Fabulens: Limitless Mobile Portraits

“My photography is a place where there are no limits, I can be fearless, I can be whomever I like and I can escape from the ordinary – to an idyllic world. I create characters that are not necessarily “me”, but they are a reflection of what appeals to me”. Helen Breznik speaks with Contributing Editor of LensCulture, Joanne Carter, about her self-portraiture and what it means to her. Breznik’s photography leans towards the melancholy and in many ways perfectism is the defining aspect of this and one that fits her art so well. Melancholy, unlike similar emotions could also be defined as ‘sorrow with a purpose’. She is emotional, sensitive and has poetry in her soul, she utilizes this with the romantic beauty displayed within her images, and she directs the melancholy and feeds its void with purpose. Aesthically, Breznik’s photography changes with her mood, “at times I create characters in elaborate costumes that are stoic and reserved but then I may do a series of figures which are full of movement and show great emotion”, she explains. She has always felt comfortable in front of the camera, with music playing, wearing fabulous vintage clothes, she transports herself to another world, one where her alter-egos can fully emerge. Sometimes, a character such as a Queen will emerge, serene, royal, strong but with vulnerability. Breznik is particularly drawn to imagery from the Pre-Raphaelites period, portraying underlying tragedy mixed with great passion and beauty. She keeps make-up to a minimum, perhaps just a light touch of lipstick, preferring to make use of sculpting natural light to add real shadows, creating natural depth and definition. With a background in graphic design, Breznik took up photography 10 years ago. Picking up a bunch of old Polaroid cameras she became intrigued and motivated to experiment with different films. She loved working with TimeZero film, it gave her the opportunity to manipulate the images and add new layers to her creativity. When she heard about the Apple iPhone and apps that simulated Polaroid photography, she felt compelled to try them out. This, then opened her world to the multitude of other innovative apps available and allowed her to be imaginative in a completely new and dynamic way. From 2010 Breznik started using the iPhone exclusively. Her background in fashion illustration complementing her photographic skills, giving her the experience to capture dramatic poses and create drama within her images. In 2012 Breznik was invited to show her work at the Latitudes Photography Festival at the Museum of Huelva in Spain. Her work has also been exhibited both nationally and internationally at venues including ArtHaus in San Francisco, the San Francisco Fine Art Fair, the Soho Gallery for Digital Art in New York, The Museo di Milano in Italy and the Mira Forum in Portugal. More recently, one of her images entered into the 2014 EyeEm Photo Awards made it into the final 10 out of over 100,000 submissions. Breznik concludes, “In the end it doesn’t matter what you shoot with... it’s the image that matters.”