Rosie Hardy Creates Magical Self Portraits

By
Jovana A
-

Rosie Hardy is a photographer and artist from Manchester, England, who lives in a world she creates with her creative skills. She calls herself an “escape artist” and you’ll realize why after you see her work.

“I first got into photography when I was around 16 years old,” Hardy told Digital Photography School. “I would always Flickr through magazines and wonder why pictures I took never looked like they did, I was slightly confused and intrigued by it all. Like any teenager, I wanted to feel pretty, so I started taking random snaps of myself and playing around with them in photoshop and posting them to my old Myspace.”

Scroll down to see her magical photos and don’t forget to follow her on Instagram if you want to see what she will do in the future.

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The storms of the last few months are finally calming, and I’ve definitely been feeling a bit washed up and battered about by the ocean of life. That said, I have some free time coming up to create some new personal work (yay!) and we all know that starts by thinking up some new ideas whilst having a good long soak in the tub… 🛀💡 BUT in other news, for now, I’m a mermaid!! Or at least a temporary one. Last week I was tasked to create a mythological masterpiece for the @surface_uk #anythingbutordinary #matteblack campaign, and since I now live by a big lake, being a mermaid seemed rather fitting. Three guesses. In this photo, am I…. Surfing the net 🏄🏼‍♂️ Doing Netflix and Krill 🐋 Or editing my new pictures for Instaclam?! 🐚 😏 #badpuns #notsorry Shot in the bath at my fave ever studio, @hallammillstudio! I’ll post the before/after on my stories tomorrow, if anyone wants to see ☺️ 💦

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Check-in. 🔑 So… I got the key to my room, but the doors here are a little small! No joke, @AndazAms is incredible. Right in the hotel entrance hallway, there are all these miniature doors! I’ve never seen anything like it – they were just begging to be involved in this series! 🙃 Shooting this was so much fun, so many guests arrived to check in, only to be met by Alice (me) trying to bust into one of these little doors with my giant key. A few of them asked if I was permanent staff there to make the Wonderland experience a little more “interactive”, so I had to reassure them that I was "just an instagrammer" and not about to push them down any holes anytime soon… 😅 I wonder what I will find through the next door! Any ideas?! 😉#WhenInAndaz #AliceInAmsterdam #AndazAmsterdam (and of course… G is for Giant! Before and after of this going on my story tomorrow! 🔑)

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Have you ever had an image in your head, that you've had no idea how to logistically create? This picture was mine. I can't tell you all how long I've wanted to create this set up, but I've never been able to before. Why, I hear you ask? Because it's a real bloody struggle to fit a double bed in a car. 🙄 And don't even get me started on how to fit the mattress! 😅 But today – I got there! The 4-piece bed frame cost a grand sum of £5 from eBay (this was fantastic news, until I realised that I was going to have to saw the legs off to get it in the car… see stories!)… The genius mattress/pillow idea was from @fatboy_original – they approached me to create a whimsical #ad with their lamzac that fills with air – and this immediately fixed the mattress-in-the-car problem! They also kindly sent me a velvet beanbag as the giant pillow – which slots perfectly into the bed frame! I recorded the behind the scenes madness from this shoot and posted it on my story – so you can all see the struggle! 😅🌿 Yay for pushing the boundaries, and not giving up on the ideas that you really didn't have a clue how you'd make work… For the two other concepts I shot that failed miserably this week, I'm really proud of finally making this one reality! ☺️

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Dream Catcher. It’s been a tough year. Through all the wonderfulness that life has brought, the colours feel as though they’ve dimmed a little, and my heart has noticeably grown a bit harder. I’ve grieved through death differently this year – I think tried to take all the answers I thought I found from Tim’s death in 2016, and tried to focus on just keeping my stride through the pain this year, instead of surrendering to the darkness. Losing my cat in February, James’ broken neck and back from his crash in July, my dad becoming incredibly ill and seeing how it breaks my mum to pieces has been a simply dizzying challenge after challenge. “Keep striding forwards” I told myself, “you can’t spend another year flattened on the ground.” And yet, despite my strides turning into desperate running, sometimes I don’t quite feel like I’ve made any real steps forward, emotionally. I suppose it’s a good comparison, living vulnerably, softly… vs curling into a ball and just trying to roll through the madness! HOWEVER. On Christmas Eve, when I set out onto the hills with a beautiful still lake ahead of me (armed with my tripod, camera and some music for company), I had a little glimmer of hope that feeling really, truly, madly alive again wasn’t too far off. Here’s to a reflective, gentle new year with lots of dreams to be caught, hearts to be softened and moments to be awed at. There really is no better fight ✨😌

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Childhood is not from birth to a certain age – childhood is a state of mind. The child is grown, and puts away childish things. Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.” ― Edna St. Vincent Millay I’ve absolutely loved being a kid again today in my cardboard armour! But if I'm being honest, and I want to always be honest… accessing that magical, childlike essence of life has become a bit of a struggle for me, these last few years. You know what I mean – the ability that the open-hearted possess to be totally floored by a sunset, or moved to tears by a sentimental thought or a kind gesture – life has felt a little less vibrant for me lately. My biggest fight right now seems to be batting reality away with a big stick (or in this case, a cardboard axe!) and keeping it away from what’s left of my childlike heart. It is to not let the awful things people do ruin my idea of human nature. It is to remain curious, despite all the answers to the questions I quite liked having unanswered… Who wants to join my cardboard army?! I think it might just be the best fight there is. ⚔️

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Hibernation. 🌿☕️ For the next 6 months, I will become a photography recluse… glued to computer screens and car wheels and my camera, for wedding season is upon us! 🤗 Alongside my self portraiture on here, I shoot lovely peoples’ weddings to make a living! And despite the workload, it’s actually a really wonderful job – always seeing people at their happiest, witnessing love and all that jazz. Shooting weddings also gives me some life routine back – and takes me to new places to find new self portrait locations! ☀️ This is actually a sculpture called “Hiccup” by Tian Zhu. I found it whilst I was driving to a wedding down in Cornwall last weekend – and I couldn’t quite believe my eyes! Definitely worth the 14+ hours of driving! 😉 What giant things would you guys love to come across?!

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