New work: Kwaku Alston shoots Jake and Vienna for People magazine

As Kwaku notes at his blog, Art of Studio, both People and Us Weekly are featuring Bachelor stars Jake and Vienna as their cover stories this week. Kwaku shot the People cover story in Malibu, California, a few weeks ago, on February 26. . “Not just a difference in lighting… two magazines covering the same [...]

Academy Awards portraits gallery!

In honor of this year’s Academy Awards, which gets started at Sunday at 8 PM EST on ABC, I thought I’d show off some of the portraits our photographers have taken of  the 2010 nominees over the years. And then, out of curiosity, I started researching which previous nominees and winners our photographers have shot. [...]

Jim Fiscus: “Outwork your competitors.”

. Over at the Stockland Martel offices this past fall, Bill and Maureen and the reps were talking about ways that the agency could reach out to students of photography. They were keen to expand their current efforts: Stockland Martel already makes a conscious effort to stay in touch with the various colleges where either [...]

PDN interviews Kwaku Alston about his iPhone site

. . Over at PDNonline.com, there’s an interview with Kwaku about the iPhone version of his site he created to make his work more accessible. Kwaku, who worked with designer Giorgio Baravalle, talks about the cost, look, and how he’s coordinating the iPhone version with his regular website. “The iPhone completely changed the digital landscape,” [...]

Kwaku Alston captures Venice Beach’s “Horizon Court”

. 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 [...]

“The Black List: Volume Three” premieres

. The Black List: Volume Three, the latest installment in Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and Elvis Mitchell’s award-winning The Black List Project, premieres this month in a variety of forms and venues. Last night, Bill Stockland, Stockland Martel photo agent Michelle Sack, and photographer Kwaku Alston attended a screening of The Black List: Volume Three documentary at [...]

More SMart Book 2010 party pics!

. At his Facebook page, Kwaku Alston has posted a bunch of photos he took at the SMart Book 2010 party/exhibition last Thursday, including these: . . . . . These next photos, meanwhile, are from the SMart party pics posted at the Society of Visual Creatives: . . . . Thank you to everyone [...]

Photogs on shooting celebrity portraits

… PDN has expanded its feature on celebrity portraiture, in the December issue, online and asked a variety of photographers to answer questions like “What is the most challenging situation you’ve ever had to deal with while photographing a celebrity and what did you do to get the shot?” The shooters they spoke to include [...]

22 motion, advertising, and editorial highlights

… You know how magazine covers always tout the number of good things contained inside? “85 Uses for Your Gardening Hose.” “Rock-Hard Abs in Only 3,427 Steps.” “0 Reasons to Like Sen. Joe Lieberman.” Well, we’ve taken a similar (but more serious) approach with our 2009 Winter E-Newsletter. If you’re on our mailing list, you [...]

Woody Harrelson wears Crocs

.. Okay, it’s not exactly surprising that Woody, who is a certified yoga instructor, vegetarian, and raw-foods enthusiast (according to this article), is a Crocs man. But I was still amused when I saw this candid photo by Kwaku Alston of the 48-year-old actor wearing a mocha-colored pair of the love-them-or-hate-them shoes. Guess if you [...]