Visual spells by Michelle de Rose

Her thoughts and words are poetry. Her work is visual poetry.  Michelle de Rose  captures beautiful imagery of dreams and feelings: pain, fear, tenderness, calmness, silence. She has found the power to reveal the interior beauty and she’s giving voice to emotions through her photography.
To see more of  Michelle’s work follow her FLICKR

What were you passionate about when you were little?

When I began to express my feelings in different ways, my family and classmates thought it was a wrong thing, so in their eyes, I was a ‘freak’, a child who needed to be fixed, but probably couldn’t.
I loved touching the petals of flowers, watching the particles of dust lifting in the air, smelling old pages of a book, lying down in the woods and watching the sky, staring at the sun (even if afterwards, I couldn’t see for a few minutes), walking in a November rain, admiring the stains the ground made on my skin, dancing alone among the mountains, so I began to draw in black and white to express this connection between nature and me. I stopped drawing at 18, because of an ugly stage in my life, at 15-16 I started writing poems and short stories. I almost stopped this too, because sometimes I have no words to express myself, so I focus on photographs.

Does living close to the sea influence your approach to photography?

Not entirely. I’m originally from Brasov, so I find more inspiration among the trees, mountains, cold rivers. I find the sea interesting when there are clouds on the sky or an upcoming storm, when everything seems more uncertain. When I used to live in Brasov I had this idea to shoot girls with water surrounding them everywhere and moving to Constanta gave me the chance to do that, but I still crave for mountains sometimes. As John Muir quoted ‘The mountains are calling and I must go’. I have a dream: sea and mountains in the same place. Not asking too much, huh?

How do you see your style evolving over the years?

Well, when I started photography I didn’t have a certain style, I was unsure of myself and I tried many different styles, to me it seems that it was a bit monotonous and undefined. As I learned to use Photoshop better and I began to feel confident with my approach in taking photographs, my own style evolved into one that I would describe as delicate, strange sometimes, monotonous but interesting at the same time. I know I still have a lot to learn and to try out and I hope I will get to the point when someone will look at a photo and know it is mine, even if my name isn’t anywhere on it.

How do you want the women you photograph to be perceived?

Haha, do I have to be honest? Kidding. 😀  When I have a model coming for a shooting I say to her that I would like her to be natural and at the same time to express states like sadness, numbness, melancholia, dreaminess. Sometimes I tell them silly stories, but we end up laughing so it’s harder for them to be serious. The women I photograph should be perceived as souls that are searching for rest, that are planning their escape in a chosen scenery, that are feeling every part of nature – the wind, the cold grass, the rain, the smell of a storm, the fatiguing heat… women that are feeling the delicate touch of soft fabrics, veils; that are floating in the water, never wondering where the water may take them- souls that don’t have to pretend to be someone else because they aren’t afraid to show their true self, trough photography.

Where do you find inspiration?

I can’t find it anywhere most of the time…there are just ideas that come into my mind or certain objects I see and then I imagine a whole new story based on that object. Anyway, I could say that my feelings are my inspiration, everything I’ve been through in life influenced my photography and I embrace bits of sadness in my soul because for me it’s a source of inspiration and a blessing.

Can you talk a little about beauty? How do you envisage beauty?

We all like something beautiful, that makes our hearts tremble. I dedicate a lot of time to find the *perfect* girls that I want to photograph…many friend’s lists, thousands of people and although it’s very exhausting, it’s totally worth it when I find the right person. I am fascinated by the personalities a face can show and how these personalities influenced some microexpressions. I love a strange beauty (that maybe others won’t find beautiful), big blue eyes; albinos; girls that are considered ugly by the society just because they are a little different; the sun bathed blonde, long hair; eyelashes that move gently when they close their eyes; fragile,pale hands, which betray their hidden wishes; the sadness of a face that I can never forget; that impatient, wild soul; conflicting personalities in general. For me, this is the definition of beauty: both physical and phycological qualities and flaws of a person, mixed with some attractive weirdness.

What’s your dream for the future?

I would love to share my vision with as many people as I can, to develop my talent more and more so I can do shootings for important magazines, to stop being a ‘starving’ artist.

By DANA CHELS

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