Tom Hunter

In the photo on the left Tom Hunter has referenced Millais’ Ophelia painting

Before doing my own pre-Raphaelite interpretations I decided to look at photographer Tom Hunter’s work, who references paintings for modern day representations in his photographs. Tom’s work is really interesting as he takes all his pictures around Hackney and uses them to depict social issues and news headlines, as well as referencing paintings. 

The way he makes the photos his own, as well as making a clear link between paintings shows such skill in terms of the composition of his photographs and editing to make the colours as vivid as in the paintings he references. Personally I think Hunter’s intentions with his photography is to challenge this contrast between what we consider the olden days and modern society by putting the two together in this way. It really makes you question whether people can still be represented in poetic and romantic ways like in pre-Raphaelite art where we see themes of Shakespearean tragedy.

I really love Hunter’s interpretations of the pre-Raphaelite paintings and the other themes he brings into his work. For my photos I really want to make a link with the paintings but also make the photographs my own in terms of style and composition.