things can be seen in this image. The lonely girl standing on the rock is showing in her body language that she is feeling so sorry for herself, facially you can’t see this as the facial expression are obscured. I am inspired by the way that the image is actually captured as it is a print and not a digital image, I’m also curious about the way her feelings are portrayed in her pictures.
The way in which handwriting is used on the physical print of the photograph is intriguing as it gives a more personal and sentimental value to it. I feel that this picture can be quite deep and meaningful if you look in the right places. On first glance ‘This is what it feels like’ could be perceived as a very peaceful image, if you were to have another think of the physiological meanings that may exist, you can see that not everything is obvious. Baran’s work is constantly evolving and growing and I think that her image ‘This is what it feels like’ is inspiring.
Ellie Amos
L1 Photography, University of the West of England
UWE Bristol Photography Research Group 