Indie Spotlight: Bloody Countess

Each Monday, we’ll highlight one indie photographer whose body of work deserves special recognition. Please enjoy their photography here, and make it a point to enjoy the rest of their work on their website.

From an early age, I have always been fascinated with the dark and melancholic.  Not in an “evil-take-over-the-world” way, mind you, but rather intrigued by its raw emotion and underlying mystery.  This fascination has become evident in most creative endeavors from my music and poetry to my photography.  It was no surprise when I became instantly addicted to the work of one Bloody Countess.  This week we will travel to a small town called Athis-Mons (near Paris France) that the Bloody Countess calls home.  The countess categorizes his work as dark, which is an understatement, however, he continues to break that mold into two distinctive themes.

The first theme, which he describes as “Reflection Of Humanity,” is a part of his series “Schizophrenia,” “Wound,” and “Plastic Art.”  The countess depicts this theme as the human being in the center of humanity or inhumanity, only, disorientated and disenchanted,  in the grip of his madness, his fears, and his agonies.  Fragile and tortured he indefatigably draws from his pipe dream, desiring only that his hopes and dreams come true.

The second theme, or “Nature,” is described as being both beautiful and tortured, dark and wild, forbidden and alarming.  This work can be seen within the series “In The Dark Forest” and “La Mare Aux Fees.”

For the past two years, The countess has been using an Olympus E-420 to capture some of these beautiful photographs.  He uses a Zuiko 14-42mm lens, however, a new lens with better zooming capabilities is in his very near future.

Whether inside or outside, The countess relies natural light, using luminosity and contrast as the basic building blocks for his work.  He especially enjoys mixing color nuances of very light blue.  Adobe Photoshop is the only piece of software he uses for final output.

When it comes to influences, The countess admires the work of the controversial photographer Diane Arbus along with the hard life in which she lived.   She had the courage to go against conventional beauty and stated that the American dream was an illusion.  Her photography revealed “real” people to the world, never hiding behind the glamor and glitz so apparent in modern “Hollywood-style” photography.  The Bloody Countess is also influenced by the work of Simon Marsden, especially the “visual universe” he has created.

I am also a huge fan of Mr. Marsden, and highly suggest viewing his work if you are a fan of “dark photography.”

What does the future hold for Bloody Countess?  He would like visit other countries and discover new landscapes, Scandinavia and Japan landing on the top of the list.   Using “themed photography” as fuel to his fire, his list of ideas is endless, unfortunately, time does not share these goals, limiting the fruition period necessary to bring these ideas to life.  There is one particular theme that has aroused his interest as of late which is a series on the fairy tales (think “Cendrillion,” or “Alice In Wonderland”).  I can only imagine what he will do with this theme and look forward to its release.

Concerning tips and techniques, The countess does not consider himself the “technical” type.   He simply allows moment to moment intuition to guide him on his photographic journey, learning the camera functions and abilities along the way. This statement, by the countess,  stood out to me more than the photographs themselves: “How many of us get caught up in the technical aspects of photography that we often forget why we began shooting in the first place?”

Lastly, The countess would like to experiment with the argentic (or analog) process as he feels that this technique to be more noble than digital technology.  The countess say of this process, “The thought of developing my own photos in a dark room is exciting, however, it takes patience, time, and precision. Finding the time can be a daunting task.”

I would like to thank Bloody Countess for allowing The Indie Spotlight into his world, if only for a moment, it is a moment I am honored to be a part of.

If you would like to see more of Bloody Countess’ work, you can find him out and about on DeviantART, Facebook, and his personal website.