When Fairy Tales Become Reality by Margarita Kareva
“The design business continues to navel gaze. Designers are still designing for other designers rather than working to convince the business world of the importance of design in our everyday lives.”
– Joe Duffy
Margarita Kareva is an incredibly talented photographer from Russia, Yekaterinburg. She specializes in taking surreal photos that makes you think fairy tales are real, that fables walk among us. Her inspiration is all that is fantasy. From books, movies, comics, short stories, anything that is related to the genre, she takes it, and creates beautiful art. She is the living example of how you can grow as a creative professional doing the thing you love.
Margarita took photography about three years ago, and she is constantly adding new skills to her repertoire. If you are interested about seeing all her work, you should check out her 500px page. Or you can just give her a message on Facebook if you have a great idea for her – “I will make photographs for free of any interesting ideas or people in any country for the accommodation and flight tickets.”. Now, let’s immerse ourselves in her work, and get inspired!
1. Color Tales
Modern day Cinderella having a blast at the amusement park. Is she going to lose her shoe on the rollercoaster ramp at midnight? Definitely a story to tell here. You simply remain dumbstruck at how beautiful the colors blend. The model is exquisite also – a true princess. I don’t know about you guys, but this picture makes me crave cotton candy so bad. Unfortunately I don’t have any fairs going on at the moment, and I’m not going to buy those chemically made ones from the super market.
2. Rock Oil
What a dark and gritty little mermaid we have here. So peaceful and mysterious. Dreaming of your prince charming, aren’t you? Waiting on some beautiful boy to save you from your old ways? I just love this photograph.
3. Rat Catcher
The Pied Piper couldn’t look more beautiful. Margarita got her inspiration from a fairy tale that tells the story of a rat catcher. He cleared cities infested with plagued rats using his magic flute. After the citizens of Hameline decided to ignore their binding contract, refusing to pay for his services, he used his flute to hypnotize their children and guided them to a cave in the mountains. Now, this story has a lot of different endings. Some say that he led them to a river and drown them, others say that they were sent to a distant land never to be heard again. The least morbid one is that he held them safe by his side and decided to set them free only when the ransom was paid in full.
4. Elf
Elves have their origins in Germanic mythology and folklore, and with the help of Tolkien, Dungeons and Dragons, and the guys and girls from Blizzard, elves are now a big part of our geek culture. I for one am in love with everything that is elfish. Their way of life, their soothing language and their jaw dropping agility. My favorite elf must be the Prince of Mirkwood, the destroyer of Urukhai, Legolas.
5. Legend of the Guardians
Margarita got her inspiration from the movie Legend of the Guardians: Owls of Ga’Hoole. A movie directed by Zack Snyder, the guy that also made 300, Sucker Punch and The Watchmen. If you haven’t seen it yet, and you want to relax with your SO, you can give it a try. It’s a children’s movie, but don’t let that put you off, it is highly entertaining. It tells the story of how Soren, a young barn owl that was abducted by an evil Owl army, tries to escape the clutches of doom with his new founded friends. Seeking the legendary Guardians so they can stop evil growing stronger in their land. Margarita’s artwork is truly amazing, taking into consideration every single little detail. Kudos to you for such a great photo.
6. Snow White
We all know the story of Snow White, hunted by the evil and jealous queen who seeks to be the fairest of them all, by killing her. Snow White seeks refuge and finds it at the house of 7 dwarfs that try to protect her. The problem is that the evil queen is deceitful – she disguises herself into an old lady and gives Snow a poison apple. Alas, a prince charming saves her with a kiss. I got to say, this picture is awe inspiring. Gaze a little bit at it, and see how it transports you to a surreal plane.
7. Witch
We seem them in movies, we read their tales in books, and we gawk at them at Halloween parties. Witches are a part of our culture believe it or not. There still are sects that practice witchcraft and witchery. Some to a lower degree than others. Others still perform sacrificial rituals to pagan gods by slaughtering chickens, pigs and what have you – and some do it just for fun. The most well known witches have to be the Salem Witches. In fact, the Salem Witches were a series of hearings and prosecutions held in colonial Massachusetts, United States between 1692 and 1693. Those trials found twenty people guilty of practicing witchcraft, and sentenced them to be burned at the stake. Five people died in jail. It was a horrible time, filled with ignorance and religious extremists.
8. Red Riding Hood
Well, this is kind of awkward. Red Riding Hood standing along side with the wolf. Hey little girl, don’t you know that he will eventually eat you? You should run and fetch the Lumberjack to save your pretty face from inevitable doom. Talking about pretty faces. The model. She is just gorgeous. You sure know how to pick them Margarita.
We would love to hear your opinions about Margarita and her fairytale photography. Maybe you have a favorite fable that you wish to share with us. You can do so by posting in the comments section below.
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