This years’ featured artists and what inspires their work – Paddington edition

In order to share our love of photography, we need to know what makes photographers tick. With that in mind, we asked a few featured artists in this year’s Head On Photo Festival to explain what and who inspires their photographic practice. Although there’s no question that our amazing photographers inspire us, the real source of their passion is the world they capture.

This list will encourage you to seek out work from other creators you may have never heard of before, just like we do with our Festival.

HO: What is your greatest inspiration for creating images?
Li: My greatest inspiration for images is my curiosity about people. Taking pictures and getting along with them makes me know about myself better

HO: Who is your favourite photographer?
Li: My dad is my favourite photographer. He is not professional, but he is my first teacher and path to photograph

HO: What is your greatest inspiration for creating images?
Mikaela: My greatest inspiration in making photographs usually has to do with some sense of longing, or yearning. Whether it’s my own or something I sense in whoever I’m photographing. And it can be very quiet and subtle, and hard to explain actually… But when I see it or feel it, that’s when I know I need to make the picture

HO: What is your greatest inspiration for creating images?
Rachel: My greatest photographic inspiration comes from self reflection on shifting identity that I felt in relation to motherhood.

HO: Who is your favourite photographer?
Rachel: My favourite photographer is probably Emmet Gowin, I particularly like the work he made about his family and family life, and I like his work so much that I named son Emmet.

HO: What is your greatest inspiration for creating images?
Sujata: My greatest inspiration for creating images is my 9-year-old daughter, and the hope for a mother to leave behind a world for her child, that is more inclusive, non-judgmental, and has completely moved beyond the binary concepts of beauty

HO: What is your greatest inspiration for creating images?
Giles: My greatest photographic influences come from the work of Robert Capa, Salgado, Don McCullin… great photojournalists

Want to see more of the work we have at Paddington Reservoir Gardens? Check out our Head On Photo Festival exhibitions here. Closing this Sunday! (20/11/2022)