Array ( [0] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 34971 [post_author] => 5132 [post_date] => 2014-01-16 18:00:22 [post_date_gmt] => 2014-01-16 23:00:22 [post_content] => Photographer Tamara Reynolds grew up in the South and wants to share her love for this too often misrepresented region. With her series Southern Route, she does just that, capturing images from the South that may get ignored. In this exclusive interview with Resource, Reynolds tells all, from how Southern Route got started, to how she captured her breathtaking images and what she hopes to convey with the series that is so close to her heart.How did you come up with the idea for Southern Route? It was a project that took shape rather than something I committed to before venturing out. After a year I felt I had a body of work that could be shown. It is a result of my experience in my everyday life traveling and the result of my life growing up southern. To quote Emmet Gowin, “There are things in your life that only you will see, stories that only you will hear. If you don’t tell them or write them down, if you don’t make the picture, these things will not be seen, these things will not be heard.” To me, these things will be forgotten, lost or might never be understood. 
© Tamara Reynolds
What’s the message you hope to convey with Southern Route?I want to show the south that can be overlooked, unappreciated or denied. What imagery results, if I let go, makes sense in my project being that I am a southerner shooting a southern story and thus ultimately “my” life perspective. 
© Tamara Reynolds
What went into your research for this series? How long did you spend exploring small towns in the south? How did you go about finding these places? I travel a lot by myself and I try to stay off the main roads as much as possible. I have a destination but I meander toward it. I sometimes pick a place because of one thing (such as the harvesting of the cotton in the Delta), but I stay open to the possibilities along the way. I did watch a Yale Online Lecture series on Civil War and I read a few southern non fiction books and online publications to keep in the southern mind set. I also watch documentaries that intrigued me about places in the south to explore.
© Tamara Reynolds
So far, has the reaction to the series been positive? I will say it usually is going to be people who have an artistic sensibility about them and are open minded. I have found too that many of those who relate are those who were born around the same time I was. My work ran on the DailyMail.co.uk and the response was generally anger and negative. It might offend those who are looking at the images as a mere cross section of the south and not an artist’s invitation to dialogue about what she personally experienced. 
© Tamara Reynolds
How did you find your subjects for Southern Route?Typically I was drawn to them in one way or another. I did not purposely go out and set the project in motion. I was responding rather than purposefully setting off toward a goal to reach. So with that said, I let my eyes and soul guide me.
© Tamara Reynolds
Are the shots candid or posed? How much staging, if any, did you do? I shoot candidly if a story is happening in front of me. In some cases, I pose the subject if I feel the mood of the image must be represented more intensely. Sometimes the subject is so striking that directing them might give the viewer the compelling experience I am having. Or without any regard to the viewer, I want to see what this person would do and look like as a photo. I have always been a collector of things--I guess this is just another way I collect. I collect the experiences and these images become my keepsakes. The images work to jar my memory of the person and the conversations we had. I remember my life a lot of times through the photos I take. I don’t know if that is so good. Am I living the moments of my life through the photos I take or am I really experiencing the moments? Sometimes I wish I didn’t have to shoot but I just can’t help it. It is like photography has become my “why”. I normally would not meet all the people or go to all the places unless I was compelled to shoot. It is such a conflict in this way for me at times. 
© Tamara Reynolds
A lot of your series explores the South iconography as you photograph Memphis, child pageants, families, and local businesses. As a Nashville-based photographer, do you feel a responsibility to represent your region and culture? I feel compelled to collect what I am afraid will disappear without ever being seen. I am showing the work in hopes that others will see the south typically overlooked, under appreciated or wrongly viewed. As early as I can remember I have been an explorer of places and people. And having grown up the youngest of my family struggling to be heard, I find I am still doing it with my photography.
© Tamara Reynolds
You said that this series helped you appreciate your home “despite its failings," but you also said that it helped you’ve learned about the positivity that exists in the South. Can you talk about this a bit, how has this project opened your eyes to the positives and negatives of southern culture? Have your feelings about the South changed since you began this project? I do know that I am embracing my southernness with more love and appreciation. The more I learn and explore, the more people I meet and talk to in my home region opens my eyes more to the truth of it. I think that by learning first hand I can express to others that “lack of knowledge” keeps us in shame or in denial or in fear. It is by learning and accepting the truth of it, not denying, or defending against it that one finds freedom from the shame and ultimately finds the love.
© Tamara Reynolds
Where do you typically find your inspiration for new projects?I can really get motivated by seeing a place. Recapturing something I feel I’ve lost triggers a project. I guess it is a gut feeling like anxiety that will prompt a project. Or like this project, I was needing to involve myself with the south so I could know it and love it.What’s in the future for you?I am going to a particular place in the south to explore. I am in the process of reading about it now. I don’t want to say anything about it yet, but it is a place I am afraid is disappearing.
© Tamara Reynolds
[post_title] => Tamara Reynolds and her "Southern Route" [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => tamara-reynolds-and-her-southern-route [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2014-01-14 12:56:12 [post_modified_gmt] => 2014-01-14 17:56:12 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://resourcemagonline.com/?p=34971 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )[1] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 34958 [post_author] => 5132 [post_date] => 2014-01-14 18:00:40 [post_date_gmt] => 2014-01-14 23:00:40 [post_content] => New York Photographer Eric Martin's Our Universe series is unlike anything he's done before, and certainly unlike anything we've ever seen before. Martin described shooting Our Universe as a "zen experience," something much different from the collaborative efforts of working with models. The shoot was collaborative in a different way though; once painted, the eggs used in the series cracked and sweat in unique patterns, something Martin had no control over. The Brooklyn-based photographer talked to Resource in this exclusive interview, telling us all about how he created and shot this awe inspiring series. View Eric's website here: ericmartinphoto.comWhen and how did you get started with photography?Photography for me started in earnest through a series of events and introductions in Minneapolis that simply changed the course of my life. Following the urging and support of some amazing and infinitely talented friends, I left for New York. Wanting to spend a season in Miami Beach first, I found myself working at a very busy and high end production company, Big Time Productions, where I stayed for a few years, responsible for all of the clients' production and equipment needs. Surrounded by icons in the industry and gaining the necessary understanding of the greater machine, I found it a natural fit and an amazing education, reinforcing my interest and respect for commercial photography and the art form as a whole.
©Eric Martin
For the most part it seems as though you shoot portraits; Our Universe is so different from your usual work, what inspired you to create this series?Our Universe was certainly something new for me as it's rare that I work on such a small scale or without a creative team at my side. More unusual for me was having the opportunity to work patiently. So often when working either in fashion or portraiture, time and timing is a driving force, playing a decisive roll in the final story or image. While that is a welcome element of collaborative efforts, photographing this series was a far more zen experience and one which afforded me the space to study and observe. I wanted to shape light that would have the illusion of being a distant and undefinable source, hoping to reinforce a sense of planetary lighting. Beyond some unexplainable sketches I made in a book one night years ago of shell-less eggs, I think ultimately it was this lighting challenge that drove the project initially. However, the quiet reflection and the subjects' transformations quickly took hold of my curiosity and imagination.
©Eric Martin
In the future, do you think you’ll do more conceptual still life projects or will you stick more to portraits and landscape?I will certainly continue to explore conceptual artwork alongside other pursuits. While having such diversity in my work is a challenge for some to understand in a commercial sense, I have always felt exploration of genres and technical experimentation as vital to making me a stronger individual and artist.
©Eric Martin
How long did it take to design each egg?The designs themselves are largely fluid and without control. Over the course of a couple of days, I applied layers upon layers of colored dyes in various vinegar concentrations, allowing colors to bleed and spot organically. Later layers of dye did at times become more experimental and unconventional so as to encourage a range of personalities and outcomes. Once presumed ready or at critical-color mass, the eggs were frozen, expanding and fracturing on their own accord.For the session, the eggs were carefully handled and posed so as to avoid impressions in the frost. Each final image was a selection from a series captured over the course of 60-90 minutes at 15-30 second intervals. With respect to post-production, I performed almost no retouching or tweaking beyond adding a curve and removing the three little pins acting as the stand for the egg. Overall, I spent the better part of a week or two capturing, editing and finishing the project.
©Eric Martin
What equipment did you use to shoot Our Universe?I used a canon 5D-2 with a single light and a small tent built of frost and cards, with a homemade stand for the eggs to gingerly perch upon.Do you have a favorite shot from this series? If so, which one is it and why?I do enjoy the entire collection, all viewed at once with the range of color and fractured states. But yes, there are a few images that I favor. Those that come to mind are the red-orange egg that cracked with such individuality near its cap and the two dark-blue/black speckled eggs which seem to have honest cosmic intentions.
©Eric Martin
What is the message that you hope to convey through this series?While there was a singular inspiration, there was never any intended message to the body of work. That said, in spending time with the collection, I have come to see that there is certainly an impression of something familiar yet almost magical that seems to request individual consideration and meditation. The project was designed with other-worldly impressions and a desire that something so common can be transformed to be seen anew.
©Eric Martin
Have you received a positive reception for Our Universe?I have, yes. And my favorite question is always, "Are those eggs?".You were featured on the website of Playground Industries, how did that come about?I've worked very closely with Playground now for a number of years. They are a full-service production and equipment rental company who collectively have a wealth of experience and proficiency in the industry, and who understand that light and tech are integral to success but relationships and awareness are fundamental. We all have immense respect and trust for each other, technically, creatively and professionally. They have been expanding their in-house capabilities and making determined strides recently towards a stronger position in the industry and as a part of that, they are re-branding and re-tooling their online presence. Going forward on their website, they will be featuring selected works by their clients and peers. I was humbled when they asked that Our Universe be a part of their site's relaunch and couldn't be more supportive of them as individuals and as my extended family.
©Eric Martin
What’s in the future for you as a photographer?Hopefully a great many discoveries and challenges, assignments and collaborations over the years to come. I'm looking forward to presenting Our Universe in a gallery setting (I'm anxious to print them so large I can loose myself in the condensation). I've also been developing some other projects including one involving form and dance, which will one night see the light of the moon. [post_title] => "Our Universe" by Eric Martin [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => universe-eric-martin [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2014-01-15 14:59:24 [post_modified_gmt] => 2014-01-15 19:59:24 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://resourcemagonline.com/?p=34958 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 1 [filter] => raw )[2] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 34906 [post_author] => 5132 [post_date] => 2014-01-10 14:00:00 [post_date_gmt] => 2014-01-10 19:00:00 [post_content] => The 365 Grateful project all started because photographer Hailey Bartholomew was feeling down. She had every reason to be happy, yet she wasn't finding joy in the life she was living. In an effort to fight depression, Hailey went to see a nun. This nun unlocked the secret of happiness for Hailey, telling her that reflection and gratitude was all it took to lead a happy life. The nun gave her a project, telling her to reflect about her day and come up with one thing to be grateful for each day. For ten days Hailey wrote down what she was grateful for, which made her realize she was missing out on so much.This is how the 365 Grateful was born. Hailey began to photograph one thing each day that she felt grateful for. She bought enough Polaroid film to last her through the year, and began her journey. At first she thought of the project as a chore, but slowly she began to enjoy it. After a while, it was hard for her to take only one picture a day. The project improved her outlook immensely, and soon she noticed that her marriage, spiritual life, and health improved. The project opened her eyes to how much her husband truly cares about her, and also showed her how beautiful nature is when you take a second to notice it.Hailey posted her 365 Grateful project on Flickr and it began to get noticed. People began doing their own 365 Grateful project's, and before long Haileys project went viral. Her project made it into newspaper articles, magazines, radio broadcasts and, of course, blogs. 365 Grateful has had a huge impact on the lives of people who love it, many write to Hailey and tell her about how their own projects have changed their outlook on life.Now a documentary is being made about Hailey's project that will cover Hailey's journey, as well as how gratitude has effected the lives of others. They're even working on a section where fans will be able to upload their own 365 Grateful projects.Why not make 2014 a year of being Grateful? While new years resolutions like going to the gym more, and eating healthier usually fail within the first month, being grateful and starting your own 365 grateful project might just be a resolution you'll be able to keep.[youtube id="AedIvmd8MJA" width="620" height="360"]
[post_title] => 365 Grateful Project [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => 365-grateful-project [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2014-01-09 16:53:52 [post_modified_gmt] => 2014-01-09 21:53:52 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://resourcemagonline.com/?p=34906 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )[3] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 34917 [post_author] => 5132 [post_date] => 2014-01-10 12:00:22 [post_date_gmt] => 2014-01-10 17:00:22 [post_content] => The ShadowCam S-5 is the world’s first “3-axis” hand held camera stabilizer made for DSLR cameras and high-end pro series cinema cameras like Canon C-series. The people at ShadowCam have thought of everything; this hand held camera stabilizer folds flat for easy transportation, can be used with a shoulder rig, doesn’t require any tools, and is completely safe to use with your camera!Red Epic and Black Magic dampen movement on the vertical and horizontal planes through the latest AlexMos hardware and software. It has silent brushless motors and a compact, two-way shock device that is completely unique to the S-5 that dampers approximately 180mm (7”) of travel when moved in a vertical or horizontal direction. This minimizes any bob and weave effect that can be created by walking or running.In order to design the ShadowCam S-5 they had the rethink the idea of the electronic stabilizer. By doing this, they created a unique and flexible device that can be easily merged with existing equipment. The position of the camera within the gimbal was raised so that framing a shot is easier and more in line with other shoulder rigs. It’s made of curved carbon fiber and has an aluminum frame that makes it lightweight, maneuverable and compact. This makes it easy to get tight shots. Once it’s arms are folded down, the frame measures an impressive 230mm (9”) wide, and can be operated with one hand. 
The ShadowCam has many important features that make it shine above all other hand held camera stabilizers. The ShadowCam S-5 has the ability to become a shoulder rig. All you have to do is attach a standard shoulder support system to a clamp located underneath the rear accessory plate.The ShadowCam S-5 can also fold flat, which makes it easy to transport. You can even transport the whole system while having your camera and monitor attached to the rig. This will save you time and frustration since you won’t have to set up your camera with each new location you travel to.You also have the ability to use your own follow-focus, filters, and barn doors. The ShadowCam S-5 incorporates an industry-standard rail system just for that purpose.No tools are required with the ShadowCam S-5! It has tool-free adjustment for grips, arms, rig adaptor, and balancing set-up. It also has twenty-¼” threaded mounting holes located around the frame which will enable you to attach monitors, lights or anything that has a standard ¼” thread. As if that wasn’t enough, ShadowCam also includes two additional adaptor clamps that can be attached anywhere on the frame.Most importantly, the ShadowCam S-5 puts safety first. It incorporates important safety features like additional catches located on the quick-release top handle so nothing can be unlatched by accident, an auto-lock feature found on the camera mounting plate and rails so that the camera won’t slip off while balancing or loading. Additionally, the frame was tested to destruction so ShadowCam is sure their product can take quite a pounding!
[post_title] => ShadowCam S-5: The World's First Hand Held Camera Stabilizer for DSLR Cameras [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => shadowcam-s-5-worlds-first-hand-held-camera-stabilizer-dslr-cameras [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2014-01-09 16:43:14 [post_modified_gmt] => 2014-01-09 21:43:14 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://resourcemagonline.com/?p=34917 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )[4] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 34897 [post_author] => 5132 [post_date] => 2014-01-09 16:00:57 [post_date_gmt] => 2014-01-09 21:00:57 [post_content] => Hasselblad Masters, a competition that is held every two years, is one of the most prestigious competitions in the photo industry. Established artists and unknown artists from around the world enter the competition. In the 2014 Hasselblad Masters competition there were twelve categories including architecture, fashion/beauty, wildlife, general, landscapes/nature, products, editorial, fine art, underwater, wedding/social, portrait, and a category called "project/21" devoted to photographers just breaking into the profession.[caption id="attachment_34899" align="aligncenter" width="630"]
© Antonio-Pedrosa: Editorial Category[/caption]Entries were whittled down from thousands to just ten in each category. Each photographer had three of their images online which the public was then invited to vote on. The public's opinion counted as one vote, while a panel of industry experts cast the remaining votes. One photographer from each category emerged, and was named the winner.The twelve winning photographers have the opportunity to borrow state-of-the-art Hasselblad equipment in order to create a new set of images for the fourth special Masters Commemorative Book. They will also receive a trophy at photokina 2014, and all of their images will be published on the Hasselblad global website. Then, their images will be presented at exhibitions around the world.[caption id="attachment_34900" align="aligncenter" width="630"]
© Bara Prasilova - Fashion Category[/caption]"We're delighted with the number of entries the Hasselblad Masters 2014 competition attracted," said Paul Waterworth, Hasselblad's Global Photographer Relations Manager. "The standard was extraordinarily high this time around, and the category winners can be truly proud of their achievement. It's a sign of the prestige that is now attached to this competition that it is attracting entries from some of the best photographers working in the world today, and when you look at the winners as a group you realise just how special your work has to be for you to be named a Master."The list of winners is as follows:Architecture: Martin SchubertFashion/Beauty: Bara PrasilovaWildlife: Rafael RojasGeneral: Roman JehannoLandscapes/Nature: Hengki KoentjoroProducts: Bryn GriffithsEditorial: Antonio PedrosaFine Art: Rafal MaleszykUnderwater: Chris StraleyWedding/Social: Joseph Goh Meng HuatPortrait: Dmitry AgeevProject/21: Paul Gisbrecht[caption id="attachment_34901" align="aligncenter" width="630"]
Dmitry Ageev - Portrait Category[/caption] [post_title] => 2014 Hasselblad Masters Winners Announced [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => 2014-hasselblad-masters-winners-announced [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2014-01-09 16:05:45 [post_modified_gmt] => 2014-01-09 21:05:45 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://resourcemagonline.com/?p=34897 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )[5] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 34888 [post_author] => 5132 [post_date] => 2014-01-09 14:00:14 [post_date_gmt] => 2014-01-09 19:00:14 [post_content] => In the growing world of photography, it isn't always easy to make a living. Whether you're an aspiring photographer or a professional photographer, it's more than likely that you are just trying to survive. Why not thrive, instead of just scraping by?THRIVE 2014 is focused on the marketing aspect of photography, so participants only need to bring their brains, a pen and some paper. This workshop is designed specifically to teach you how to get paid. Professionals will help attendees design their own marketing plan that will be personalized to each person. With the help of the people at THRIVE you will also build your own news release that will be ready to go right after the conference. Along the way, you'll learn important things about pricing, negotiating, social media, and selling skills.You will be instructed by Skip Cohen and Scott Bourne, authors of the best-seller, "Going Pro" (Random House). These experts will share tactics and anecdotes that will help you learn how to better market yourself. Talking about THRIVE 2014, they said, "THRIVE only has one goal - to help take your business to the next level with a focus on forward thinking. We want you in a leadership role instead of being reactionary to the economy, technology and your competitors."
THRIVE will take place at the Hampton Inn Tropicana (4975 Dean Martin Drive, 89118 Las Vegas) on March 2nd. Register before February 2nd, and your ticket will only be $89.00. Because this is a conference where every attendee will receive personal attention, it will not exceed 100 people. That means tickets are limited, so make sure you get your tickets ASAP! Click here to order a ticket. [post_title] => Tickets Still Available for THRIVE 2014 [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => tickets-still-available-thrive-2014 [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2014-01-09 14:28:12 [post_modified_gmt] => 2014-01-09 19:28:12 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://resourcemagonline.com/?p=34888 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )[6] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 34872 [post_author] => 5132 [post_date] => 2014-01-09 12:00:46 [post_date_gmt] => 2014-01-09 17:00:46 [post_content] => Julia Javel has always been a thoughtful photographer. She's never shot any images haphazardly, even planning out the first photographs she ever took at the age of seventeen. Her motto, "less is more," rings true as you look through her portfolio. Black backgrounds, bold models and dark moods are all prevalent in her images. This self-proclaimed feminist hopes to break down gender stereotypes and take risks in photographs that are streamlined and sleek. In this exclusive interview, Javel spoke with Resource about how she got started, the ins and outs of her process and what makes her photographic clock tick.Can you tell me about your photographic background, when and how did you get started with photography?Painting, drawing and music videos have always fascinated me, but when I try to paint or to draw, it was terrible. Making music videos were impossible--too complicated. So I figured out how to create and express myself with a different tool. I started to photograph by chance, because my family had one of the first digital camera. It was brand new, simple and attractive. My first photographs weren’t my parents, my cat or my cousin’s birthday. It was already very thoughtful, staged, with makeup, costumes and poses. I was making my own lights, but I was paying attention to every detail, even if I did not own professional equipment. I was seventeen.
© Julia Javel
It seems as though you mainly shoot portraits, why are you drawn to shooting people?I started photography with self-portraits and with my sister. She was 13 at the time and we shared the same passion for the cabaret atmosphere, tales characters, a gothic and weird mood, music videos and fashion. She became and she still is my muse.Now I’m twenty-six, and we always work together in the same way. I have also learned to work with different people, but it was not easy at the beginning. I was often frustrated: with my sister, no words were needed; now I have to take time to explain, to create a space where the model and me can work together.Some people do not recognize themselves when they see the result of the shooting. I am not a magician, I do not transform anything. I'm not here to flatter the ego or sublimate anyone. It is just my way to catch something unusual and to reveal a facet of their personality.I do mostly “art” pictures, but I came to fashion by accident. It was a way to challenge myself as a feminist: how can a woman photographer work with a woman model without the results being cliché? How to build a strong story and a strong character? In fashion, I like to explore my dramatic and theatrical side, but I also like to do the exact opposite: heavy black and white, rock and roll style. I do not care about what I am supposed to do as a “fashion photographer”. Fashion is my experimental laboratory.
© Julia Javel
Do you prefer shooting in a studio as opposed to outside or in homes/buildings etc?My motto is “less is more.” My absolute passion is the black background. First, it is a direct reference to some painters I admire, like Rembrandt or Caravaggio. Second, it gets rid of everything superfluous.I can work outside as well, but the decor has to fit with the story. I avoid cheap locations. If it is just to say “hey look I have decors !” I prefer my black background and to focus on the poses and expressions of the model. 
© Julia Javel
How do you find your subjects, do you generally use models or friends?I mostly work with models I know, people who can be trusted, people who are not afraid to take risks with their image. For my artistic projects, I work with my friends and family because it is a long term job. For my fashion pictures, I work with models from agencies. They are very professional and they know their work, because posing is real work.I used to photograph myself for images that I did not dare ask my models to do, for my strangest or too personal visions. Nowadays, it is a practice that I use more rarely, but the pictures make more sense and they are stronger.
© Julia Javel
Going into a shoot do you have a plan of the direction you want to go in, or do you keep more of an open mind?Sometimes, I come with a very specific idea: I worked on it, I made research, I tried lights or compositions before the shooting.Sometimes, it’s an exchange. It depends on who I have in front of me. It is like a threesome between the model, the camera and me. It can be very intuitive or it may require an adjustment period. In some cases, the model also has a very intense universe and then it makes sparks.
© Julia Javel
Where do you get your inspiration? How do you come up with ideas for series?As a “frustrated” painter, painting is obviously my most important source of inspiration--the portraits of Ingres, the raw and incredibly alive side of Manet and Courbet, the light of Rembrandt and his self-portraits and most of all: Caravaggio.Light is my obsession: when I walk in the street, the traffic lights on my skin, in the subway, in a bar, I keep my eyes wide open. I never sleep during a trip; I am too afraid I'll miss something.Dario Argento and his film “Suspiria” is also a great inspiration for atmosphere and lights; my stories flirt more with the cinema of Michael Haneke, Liliana Cavani, Claire Denis or Thomas Vinterberg. What we try to hide beneath the surface of the appearances, our urges, our social masks, our sexuality. My characters are frequently “bourgeois” because the bourgeoisie is a perfect varnish that can hide cruelty and sadism.I am also a convinced feminist. Thus I question the gender, the stereotypes, the sexual ambiguity, the representations of women and men in the society and in the arts.I have a little notebook, I take memos, make (terrible) doodles, catch an inspiring pose, light or references. It is one of my most important tool.
© Julia Javel
Do you have a favorite series or "story”? If so why is it your favorite?What a hard question. It is like asking a mother or a father who is her/his favorite child. I could say “Morning Unglory” because I spent one year to make this series and I learned a lot. I learned a lot technically speaking, but I also learned how to guide models, how to be open to some suggestions from them, how to let go sometimes and to dare to go where I am not used to. I feel very close to every image of this series because each of them represents an obsession, a question and a fascination.
© Julia Javel
What kind of equipment do you generally use? Do you shoot in digital, film, both?I consider the camera a useful implement, but it is simply a implement. It is not a magic object able to create instead of you. I experience polaroid films, toy cameras and digital cameras. I dare to play and to make mistakes. I am not afraid of failure, it is a way to learn faster.How long does your editing process take? What does it entail?When I edit a picture, I consider myself a painter. It is the final touch of a long process: some ideas on a notebook, the preparation of the shooting, the shooting itself with a team or not. I spent a some time editing a picture because I often know where I want to go and how to go there.
© Julia Javel
What’s in the future for you as a photographer, any upcoming projects you can tell us about?Currently, I'm working on my first short movie, a story of domination and submission between two powerful women. Without forgetting my photo series, “family portraits,” which started in 2006 and is still in progress. I don’t even know if I will finish it. I always look for new collaborations, new encounters, new adventures.
© Julia Javel
[post_title] => Interview with Julia Javel [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => interview-julia-javel [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2014-01-09 12:21:46 [post_modified_gmt] => 2014-01-09 17:21:46 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://resourcemagonline.com/?p=34872 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )[7] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 34831 [post_author] => 5132 [post_date] => 2014-01-07 12:00:37 [post_date_gmt] => 2014-01-07 17:00:37 [post_content] =>Photographer Sergey Melnitchenko uses his series, "Schwarzenegger is my idol," to tell the story of a few young men from Nikolayev (Ukraine) who all want to be the best athletes they can be. Melnitchenko said that the guys in his images are all united by "a goal to become the best of the best and they will do everything possible to achieve it."
The photos in this series all depict nude men doing what they do best--working out. Melnitchenko says that the guys in the images "engage in athletics, acrobatics, fitness, and bodybuilding." All are determined to be successful, and Melnitchenko's images show their pure desire to make it to the top.
Speaking of the series, Melnitchenko said, "I asked one of the boys to tell me what role his hobby plays in his life. Here's what he told me: 'For me, my sport is what I live for. Daily control and hard work--that leads me to success. Sport disciplines a man, enables him to understand the value of labor, the value of choice. I always wanted to be something more than an ordinary man in the street, more colossal than an ordinary representative of the society, so in my sport I do all the best I can, because I want to reach the top.'"His images show the raw passion that these young men have for their fitness--each photograph of a man is paired with a different photograph of the gym, the equipment, or instructions. Melnitchenko didn't decide on photographing nude models on a whim. Addressing the reason for making the models strip down, Melnitchenko said, "Why are my 'models' naked? I think it adds a kind of courage and naturalness. Of course it also looks funny and ironic."Go To Sergey Melnitchenko's website here and check out more images from "Schwarzenegger is my idol" here! [post_title] => Sergey Melnitchenko "Schwarzenegger is my idol" [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => sergey-melnitchenko-shwarzenegger-idol [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2014-01-07 11:20:50 [post_modified_gmt] => 2014-01-07 16:20:50 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://resourcemagonline.com/?p=34831 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )[8] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 34819 [post_author] => 5132 [post_date] => 2014-01-06 12:00:41 [post_date_gmt] => 2014-01-06 17:00:41 [post_content] => Words by Linda TroellerLinda Troeller's vibrant color photographs, taken from 1994 in the Chelsea Hotel, convey the importance of people and place to the preservation of one of New York's most iconic buildings and cultural communities. Linda's photographs are on view by appointment at a Pop Up Exhibition to celebrate "Twenty Years - Chelsea Hotel Photographs" in a storefront gallery in the Chelsea Hotel. The mural sized photographs will be up through January 16, and can been seen by appointment. Contact Linda on facebook or lindatroeller@gmail.com. Her Chelsea Hotel photographs are in major collections from the University of Texas, Austin to a permanent 'room' at the Lloyd hotel, Amsterdam and in the lobby of the Toskana Therme, Bad Orb, Germany. Linda will move to a NYC new location and will remain an active member of the hotel's community now and when it opens in 2015 under King and Grove Hotels. Some of her memories include:
I met people such as Alexander McQueen who talked to me in the lobby, came to see my photographs and invited me to his fashion show. Such influences and the skylight over the famous staircase inspired me to make an image wearing a Zach Posen dress. Zac was absorbed by Bohemia, like myself. He hung out there as a teenager. I also made a number of self-portraits there that show a mental space, a kind of physical manifestation of the hotel itself mingling sadnesses with the rapture of new beginnings. Ethan Hawke came to shoot his “Chelsea Walls” film to use my room 319 for a scene; and after that I made his portrait.![033Christo Jean Claude Stanley Bard LindaTroeller []](http://resourcemagonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/033Christo-Jean-Claude-Stanley-Bard-LindaTroeller-.jpg)
A few years before a couple in from London celebrating their anniversary with him graduating from a course at Miss Vera’s School of Cross Dressing asked me to make their portrait. I continued making portraits with some of the creative inhabitants and found images that showed the aura of the building. When I first moved in the hotel the housekeepers vacuumed, dusted and made your bed for a reasonable fee. When my mother died, I was very depressed and Loretta, my maid, put the clothes on hangers and tried to cheer me up, offering a maternal hug that brought tears and release. In room 832 Herbert Hunke, the surrealist poet lived across the and hall peeked in, “You look like you’re a divorcée? It would be nice to have someone rich on this floor.” He got that impression since he saw me in a Channel suit I had left over from a European boyfriend. He knocked each week for the seven-dollar cab fare to the methadone clinic. He returned and read me poetry while spraying another layer of silver gloss on his phone. Sometimes he walked me the best diner in the ‘hood. Patti Smith came to give him a reading at Bard so things were looking up again, but he died shortly after.![092Gerald's LivingRoomLindaTroeller []](http://resourcemagonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/092Geralds-LivingRoomLindaTroeller-.jpg)
With so much of New York City history vanishing, my photographs and the work of other artists from here, testify to the pivotal value of the proliferation of culture generated at this artist-oriented place. It was always the merging of the new artists and guests with the residents that formed the swirl of the imagination that has permeated far and wide the soul of this place. To see her book “Chelsea Hotel Atmosphere: An Artist Memoir” go online http://www.blurb.com/books/783187![046MissAmeliaLindaTroeller []](http://resourcemagonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/046MissAmeliaLindaTroeller-.jpg)
Biography: Linda Troeller, resident for twenty years of the Chelsea Hotel, is an award-winning photographer known for her sensual images in her Aperture book, Healing Waters, and Scalo book, Erotic Lives of Women, covered in the NY Times as “one of the gutsiest books of the decade.” Her photo-collage project, TB-AIDS DIARY, won the Ferguson Award, translated into twelve languages, is in the Library of Congress AIDS Collection, and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and exhibited from Fotofest in “Testimonies” to Ryerson Image Arts Gallery, Toronto. Her book, “Chelsea Hotel Atmosphere: An Artist’s Memoir” was featured in the Village Voice, NY Times and she is published in Stern, Marie Claire, Stern among others. Her 70s vintage black and white photographs were recently collected by Marion Schneider and Klaus Bohm with a catalogue to be in every room of their new hotel, Toskana Therme, Bad Orb, Germany. A selection of her “Self-Portrayal” images were shown at Ververs Gallery, Amsterdam, 2013 in “Time-Lapse/Identity.” She has a MS and MFA from Syracuse University and BS in Journalism, West Virginia University. She was an assistant at the Ansel Adams Workshops in 1974 and has been a professor of photography and visiting lecturer at Yale, Parsons, SVA, and will teach "Self-Portraiture" this June at PetersValleyworkshops, www.lindatroeller.com. Her new photo book with interviews by Marion Schneider, "Intimacies," will be out Fall 2014 by Daylight.![040ArnoldWeinsteinLindaTroeller []](http://resourcemagonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/040ArnoldWeinsteinLindaTroeller-.jpg)
[post_title] => "Twenty Years - Chelsea Hotel Photographs" by Linda Troeller [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => twenty-years-chelsea-hotel-photographs-linda-troeller [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2014-01-06 12:21:12 [post_modified_gmt] => 2014-01-06 17:21:12 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://resourcemagonline.com/?p=34819 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )[9] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 34794 [post_author] => 5132 [post_date] => 2013-12-31 08:00:25 [post_date_gmt] => 2013-12-31 13:00:25 [post_content] =>Text and photo By Stephen KosloffI've become obsessed with taking pictures in recent years. Maybe you are too or know a friend or family member who's on the same boat; there's never any telling who's next. In June I put an ad on Craig’s List seeking professional help selecting images for the re-launch of my current website, which suffers from amateurism, irritable bowel syndrome, and other maladies. This is a chronicle of my Craig’s List odyssey, or, at least a down-payment.My interest in photography is strange to me because I’ve always identified as a writer. I majored in English at U.C. Santa Cruz and worked for newspapers for three years in Japan and Cambodia. It was probably in Cambodia, working as a reporter for The Cambodia Daily, where the mania for photography first set in. One afternoon I saw an Olympus Mju camera at the Central Market and bought it on a whim. A few weeks later I was assigned to cover a speech by one of the two prime ministers. The press was flown to the outlying province in a helicopter. It was my Apocalypse Now moment in the jungle, minus the Viet Cong and the Wagner. I brought my camera and wound up taking a shot of two women crouching in the dusty school yard where the speech took place. They were holding a framed portrait of King Sihanouk, maybe from the 1940s. It’s the first photo I’ve ever published, and it's still one of my favorites. Behind the two women, who seem pleased to be photographed, a number of other peasants are squatting. Only after I got the film back did I notice that several of them were scowling at me. To me, it's ironic that their scowls made it a better picture.
I moved to New York in 1997 still very much a writer, but in 2004 had a co-worker show me how to use a Pentax Spotmatic my grandfather had given me. In 2005 I pitched an article about a sixty foot whale that died and washed up on the beach in Southampton and took the accompanying photo, my first photo credit in a US publication. At that stage, however, I was still less invested in the photo than in
the article. That balance shifted dramatically in 2007, however, on a trip to Utah. In Salt Lake City I bought a cheap wide-angle lens. Shooting the hallucinatory landscapes at 19mm was like a revelation, and since then, in terms of my neuro- wiring with photography, it's been non-stop Wagner, wall-to-wall Viet Cong.I recently landed gigs shooting events for Gawker.com and Time Out, but I knew I needed a professional website. Hence, my ad on Craig's List. My headline said something like “Be my photography mentor for $50 an hour.” My throat seized up a little as I typed "$50", but I wanted to recruit serious people quickly. I wanted to plunge into a cascade of lucrative photo assignments, and quench my thirst for designer clothing, yachts, and beach-front properties. My goal was to meet photo editors of major magazines, agents, or gallerists. I got around thirty-five responses, including one from a man who wrote that he goes to the gym frequently. I'm sure his deltoids are large and rugged, like a Western landscape. I wound up meeting with five people: Alexia Politis, a commercial photo-shoot producer; Roark Dunn, who heads his own creative services company; “Jane,” a senior photo editor at a major national magazine who asked to remain anonymous; Lizzie Fischbein, an agent at a photo agency; and Jordan Schaps, a former photo editor at New York Magazine who teaches at SVA. I also had two friends who offered to look through my work when I mentioned the Craig's List post. Ise White is a stylist for fashion shoots, and Stephanie Markham has worked as a photo editor at major magazines and is the director of the Fovea Gallery in Beacon, NY.
I saw phase one of the process as the heavy lifting, churning quickly through a lot of work, trying to whittle my "maybe" pool of photos into a solid selection. At $50 an hour, I couldn't afford leisurely philosophical chats about specific pictures; I needed a simple “yes” or “no” on as many pictures from as many consultants as possible.I met first with Alexia at the New York Public Library. We looked through my shots on Flickr, a pool that ranged over the weeks from 275 to 390 pictures. I put
Alexia's initials below the photos she liked—my landscapes, mostly. In the end, she wound up initialing a total of forty shots. My second meeting was with Roark Dunn at his apartment in TriBeCa. We did a quick run-through of my work, but the most interesting development came at the end, when he casually suggested I pitch an article about my Craig’s List project to Resource. Good idea!
The third meeting was with “Jane,” the magazine editor. We met at an obscure café in mid-town called Starbucks. I loved that place and intend to go back. Jane was the first current photo editor at a major news publication I met with. I was nervous and half expected her to walk in carrying a sword. To my surprise, she was the most enthusiastic of the people I'd met with until that point. It was nice to hear a pro say good things about my work, but it also brought to mind Woody Allen's saying of not wanting to belong to any club that would admit him as a member. I considered asking Jane if she could make some disparaging comments about my work or my personality to make me feel better, but decided against it. Jane deemed ninety-one of my images to be web-worthy.The fourth meeting was with my friend Ise at her apartment in the far reaches of the East Village. Ise selected forty shots she liked. As she looked over my work, Ise was the first person to hint at technical advice. She said I needed to focus more on the key elements within the photograph. I filed this advice in a reptilian corner of my mind, to ruminate on later.Next up was Lizzie Fischbein, the agent. We met at a café in SoHo before work, and she picked fifty-four shots. Lizzie took up Ise's train of thought on my technique but was more specific: stop shooting so much wide-angle. I have a 14-24 mm lens, and for the most part it's all I shoot with. It sounded like a good tip, but I was resistant. I like wide-angle photography because if you want a tighter focus on a subject, you can just move closer, or crop. I find that, especially in a city where quarters can be cramped, 50 to 70 mm lenses often let you tell only part of a story. Ise and Lizzie must have been on to something though, because Jane subsequently made the same comment after looking at more of my work. I guess it’s time to dust off the 50 mm lens.
The next meeting was with Jordan Schaps. “I’ll be the guy with the neck-brace,” he said over the phone. We met in a café in the West Village. Jordan was the most hesitant to judge single shots individually. He humored me though, and we got through a portion of the pool and agreed to meet again. He asked me to group the photos so the sequencing made some sense aesthetically. His reservations about the single-shot evaluation made me question my methodology. If I were to do these meetings over, I would group my work prior to showing it, perhaps alternating a dozen color shots with a dozen black and whites. I think it would help keep the viewers engaged and more closely mirror the way they look at work every day. Jordan and I met again a week later, and in the end he was the most enthusiastic about my pictures. He selected roughly ninety shots, about the same number as Jane, but after seeing only two-thirds of the pool.The last judge was my friend Stephanie Markham. We didn't have time to meet, but she went through my pool online and chose sixteen shots. After everyone's vote, I broke the pictures into sets for each reviewer (i.e. the Ise set and the Jordan set) and by the number of votes they received. There were six photos that five people liked, twenty-eight photos that four people liked, forty- seven photos that three people liked, and ninety-three photos that two reviewers liked. Based on everyone's feedback and a few executive calls, I've narrowed the pool down to a hundred images, forty-five to sixty of which will appear on my site.
One of the benefits of this exercise is that I'm more confident in judging my work, because I've seen how disparate peoples' tastes are. The chances are that if I love a shot, at least a few potential clients will like it too. I do wonder what kind of impact these meetings will have on my growth as a photographer. There is no guarantee that any of this will lead, directly or indirectly, to a break. My gut tells me that these meetings may lead to more work, but will not directly result in a big break. Which is fine, because my goal was to get a website up, and I'm confident that it will happen. Stay tuned.
Words by Molly Marie Griffin I Photos by Simon BiswasFor Simon Biswas, the seed for his current project was planted on the last day of a lighting workshop in 2008. “What if I just took one softbox and photographed someone on black?” he remembers thinking.Biswas credits a perfect storm of influences behind his “On Black” series: the workshop led by Gregory Heisler where Biswas orchestrated elaborately lit portraits; a series of deliberate, methodical portraits by his mentor Mark McCarty; the high-maintenance, high-stakes New York photography scene. From all of these carefully calculated demands came the reactionary desire to make the most of just one light and ten minutes.
Simplicity and spontaneity are crucial in capturing these raw, honest portraits. Biswas usually shoots each session in less than half an hour, before either party gets too comfortable. The end result is intimacy extracted from awkwardness, veracity that is impossible to script. “I’ve tried to plan them, I’ve tried to cast them. It just doesn’t have the same ferocity,” he says.Biswas shot the first image in the series, a portrait of his godmother, on his way home from Heisler’s workshop. Since then, the series has shifted away from his personal sphere to include mostly peripheral acquaintances and strangers. “I’ve had a lot of weird experiences on the subway,” he laughs of his continuous search for subjects. The hope of a possible ”Yes” among the usual odd looks is enough to fuel him onwards?so much so that he spent the summer driving cross-country in search of fresh, weathered faces.
“I love crossing the generational divide. It’s such an interesting conversation to have,” he says of his mature subjects. “You're part of history. You're part of the communal narrative.”
Words and Photos by
Simon BiswasDay 1 - Jan 16th 2010It has been a grueling forty-eight hours but I made it. I am at a little hotel in Santo Domingo with a bunch of French journalists. I flew in this morning. My flight was at 6:00am, but it was delayed until about 10:30am. As a result I missed meeting up the other photographers from New York who I had been in contact with back home. I was left to figure out my own way in. I am totally exhausted and terrified and have an overwhelming sense of dread. There is a wedding going on downstairs by the pool. It’s a strange juxtaposition because in less than twenty-four hours I am going to be in downtown Port Au Prince. It was the same at JFK. People on my plane were all dressed for a tropical vacation while just a spitting distance away thousands of people are dead. I guess life goes on. The airport in the Dominican Republic was Hell... I just showed up without knowing anyone and hoped someone would let me tag along. It took me four tries but it worked. Channel One News out of New York got me through customs and then everyone afterward blew me off as a liability. I waited around until I met a group of French journalists who were looking to hire a car to go across the border; they were more than happy to have me. I am meeting everyone for dinner in about half an hour. There are all sorts of weird tropical bugs in my room and for the first time all day I have cell phone service. We leave for the border at 4:00am.
Day 2 - Jan 17th 2010We made it. I am sitting in the garden of the French Ambassador’s Residence in Port Au Prince. The actual residence has collapsed. I somehow managed to get in with two of the French journalists, Coco and Lela. They told the guards I was their American assistant. The residence is home to over a thousand aid and relief workers and is a high tech tent city of its own. There are clean water, food, chemical toilets, showers, and the engineers are working on setting up satellites for Internet and communications.We woke up at 3:30am and had our driver pick us up from the hotel. From there we drove for about ten hours into downtown Port Au Prince. The drive was long and the closer we got to Haiti, the more tense I became. The border at Jamina was the most chaotic and stressful part. Nothing but military and barbed wire. There were journalists everywhere. Hundreds of refugees and aid workers coming and going. We drove past a truck full of refugees and nuns. All the nuns were wearing crosses around their necks and gas masks on their faces. People had warned me there were bandits waiting at the border hijacking aid convoys. Guns and drug traffic are a recurring problem even during the best of times. Once we crossed over I realized there was no turning back. We got over the border with no problem. No one even checked our passports or paperwork. The real question is, how am I going to get back? I never really took the time to think that far ahead.
I now know what the end of the world looks like. Downtown PaP is the most horrendous thing I have ever seen. There are no words to describe the destruction. The chaos is so great I can’t really comprehend what is around me. A camera is not enough to tell the
story. I watched people pull bodies from buildings and leave them in the streets. Every building has collapsed—it’s as if the city has been hit by an atomic bomb. There is no electricity, no water, no food. The smell is overwhelming. People burn garbage in the streets along with bodies. There is an acrid stench of death that fills the air. Everyone is wearing masks around their faces, but the smell is so overpowering it makes no difference. There are dead bodies everywhere. Sometimes you can’t see them but, as you walk past a building, you can smell death and you know people are still inside. We were mobbed by people asking for help and supplies. I could do nothing.
Day 3 - Jan 18th 2010I woke up to the sound of roosters at dawn. Coco, Lela and I found the Villa Créole Hotel by accident. What a fortunate chain of events. The hotel itself has more or less collapsed, but they are still renting out rooms to journalists. We arrived and there was hot coffee and free continental breakfast. They also have electricity and Internet, and the best part is that the place is teeming with journalists who speak English. For the past thirty-six hours or so I have been with French people, saying little and understanding less.
The hotel staff takes the time to clean the pool every morning. People are trying to hold onto their sense of purpose and routine, but to me it’s just baffling. The entire hotel has collapsed but some guy is cleaning the pool? Really? I spent the morning talking to people and gathering information. I shot at the University General Hospital during the afternoon. From what I understand, it’s the only hospital left standing. The situation is grim. The doctors there are calling it “civil war surgery.” They had 150 amputations yesterday and another 150 today, and most likely the same amount tomorrow. I have never seen such a gruesome, sad sight. So many people with nowhere to go. The doctors are completely understaffed and under-equipped. Amputees are getting Tylenol for their pain. I lost Lela and Coco in the chaos. There were thousands of people waiting for anything. The resilience of these people is incredible. One doctor told me the reason the Haitians are still alive is because of their cultural conditioning. They are used to such harsh conditions that they have the ability to endure. He said if this happened in New York, everyone would be dead in three days.I made it back to the Villa Créole this evening with some aid workers in the back of a truck. I was told never to go out after dark. This was the first time seeing the city at night. People are everywhere and the streets are pitch black except for headlights and bonfires. When I made it back Lela was already sitting by the pool, working. She handed me a beer and a cigarette and I sat down in a daze. We had walked through the gates of Hell. I’m numb. No emotions I have experienced up until this point in my life can compare. I am happy to be safe, but dreading tomorrow. I just heard gun shots a hundred feet away beyond the hotel wall.
Day 4 - Jan 19th 2010I didn’t get much sleep last night. We never made it back to the French Ambassador’s Residence. I slept under a tree in a little courtyard area within the hotel compound with nothing but a sheet. I spent the day on the back of a motorcycle with Lela. By far the
most dangerous possible thing one can do in Haiti, but also one of the most fun. For the first time in four days I had a smile on my face. No helmets, darting in and out of traffic at sixty miles an hour, going the wrong way into oncoming traffic. There is really no other way to get around town since all the streets are destroyed and traffic is too heavy. Here I could be killed by falling buildings, disease, gun shot, among a slew of many other things, so does it really make a difference if I ride on a motorcycle?“Today we enjoy because tomorrow we could die.” Jimmy, a Dominican aid workerI spent the day at the airport talking to the military about the aid effort. We just walked right out onto the tarmac with zero hassle. There are no rules here. No security. It seems as if reality has been suspended. The airport is totally destroyed. It was a ghost town.There was no one. Rooms full of luggage. Things scattered everywhere. Paperwork strewn about. I was free to do as I pleased. To get out onto the tarmac we had to crawl through the space on the luggage belt where the ground crew puts the bags on the carousel. The other side was a totally different story. The tarmac was frenzied with helicopters, planes, aid and military. We interviewed some people and left. Lela had a deadline to meet. It looked like rain. Rain is bad news. With all the destroyed rubble and dead bodies rain means disease. A doctor told me there would be different stages to a disaster. The first is the initial trauma and injuries directly inflicted by the earthquake. The second is infection, and the third is disease. If it rains, all the rotting bodies and filth will seep into the water and disease will spread like wildfire. Diseases the western world hasn’t seen in centuries. Cholera, being number one, could kill thousands of more people.
We made it back to the Villa Créole and I spent the afternoon drinking beers on AP's tab. I wanted to go out on my own and work but I knew it was not a smart idea. Lela had to finish her story, so I waited, frustrated. “Patience and fluidity,” the two things I keep telling myself everyday. Nothing here can be planned. Nothing can be anticipated. There has been a lot of waiting so far. Today I realized that I won't make it here two weeks like I had originally planned. Mentally it might destroy me. But financially I just didn't bring enough money with me. There are no banks and the Haitians know we are dependent on them to be guides, fixers, and translators. I'll be lucky if I make it through the weekend. We are heading back to what I am now calling my other home, the French Embassy. It's getting dark.
Day 5 - Jan 20th 2010The earth moved under me as if it were Jell-O. I woke up at dawn to the rolling of thunder and the ground beneath me rippling like water. When I came to I was standing outside my tent in a daze with a thousand French aid workers and volunteers looking completely stunned. Without anyone having to say anything, the very core of me knew that was another huge earthquake. We found out later that there was a 6.1 aftershock. Everyone has stories of where they were when it happened. A friend of mine was at the La Plaza Hotel where CNN is satying and said all of CNN was running around in their underwear. One foreign correspondent fell two stories off his balcony and hit his head on the concrete. People found him laying in a pool of blood. Lela and Coco wanted to go to the epicenter of the second earthquake in Boucan, but decided not to when their driver said it was four hours away and would cost at least $500. I was pleased—I didn’t
want to go on another crazy mission deeper into Haiti when we had more than we could handle right here. We all decided to go back to the Villa Créole where I met up with Adam, another photographer from New York. He was one of the original people I was supposed to meet at the airport in the DR. We linked up and I split off from the Frenchies for a bit and headed out around town for the day. We went to the Hotel Montana, back to the hospital, downtown, to an orphanage in Petionville, and then back to the Villa Créole. It’s been a long day and my ass hurts from spending it on a motorcycle. Military presence has definitely increased. Today was the first day I’d seen Hummers and convoys of soldiers around PaP. Earlier in the week there were scatterings of UN Military Police and that was it. The hospital is now locked down tight. We spent half an hour talking our way in. As a result of this morning’s earthquake, all the patients had to be moved outside. It was chaos. There were people everywhere just baking in the sun. It had to be close to eight-five degrees and there was no protection from the sun in the hospital courtyard. People were covering themselves with pieces of cardboard to have some sort of shade while others just endured. The military has started setting up medical tents and moving people there. The Hotel Montana is equally a mess and there is a list of missing persons who have yet to be found, including several Americans. There are search and rescue teams camped out around the rubble working around the clock. I doubt they will find anyone alive. The orphanage was a bust. Adam and I spent an hour or so off-roading to meet up with his friends from CNN only to find we were in their way. We left. I was surprised to find out that all the children spoke perfect English.Adam went back to hospital to spend the night and help deliver babies. Lela and Coco went back to the French Embassy, and I just had my first shower in five days. It was ice cold, but it was incredible. Some private contractors running security for the press let me use the shower in their hotel room. They said I looked three shades lighter when I came out. I am going to spend the night here. No need to travel after dark. I am sitting by the pool writing this, listening to all the journalists run around and the now familiar sound of gun shots. Everyone is worried about civil unrest and violence. A Brazilian journalist who lives here told me that now that the shock was over, people were going back to regular Haiti, which is an unforgiving place. Adam is talking about trying to fly out tomorrow. Sounds like a good idea. I’ve only been here five days but it’s time to go.
Day 6 - Jan 21st 2010I am finishing a margarita at Chili’s Too in the Fort Lauderdale Airport. I feel like a zombie, like I’m floating in a dream. Nothing makes sense. How did I get here? I woke up this morning at the Villa Créole after another terrible night’s sleep. I spent most of the morning with a bunch of ex-military guys, listening to their stories of Sable rounds and ethnic cleansing. One of them said Haiti was like a vacation in comparison to his tours in places like Serbia. I believed him. I waited till Adam showed up. He had had a long night at the hospital. He told me a volunteer there had a nervous breakdown. She just snapped. She screamed through the night and no one could calm her down. This place was too much for her. She was with a group of Scientologists. What is going to happen to her? They don't believe in mental health.
The plan was to head for the airport. Adam was packed and I followed his lead. There was no need for me to stay any longer. I was low on cash and I had seen all I needed to see. It was all the same no matter where you went. Collapsed buildings, dead bodies, people suffering... I had had enough. I said goodbye to my new ex-military friends and headed to pick up my stuff at the French embassy and wish Lela and Coco farewell. By now, the US military had taken control of the airport and only let people with passports in. We waited in line. No one spoke English and the woman directing into the megaphone spoke no Creole. No one had any idea what was going on. Everyone wanted to leave. I saw one woman with a child. The baby had a US passport but she did not. The federal agent said, “This baby is good to go, we’ll take her but you have to get out of the line.” We finally made it and asked her the best way to get out onto the tarmac. She said, “As fast as you can. Hold your passport up, keep your head down, and go.” That’s exactly what we did. There was a tiny charter jet out on the tarmac with its stairs down—that was our ticket out of here. We walked straight up to the plane and asked the captain if there was room for two more. He asked us if we had US passports. We did. He let us on. I didn’t believe it. It couldn’t be that easy—but it was. I didn’t even think of asking where the plane was going until we were on. In ninety minutes we were in Miami. I wanted to weep. The plane was a millionaire’s private jet that he lent to take people back and forth between the US and Haiti. The pilot told us they had done thirty- five flights in the past week. We landed, got out, and, just as quickly as it had happened, it was all over and I was on my way home.I can't describe what happened over the course of that week. These are just the facts. I felt helpless from start to finish. I could have helped but chose not to. I was there to take photographs. I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t even know why I was there. The decision to go was made in a split second. One moment I thought, “What if...” and the next I was on a plane. Now that I’m home I feel like I never even went. I was on autopilot through the whole experience. I was there but not there at all. I didn’t take those pictures. Some other part of me did.
I never once thought about the ethical concerns of story telling or journalistic integrity or the fine line between voyeurism and documenting. It was only after I got back to the US that those concepts played a factor. There was no right or wrong or “How should I cover this?” There was a city that had been destroyed and everywhere you turned there was something to photograph. I didn’t have an agenda. I didn’t have an assignment. My mission was to take photographs. Whatever they may be—good, bad, horrible, or otherwise. This was real. This was around me. Why shy away from the truth?People ask me, “How was Haiti?” and I don’t know how to answer.
Steadicam SOLO[/caption] [post_title] => Another Award-Winning Year for The Tiffen Company [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => another-award-winning-year-tiffen-company [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2013-12-21 11:18:37 [post_modified_gmt] => 2013-12-21 16:18:37 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://resourcemagonline.com/?p=34763 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )[13] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 34522 [post_author] => 5132 [post_date] => 2013-12-20 18:00:31 [post_date_gmt] => 2013-12-20 23:00:31 [post_content] =>Jordan Lloyd, an image specialist at Dynamichrome, breathes life into black and white photos, bringing color to the past and making these moments seem as if they happened yesterday. Dynamichrome restores black and white images with the goal of trying to bridge "the gap between what we see and what the original photographer would have been looking at through the viewfinder of their camera." Although the process is tedious, the outcome is amazing. Jordan Lloyd took some time out of his busy schedule to talk with Resource about the colourisation process, telling us how he creates magic from images of the past.
Feature Image: "Yellow Girl" Colourisation from a black and white negative nitrate, courtesy of the Library of Congress December 1935, New Mexico, USA by Dorothea Lange
How did Dynamichrome come about?
Dynamichrome is part business, part personal lifestyle experiment. A few things happened and the opportunity arose, so I took it and now I'm seeing where it leads.
"The Smoking Kid"
Colourisation from a black and white photo, courtesy of Shorpy.com July 1938, Baltimore USA by John Vachon
My background is in architecture, and before Dynamichrome I was half way through a PhD in architecture which is currently on hold. My research was looking at what architects were doing if they didn't actually enter the profession and the kind of projects, strategies and skills they employ on the edge, or outside architecture. The thing about architectural education is that it is very comprehensive, and specialisms are really self driven when you can find time to delve into it. At the time, I was doing some teaching work which ended due to budget cuts, and I decided instead of teaching architecture, I would take all of that energy and put it into getting much better at programmes I was strong at - I picked Adobe Photoshop. Around the same time, I was looking at some of the stuff by Sanna Dullaway and other colourisers on Reddit, when my stepfather asked me to repair a family photo that had been badly sun bleached and it turned out the only way to fix it was through colourisation. So I got into it, and was fortunate to make the front page of Reddit, and my friends and family started taking notice. I was also reading Cal Newport's 'So Good They Can't Ignore You' and that was a huge inspiration to follow the opportunity as it presented itself. His general thrust is that following your passion is bad advice and to instead cultivate a passion by becoming very good at something that can generate career capital with a craftsman's mindset. I agree with the approach and just decided to be very good at one thing, contrary to my architectural training. It's a good situation to be in because I've seen how successful being good at one thing can be used to generate career capital - the reputation and revenue I generate is partly being used to fund some other design projects I'd never get the green light for.
"Native American Mother & Child"
Colourisation from a black and white photo c. 1930, America by Leslie Jones, owned by the Boston Public Library
What does the colourisation process entail?
Well it's not really about getting the crayons out like some people believe. To do it seriously requires a lot of research, which is where I'm very pleased my previous training in architecture kicks in. The process itself is quite straightforward: colourisation is essentially adding colour digitally, like painting, to a monochrome plate. The illusion of realism is dependent on how many layers you choose to put in, and your awareness of colour physics, so you can perceive how light affects colour. Before that comes all the research which needs to be absolutely meticulous, and then in about 90% of cases some form of restoration is involved: blemish removal, scratch removal, reconstruction, tonal corrections and so forth all need to be considered. Once the colour is added, then depending on the colouriser, some form of post processing happens. I have a process that uses Lab colour space, Camera RAW and a couple of other little bits.
"Old Gold" Colourisation from a black and white nitrate negative, courtesy of the Library of Congress
July 1939, Gordonton, North Carolina, USA by Dorothea Lange
Why do you think colorizing an image makes it seem more real to people?
Quite simply, it's because we perceive the world in colour - even people with colour blindness see the world in black and white. The perception of reality is highly visual, which of course is determined by colour. I can see the appeal, as for many people seeing black and white images in colour makes it more visceral and relatable. The thing to note is that a colourisation is an interpretation of the original black and white image, not a substitute for it.
"The Sphinx" Colourisation from a black and white photograph January 28th 1961, Cairo, Egypt, photographer unknown, AP Press
Is it generally hard to research the images you colorize? What do you do if you can’t figure out what color something was?
This is highly dependent on the image. That being said, I am absolutely methodical in my research - it's a case of following the rabbit hole and see where it takes you. I go the extra step every time and I will email specialists in every conceivable field in order to get an accurate colour reference. Case in point, I emailed a specialist museum on the Three Stooges to obtain a particular costume from a particular episode. Garment historians, soda retailers, gas station sign enthusiasts, civil war historians, auction sites - all of these represent the kind of organisations I'll get in contact with. Research has one major function in the craft of colourisation which is to eliminate the guesswork. Sometimes however this isn't possible, so I switch to greyscale tones and how they are relative to each other based on some known colour references; for example, an American flag. I then combine this with something that was of the same era, so it's authentic, but I'd never guarantee 100% accuracy.
"Japanese Archers c.1860" Colourisation from a black and white photo c.1860-1900, Japan, photographer unknown
Are some images harder to colorize than others? For example I’d imagine the image of Martin Luther King Jr. standing in front of a huge crowd would be more difficult than the image of one man in overalls.
Patience is a colourisers biggest virtue. The visual complexity of an image adds to the time, but not necessarily the cognitive strain, though it's tricky to make all the elements to work together convincingly. Crowd shots outdoors are indeed very difficult to do correctly. The March on Washington took... a while. Any indoor shot with lots of branding (like a general store for example) is *very* difficult to do well.
"The March on Washington" Colourisation from a black and white 35mm Film Negative, courtesy of the Library of Congress August 28th 1963, Washington D.C USA by Warren K. Leffler
What's in the future for Dynamichrome?
There's a few avenues worth exploring. My background with architectural visualisation is a complimentary fit and that work is picking up. Where I think it will get interesting is when the two can come together, like in serious reconstructions of images. We're looking into getting into historical architectural visualisations for things like castles or other ruined or unbuilt projects. We'd like to do more work with museums, collections and press archives too, where I think Dynamichrome's work would be of most benefit.
Arkansas Sharecropper Summer 1936, Hill House, Mississippi, USA Colourisation from a black and white negative nitrate by Dorothea Lange, courtesy of the Library of Congress
[post_title] => Dynamichrome: Bringing Color to the Past [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => dynamichrome-bringing-color-past [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2013-12-21 17:07:20 [post_modified_gmt] => 2013-12-21 22:07:20 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://resourcemagonline.com/?p=34522 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 2 [filter] => raw )[14] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 34689 [post_author] => 5132 [post_date] => 2013-12-20 12:00:56 [post_date_gmt] => 2013-12-20 17:00:56 [post_content] => There’s not a lot that can be finished in three minutes. You can brush your teeth, tie your shoes, maybe even toast some bread, but photograph Al Pacino in three minuets? It doesn’t seem possible.Photographer Victoria Will did just that. The celebrity photographer had only three minutes to get a shot of Al Pacino – no second chances – and she nailed it. Not only did she have to shoot an acting legend in only 180 seconds, she was never told any of the details. ‘They don’t tell me what kind of room we’ll shoot in, what clothes the subject will wear or how much time we’ll have. Well, they say ten minutes. They always say ten minutes. But you never get it. It’s like a final exam every single time.”Her trick was to show up early, hours before she had to be there, to check out the location. The Al Pacino shoot ended up being in an ornate penthouse in a luxurious hotel. “This was a bit of a problem,” Will said. “I wasn’t shooting Louis XIV. I was shooting Al Pacino. You don’t put Al Pacino against a floral fabric.”
She quickly removed any unwanted furniture or fabrics, putting up a seamless black backdrop. Next, she unpacked her two D1 monolights, and mounted a gridded Softlight Relector White, and a gridded Softbox RFi 1x4 on both.Commenting on the DI, Victoria said, it’s “just perfect for me. First of all, it’s portable and light. I’m not a big guy. I need a compact kit that I can carry on my own.” She also enjoys how straightforward and intuitive it is, saying that “it feels almost like an extension of my arm.” The Air Remote is another positive for the D1 because it gets rid of tangled cords piling up on the floor, while also allowing her to build different sets on the same location and switch between these sets with the press of a button.Back to Al Pacino – once he got there, Victoria could tell that he wasn’t in the mood to be photographed. Sensing his thin patience, Will told him “that if he would just give me three minutes of his undivided attention, that would be it.” That got Pachino’s attention right away. After only three minutes of shooting, Victoria was finished. [post_title] => Victoria Will and her Three Minutes to Photograph Al Pacino [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => victoria-will-three-minutes-photograph-al-pachino [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2014-01-09 22:36:31 [post_modified_gmt] => 2014-01-10 03:36:31 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://resourcemagonline.com/?p=34689 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )) 
