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Walter just sent me (hilarious) some photos of himself at the Super Bowl last night—his 44th straight Super Bowl! He’s one of only four photographers who have covered every game. Don’t you think the NFL should come up with a ring for that?
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Introducing Jason Hindley: Sharp as a tack, sometimes literally
February 8, 2010 – 11:44 am
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As Bill and Maureen noted last month in the RESOLVE interview “Inside the Minds of Bill Stockland and Maureen Martel,” British photographer Jason Hindley has joined the Stockland Martel roster. Here’s the e-blast we sent out last week to spread the word:
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Kwaku Alston captures Venice Beach’s “Horizon Court”
February 5, 2010 – 7:47 pm
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Kwaku has been photographing Venice Beach, where he lives, for the past decade, and he occasionally exhibits some of those images at his studio on Abbott-Kinney Boulevard. Last fall, for example, he showed his portraits of vintage Volkswagen buses parked in and around his neighborhood. (Below is the invitation, and you can view scenes from the event here.)
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On February 12, Kwaku will be exhibiting a new body of Venice work, called “Horizon Court,” from 6 to 9 PM at his studio (address: 1346 Abbot Kinney Blvd.). In an essay about the series, art writer Shana Nys Dambrot notes that with these latest images, Kwaku “examines a very different part of Venice Beach—the colorful, bustling, and somewhat unsavory neighborhood of Horizon Court, a walk street that meets the Boardwalk. Of a similar look and feel to the more upscale individualism and shabby chic bohemia of the Abbot Kinney scene, Horizon Court and its residents skew toward the young, the edgy, and even the criminal aspects of the Venice legend.”
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And while these images are part of a personal project, they have an affinity with the portraits Kwaku promotes to art buyers.
“Kwaku shoots people against white—simply and honestly,” notes Bill Stockland, referring to Kwaku’s “On White” portfolio (which you can see here at the Stockland Martel website). “It’s people presenting themselves honestly to the camera. [With "Horizon Court,"] he did the very same thing, but he took it out to the streets.”
Kwaku has posted 26 of the “Horizon Court” images at his website, including these:
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From "Horizon Court." Photo by Kwaku Alston.
From "Horizon Court." Photo by Kwaku Alston.
From "Horizon Court." Photo by Kwaku Alston.
From "Horizon Court." Photo by Kwaku Alston.
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Managing your own image archive
February 4, 2010 – 4:05 pm
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At the RESOLVE blog, there’s an excellent post on the benefits of managing your own archive. Actually, not just the benefits of doing so, but the necessity of it. “The new trend seems to be the fully functioning, independent photographer who manages his or her own pictures,” writes photographer Ryan Pyle.
Here’s a little more from Ryan’s piece:
“When I complete shoots for newspapers, magazines, and corporate clients, I upload the images to my archive, so that I can FTP the images to clients, share the work with friends and family using public light-boxes, display work to potential new clients, and allow regular clients to search for stock images to license. That might sound like a lot of work — and it is. But make no mistake, this hard work pays dividends.
I particularly find the online archive a useful tool when working on longer-term stories or projects, because as work is completed it can be uploaded and shared for client or peer review. For example I recently photographed the construction of one of Shanghai’s tallest buildings. The building owners wanted to see a monthly edit from my shoots, a progress report, as we went. During the more than two years the project lasted, I was able to bring them up to speed with new imagery, as well as service the download needs of their staff in Shanghai and Japan. My archive created a seamless delivery system — no more burning disks, no more Fedex. The online, hosted, and managed archive is here to stay.”
Read the whole post here.
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What Roxanne Lowit looks for in an assistant
February 4, 2010 – 12:35 pm
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There’s a supernice story on Roxanne posted today over at Exclusively Fashion Magazine in which the writer, Rochell “E,” asks the legendary chronicler of the fashion scene about what she seeks in assistant:
“I look for someone who is intuitive,” Roxanne tells EFM. “I live a very busy and sometimes hectic life. I need someone who can think a few steps ahead. Who knows what I want, like and need and when I need it. I expect a lot. They need to be on top of it. They need to keep cool under pressure and move fast. When I find someone great I try my best to keep them around as long as possible.”
Roxanne also offers these words of encouragement for aspiring photographers and, really, for all of us:
“Go where your heart and mind tells you to go. Only you know what is right for you. Don’t listen when people say you can’t do it or are negative. Be positive. Believe in yourself. Do what comes from deep down inside of you because you can do you better than anyone else.”
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New work: John Mayer and Matthias Clamer flee the paparazzi
February 4, 2010 – 11:54 am
John Mayer in New York City. Photographed by Matthias Clamer for Q magazine.
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Matthias recently photographed John Mayer—singer, guitarist, champion dater of famous women—in Mayer’s downtown New York neighborhood (that would be Nolita) for the British music mag Q. But for a while there, it felt like they had entered Runner’s World. “We were chased around by paparazzi,” reports Matthias. “No spot was safe for even 10 minutes.”
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Photograph by Matthias Clamer.
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Photograph by Matthias Clamer.
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More “Supermodels of the 70s and 80s”
February 3, 2010 – 4:29 pm
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The opening night last Thursday for Timothy Greenfield-Sanders exhibition “Supermodels of 70s and 80s,” at Steven Kasher Gallery in Chelsea, was mobbed. And among the crowd were various members of the press, including some Page Sixers from the New York Post…
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As I mentioned last week, the exhibition features portraits Timothy made of onetime supermodels like Carol Alt, Cheryl Tiegs, and Christie Brinkley. The photographs were an interesting contrast with and complement to the other body of work on view at Steven Kasher: “Feminist Portraits, 1974-1977,” a fantastic series of black-and-white photos by Cynthia MacAdams. At the opening, I spotted fashion journalist Lynn Yaeger, who wrote about the event for the Sundance Channel’s Full Frontal Fashion blog. “MacAdams’s and Greenfield-Sanders’s photographs share a sense of solidarity,” she wrote. “Each portrait captured a look of power in the eyes, a silent confidence.”
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"Michelle Phillips & Aloma Ichinose Gruskoff at Aloma's 33rd Birthday Party," 1976, by Cynthia MacAdams, courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York. Both women were at the exhibition opening and gamely re-created this pose when someone in the crowd asked to take their picture by their picture.
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Cynthia MacAdams and Timothy Greenfield-Sanders at Steven Kasher Gallery. Photo by Patrick McMullan.
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Tim Mitchell at Modelinia, meanwhile, has written a nice piece about how the supermodel images came together:
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“We can’t tell you how many times we’ve thought, This screams Vanity Fair portrait! When it happens to us, the result usually involves makeshift gowns and shameless posing, but when it happens to great photographers like Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, something magical happens.
At a ’70s and ’80s fashion reunion hosted by hairstylist Harry King, the photographer spotted a special group of women and had the epiphany. A phone call to Vanity Fair and 10 supermodels later, Timothy had his shot.”
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Beverly Johnson, one of the supermodels in the exhibition, is also featured in The Black List: Volume Three. In a story published on Jan. 29, Timothy explained to Women’s Wear Daily that he’d been moved by her account of struggling to break into the modeling industry as an African-American. “We talked about the fashion industry and racism and what it meant to be the first black model on the cover of Vogue,” Timothy told WWD.
There’s more on “Supermodels of the 70s and 80s,” including some behind-the-scenes photos, over at the New York Times‘ T Magazine Blog.
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Click on the image to visit T Magazine Blog.
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Video: Behind the scenes with Matthew Rolston and Johnny Weir for the Sundance Channel
February 3, 2010 – 11:33 am
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A frame grab from Matthew Rolston's spot for the series "Be Good Johnny Weir," airing on the Sundance Channel.
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Have you seen Pop Star on Ice? The movie, which just been released in arthouse theaters after a successful tour of the film festivals, is a portrait of three-time U.S. figure-skating champion and Olympian Johnny Weir—an outsize personality in tight skater’s spandex. Even if you haven’t seen Pop Star, you probably still know Johnny: He was the inspiration for Jon Heder’s character, Jimmy MacElroy, in the 2007 Will Ferrell comedy Blades of Glory.
Johnny’s now got his own reality show, Be Good Johnny Weir, on the Sundance Channel, and Matthew Rolston shot a spot for the series. “I wrote and directed this promo and also designed every element, including overseeing the special effects and music,” Matthew explains. “I also wrote the script.”
Here’s the spot:
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And here’s a fun clip of Matthew working on the commercial:
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Click on image to access video.
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SEO tips for photographers
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The PhotoShelter blog A Picture’s Worth does great job of explaining the basics of creating an effective photo site, and if you’re in the process—the often hellish process—of making or remaking your own photo website, you really should do yourself a favor and review their posts first.
This week, for example, in a post titled “Why People Aren’t Linking to Your Photo Website,” they’ve posted 10 SEO tips:
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1. Create great content.
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2. Make it easy to link to you.
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3. Use embedded galleries, and encourage specialty blogs to use your images in their posts.
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4. Find specialty blogs and websites on topics you have pictures for, and write something they’ll want to share with their readers.
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5. Create a resource or guide on a specialty.
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6. Write about, quote, interview and link to other bloggers.
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7. Invite guest bloggers to post on your site.
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8. Comment on other blogs.
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9. Ask questions in your blog posts. Encourage debate.
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10. Answer all the questions in your blog comments.
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I encourage you to click here to read the reasons why these tips will make a difference.
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