Nirrimi Hakanson
All you photographers out there, a word up on one of the most prodigious emerging photographers in Australia. And if you’re nursing an inadequacy complex, seeing Nirrimi Hakanson’s folio might propel you to briefly flee your aspirations and think about getting a job at the local supermarket. Hopefully, it will inspire you. The self-taught sixteen-year-old Hakanson has been taking photos on a digital SLR since the age of thirteen, after starting out on a disposable camera. Her distinctive style is ethereal and reminiscent of photo albums filled with enchanted childhood memories.
Her subjects (both friends and professional models) are cast in romantic portraits, in sophisticated fashion shots, in scenes of teenagers posing unaffectedly in everyday realms. What stands out amongst the girlish nymphs making friendship pacts with the sunshine is a certain rawness you don’t often see in fashion-oriented photography. This is partly due to Hakanson’s preference for natural light and emotive settings and most certainly due to her visionary nature. This week, Hakanson was announced the winner of the National Youth Week’s junior photography competition.
Tagged: Australian photographers, camera, digital SLR, nature, Nirrimi Hakanson, portraits
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YOU'RE SAYING (4)
Tayler Smith said | 11 July, 2009
i first viewed Nirrimi’s work on DeviantART.com and was blown away by the sheer beauty she can capture through the lens.
she is a huge inspiration to me, and i hope to someday be able to capture those magic moments like she can 
Carolyn said | 14 July, 2009
I’d like to think I would be taking awesome photos at that age too if I had been given an SLR when I was 13! What a lucky bastard! lovely photos…i’m a bit weirded out by how skinny and white everyone seems to be (but I guess that’s normal)
Christina said | 18 July, 2009
I also first viewed Nirri’s work on dA and… Well, Let’s photocopy Tayler’s comment. She’s actually the push that shoved me over the edge into starting photography myself. Got an SLR for my fourteenth, about a year and a couple months ago. I must say, Thank you, Nirrimi. I hope to one day be a fraction as good. And learn to enhance my work like you do.
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alison said | 11 July, 2009
Incredible work for any age. I don’t even want to think about what I was doing at 16.