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Rhythmic gymnast, Havana, 1999. Photo by Walter Iooss.

Alexander Popov, New York City, 1992. Photo by Walter Iooss.

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There seemed to something important—something wistful?—to this particular pairing that Walter chose out of the infinite possibilities at his disposal.

I wrote him back: “Hey, Walter. I’m curious—why did you pick out these two images from your archives?”

His response: “Joy and sadness. Purity and reality.”

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Jonathan Franzen. Photo by Jeff Lipsky.

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Megan O’Grady interviewed Jonathan Franzen last year about his latest novel, Freedom, for the September 2010 Vogue, and the piece was accompanied by the above portrait of the bestselling author shot by Jeff Lipsky.

Here’s an excerpt from O’Grady’s story:

In the period following The Corrections, the downside of unchecked liberty was very much on Franzen’s mind. After six years of false starts trying to break ground on a new novel, years in which he faced the death of his mother and adapted to a new life of literary celebrity, he saw his country subsumed by anger. “What’s this rage about?” he asks rhetorically. “You can do anything you want. We’re unprecedentedly rich and free; why is everyone so miserable? And of course, I was an example of it myself. I was suddenly rich and free. Why am I so miserable?”

To read the rest, go here.

And, while we’re talking Vogue, here’s a portrait of Franzen by Jeff that appeared in the January 2011 issue of L’Uomo Vogue…

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Jonathan Franzen. Photo by Jeff Lipsky for L'Uomo Vogue.

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Nicki Minaj by Matthew Rolston.

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Trinidadian hip-hop star Nicki Minaj has otherwordly style—she has described herself as a Harajuku Barbie—a hot debut album (Pink Friday, which features appearances by Eminem, will.i.am, Drake, and Kanye West), and a fanbase so ardent that Minaj often finds herself being asked to autograph their, uh, bosoms. Matthew Rolston recently captured the many faces of this kaleidoscopic artist for the image above. To read more about her, check out this colorful Black Book profile by Nick Haramis: “The Meteoric Rise of Nicki Minaj.”

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"Muscle No. 5," 2007, by Hans Gissinger. Inkjet print on canvas, 78 x 52.

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In 2007, Hans Gissinger produced a series titled “Muscle” comprising macro images of muscle tissue. And the following year, several of those photos went on auction, including the one above, “Muscle No. 5,” which sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong.

Here’s a statement from Hans about “Muscle”—composed, I can’t help observing, as leanly as his subject matter:

“The brain creates and uses muscles to make us what we want to be. Muscles give us movement, power and beauty. We do everything for love and glory. It counts to be the first, the strongest and the most successful.”

To see more images from this series, click here.

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Michael Imperioli. Portrait by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.

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Timothy Greenfield-Sanders shot this intense portrait of actor/director Michael Imperioli (formerly and famously of The Sopranos and now star of the ABC cop drama Detroit 1-8-7) in 2009, around the time that Imperioli’s film The Hungry Ghosts was making its debut. Timothy also invited the actor to write about the movie for his Huffington Post column, which you can read by clicking here.

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