What camera and lens do you use?
For my digital work, I use Canon 5D Mark II with Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens and Canon 85mm f/1.8 USM (though my oldest pictures were taken on a Canon 400D with 50mm f/1.8 II).
My film pictures are taken on variety of cameras, but I primarily use Canon AE-1, Pentax MZ-50, Zenit E and Fujifilm Instax 210 and Fujifilm mini.
When and how did you start photography?
I started taking pictures when I was 15 and signed up on deviantArt – there were so many talented young people that it inspired me to try and create something too. I started with portraits and more conceptual images and became interested in fashion photography around 2010, but my first proper fashion photoshoot happened in autumn of 2011.
How do you retouch your images and what programs do you use?
I shoot everything in RAW, so first of all I add the main tones in Adobe Camera RAW and then open it in Photoshop retouch it further. There I mostly use curves, color balance, selective colors and retouch the skin and anything else that needs to be taken care of, though I don’t really do much adjustments apart from the colors.
Are you self-taught? How did you learn what you know?
I still shoot more or less the same as before university, when all the knowledge I had I collected myself through experimenting, testing, various online tutorials and just trial and error. I did attend university from 2011 though and learned a lot of things I haven’t done before, like shooting in the studio, all kinds of things connected to film photography as I wasn’t experienced in that almost at all, better ways to retouch and overall technical, historical and practical goodness.
What are you inspired by?
So many things really, ideas can come from absolutely everywhere! But mainly music, movies, books, photography, locations I encounter, interesting faces that spark stories.
Music is definitely one of the most important things in my life and a huge inspiration (a lot of the photoshoot titles/blog post names come from songs) and you can see what I listen to in my last.fm and you can listen to my mixes on 8tracks.
My favorite inspiring writers are: Sylvia Plath, Haruki Murakami, Camus, Edgar Allan Poe, Dostoyevski. My favorite books are: The Stranger, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Great Gatsby, 1984, Silk, Steppenwolf, Trap for Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, The Virgin Suicides, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, A Song of Ice and Fire, The Hunger Games, The White Shroud by Lithuanian writer Antanas Škėma.
Most inspiring/beautiful movies to me are: The Virgin Suicides, Pan’s Labyrinth, Amelie, The Secret Garden, Pretty Baby, Carrie, Black Swan, Daisies, Valerie and her Week of Wonders, Science of Sleep, Don’t Deliver Us From Evil, Donkeyskin, The Stoker, Picnic at the Hanging Rock, Cracks, Rosemary’s Baby, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter.
My favorite photographers: Tim Walker, Paolo Roversi, Sarah Moon, Sofia Sanchez and Mauro Mongiello, Camilla Akrans, Solve Sundsbo, Candace Meyer, Bruno Dayan, Gemma Booth, Eugenio Recuenco, Laura Makabresku, Nirrimi, Julia Trotti, Hana Haley, Ann He and many many more.
Can I post your images on my blog/tumblr?
You can if you provide credit everywhere you post them and put a link to my website or blog post that the images are from. Images can’t be edited in any way without my permission though. If you feature me on your blog, do let me know, I’m always glad about that and want to see it!
Can I use your images as banners?
Unfortunately no, I can’t give my images for free to be used that way, but you can buy a license. Send an email to ailerastone@gmail.com
Can I draw/paint your images?
If it’s not to be sold or used in a commercial way, then yes, please, do, and definitely show me as it’s exciting to see my images in another way!