The Greatest #7: Elinor Carucci

I was in the Bay Area last week doing my first nude shoot when a friend asked if I wanted to see Elinor Carucci speak at SF CameraWork about the re-release of her book, Closer. I'd never heard of her before, but I was blown away by her work and thought it might be helpful reference for my editorial. Her personal work covers a wide range: from her husband to her parents to nudes of herself, moving from adolescence to marriage (and not shying away from domestic problems) to parenthood.
I love the work in Closer above all else, it feels unexpected, unguarded and immediate, as well Carucci is gorgeous, intense and beguiling; as a subject she brings much to the image.
Her commercial/editorial work is wonderful as well, it bears her style, sometimes leading to striking results (Dame Edna's mouth).
She is truly remarkable, in every way: an animated, witty and gracious public speaker, a memorable photographer and a seemingly genuine, normal person unaffected by her success.

The Greatest #6: Corey Seeholzer

I was reading J. Wesley Brown's blog a while back and saw his post on Corey Seeholzer. I emailed Corey and then had coffee with him. He is lovely.
His work, to me, is a perfect example of what retouching and digital photography should be. It bears the mark of being done by one photographer, while maintaining a genuine sense of intimacy and emotion with his subjects.

Being Nekid

I recently discovered that I love shooting semi-nudes; I was admiring some of Bryan Sheffield's work a while back and felt very inspired. I did a semi-nude fashion lingerie spread (images forth-coming), a Nerve "date" followed and another shoot at the end of this month.

My first shoot for Nerve.com just went live. I was excited to be asked to shoot something for them; they have such incredible people on their site and find many new, impressive photographers whom I haven't heard of: it's an endless resource.

My friend, who is a beautiful burlesque dancer was kind enough to be my subject, while also getting me into an actual burlesque show I could shoot on the fly. The dancers are all delightful and enchantingly performative, making the whole shooting process quite easy.

The editor, Agatha Wasilewska, was a dream. She has a spectacular eye and does a great edit.

Photography Movies

Someone brought up movies in which a character is a photographer (or somehow in that milieu) the other day, and I begin to think about two things:

1. Movies that are great inspiration visually (some have terrible plot lines and/or acting but are worth watching)
2. Movie that have photography in them

Since lists are such fun, here I go:

1.
The Man Who Fell to Earth
Badlands
Days of Heaven
The Portrait of a Lady
Twin Peaks (TV Series ONLY)
Clockwork Orange
City of Lost Children
Alien
Aliens
Blade Runner
Love & Death
Ladies & Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains
Sympathy for Lady Vengence
Eraserhead
Lisztomania
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1970's version)
Magnificent Obsession
Imitation of Life
Persona
The Rolling Stones' Rock n' Roll Circus
Julien Donkey-Boy
Gummo


2.
The Eyes of Laura Mars
The Sentinel (1970's version)
Fur
Blow-Up
Pecker
Rear Window

The Greatest #5: Katie Shapiro

I am always envious of those photographers who can take something everyday, something no one (or atleast I) would never notice and bring it to life with their unqiue eye. I was in the best lab left standing in LA, The Icon, when I saw the card for a show of Katie Shapiro's new work. I went to her site and she has this very quiet, unobstrusive way about her images, but they are striking; I never thought I would find urban plant life compelling.

IPA Award!

I recently found out both my submissions to the International Photography Awards won Honorable Mention!