Diana Diriwaechter

The Art Of Silence

2011-12-14T20:12:00.000-08:00

Model: Jane

preview

2011-12-13T08:26:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a while. I was kind of burnt out after my last show. It was a lot of work putting everything together. While I'm eternally grateful for every opportunity I get to display my work, it sometimes kind of takes the fun out of things. It took me a while to want to take pictures again.

I finally decided to just do a simple shoot and not put too much thought into it. I love theater and I'm crazy about any form of dance. Jane had this cute costume she put together for Halloween that inspired this shoot.

Lighting in progress, not looken so great.

All I wanted was to sort of fake kind of a stage look and make the character feel alone in a vast dark space.

I ran into a bunch of problems which took me far too long to figure out. By the time we started shooting I was pooped. As always, I learned a ton and had a lot of fun.

Lauren hard at work.

I feel very lucky to have friends who are willing to give up entire days to collaborate on my projects. Thank you very much Lauren and Jane!

Home sweet home

2011-10-24T06:50:00.000-07:00

Took these this summer with my TLR camera.

Ella on top of the Tiaun.

The Tiaun is a 8,875 ft / 2,705 m mountain peak in Graubünden, Switzerland. It is one of my favorite mountains. The view from the peak is breathtaking.

My parents and Ella hanging out on the way down.

Our neighbors on the Schmittner Alp. The husband is an amazing painter.

The view from the bottom of the Tiaun down on to the Schmittner Alp.

Lauren Queen Of Blueberries

2011-09-04T14:46:00.000-07:00

And here we have the last of the fruit images. It's very unfortunate that I didn't get this one done in time for the show. Once I saw all the images on the wall it all came together. I was doubting this whole thing (size, frame, print) up until I hung the images. Then I was sorry this one was missing. Lauren was awesome and we managed to get through this shoot even though it was a crazy day.

Model: Lauren Weber
Make Up Artist: Lauren Weber!

Solo show opening this weekend

2011-08-23T07:06:00.000-07:00

Due to the hurricane the opening is pushed to next Saturday (September 3rd).

"Queen Of Grapes"

Spirit Gallery

207 Bank Street
New London, CT 06320

(860) 443-0484

Saturday in a week is the opening of my show in New London, Ct. Stop by if you're in the area! It's the first time I've printed some of my work on a larger format. The fruit series will be there in large!

IEOLUS Handbag Shoot

2011-08-22T07:37:00.000-07:00

Here are the images from the commercial IEOLUS handbag shoot I did a few months ago.

Make Up: Lauren Weber
Hair: Nikki
Models: Jane, Alena
Dresses (made for shoot): Rosalinda
Handbags: Regina Yoo from IEOLUS

Big thank you to everybody involved it was a great day!

Nikki Queen Of Pears

2011-07-13T20:52:00.000-07:00

Took me long enough. The last few weeks are a blur. Too many things happening right now. All good things though. Just finished prepping my stuff for a group show in Vermont and am trying to get the prints done for my August show. Did I mention how much I hate dealing with printing. It's such a pain getting everything right.

Anyway, big thank you to Nikki and Lauren for their help on this shoot. I had to do a quick pass through the images, I might go back and take another look when I have more time.

This weekend I'm hoping to do some drawing. I need a break from all the photography stuff.

Oh and if you haven't seen the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the MET........ go see it. It's amazing, inspiring, breathtaking...... just beautiful stuff. Pick a good time to go, the lines can be long. I went at 8pm on a Friday which turned out to be a good call. Seriously though, go see it.

Nikki Queen Of Pears - Preview

2011-06-22T07:20:00.001-07:00

I love pears. Next to lemons they are my favorite fruit. I like how they look simple but can taste divine. Nikki graciously volunteered to by my queen of pears. I wanted to go simple with this one and just work on the shapes. I thought adding a turban would be interesting. I also thought perhaps the shape from the chest to neck to round turban would sort of resemble a pear shape. Took a few tries to get it to sit right but I liked how it came out. I was sure I was going to have to run over there every few minutes and re-adjust it but it actually didn't move the entire shoot. I didn't add much embellishments to this one. Nikki has beautiful eyes and I figured she would make it interesting enough. She was great, didn't get tired at all and held some strenuous poses. I know it looks easy because they are just sitting but in fact all their muscles are tense and I always ask for uncomfortable stuff like squeezing the shoulder blades way together while keeping the shoulders down. Not easy when you have to hold it trust me. As you can see Nikki is heavily tattooed on her back. You can see a little creeping forward on the front too, I haven't decided if I was going to remove that from the image. I try not to do much photoshop work like that but I like a clean look, we'll see. Like with the other shots I added a green gel to bring out the green in the image. Lauren as always did the make up.

Spoiled?

2011-06-12T18:43:00.000-07:00

Our dogs..... no they are not usually allowed on the furniture.

IEOLUS Handbag shoot prep

2011-05-24T12:07:00.000-07:00

Name any color! Any color!

Lauren finally gets to use her airbrush machine, yay!

I took on some commercial work for the up and coming handbag brand "IEOLUS". It was a great experience and I have a true respect for the woman behind IEOLUS. She's been working in fashion for a long time and is a force to be reckoned with. I'm excited for her new line of handbags to come out.

I was also very fortunate to have my super awesome crew working with me on this. Lauren Weber as always did the make up and Nikki blew me away with her hair styling. Jane and Alena were my awesome models who endured some rough terrain. We were all dodging poison ivy, thorns, bugs and a huge turkey that wouldn't go away. In addition shooting in the forest on a on-again off-again sunny day was not easy. Rosalinda made the dresses for the shoot which I also was impressed with! Couldn't have done it without the ladies.

Jane Queen Of Lemons

2011-03-23T09:16:00.000-07:00

Model: Jane
Make Up: Lauren Weber

3rd of the fruit series. Big thank you to Jane and Lauren! And thank you to Alex for coloring Janes hair.

Tamara Queen Of Grapes

2011-03-03T10:32:00.001-08:00

Model: Tamara
Make Up: Lauren Weber
Hair: Nikki Tomaino

Tamara Queen Of Grapes - Preview

2011-03-01T20:05:00.000-08:00

Well I thought this shoot would be a lot faster and easier then the orange one was since I thought I had worked out a lot of the technicalities (like composition, setup.....) but it was not so. It turned out to be a long and difficult shoot. I blame part of it on fatigue, I was tired when I got started and exhausted by the time we finished. The two main things that took longer then expected were the light color balancing and the outfit. I knew I had all the fabric colors balanced but I was trying to be tricky with the lighting (by playing with gels) and it was hard getting that to work. In the end it wasn't exactly what I wanted but I did get the warmth and coolness I was looking for but boy it took me probably an hour to get that to look good.

I had initially picked a red apple for Tamara. For some reason I just couldn't wrap my head around the apple with her. Then last week I suddenly decided the grape would be better. I think she reminded me more of a greek/romany type lady which is also why I draped the dress across her chest. I thought the grapes were also kind of fitting with that theme. Overall I wasn't trying to be true to that area or anything but thought it would be fun to have a few things inspired by them.

It was my first time working with Tamara. Working with someone new is always time consuming because I'm not familiar with their body types yet. I know that just because certain poses work well for one person it does not mean they work for anybody. It's always interesting to see how people differ. What was awesome about Tamara were her facial expressions. It might not look like much in this shoot but it's soooo hard getting good facial expressions from people who've never modeled before and she was able to give me a variety of expressions. If I worked with her again we'd do better since I know her strengths and weaknesses now. Lauren did the make up and was great as always. I know she was struggling with the eyebrows, I wanted them to disappear into the skin color and eye make up and it turns out this is not an easy task (who knew). It was funny watching her cake on from glue stick to multiple foundations and powders. She's a trooper and never complains about my obsessive instructions. I love working with her. Oh and Nikki did the hair!!! I wasn't sure she'd be able to pull off what I had in mind. All I did was find some reference online for a dutch braid and explained how I wanted the back to read behind the braid. Nikki totally nailed it. It was exactly what I wanted I was totally amazed. I'm super psyched to have found someone who can do up-dos. Yay for my new team.

Adya Queen Of Orange

2011-01-29T12:48:00.000-08:00

Model: Adya

Make Up Artist: Lauren Weber

For some reason the image color is not right on the internet. It looks to desaturated and the orange isn't quite right. I tried fixing it but it still doesn't look right. I don't get why on the internet the colors and values tend to change so much. To see the correct color and values you'll just have to come to my show in August :)

As mentioned this shoot was mainly about playing with the color orange. I'm looking to do a series of colors inspired by fruit. I love color and always like playing with it in different ways. Since this was more of a classic portrait, no elaborate set, I decided to go with a round frame. I think once I have a whole series going the round frames will look nice next to each other. I also liked how the round shape broke up the linear composition of the image. Simple and elegant is what I like. As always I learned a lot on this shoot, it was the first time I played with colored gels. The next shoot will be a lot easier. I did the hair and hacked together the dress, not perfect but I was happy with the outcome. I might still post one of the images where I played around with Vaseline.

Adya Queen Of Orange - Preview

2011-01-24T07:35:00.000-08:00

The awesome Ms. Lauren doing her thing and looking cute.

Ms. Adya suffering for my art not to mention she had to go home with all the make up on cause there's no shower.

The only space heater working, which simply was not enough in that big cold space.

The two words that would describe this shoot best would be orange and cold. I've found that on eveyshoot I either forget soemthing or something small (or big) goes wrong. This time I forgot my cell phone (which is important because you can't get into the building without contact with someone in the building) and the power went out. The cell phone wasn't a big deal but the power outage was. In a way I am lucky because I work mainly with flash lighting so those are battery run and don't need power but it was getting DAMN COLD. There is no heat in the studio so usually I use space heaters. Wasn't too big a deal for me since I could just layer on clothing but the poor model who was scarcely clad,.... not so great. Right before we started shooting one of the outlets got power back so I was able to run one heater right behind her. This helped a bit but the poor girl was still cold and if you look closely you can see she has goosebumps in pretty much all the shots. But Adya is a true sport and never complained even with the obvious discomfort. I haven't seen Adya since 2008 so it was fun catching up and working with her again. Lauren and I had a blast. She's awesome and always gets my directions and nails my visions. Love working with her. I did the hair myself this time which was interesting not that it was fancy. Oh and I hacked together the dress which was a lot of fun!

The shoot was fairly simple, it was all about color, I just wanted to play with the orange palette which was fun. No fancy set. I'm going to try to stick to a colored series this time. Each shoot a different fruit and color. Haven't decided on the next shoot yet. What was different this time is that I worked with colored gels and did some quick experiments with Vaseline on the lens in a few shots. Learned a lot, the next shoot will be better.

Group Show at the Visual Arts Center in Summit

2011-01-21T07:57:00.000-08:00

New shoot this Sunday, yay...

I have two pieces in the group show at the Visual Arts Center in Summit, NJ. It's a really nice space and the show is all art mediums not just photography which I think is great. It was put together by Joan Young who is an associate curator at the Guggenhaim Museum. It's a nice collection of pieces, if you have the time go check it out. It's up until March 18th.

Here are the two pieces that are in the show.

You can see all the pieces that made it into the show here.

Art Blocks For Ghana

2011-01-12T09:26:00.000-08:00

More photography coming soon but for now here's my submission for the auction. I'm never happy with the way the wood stuff scans, it always looses line detail and the values are off. I had a lot of fun creating it. I love to draw.

"And when the moon is on the rise...",
graphite, micron pens, india ink, varnish on wood 8" x 8"

I was very happy and honored to be invited to be part of the Art Blocks For Ghana art auction. It's part of the Picture Book Project Foundation which is a charity art auction of original works created by top artists within the animation and illustration community to provide boarding and education for orphaned children in Ghana, West Africa. Besides this being for a great cause our work will be published in a wonderful book and there will be two group shows displaying everyone's work.

If you'd like to see or buy some original art work by some of the best in the animation/illustration industry then save the date:

February 26
New Art Center
580 8th Ave. at 38th St.,5 fl.
New York, NY 10018
http://www.newartcenter.net/

March 12
Gallery Nucleus
210 East Main St.
Alhambra CA 91801
http://www.gallerynucleus.com/

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2011-01-04T18:37:00.000-08:00

A bit late....

My next digital shoot is scheduled for January 23rd with ADYA (slime girl). She's coming in from Kansas that week. Super excited! I haven't seen her since that last shoot which was in 2008. I hope she is as awesome as I remember her being :) As always, I'm so not prepared and nervous that I can't get my shit together by then.

I actually had time to shoot some film AND develop it over the holidays! I was so happy. It's been close to a year since I last spent time in a dark room and I almost forgot how much I love it! Developing film is so much fun and so satisfying. One of my new years resolutions is to shoot and develop more film. I want to get better at it. I also feel like shooting film really helps me shoot my digital work with more care and more efficiently. Anyway, here are a few shots from my TLR. There's a few more on my philm phoblography site.

My two nephews

The Rocken Family

2010-12-16T06:45:00.000-08:00

This is actually not a posed picture they just happen to all be aligned that way. Looks kinda like a music album cover doesn't it? Clearly my mom is the lead singer. LOL (This was taken in Simi Valley, CA).

It's been far too long but work has been kicking my butt plus I've been trying to wrap my head around what I want to do next. The new exciting news is that I have my next solo show lined up! The Spirit Gallery in Connecticut has graciously invited me to show my work there in August. It's a nice space and it's quite a bit bigger then the last place which means I have to get my shit together and create more stuff. So my next shoot is booked for January and I'm hoping to do another in February. This time I'm doing a bit more of a series. Should be interesting and I'm excited to get started. I also need to finish editing my last shoot (sheep) so I'll be busy in the coming months. Hope you guys are doing well,.... whoever you are :)

Solo show and more

2010-11-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

This Friday is the opening of my first solo show (featured Artist) at the UAG Gallery in Albany. The show will run through the month of November. Big thank you to Jane who helped me set everything up .

Bah Bah White Sheep

2010-10-07T18:23:00.000-07:00

Model: Jane
Make Up: Lauren Weber

I just had fun with this one. It's silly and bizarre and that's what I wanted. I'm always amazed at how different I get Jane to look (with the help of Lauren). She seems to transform in front of the camera. This pose seemed to work the best with the setup and feel. We tried a few others but always went back to this so I didn't get a big variety of shots. I do have some others I may post later though. The wig by the way looked exactly like the pink clown wig I posted below. I painted, cut and groomed it into place, then added the purple ribbon to match the dress and background. The main thing was working with the colors I had in mind. I love working with color.

Bah-Bah White Sheep Preview

2010-10-04T18:45:00.000-07:00

Lauren doing her thing.

I've gotta get a better title.... haha...I finally got around to planning this shoot. I've had this visual in my head all summer long but just couldn't get all the details worked out. I always had this feeling that something was missing. I finally decided that it might never happen if I don't just set a date. Once I had the date set and got Jane and Lauren on board with my crazy plans it all came together. I got the hay from Moroni at work. He was awesome, didn't even ask any questions, just hauled in the hay to work. The hay was far more matte and green then I remembered hay being so I knew I was going to have to do something with it. I decided that spray painting it gold could be interesting and would be right with the overall color scheme. I figure it might not actually read as gold but the highlights would read and it would even out the weird color. Also had some funky ideas for the hair. As always it was a mad rush to get all the stuff together for the shoot. I got the props and set pieces before hand but only had one night to set it all up. I stayed up late and got up early to get the background setup and ironed, the hay spread out and spray painted and the hair prepared. I was exhausted and had a hard time focusing but I think it came out alright. Jane was a good sport as always and Lauren just gets me, which is awesome. Love working with these two ladies.

style

2010-09-29T05:49:00.001-07:00

I love people who have style (not just in terms of fashion but the way they carry themselves and talk). I met some classy people this weekend, it was refreshing. I still have some more pics I'd like to add but didn't have time to look through them all. Besides that getting ready for a new shoot this weekend. Nervous cause I have a lot of work ahead of me.

he's got style

style and talent...

let me tell ya... this lady can sing!

what?.. it's an art shot

stylen duo

and the winner is........

........ oh my god!

smooth

the lovely host

Peace Love and Ice Cream

2010-08-24T05:47:00.000-07:00

From our trip up to Vermont.

Forest Spirit

2010-07-18T12:33:00.000-07:00

Model: Jane

Best weekend ever.... thanks to Jane (and Tony for a quick spontaneous meet up). It's been far too long since I last had a chance to work with Jane. I almost forgot how awesome she is (emphasis on almost). First of all I love that she always follows through on plans we make (no matter how complicated they are) and never complains about anything. I asked her on Friday if she'd meet up on Sunday. I warned her that I had no clue what we'd be doing. I was kind of stressing out because I had no ideas. All I knew was that I wanted to shoot very early in the morning, like 5 or 6am. First I asked Jane to come into the city and meet me there at 6am for a city shoot. Late Saturday afternoon, I suddenly got this odd feeling about the whole thing. For some reason my gut was telling it wasn't the right location. It suddenly hit me that I wanted to shoot in the forest. So Jane ended up coming over to my place at 9pm because we needed to figure out the outfit and make up.

We decided to get up at 3:15am to have enough time for getting ready and capture the morning light. I was totally exhausted (I was up the night before until 3am which I normally never do). We somehow managed to make the outfit out of underwear, ribbons and other stuff I had at home. We also decided to paint her whole body a bit white to make her stand out more against the forest.

Getting up at 3:15am was NOT easy. I was tired but it was nice hanging out with Jane. We took our time drinking coffee which was a mistake cause before we knew it, it was 5am. I kind of freaked since I desperately wanted to get there by 5:30am before the sun was up and people were out and about. It was a mad rush getting ready. I did end up forgetting a small part of the outfit, oh well. We got there and I was totally stressing because I didn't know what I was doing and what I wanted. As you may know I hardly ever shoot outdoors. The bug situation wasn't pretty, we were covered in bug spray.

After I relaxed I could tell we'd get some good shots. I liked how Jane was glowing against the background. The white body make up paid off. The pictures didn't do her justice though. She looked so pretty and elegant in person. I could almost imagine her dancing around. She reminded me of a forest spirit.

Ms. Nikki is back

2010-06-23T06:14:00.000-07:00

Model: Nikki
Make Up: Tamara

Nikki asked me to do a shoot with her to get some shots of her new tattoos. I was happy to do so since it's been a long time since I last had a chance to shoot Nikki (last time was in 2007). While her new tattoos are certainly interesting I kept wanting to focus on her eyes. As you can see she has amazing eyes. We tried a few things with the tattoos like add some oil to make them more contrasty but then I was getting too much glare from the lights. Adding powder on the other hand tended to wash them out a bit. I decided that I'll have to do another shoot that's not so much about the tattoos to really capture Nikki. Tamara did an awesome job with the make up.

Flower power

2010-06-08T18:09:00.000-07:00

Rhododendrons

?

Flowers?! Has she gone mad? Hey you know, I have other interests too :), I'm loving our yard this year. I don't know why I never did before. Perhaps I just never took the time to look around. I started to and couldn't believe how gorgeous it is. I got so inspired that I decided to start a rose garden. At the moment we planted 8 rose bushes. 4 are climbing roses we'll see how that will go (I admit I have a rather bad track record when it comes to plants). Anyway here are a few pics of various things growing in our yard. Since I don't know shit about flowers I couldn't tell you what most of them are. If you happen to know, let me know :) ..... oh and yes a few new portrait shoots are in the works. July will be my month of photography, I have big plans so stay tuned.

American Ballet Theater

2010-06-08T17:53:00.000-07:00

I took Ella to a kids ballet workshop and performance hosted by the American Ballet Theater at Lincoln Center. It was really awesome. While the workshop was for kids it gave me the chance to walk around backstage in the Metropolitan Opera house. I'd never seen this and it was fascinating walking through the corridors lined with all kinds of props and set pieces. However what I enjoyed most was seeing Ella's reaction to the Metropolitan Opera Stage. I figured from a kids perspective it must seem even more enormous. She was quite taken back and it was such a pleasure to see her reactions to everything. I have to admit she was almost equally impressed by the big fountain in the middle of Lincoln Center as with the ballet :)

friendship

2010-05-24T06:11:00.000-07:00

Model: Evenie

I did a shoot yesterday with one of my oldest friends from here in the US. It actually was a trade, Evenie is an amazing jewelry designer (on hiatus unfortunately, she now works for Tiffany's) so I traded the shoot for some original jewelry of hers which I adore. She wanted to do a shoot for her husband so unfortunately this was a closed door shoot and I won't be posting pics (besides the one above) since they are private and on the racy side :) ..... it's unfortunate though since she looked lovely in a lot of them and she has a killer body.

Evenie is literally one of the first persons I met when I came to the US. To be honest, when I first met her I wasn't sure what to think of her. I still remember how this little 5'1, crazy, Puerto Rican girl entered the room, laughing and greeting everybody. You must understand that I had just come over from Switzerland where people are far more reserved, especially in a situation where you don't know anybody. But I realized quickly this girl is a lot of fun. I'm sometimes amazed that we stayed friends over all these years (it's been 16 years) especially since we don't see each other very often. Somehow we still manage to stay close and whenever we do see or talk to each other it's like she's always been around. The thing I most value about her is how straight forward and honest she is. You always know what's going on with her. She will tell you what she is thinking or if she doesn't like something and she is consistent. Recently my friend Virginia used a quote about art that I felt you could also use to describe friendships: "True friendships survive the test of time"

~

2010-04-26T19:18:00.001-07:00

Model: Kristen Drewski

It's been a while..... honestly I've been feeling completely uninspired. Plus I've been going through a "I hate photography phase".....

I finally after months had another shoot and only because it was a commission. Because I was in such a funk I almost didn't accept but now I'm glad I did because I had a good time. I loved how pale her actual skin was. If you're familiar with my work then you know how much I like pale skin. I asked her to look sad and she actually shed a tear! When I saw that I was so happy,..... is that wrong? :) She wanted a nightmare/dream/dark.... theme and well, this is what I came up with. As always I had no time to prepare and did everything the day of the shoot. It was a crazy morning spent looking for stuff I wanted to use, cutting out those damn stars and picking cloths for the outfit. I wonder if I'll ever give myself enough time to not have to do everything the day of the shoot. Lauren Weber did the make up and was her usual fantastic self.

Inspiration

2010-02-28T07:53:00.001-08:00

Ilya and Zoya Gaft

That's where he usually sits when teaching the class.

Zoya has always made the costumes for all the stage performances. Some are really georgous.

A new shoot is in the works. But I'll be honest I'm not totally feeling it these days and there's just so many things going on..... blah blah.

Anyway I wanted to post a few pics I took of Ilya Gaft. He's the owner of the New York Ballet Institute. Ilya's life story is long but in a nut shell he was born and raised in Russia. He spent his life studying ballet and pretty much devoted his life to ballet. He entered the famous Kirov ballet school in Saint Petersburg where he became a principal dancer and later a choreographer. Later he left Russia with nothing and started all over again in the US (with some stops in Europe). He worked for many years in NYC with his own theater company that he ran with his wife Zoya who was also a dancer (and opera singer). After suffering a stroke he decided to settle outside of the city where today he still runs his own school. He is now 75 years old and teaches ballet everyday. He still moves amazingly well and it is astonishing how he comes up with routines on the fly, often I think his mind works better then mine. He lives and breaths ballet. The most fascinating thing to me is how emotional he is. When he is in a bad mood or a good mood you can always tell because it will reflect on his routines. Sometimes he closes his eyes and makes us listen to a particular part of a song because it is so beautiful. He puts a lot of emphasis on understanding the emotional side of dancing not just the technical side.

Postcard Art Benefit

2010-02-03T07:59:00.000-08:00

4"x6" birch wood postcards

Medium: colored pencil, micron pens and glossy varnish.

Here are my two pieces for the Brownstones to Red Dirt Art Benefit, the deadline is tomorrow. I'm not happy with the scan, they just don't look quite right, and they don't show off the gloss varnish. I tried scanning them a few times but couldn't get them much better. As mentioned all the postcards will be for sale on Ebay on March 6rd. All the money from the benefit will go to the orphans in Freetown, Sierra Leone. I'm actually very excited about the auction and am hoping to get my hands on some of the original art works. I've got my eye on Jeremy Geddes, Olivier Tossan and Dermont Powers pieces........... so stay away from those :)!

Family

2010-01-14T16:32:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd post a few portraits I took of my father. I think they capture him well.

La Vie En Rose

2009-12-20T15:54:00.001-08:00

I was happy with the way the dress turned out. It's the same painted fabric as the background. Feels a bit like paper. It amazes me is how perfect Shelleys skin is. Granted she's wearing a ton of make up (on face and body) but still her skin is so smooth. Pretty girl.

Model: Shelley H.
Make Up: Lauren Weber

La Vie En Rose - Preview

2009-12-15T18:52:00.001-08:00

Finally. I can't believe my last shoot was in August. I was excited to work with Shelley. I saw her in a restaurant and spontaneously decided to ask her if she'd sit for a portrait. We literally spoke for about 2 minutes and I gave her my card. She called me back the next day and agreed. I have to admit I was a tad nervous since it's been months since I had met her and I knew nothing about her. Also was nervous that she might bail out the last minute. Not only was she reliable, she was incredible to work with. I always have a clear vision of what I want the shoot to end up looking like and it's amazing when it actually works out. She was totally what I had in my mind. And that girl has stamina she sat still on that chair for hours, never complained.

As for the set. The big thing was that I really wanted to paint the backdrop. I wanted it to feel a bit like a painting. I also wanted her to wear the same painted fabric so she would blend in more with the background. I have never painted on fabric before and didn't know what I was doing. Since I needed a large quantity of paint I couldn't use fabric paint. I found on the Internet a product called textile medium that I mixed in with the paint. This prevented the paint from cracking. I didn't want to pay a lot of money for the paint so I just bought some cheapo kids paint. I had NO time to prepare for this shoot. I wanted to stain her finger tips red and didn't have time to properly test the staining out, ended up using a combination of food coloring, juice and icing. I started ironing the backdrop a few days before because it literally takes days to get all the damn wrinkles out, if you've been following my blog you know by now that I'm obsessed with wrinkles. The night before I started painting the backdrop. I didn't finish until 2am. I was worried that it wouldn't dry in time. This was especially a problem since she was to wear part of the fabric as a dress.

Everything went smoothly. I set up the heaters in front of the drying paint and it actually was all dry in time. The only major problem was that the hairstylist cancelled a half hour before the shoot. That sent me in bit of a panic mode. I'm not very good at doing hair plus I brought nothing with me to actually do hair! So I ran over to Duane Read and bought a cheapo curling iron and a huge can of ultra strong hairspray. In the end I have to admit I didn't need anybody to do hair anyway since I went with open hair. Lauren did make up, she's so talented. I was very specific about what I wanted and she nailed it, love her! Shelley I would work with again any day.

This shoot was all about color and feel.

Bubble girl

2009-10-26T10:26:00.000-07:00

Random shot I took over the weekend. Just liked the framing and feel of it... reminded me a bit of an illustration.

... and back to sculpting for a bit.

2009-10-20T08:56:00.000-07:00

A new photo shoot is in the works but I'm also back to sculpting once a week again so here's my update.

Uhm yeah, this is still the same sculpture I started in 2007. If you've been following my blog you'll have seen this project slowly progress. I've never worked on anything as long as I have on this. I just get too busy with other stuff. The upside is every time I do go back to working on this it's amazing how I look at it differently. I've also learned a ton about how to manipulate and change things that I thought were quite permanent. I've baked this sculpture multiple times at different stages only to then take half of it off again. Although dremeling off baked clay is a pain. Last time I posted her she had thick Farrah Fawcett hair. I didn't liked the hair, it was just too much, it took over the whole shape. So I thinned it way out. I decided to change the whole hairdo. I parted the hair more over to one side in order to add a hair clip later. This meant that I had to shave and cut of pounds and pounds of clay. I also am going to change how the hair drapes over her shoulder. Alena pointed out that her left ear was far too large and high up. Funny, I never noticed it before but definitely agreed with her that it was weird. I had to cut off the ear and re-sculpted it a tad lower and smaller. Next I'm going to go in and add in clay and re-sculpt the hair shapes.

Big thank you to the amazing Alena who as taught me everything I know about sculpting (and thanks for all the pictures she's been taking of the progress).

Older posts:
Second post
First post

01.08 - Old crazy hair

08.09 - Baked hair. Starting to cut and reshape hair.

Spray painted surface and dremeling hair to thin it out.

A) "Before ear" with drawn in corrections. B) After dremeling off ear and basic reshaping.

10.09 - Further cut off hair and recreated mesh to make the hair flow better.

New mesh.

More Huntress

2009-10-13T19:12:00.001-07:00

Model: Rosalinda (and Aldo)
Make Up: Lauren Weber

Finally got around to editing some more pics.... might even have some more but I'm simply too tired to continue tonight.

--------

My friend Dave Levingston (who is a great photographer) suggested I crop the top image. I agree that the composition is not great, it was one of the later in the day shots. When I was looking at it I knew it wasn't quite right but also was hesitant to change it but after then reading Dave's comment I thought I should try it anyway. I just wish it wouldn't make the image smaller (overall size) but my fault for not framing it better to begin with. So here's the square cropped version. Let me know which you guys like better.

The Harlem Open Artist Studio Tour

2009-10-05T06:59:00.000-07:00

I'm falling behind... I still need to edit some Huntress pics and a couple of new shoots are in the works but it's a busy October so I probably won't be able to shoot until November. This weekend I'm participating in the Harlem Open Artist Studio Tour (HOAST 2009). Basically local artists in Harlem open up their studios to the public. I think it's a fun event, you get a map with the location of all participating artists and galleries in the area.

You can pick up the map at the Casa Frela Gallery where there's also an exhibit of the participating artists. (artists submitted 3, 4"x6" pieces for the show, it'll give you a nice preview). Here's the address:

Casa Frela Gallery
47 W. 119th Street (between Lenox and 5th Ave.)
NY, NY 10026

For a list of all participants:
http://www.hoast.org/CurrentParticipants.php

A Woman In Berlin

2009-09-08T18:31:00.001-07:00

I saw the movie "A Woman in Berlin" over the weekend and it left quite an impression on me. It's interesting because it is yet another aspect to this horrible war. It is based on a published diary that was written anonymously by a former journalist and photographer who was one of thousands of women raped in Berlin in the wake of the 1945 Red Army invasion. Anonyma was one of the few German women to report on the rapes and the ways in which the women succeeded in surviving, often by aligning themselves sexually with a "protector." The book was denounced and virtually banned upon its publication in Germany in 1959, five years after its appearance in an English translation, and its author, known only as "Anonyma," vowed it would only be republished after her death.

The director Max Färberböck does a good job of depicting bombed-out Berlin at that time and I think Nina Hoss who plays Anonyma does a wonderful job portraying the woman trying to survive under the given circumstances. I loved all the characters that are part of the movie, from the Russian major to the other occupants in the main building. Well acted and beautifully shot. Oh and you'll recognize a few actors from Tarantinos new movie "Inglorious Basterds".

I'm back

2009-09-08T18:01:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Switzerland. What a beautiful country.

Few of my friends. I like how the alp cows all have names that the farmers actually use. I have to say being an alp cow is not a bad life.

Both images were taken on top of the "Sandhubel". It's one of my favorite places in the world.

Oh, hello.

Huntress

2009-08-19T16:51:00.000-07:00

Model: Ms. Rosalinda
Make up: Mrs. Lauren Weber
Styling: Me

I might add some more pics later, I still have a bunch to look through. I would like to add that I'm very thankful to everybody who chooses to work with me. They all always work for free. Without their generosity I simply wouldn't be able to do what I love doing.

Huntress - Preview

2009-08-17T07:43:00.000-07:00

Super great weekend. I got so see "District 9" which I loved. Sunday, finally a new shoot. I've been itching to do another shoot. This one I was especially excited about because I got to work with new people. Several years back I asked my good friend Rosalinda to sit for one of my portraits. She however didn't feel comfortable doing a photo shoot at the time. I dropped the matter after that and was quite surprised and excited when she came around this year and asked me to do a shoot. I knew she would photograph well, she's beautiful and has such interesting features. Then I was also super happy to have my co-worker Lauren on board for make up. She's a professionally trained make up artist and I knew she could handle whatever I threw at her. I therefore went with something more dramatic then usual. Heavy make up and feathers (subtle) for eye lashes. As always I did the accessorizing (but I did brainstorm with Rosalinda and she had some great elements that we added). I found some awesome strung feathers at a craft store that we used as a top and cuffs. The shoot went well. Lauren nailed the make up and although Rosalinda had never modeled before she did an awesome job. That girl has stamina, this was my longest shoot ever. Only problem was I kind of messed up on some of the pics. I didn't notice there was a slight lens flair in some of the shots. Oh well, can't have everything.

As for the set:
Fur Carpet: $15.-- (thank you Tuesday Morning, best crappy store ever)
Fabric Backdrop (Tuesday Morning)
Chest, boxes.... (Daffy's)
Birds, feathers (Michaels)
Rifle (toyarsenal)

Gallery updates

2009-08-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

More 2009 goodness..... I got a piece into a group show at the TAG Gallery in Santa Monica, CA (first west coast show, yay). Check it out if you're in the area (end of August). Then The "Colors Of Life" group show is going to be on display at the Artspace in Richmond, VA in September. And in some more awesome news, one of the "Little Mermaid" images has won a place in the summer 2009 Women in Photography International competition (subject, children).

Octolicious

2009-07-29T19:44:00.001-07:00

Water color paper with India Ink and Micron Pens

I will get back to photography shortly, I have a new shoot in the works. But I had some time over the weekend to draw. I forgot how much I love to draw.

...the subject matter?.... well duh it's a lady who's being seduced by an octopus. Or perhaps she's just dreaming, fantasizing about being devoured by an octopus.. hell you decide. I have my own story (which I shall not share).... you go make up your own.

Shaolin Temple

2009-07-25T21:56:00.000-07:00

This is my last post on my China trip. I actually saw a few other things that were fascinating like the "temple of the white horse" supposedly the first Buddhist temple in China and the Longmen Grottoes (which are amazing! Thousands of Buddha carvings). But I decided to just finish up with my trip to the Shaolin Temple since for me that was the highlight.

The Shaolin temple is situated in the Henan Providence in Dengfeng. For most westerners the Shaolin Temple is best known for its association with Kung Fu. And a lot of Kung Fu is what you get to see should you have the pleasure to visit. The with the temple associated Kung Fu school is of an impressive size. The dormitories equal those of a university. It looked to me like most students were in their early teens. Their training is hard core, they train pretty much all day no matter what. Did I mention it was 100 degrees out? Most of these students do not go on to become Shaolin Monks, most will join the military, law enforcement or will start their own martial arts school. When I asked one of the students if he wanted to become a monk, he just shook his head quickly saying it was far too difficult. Which would explain why there are only 300 Shaolin Monks practicing in the temple. For the monks the martial arts training is for spiritual goals but it comes with other practical benefits such as better physical condition and self-defense. Shaolin is the most well-known Ch'an (Zen) school that incorporates martial training into its meditative regimen. I got to see a performance by the Shaolin monks and it was INSANE. Honestly it was unreal, it felt like they were ghosts, they moved so quickly and it looked like they were weightless. The Pagoda Forest was the other thing I enjoyed experiencing. It's where all the established Buddhist masters were buried. I was quite humbled walking through the resting place of these great masters.

There is so much awesome history surrounding the Shaolin monks. I loved hearing some of the stories and it gave me a whole new appreciation for meditation, something I've been trying to incorporate more into my daily life..... but damn, these guys meditated for hours at a time. Anyway I could talk about the Shaolin for hours... I will leave it with some images. I don't have a lot of pictures from inside the temple since you weren't allowed to photograph inside the buildings.

This statue greets you as you enter the Shaolin property.

Entrance to the actual Shaolin Temple.

Here you can read the history of the Shaolin... well if you speak chinese then you could read the history.

The Pagoda Forest, this is where all prominent monks are buried. The more stories the tomb has the more established the monk was, 7 is the highest a monk can achieve.

Dharma Hall of the Shaolin Kung Fu School.

Students beginning their afternoon outdoor training sessions.

shaolin students training

I just remembered something amusing and rather odd. As I was watching the students train a chinese family came up to me. The father asked me if I would hold their little girl (I'm guessing she was about 7 months old). I was at first totally confused. He then further exlained that he wanted to take a picture of me holding his baby!!! I was like WHAT? But then was kinda flattered and so I held this strangers baby while he and his wife took pictures (grandparents were simling in the background). Judging from the babies look, she was just as confused as I was. I wonder where that picture will end up. I'm still not totally sure why they wanted to do that LOL.

Actually, this was a different Kung Fu school. If you walk around that area you will see Kung Fu everywhere and no I'm not exaggerating. Besides the Shaolin school there are about 50 Kung Fu schools in that same area.

Shaolin monk meditating.

The Forbidden City

2009-07-16T18:42:00.000-07:00

The Forbidden City, situated in the heart of Beijing, was the home to 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There is much to see and you can spend days walking through this imperial city imagining what life might have been like when the emperor still walked the courtyards. But what I most enjoyed were all the details and of course the mythical creatures. Because of all the grandeur it's easy to overlook the crazy ceilings of the palace interiors. I can't fathom how long it must have taken to carve and paint some of them. Anyway, here are a few things you'll see while strolling.

Detail from large water containers which were there in case of a fire.

The ceiling in the palace of Heavenly Purity

In each of the four corners of the garden there is a pavilion, symbolizing the four seasons. This is part of the ceiling of the pavilion of Myriad Spring

You will find this motive on a bunch of doors and walls.

Decorative glazed ceramic details

Easy to miss but if you look closely you'll find these small engravings with different motives on several walls.

A gilded lion in front of the palace of Tranquil Longevity

Beijing 2009

2009-07-15T19:36:00.000-07:00

It was insanely hot in Beijing, everyday was around 100 degrees. The pollution didn't help either, nevertheless I did love Beijing. I was there once before, in 1984, I was just a teenager. The main thing I remember was that everybody was on bicycles. There were hardly any cars at all. A lot has changed. It is now a major city and everybody drives a car, although I'd like to point out there were no ridiculous SUVs.

If you're interested in seeing the hot spots of Beijing then you might as well just surf the Internet. Everything has been already photographed a million times. So I'm just going to post a few pictures of things I liked and then in another post put up some details and patterns of things I saw in the Forbidden City. I really enjoyed the decorative aspect of the palaces.

This is the view from the apartment. Direct view on the Bird's Nest stadium. Pictures can't do this structure justice. It is an amazing piece of architecture.

The Dragon Building.

The National Grand Opera House in Beijing. What an impressive site. The contrast to the surrounding buildings was stark. If you turned your head just a bit to the right you saw what's in the next picture. A simple residential area.

A guard in Tiananmen Square. To enter the huge square you have to pass a security check similar to that of an airport. The same type of guard you will find placed all over Beijing.

Anybody who knows me knows I'm a huge fan of theater and opera so when I had a chance to go see the traditional Beijing opera I was quite excited. This is a shot I took in the Beijing opera (or Peking opera). The Beijing opera is a form of traditional Chinese theater which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. The performances are usually based on Chinese folklore. The character above is Sun Wukong also known as the Monkey King. He is the main character in the epic novel Journey to the West. Check out the make up job, very inspiring.

I'm back

2009-07-06T11:10:00.001-07:00

I just returned from my trip to China. It was one of the most amazing trips that I have ever taken.......... fascinating and inspiring.

~

2009-06-23T08:10:00.000-07:00

This was a spontaneous shoot, we just showed up and winged it (I was happy I brought that coat). Jane, besides being a delight to hang out with, remains my favorite model.

Action Painting

2009-06-11T16:49:00.001-07:00

It was fascinating watching a five year old paint a large painting. Applying the paint was such a physical act. I liked how while she was applying the paint she would also spontaneously explain what she was creating. It's an amusement park, the big curvy line in the middle is a rollercoast, the blue circle thingy is a faireswheel and the short lines are people (red adults, purple kids).

2009 - a good year (so far)

2009-06-08T07:02:00.000-07:00

A lot of great things are happening this year. First off my second NYC gallery show is taking place this month (first one was in February). Nothing fancy, it's a group show but I was happy to be displaying my stuff in Manhattan. I also got my stuff into a group show that will be displayed in three different galleries. Two of the shows are in Virginia and one in Milan Italy. Last but not least I was super psyched to get an image into Spectrum 16. I've always greatly admired the art work coming through Spectrum and am very happy to be part of it this year. I was actually surprised to be accepted since most of the work is usually illustration based but I noticed that they do except photography so I thought I'd give it a shot. The book is coming out in November.

Besides of that I'm taking a few great trips. My first trip starting at the end of the month.

On a random side note. I saw "La Vie En Rose" (a movie about Edith Piaf) last night. Wow, did Marion Cotillard deserve that Oscar for best actress! She was phenomenal in that role and what a well executed film.

That's it..... have a great day.... go create something.

Princess Alexis

2009-05-21T18:53:00.001-07:00

Model: Lexi Lolita
MU & Hair: Contessa Black

Big thank you to Rosalinda, who gave me some great advice and help (post).

Alexis - Preview

2009-05-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

Lexi sent me a message a while back asking if I'd be interested in doing a shoot. We finally got together. I think she's interesting because she looks innocent yet so seductive at the same time. She has big eyes and super thick lips. She's done a fair amount of nude and even some fetish modeling.

I should file this shoot under another artist portrait since she is a full time painter. She paints mainly animal portraits. The set up was simple. The focus being mainly on her pretty body and face (what more do you need?). The color red was also a main part of the piece.

Challenges and outcome:

1. Lexis bleached hair ends (she has long dark brown hair but about 4 inches of her ends are bleached blond).
Solution: Buying "Bumble and Bumble" hair powder. We used brown for the bleached areas and then used a bit of black over everything to even out the overall hair tones.
2. Finding the right red fabric
I intended on using an orange-red color for the tones but was deceived by the indoor lighting of the fabric store (damn you fabric store with your cheap lights). Once I looked at it in daylight, it ended up being far more pinkish-red.
Solution: Using a gold reflective umbrella to bring just a bit more warmth into it. It didn't totally solve the problem but it did help.

3. Finding fabric that draped well
There were a lot of nice color options but most fabrics were too stiff or didn't reflect any light. I wanted something I wouldn't have to iron for hours (I have wrinkle OCD).
Solution: I can't remember the name of the fabric but it was cheap. It draped easily and had some texture to it. (The only problem was that it was two sided, the back was very different to the front so I was constantly trying to hide the back).

Lexi was great. She's totally comfortable with her body so it was super easy working with her. She's fun and silly. Best of all, she's patient. I enjoyed hanging out with her and would work with her again. Contessa was of course great as always with hair and make up!

The Criminal Mastermind

2009-04-11T09:41:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you......... Mr. Clayton Stillwell!

THE Criminal Mastermind - Preview

2009-03-31T19:25:00.000-07:00

My first shoot with a guy! I decided this year I wanted to start taking pictures of men. Clayton agreed to be my guinea pig. When I first met Clayton at work he was sitting in a pink cube with a big unicorn painted on the walls (long story). This was totally hilarious if you knew anything about Clayton. Anyway I was psyched to work with him because he's one of my favorite illustrators. Super talented guy check out his artwork.

Usually I'm making up a character and just use the model to bring the character to life. This time I tried to actually capture some of the models personality in the image. It's still a character but I think it's a Clayton character and somewhere in there it's still Clayton. While I did provide some of the props it was important to me that he wore his own clothing, something he would usually wear and felt comfortable in. We talked quite a bit about the T-shirt. I at first was against it because it had a big face of the Joker on it and I thought it was distracting but then I decided to go with it anyway because the Joker is his favorite character.

I didn't feel rushed this time, I took a bit more time preparing. Plus this shoot was just a straight forward portrait shoot. I was also able to convince Jane to come and help out with some of the paint stuff. The shoot was an experiment in a lot of ways and I learned a lot. First off I learned that working with a guy is way harder then working with a woman. Usually I have no problems posing a model or giving proper directions. I realized quickly that my usual directions totally didn't apply to Clayton. Whenever I asked him to do something specific he ended up looking far too feminine, it was weird. I finally just had to step back and let him pose more naturally. I did the make up. I've been wanting to get more into doing make up so this was great. I went for a slightly dusty/powdery look. I first applied black eye make up but thought it looked too goth so I went with the red instead.

Part of the shoot we experimented with liquid paint. I wanted to dip one of his arms in paint and have the paint run down his arm. I was mainly worried about the consistency of the liquid. I figured the liquid would probably be too runny which is why I also ordered powdered pigment. Well, when I pored the white paint into the bucket it turned out that the paint was super thick, so thick that I couldn't even poor it properly. I had to add a ton of water. I have no clue why the paint was so thick. It was almost like it went bad or something, that was a bit of a disaster but for shooting it was ok I guess. The shoot overall was a blast... as always.

That's Jane holding the bucket! You might recognize Jane from some of my photoshoots, she's one of my favorite models.

Detroit

2009-02-20T09:32:00.000-08:00

Model: blueriverdream

I was in Detroit a few weeks ago attending the "Dirty Show" (erotic art and burlesque show). I stayed in the same hotel as my friend DaveL and his entourage of figure models. The hotel cost me $29.00 a night.... I thought for sure it must be a really crappy place but it was nice and clean. Sometimes I forget that I live in one of the most expensive places in the world and that there are places where you aren't paying obscene prices for everything. Anyway, Dave was doing a shoot in the hotel room with the figure models and invited me to join in. First I was a bit hesitant but I thought it would be a good challenge spontaneously shooting in a small space with limited lighting and models who I've never met before. I have a hard time giving up any kind of control. I really wanted to remove that mirror but it was bolted to the wall,... now I kind of like it. The whole shoot turned out to be a lot of fun. Actually the whole weekend was fun, I enjoyed the company of the models. They all were easy going and had interesting life stories. I admire their openness and how comfortable they are with their bodies.

Let Them Eat Cake

2009-02-10T17:50:00.001-08:00

Model: Ms. Jacqui

Hair & MakeUp Contessa

On a basic level it's amazing to me how some people have so much and others nothing. How is it possible that there are still people dying of hunger in the world while obesity is a major health crisis in this country. A friend once tagged on "and yet anorexic body types are what most idolize". And why is it that when we get more it just means we want more as well.... I will shut up now. (to read more about this shoot check out the preview post)

Italian "MAG" article

2009-02-05T06:51:00.001-08:00

Italians like me! I got a short article and 6 page spread in the Italian art and music magazine "MAG (azine)". They contacted me back in January, the issue just came out. It's always interesting to me to see which images magazines choose to print. Big thank you to the models !(credits below images)

Model: The amazing Alena (check out her sculptures!)

Model: Self Portrait, Ella

Model: Theda, Cassandra

Let Them Eat Cake - preview

2009-02-02T10:46:00.001-08:00

Life has been very busy lately. I finally got around to my first shoot of 2009 on Saturday. It's been nearly impossible getting anything done outside of work with all the OT I've been putting in. Which is why I barely had time to prepare for this last shoot.

The image is inspired by the "7 deadly sins". Basically all the props and/or Jacquis look and pose were supposed to sort of reflect that idea. The food stood for gluttony, jewels for greed and pride, broken glass (didn't show up enough) for wrath and envy, lingerie for lust, sloth was in Jacquis poses and the bubbles but also the general messiness........

My extremely messy studio during the shoot

The setup took me forever. For one the backdrop consisted of three staggered layers which was a pain in the ass to manage. I had one day to make sure I had all the stuff I wanted to use, set it all up and then shoot the damn thing. I got up early Saturday and was in the city by 8:30am to pick up the fur coat that my dear friend Rosalinda let me borrow. I made it up to my studio by 9:00am and got started with all the setup. Jacqui and Contessa showed up a little after 10am. We talked about hair and make up and they got started while I continued working on the set.

The first problem we ran into was that the gold make up was not showing up on Jacquis skin. I've worked with gold many times before and never saw this happen. I'm guessing it's because her skin tones are already on the warm side and a bit darker. I wanted the gold to pop way more. Contessa ended up putting a bright yellow base under the gold which seemed to work best. The hair and make up took 3 hours, I couldn't freaken believe it.... granted I wasn't even done with the setup anyway. Then I got these crazy long nails (~4 inches) that I wanted to use but they needed to be painted black first. I'm horrible at that stuff but did the best I could. The good thing about photography is, unless you're really up close you can get away with stuff being a tad messy. Anyway, we didn't start shooting until almost 3pm.... I was totally stressing out because I still had to set up the lighting and we were running out of time. Then I cut my finger pretty bad with scissors, it was bleeding profusely, thank god I had a heavy band aid stored in my studio. It was a rough start. The two other annoying things were the bubble machine running out of liquid and the damn nails kept on popping off. Every time that happened I had go and glue them back on. Although I worked really fast and definitely could have done better I was pretty happy with the overall shoot.

After we were done Jacqui was faced with the massive task of removing 10 layers of make up, not to mention those scary glued on nails.

I could tell she was panicking slightly when the nails didn't come off right away (which was rather ironic because they kept popping off during the shoot). We had to cut them short before drowning her fingers in glue removal..... oh the things models go through. While the shoot was crazy busy, we had a lot of fun as always. Jacqui is awesome!

Jeanne Dielman

2009-02-02T10:04:00.000-08:00

Last week I had a chance to see the movie "Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)". I could talk about this movie for hours. It was such a unique experience.

You are witnessing three crucial days in the life of Jeanne Dielman (Jeanne Dielman played by the amazing Delphine Seyrig). For 201 minutes (yes over three hours) you watch this single mother who is an efficient homemaker and discreet, one-client-a day prostitute perform her daily routines. I should add until the end you see nothing of her prostitution work. In the course of these three days you are basically following her around as she is cooking potatoes, cleaning the apartment and goes out shopping for groceries.... There is virtually no dialogue. She only talks when she has to. I love how intimate this film is. It's hard to explain, it's not like you get sucked into the movie it's more like you are a voyeur watching from the outside. You get so used to her personality and habits that you pick up on all the subtleties and changes. For instance she never leaves a room without switching off the lights, she always wears the same cardigan while in the apartment. I thought for sure I would get bored with a movie that is so mundane and so long but I never did. You do have to be in the right mood and can't be in a hurry to make it through this movie. The ironic thing is you probably would get bored if you did not pay close attention to all the details, only then can you follow the narrative properly and question the end. Anyway, I highly recommend this movie.

Here's a clip from the movie.... yes boring out of context but still watch the subtleties of this scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C5Az-239uM&NR=1

Ms. Jenga

2009-01-15T14:31:00.000-08:00

Model: Jenga

Hair & Make Up: Alexandra

I'm home sick today so I finally had a chance to post these images. This is Jenga. She's quite an interesting person. After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and destroyed the house she had just recently purchased, Jenga decided to leave here secure job at Blue Sky Studios to return to her home and rebuild what was left of it. I have a lot of respect for Jenga, leaving a good job to return to basically nothing, is no easy task. She told me that she felt she was destined to do more and felt she could do more good in New Orleans then she ever could in NY. Clearly she was right. You should check out her blog: http://papucharliesbigadventure.blogspot.com, she documented her life back in New Orleans.

When Jenga first approached me about doing a shoot I was delighted. She's a beautiful women. I was a tad nervous about her height. I know, most people love working with tall women but I'm used to working with women who are short. 4'9" - 5'5" is the norm. Jenga is almost 6' tall. I was worried my backgrounds wouldn't give me enough space... blah, blah. As for the look, for some reason I wanted to stick her in a fur coat... when I told Jenga, her face dropped.... I forgot to mention she's not just a vegan, she also lives on a raw diet, yeah pretty hardcore. After thinking about it she did actually agree (for arts sake). Although to me it would have been amusing representing her in that way (far from her morals and blieves), I felt that maybe I was pushing her too hard. So then I decided to go more with the way she is, or the way I see her. I chose colors that I thought would look nice with her skin tones. Alex and I spent a long time getting the look of the hair. I had bought all kinds of props to stick in her hair but in the end we only settled on three things.

Although I like the look of the images, I think I did a bit of a lousy job. I overlooked several things that I should not have. It's the photographers job to catch the little nuances and imperfections. I missed quite a few on this one (like I should have had her change the bottom hand in that last shot). But it's also hard when you work with someone new for the first time.

Thank you to Alex for hair and make up and big thank you to Tony who spent his lunch hour shopping for an appropriet backdrop with me.

Kult Magazine

2008-12-14T09:54:00.000-08:00

The Italian (Milan) based "Kult Magazine" contacted me a few months ago about doing a one page spread on my photography. I was pretty psyched to see the result in this months issue. It's a magazine focusing on fashion and art.

Model Credits: My cousin Phil, Adya, Cassandra and Nikki (thanks guys!)

The Talented Mr. Burr

2008-12-12T08:03:00.001-08:00

Adam took this photograph. I posted it because I love it. He's been shooting a lot of slide film lately. The quality and colors are so awesome. I like how the sky is kind of soft/natural and then you have the contrast of the neon lights. Also thought it was interesting how flat the composition would be without the diner. Since you can't see any detail in the dark foreground areas it feels flat but then the lines from the neon lights add perspective. Talented guy :)

Ms. Lizette!

2008-12-03T13:22:00.001-08:00

Model: Ms. Lizette

Hair & Make Up: Alexandra Jackson

Model: Ms. Lizette
Hair & Make Up: Alexandra Jackson

Getting ready for Ms. Lizette

2008-12-03T13:00:00.001-08:00

Alex applying Lizette's make up.

I had my doubts when Lizette and I first put together the fabric choices for this shoot. The patterns and color choices were quite out there, at least for my taste. I usually don't set anything up before the day of the shoot but felt it necessary for this one. Once we hung up the backdrop and nailed down the floor fabric, my doubts disappeared quickly.

This shoot was a true team effort. Lizette approached me a while back to see if I was interested in doing a "pin up" inspired shoot. I first wasn't totally sure because bright colors/crazy patterns and generally flatter lighting is not really my thing. But it's good to challenge yourself to do different things and we ended up making this a trade. Lizette is a very talented illustrator (she's a concept artist at Blue Sky Studios) so I told her I'll do a shoot for her if she in return would make me an original piece of art work. Over the next months we were in constant contact talking about things that might work and finding props and fabrics (Ebay was a big contributor)... Lizette really did pretty much all of the prep work on this shoot. She found some awesome stuff (like the record player, phone, table......).

Alex working on fake tattoos.

If you know Lizette in person, you know that she is not like the bad ass rockabilly chick in the image which made the shoot so much more amusing to me. For one she doesn't have any tattoos and she usually does not wear much make up. I can't describe the amount of make up that was applied for this shoot, it must have been a nightmare washing it off. It was great working with someone like her who is willing to come out of her shell a bit. Alex as always did an awesome job with hair and make up.

Something different.

2008-11-03T13:25:00.001-08:00

Saturday I got to check out some exhibits in the city. I was so inspired that I spent the next 24 hours drawing. I miss drawing. This is the first drawing I have done on paper in about 2 years which is crazy. I used to draw all the time but now-a-days it's hard finding the time and for me, if I don't keep up with drawing I get real rusty. This was done on water color paper with India Ink and Micron Pens.

Courting Condi

2008-11-03T10:17:00.000-08:00

I would like to share the accomplishment of my good/old friend Robert Morris. He was the VFX Supervisor and Co-Producer on the film "Courting Condi" which has been nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Performance at the 2008 Orlando Film Festival. I'm super happy for Robert. I've always admired his ambition and talent and it's nice to see that he's getting recognition for his work (not that this is the first time). I like that Robert is not one of those people who just talks about doing something he actually follows through on things which I find is kind of a rare quality these days.

Anyway, check out the trailer...... www.courtingcondi.com and then go check out the movie, I believe it's coming out next week. Congrats Robert.

Monkeys, Tequila & Cigarettes

2008-10-13T19:15:00.003-07:00

Model: The Amazing Ms. Jane
Hair & Make Up: Alexandra Jackson

Jane, Jane, Jane........ I love photographing Jane. From talking to other photographers I have found that everyone has one person they particularly enjoy photographing. A muse of some sorts, someone that not only clicks well with you but also fits your style. Jane is that for me. She fits my style perfectly, gets my directions and again, I'm always amazed at how different she looks once I bring her into my world. Alex did a great job with hair and make up she created exactly what I had in my mind.

The day started off as a bit of a disaster. I wanted those pointe ballet shoes and the plan was to go buy a used pair while Alex was doing Janes hair. I jumped in a cab only to get stuck in bumper to bumper traffic with no way to cross over to the westside do to a damn parade. Seriously it's like whenever i'm in a major rush there's a parade...... Anyway, I got out and ran over to the store only to find it was closed for construction. I ended up finding point shoes at another place but it was a hassle. When I got back I still had to staple on the ribons and spray paint them black because they only come in pink.

Anyway...... monkeys, tequila and cigarettes...... I believe that sums up this last shoot.

Jane Part Deux

2008-10-13T19:15:00.001-07:00

Model: Jane
Hair & Make Up: Alexandra Jackson

This was shot in the elevator in Harlem. The elevator is normally locked up. When I saw it was open I knew I wanted to take a few shots in there. Jane was a tad nervous about getting in that old, rattly elevator but was a good sport as always. Lighting was a bit of a challenge because it is rather dark in that hallway and I only had a very limited amount of space. After a few tests I decided to stick with the lens flare effect.

Home Sweet Home

2008-10-06T19:11:00.000-07:00

I got to spend a few days at home on our alp. Every time I go home I forget just how amazing it is. I usually visit in August because it gets cold in October...... and cold it was. I decided to hike up to the Sandhubel Mountain. The Sandhubel is about 2800m above sea level, it's quite a hike, takes about 4 hours one way. I used to run around in that area when I was a kid. For some stupid reason I opted for bringing all my camera equipment. I definitely had too much crap with me, my shoulders were killing me as I was climbing up.

You can usually count on crossing paths with a fair amount of animals. Groundhogs, mountain goats and capricorn are generally in that area. This time, I'm guessing because it was late in the season, I saw nothing. I hiked all day and didn't see any animals (besides some birds) and as usual no people at all. It's pretty amazing to just spend an entire day outdoors in this scenery all by yourself. Kind of feels like being on another planet. I love the isolation.

The problem with photographing these kind of places is that you often simply don't get a true sense of the scale nor how steep some of the places are (unless you have a foreground object to reference). But I like how textural and almost abstract these landscapes can become.

The house on the lower left used to be a diary farm.

The white and red paint on the rock is what tells you that you're still heading in the right direction. Sometimes the markers are spaced pretty far apart which I would think could be confusing to hikers.

Since I dragged my damn tripod all the way up I figured I may as well use it for at least one shot. Me.

The colors are so odd........ the purple in the back and the green rocks but this is the way it looks. Sigh.....wish I was there right now.

International Photography Awards 2008

2008-09-05T05:13:00.001-07:00

I just found out I won second place in the 2008 International Photography Awards for one of my photographs (Non-Pro/Fine Arts/Portraits category). My image will be printed in their annual book. I also received 7 honorable mentions for some of my other work.

Big THANK YOU to Ella Bella, Jane, Jacqueline, Philip and Alexandra (hair&make up -Madame Jane, Jacqueline) for being part of my recognized work!

2nd place - "Peacock Girl" -Non-Pro/Fine Art/Portraits

Ms. Jane

2008-08-30T16:11:00.001-07:00

Model: Jane
Hair & Make Up: Contessa Black

Jane is always great to work with because she has such an interesting look. In addition I enjoy how different she looks once you play with her hair and add some make up. I think we all had a great time with this one. I got those weirdo bunnies at the store "Tuesday Morning". It's basically a junk yard (sorry Tuesday). It really is a mess, stuff everywhere. But you can find really bizarre stuff and it's cheap. The dress I got a while back at Daffy's. I knew I would eventually find a good shoot for this dress and it was worth hanging on to. The little white jacket thingy I got at our awesome Blue Sky clothing exchange. I work with some classy ladies.

Dancing On Top Of The World

2008-08-24T13:44:00.000-07:00

Model: Cassandra

I love to dance, I love watching others dance,........ did I mention how much I love dance? I had a chance to take some pictures of Cassandra in action. We shot those on the roof of my studio last week. It was like a hundred degrees out, I felt kind of bad for Cassandra who was dancing her heart out in the sweltering sun. Besides the hot sun she also had to deal with shattered glass (I tried sweeping it away as much as I could before she started) and an uneven bumpy floor. After she was done we looked at her point shoes which had gone from pink to black from the dirty floor. I guess ballerinas are better off inside. :)

The dress as always was mine and I was happy to see it fit her well, the only problem was the low cut. She was worried that her boobs would pop out while she was dancing. I had not thought of that and didn't really have any good solution so we had to pick one of her leotards. She had that blue one which at first I thought was not going to work but then seeing it against the sky color.... lovely.

We had a blast, Cassandra is a lot of fun.

The Lovely Cassandra

2008-08-18T21:16:00.000-07:00

Model: Cassandra
Hair & Make Up: Contessa Black

I got another chance to work with Cassandra. It's been a year since our last shoot and she has always been one of my favorite models. Besides being a pretty girl, I just love her spirit and enthusiasm. She's a dancer and so it makes my work easy as she doesn't need that much instructions. I also got to work with Contessa again. I mainly chose to work with her because the make up job was going to be so similar to Adyas. Cassandra and I started working at 10am and didn't finish until 6pm (we did two shoots). We were both spent.

The only really depressing thing is that there appears to be something wrong with my camera. I had the hardest time focusing during the shoot and unfortunately my fears were confirmed. Most pictures were out of focus. Very depressing as there were some really nice shots that I won't be able to use.....

Holga Magic

2008-07-28T18:38:00.000-07:00

I've been shooting a lot of film stuff lately. I shot these with my Holga camera at Playland in Rye. I think there's something magical about the Holga. I feel like the Holga turned this grand place into a miniature set. You totally loose the sense of scale.

More film stuff http://philm-phoblography.blogspot.com/

Lisa

2008-06-29T22:03:00.000-07:00

Model: Lisa
Hair & Make Up: Alexandra

Now that I've had a chance to shoot with quite a few people I've decided that I really love working with people I know. I enjoy working with someone who has never modeled before and is just willing to go for it. Personally I feel like I'd much rather work with someone who has never modeled before but is really into it then someone who knows what they are doing but are only there for the cash.

Blah, blah...... anyway, was fun working with Lisa. It wasn't an easy shoot because I really didn't plan much ahead.... I had no clue what we were gonna do. We played around for quite a bit until we hit something. I was happy that the dress I got fit her so well.

I'm giving up my studio in September.... so I'm trying to shoot as much as possible until then. I'd like to get sort of a series of these style portraits together before I'm done..... then I'll probably take a break from photography for a while.

It's been a while

2008-06-26T20:46:00.001-07:00

.... since I've last shot little Ella Bella. I finally had time to go through some of my b&w shots and found some I liked. It's sort of refreshing looking at these. I've been shooting so much "digital" where I go for very specific things and everything is so controlled that I sometimes forget the beauty in simplicity. This makes me want to shoot more film again. These were all shot with my TLR camera. I love that camera, I like the weight, the sound.... the uncertainty of the outcome.

Theda Part Deux

2008-06-15T18:16:00.000-07:00

Model: Theda
Hair & Make Up: Alexandra

Theda

2008-06-15T18:14:00.001-07:00

Model: Theda
Hair & Make Up: Alexandra

I had another chance to work with Theda. I wanted to do a similar thing like last time because I felt it could have been better. Even as I was working last time, I was thinking I should have gone with a gold background. I wanted everything to fall in the same color scheme this time. I also wanted to add more make up and jewelry to make her look fancier.

It was interesting having a second go-around on this. I think we were generally all more relaxed. Unfortunately Theda wasn't feeling 100% but I have to say, she did stick in there as best as she could.

I got the vase right before the shoot at Savorama for $5.--,.... love those crappy stores in Harlem. I also got the fabric there, the guy who was helping me hardly spoke any English. There was a Latino lady there with her daughter. I would say the daughter was maybe 6 or 7 years old. She was cute. She was wearing this pretty dress, looked like she may have come from church or something. The cashier lady asked her how she was doing and the little girl turned and said, BAD, REALLY REALLY BAD! You gotta love kids.

Adya

2008-06-02T20:43:00.000-07:00

Model: Adya
Hair & Make Up: Contessa Black

I had a blast on Sunday. I worked with two people who I had never met before which always makes me a tad nervous. As it turned out I had nothing to be nervous about. Both Adya and Contessa were extremely easy to work with and we had so much fun playing with the slime. I chose Adya because she has an interesting face. She's 18 but clearly looks much younger. Despite her age, she was one of the best models I had ever worked with. She really got into character and wasn't afraid to exaggerate expressions and poses.

I created the slime Saturday evening, Adam helped me. It is a wonderful recipe which my friend Robert Morris had passed on to me a while back. Supposedly it doesn't dye your skin should you choose to add color...... uhm, an hour later Adam and I were staring at our bright red lobster hands... yeah apparently red dyed slime does dye your skin. Lol. Anyway, besides the skin discoloration the red didn't look good, I didn't like it (anybody want 4 gallons of red slime?). We ended up making another batch. I was a tad worried because I had no clue if Adya was gonna be up for being covered in slime, as it turned out she was delighted.

Shapes

2008-05-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

I took this image in LA at the university where my brother teaches. This was one of his lecture rooms. I loved the lines and shapes this room formed, everything so sterile and geometric.

Just spreading the love

2008-05-14T20:10:00.001-07:00

My super smart brother just released another book. Don't ask me to explain anything... lol.

Check it if you think you're smart:
Innovating Genesis: Microgenesis and the Constructive Mind in Action

By Dr. Rainer Diriwaechter

There Will Be Blood

2008-05-07T07:11:00.000-07:00

I watched "There Will Be Blood" last night and I decided this movie is going to leave a lasting impression on me. I can't say I cared about the story but this movie to me was so rock solid in every other department. The cinematography, lighting and sound were very impressive. People often use composition and especially lighting to set a mood but this movie also heavily relied on sound. I loved how they had this constant almost disturbing violin/cello melody playing quietly in the background, often even while the actors were talking.

The cinematography was just beautiful. There's this one shot where Lewis's fake brother was sitting with his arms wrapped around his knees. He was all in shadow (silhouetted against the background), then for just a minute he lifted his head so that his head was then in the light, he then lowered his head back into shadow again.... brilliant. They did a few things with lighting that had me thinking. For example, there's one scene where Lewis was denouncing his son and they had the son lit in a rather cold blue light. The background lighting was warm and yellowish/orange. I thought this was interesting as I would probably have done the reverse. Since the son was the nice, caring person I think I would have showed him in a warm light. This had me thinking and I'm guessing they did this to show the son from Lewis's perspective...... yes, all speculations but I love analyzing stuff like that.

slave girl

2008-04-28T20:36:00.000-07:00

Model: Theda
Hair&Make Up: Alexandra

Saturday I had a chance to hang out with my friend... and at this point to some degree mentor, Dave Levingston. He's a wonderful photographer and I like hearing what he has to say.... oh and he doesn't seem to mind listening to me complain about the social behavior of modern society..... hahaha. He was in town documenting a dance performance which I had a chance to see Saturday evening (it by the way was fantastic). I was watching Dave work in the afternoon and the thing that stood out the most to me was at what speed Dave worked. I mean he walked in, took a few shots and walked out satisfied about 20 minutes later... I'm pretty sure it would have taken me an hour to take those portraits. Dave was kind enough to point out that he had a background in photojournalism where you of course are forced to work fast. We also stopped by the Met, I wanted to check out the classical Greek and Roman sculptures since that was my inspiration for Sundays shoot. It was perfect, it was exactly what I needed to get into the right mindset for Sunday.

Sunday, I had the shoot with Theda who is a figure model. It was interesting working with someone who does this for a living. The difference was obvious, she was very quick to find poses and always got my directions right away. It was fun but I was also a bit stressed because I was under time pressure.... sigh... yeah, I need to work faster.

Jacqueline

2008-03-17T20:21:00.000-07:00

Model: Jacqueline
Hair & MakeUp: Alexandra

First off I need to say a big thank you to my co-worker Gareth. He let me borrow all his camera stuff. I've been having some real bad luck with my equipment and this shoot almost didn't happen as I was scrambling on Thursday to find someone who would let me borrow their beloved camera stuff. Let me tell you it wasn't easy and I almost gave up had it not been for Gareth. He was super supportive and even brought me his stuff on Sunday. So without him this whole thing would not have happened. Thank You!

I needed a break from Madame X and really wanted to shoot with someone new. Hence enter Jackie. She was awesome to work with. Very patient completely let me do whatever I wanted and followed direction amazingly well. Alex as always did an awesome job with hair and make up. Alex is not just talented but is simply a joy to have around.

Madame Jane

2008-02-06T20:45:00.000-08:00

Image 2 of the on going Madame X series. I figured the second shoot would be a lot easier since I already had done it once. But it turns out the second one was far more challenging. Mainly because now I had the first one to compare it to. While it is not my intention to make all of the images look identical I did want them to feel close. Getting the dress to look similar was the biggest challenge because this dress is a hack, it really is just fabric cleverly draped and pinned together in the back so there was no way we got it to fall the same way. Then I also used a different umbrella with my lighting setup. Last time I used a gold umbrella to reflect the light. I decided to use a silver one this time around because I wanted the skin color to be a bit more cool. This of course changed the whole color tones of the photo. Oh and my fancy lens broke that very morning (do to my clumsiness) and so I had to shoot this with a different lens which also didn't help. Anyway, it's different, nevertheless Jane looks great.

Model: Jane
Hair & Make Up: Alexandra
Wardrobe: Nane

...... back to sculpting for a bit.

2008-01-31T15:45:00.001-08:00

Something different....... I'm finally, finally getting back into sculpting again with the lovely Alena. I started this a year ago and stopped because I got too busy with work and my photography stuff. Lately I've been feeling a bit burnt out with photography and thought it was time to get back into sculpting, so Monday nights are dedicated to sculpting again.

My last update was in July, this was right after I baked the head.
http://bunkertales.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html

Here's what's new. HAIR! the face looks a tad messy because it's been baked and got some glue stains on it..... I glued the hair armature on and now am working on blocking in the hair. It's obviously still very rough, my first pass. I have to say, doing the hair is far more difficult then I thought it would be and I can't believe how much clay I've been using. Monday I'm going to add the weights to the inside of the base because the poor girl is slowly tumbling over.

Madame Nikki

2008-01-08T19:46:00.001-08:00

This is the first photograph of a series called "Madame X" (obviously) that I'm working on. This shoot only worked out so well because of the amazing help I had. This was a team effort and I can't thank the people involved enough.

Model: Nikki
Hair & Make Up: Alexandra
Wardrobe: Nane

New Site

2008-01-08T07:42:00.000-08:00

My film photography..... I mean phoblography....I mean..... never mind.

http://philm-phoblography.blogspot.com/

Take 1

2007-11-30T08:55:00.000-08:00

This is a work in progress

Jane

2007-11-07T07:37:00.001-08:00

Once again...... Jane!

Jane

2007-11-07T06:57:00.000-08:00

Jane did an amazing job and I have a lot of respect for her. Most people don't feel confident enough with themselves to do a shoot like this and she really went with it. Plus we had a blast..... especially applying the make up, it turns out we're both horrible at it.... not that you can tell from the photographs. Thank you Jane!

White On White Pastry Style

2007-10-28T20:45:00.000-07:00

I took these for a French bakery that I visit on a regular basis. It's a small local place up in Harlem called "Samba" bakery. The pastries are fantastic! I offered to take some pictures for the owner because I like going there.

Untitled

2007-10-14T10:00:00.001-07:00

I'm not totally sure what I think of this one but I thought it had something interesting about it, so I went ahead and posted it.

Peacock Girl

2007-10-14T09:11:00.001-07:00

Little Girl In White

2007-10-06T21:17:00.001-07:00

I decided to stick with the white on white idea. I was curious to see how the image would feel if the women was replaced by a little girl.

Lady In White

2007-09-25T20:01:00.001-07:00

Model: Veronika
I think this photograph captures part of Veronika's personality. She's one of the kindest persons I know. Very sweet and good hearted and sometimes unfortunately doesn't realize just how beautiful she is.

Little Girl With Red Boots

2007-09-18T21:35:00.001-07:00

More Composition In White And Green

2007-09-18T21:14:00.000-07:00