Photo: ©Tatyana Vlasova

Karlina Vitolina

Only one to two per cent of people on this planet are natural redheads. Out of these few a flagrant minority are photographers. And there is even less of them who have hair as fiery red as the Latvian photographer Karlīna Vītoliņa [pronounced as Carleena Veetolinya]. Her hair shines the red of Venus by Boticelli and exudes sexuality of women by Tician. It’s copper — passionate, crazy fiery and beautiful. Her photographs radiate sensuality that is perceptible yet hard to translate into words.

Portrait photographs by Karlīna Vītoliņa have this vibration that equals a flash of energy at a specific point in time and place. They are a tail of a shooting star on its chaotic run. They reflect a person’s conversation with herself as registered by the camera and that may even pass unregistered by the person herself. Her work always radiates light even if a tinge of existential sadness is palpable therein. It is an ephemeral, slightly decadent vibration of beauty.

Karlīna Vītoliņa has studied painting and one is tempted to argue she is painting with light in her pictures. She consciously avoids working in studio and takes her pictures in natural light and environment. She has also studied in Prague, FAMU and has worked as fashion and portrait photographer for the last fifteen years. Her work has been published in fashion magazines, it’s been showcased in group and solo exhibitions and published in a book.

“I have always been interested in photography as a intersection between cinema and portrait. No matter how modern the artistic means of photography are nowadays, I am striving to represent the sweet and the fascinating, the static and the overall elegant mood. This is what inspires me in classical Italian cinema and in the black-and-white Hollywood films. I believe it is the lighting that gives characters and contents that amount of the delicate, the vibrant, the romantic, the charismatic, the perfect after all...

I also believe that the image can be an embodiment of thought and consciousness; and that it occasionally can reveal more that the language. Since I was a child I have been studying painting. Natural light is more important for me than working in a studio. I can create mood with any object of light that is there at the photo location. What’s important for me in photography is to strive for a sense of presence, a painting like sense of touch.

Working on my photo projects I usually do make-up and artistic direction myself, yet I also love to collaborate with passionate professionals.

What I am particularly interested in my work is bringing back to life the elegance of the 80-ies and the 90-ies, mixing it with the absolutely luxurious feel of the Renaissance. At the same time, I enjoy observing everyday life with its nuance that shapes every person. I find portraits the most alluring, especially when they help discovering the essence of personality hidden behind facial features, gestures and shapes of the body. I absolutely enjoy eclecticism as a form of artistic expression. I am not so much attracted to advertising photography surrounding us on daily basis. Instead I would be keen to capture in picture the invisible perfume in a crystal bottle.”

by Una Meistere, journalist, director of www.arterritory.com

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 Evita Rozentāle www.evitarozentale.lv