Barbara Cole often uses water and motion to create images that feel suspended between reality and dream. How does her use of movement and distortion challenge your idea of what a photograph can capture? by Kathryn Mayo

2025-09-23 03:08:56 UTC

I was mesmerized by her photography style, it reminds me of this painter Paul Signac who created pointilism. It is this technique of making small dots with the paint to build up a composition, but can be used with a surrealist style like Barbara has. I am also a fashion major and this opened my mind up to other methods of photographing garments, particularly on how she captures the movement. This style is something I have been looking for, to blend my photography and fashion together for fine art.

2025-09-24 20:09:52 UTC

I appreciate that the shooting underwater requires a lot of logistics and specialized setups, but the end result is that Cole's photographs of clothes and hair seem ethereal and flowing.

I actually found the fashion "paper dolls" more interesting, especially knowing that the "clothes" were mere paintings. I feel that those images really confuse reality and art (in a good way).

2025-09-25 06:04:17 UTC

Cole's use of movement and distortion challenges my idea of what a photograph can capture by looking at photography through her view of abstraction and emotional expression. Her images often blur the line between a photograph and a painting, making them appear more heavenly. And rather than capturing a specific person, her subjects are often blurred or have their faces not shown. I never really thought about photographing this way, and I will try to experiment more with this. I like her use of slow shutter speeds with water, and this is something that I have always wanted to try out.

2025-09-28 20:40:40 UTC

I think her work is very unique and interesting though, when I saw her working with a fashion designer I felt like it was an interesting choice to photograph a designer's outfit through the water. Her work is very ethereal feeling and you can't pick out any details, you can make out that our subject is a person but besides that, it's hard to pinpoint something. This makes me wonder about the fashion side since designing clothing is another artform in itself and I feel like the artist designing the clothes would want as much detail as they could preserve when they have a photo taken of their clothing.

2025-09-29 03:40:10 UTC

I really liked the way she used the distortion from the movement in the water to enhance the overall image while also using natural light hitting the water. It creates an almost dream like image or something that feels familiar yet other worldly. I haven't seen any other photographer that's able to use that kind of distortion in a way that enhances the photo to create depth and an almost emotional reaction to looking to her work, while also showing the fashion model or the captivating nature of the main subject.

2025-09-29 17:15:23 UTC

Her use of movement and distortion in water challenges my idea of what a photograph can capture by opening new avenues of approach when taking a photo. I never play around with super different or abstract styles. Seeing her work definitely emphasized the fact that we don't always have to follow a set way of taking a photograph. The way people discover new styles is always so cool to me.

2025-09-29 22:52:08 UTC

As a fashion professional (marketing for fashion), I love how she incorporates costume in her water-based work. Both media (fabric and water) allow for different expressions of movement, so it's exciting to see them used together. The result is surrealistic images that presents the world in a very interesting way.