Week #3: Marisa Howenstine, Photographer

Mythology Meets Marble and a Parachute Dress

One day while trolling through the section of Robertson Boulevard that's equally known for its celebrity sightings and overly-hyped stores and restaurants (The Ivy – one word: UGH!), I visited the only boutique that's worth a dime – AllSaints Spitalfields, based out of London. My heart stopped upon finding the most stunning dress draped on a mannequin. Appropriately named "The Parachute Dress," it was made from a bazillion yards of fabric and was literally the Rubik's Cube of dresses to put on with all its strings and knots to adjust. And yet I knew I had to make a photograph of it, despite needing two assistants to fit the dress on my model during shoot day.

What I loved about the dress was its clever contemporary nod to an ancient toga. I had concepts running through my head of creating a modern-day mythological character wearing the dress. I thought about various tragic characters – both fictional and historical – and recalled the Biblical character from the Sodom and Gomorrah story, who turned into a pillar of salt upon looking back at her corrupt city burning to the ground. Instead of salt, why not create a character turning into marble?

My incredibly talented scenic painter, Malcom Moorman, was up for the challenge of marbleizing an entire white set with a slew of various paints and tints. Coupled with his equally talented assistant, Michael Hopkins, the two spent over three days marbleizing the background, flooring, and columns. It was truly a work of art to witness, and when Malcom finished marbleizing my model's arms, I was blown away by the beauty of it all.

There's always that moment where you know your crew has done their damnedest to deliver, and I felt a lot of pressure to ensure that my image paralleled the perfection of my "Heart of Stone" set. I spent several hours with my assistants to get the lighting just right. I wanted it to mimic the feel of being in a museum, and my model had to look as close to a statue as possible, to fit in with the concept.

This image is quite subjective in its meaning – is the model at peace with her fate, or not? I love leaving my work open-ended and encouraging my viewers to create their own interpretations.

Tiny Vices

tinyvices is an online gallery and image archive founded by Tim Barber in the spring of 2005. About Tim Barber: Tim Barber grew up in Amherst Massachusetts, lived for a few years in the mountains of Northern Vermont, studied photography in Vancouver B.C. and now lives in New York City. A photographer, curator and designer, Barber runs the online gallery tinyvices, where visitors are encouraged to submit their photographs and artwork.  


Thanks to Damon for sending in this site! 

American Society of Picture Professionals

Today's presentation by Ellen Herbert of the American Society of Picture Professionals. Click here to view.
A big thanks to Ellen for visiting our class!

John Casey Harris Week 1

These are a few illustrations I did for the end credits of a short film I art directed. The idea was to give a sort of epilogue to the fairy tales featured in the video; specifically, how the divergences from the traditional stories effected the characters futures.

Week 2 - JP Agustin

The hottest test shoot I did last weekend (temperature wise). it was a whoppin 112 degrees in Simi Valley. I had to work in high ass afternoon light for a location lighting course. I also wanted to experiment with this situation just in case I have to shoot in this bullshit lighting in the future for a job. Anyhow I always wanted to shoot at a pool so my buddy hooked it up and we shot 11 swimsuit looks. Coming into the shoot, I wanted to go for a soft, natural, and comfortable vibe, but I got bored with that and ended up having the models get all posey and glamorous. Overall it was a decent shoot. Next time I shoot on-location I'm going to wear a sweatband to keep sweat dripping down my eye and stinging the crap out of me.

-jp-

Week#2 Robert S. Evans III

These images are part of a series that I took of my friend Sean. I studied Sean over a period of about two months. Trying to create an look and feel that was going in the direction of his music. Currently Sean is the lead guitar in a thrash metal band that is residing in Lancaster, Ca. So we choose 3-4 different abandon sites out in the Antelope Valley. The project was a lot of fun.

Week 2 Damon Casarez

Tomo

Garret

These are my 3 picks for Fashion class with Paul Jasmin. I really enjoyed shooting the models. I was a little bit nervous before class because I've never really shot people like this before but it was a great learning experience. It was nice to just think on my feet and work with a model who knew how to pose and what angles worked best for them . Me and my friend teamed up to shoot a male and female model off campus for 2 hours and ended up only getting Garret, which ended up turning out pretty good I think. I'm not sure how I feel about these images yet, I'd like to get some feedback!

Karla Week #2

This is the first photograph from my venture into food photography. I'm taking Pornchai's food class this term and our first assignment was to photograph tomatos. I've photographed people from the beginning of my time at Art Center so the prospect of photographing a still object was exciting, new and intimidating. Frankly, The idea that I didn't have to hire a makeup artist, hair stylist, clothing stylist or cast a model nearly sent me into a panic. I can honestly say that I'm pleased with the outcome so far and I'm excited to see where food photography might take me.

Week #2

Musing

By Valeria Podoynitsyna

I spent 3 months photographing Jos here. He became a sort of muse of mine. I started shooting primarily at night around this time and he agreed to go exploring the Los Angeles night time playground with me. He packed his suitcase with clothes and we drove around in the wee hours of the morning discovering new and unique environments to shoot in. This is a couple of images from that series. Enjoy!

Week #2: Cha-Rie designs a mural

It's an honor to have a city trust you enough to design a public mural. It's also gratifying to be able to connect with the citizens and get positive feedback.  This Saturday September 25, 2010 the City of Mission Viejo is hosting a Readers' Festival 10:00am to 5:00pm at the Oso Viejo Park at 24932 Veterans Way, Mission Viejo. cityofmissionviejo.org‎ 

My designs in vector format lines are transferred to film and silk screened onto 8"x8" tiles with a tar like black resist material.  The public is invited to glaze between the lines with custom formulated glaze colors we put in squeeze bottles. We have young children, teenagers, adults, and retirees all chip in to create a lasting memento which will stand in the park. My 2 previous murals are already installed.

 

Readers' Festival 2010 mural design

Art Alive 2010 mural

Prelude in the Park 2009 mural

Week 1 | Robert Pastrana | Illustrator

I was commissioned to do this illustration about

Generation X a while back for the University of 

Redlands. At first glance it may convey some of the bad luck associated with being a Gen-Xer - the prevalent gun violence and the scarcity of employment as compared to previous generations (especially those darn Baby Boomers) are clear evidence of the negative societal traits that those born between 1961 and 1981 inherited. What about that looming number 13? More bad luck? Only if you're superstitious. Gen-Xers are the thirteenth generation for those that start counting from 1776.

Expect some positive contributions from this group. As the first generation to be raised in the Post-Modern era, they have a much easier time living in diverse cultural conditions. They are much more comfortable with race, class and sexual orientation differences than any previous group. To paraphrase Rodney King - they know how to "get along". A worthy trait to pass on to the following generations.

Week #2: Marisa Howenstine, Photographer

Props to My Latest Prop!

I'm constantly amazed over my finds as a prop stylist for my photo shoots. I've had several images revolve around fascinating prop discoveries – animal x-rays, for one – and my latest photo shoot, "The Lovers," is a testament to that.

Perusing through a novelty shop in Silverlake a couple months ago, I came across a chastity belt. Not just any medieval-looking chastity belt, but a contemporary take on one. This chastity belt was made out of pink leather and had silver heart locks on it! Who comes up with this stuff?!?! I had no choice but to buy it – and to create a photo inspired by it!

For imagery ideas, I immediately went to my recent project of interpreting tarot cards (see Week #1 post). While sifting through a tarot card deck, I found "The Lovers" card and knew I had my photograph. After I created the concept, the search began to find find a locksmith who had over 50 keys that matched the original set of chastity belt keys. Imagine the looks I got when explaining why I needed such an exorbitant amount of keys for a chastity belt with heart locks!

My only regret over this photo is that while designing the set, I slipped up on its measurements. I ended up creating a set that could only be framed as a square instead of a rectangle. Because this image doesn't match the shape of my other tarot card photograph, I can't use it as part of my tarot card deck. So I still have 79 more tarot card photos to go!

Week #1 Robert S. Evans III

This series of images is a start of an resent obsession with mannequins and food. I have always love food whether it has been enjoying the different aromas and flavors that dazzle my taste buds from my favorite dishes, or ones I have yet to discover.

However this recent urge to use mannequin hands in my work was stumbled upon one day rummaging threw the prop room at Art Center trying to bring some edge to a food still life I was working on. I asked myself mannequin hands and food. But these 4 images are my first attempt at this meshing of this elements and so far I'm liking the results.

A Copy of a Copy of a Cpoy

In 1979 Sherrie Levine photographed the iconic photographs of families during the depression by Walker Evans and then hung her photographs of his photographs in a gallery show. In 2001 Michael Mandiberg scanned those images and made them available on the site AfterSherrieLevine to download; each download came with a certificate of authenticity which you could sign.


"This is an explicit strategy to create a physical object with cultural value, but little or no economic value. "


When does a photograph lose its value? And how do you protect your work, not just from reproduction but from someone taking your image and recreating it and calling it their own?

a copy of a copy

A certificate of Authenticity of a Copy of a Copy

Alberto Migelo / Illustrator

Alberto Mielgo is a freelance animator who's clients range from Playstation to Disney to Saacthi +Saatchi to the Beatles Rockband. He works in oils and acrylics; his style is realistic with a painterly feel that is lush and rich in depth. Imagine this style as a photograph.Also check out his animation work is astounding.

Animations

Artwork

Blog

© Alberto Migelo

Week #2: Turning the Page

Kid's E-Books Take the APP

"Earlier this week, Bertelsmann AG's Random House Inc. partnered with Smashing Ideas Inc., a digital agency based in Seattle that has previously developed games and websites for a variety of clients, to create book-based children's apps for mobile devices. Other publishers, too, have announced apps for children's books, including HarperCollins Publishers Inc., a unit of News Corp., which also owns The Wall Street Journal." WSJ

What does this mean for photographers? It means work. Print books are limited to one image per page, a static image that has to convey an idea; with E-Books we can now have multiple images that fly past with the flick of a finger on an iPad or other upcoming mobile devices. We can spin the image front to back, upside down, zoom in  and zoom out.

What does this mean for you? It means that you have to start thinking in a new dimension. You can pitch your work as being more than a static image; your work will no longer be just 2 dimensions. If you look back at the photographers before you, what is the difference between you and them? You have the advantage of being on the forefront of how we interact with photography. 

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”

- Marcel Proust

Now that we see a glimpse of  the future, how do we get there? 

Dell's new 10 inch tablet

Ruckus' Velveteen Rabbit on an iPhone

Vogue on the iPad

For further reading: 

Nine Important Trends in the Evolution of Digital Textbooks and E-learning Content

Vogue UK launches iPad APP

Week # 1 Valeria Podoynitsyna

Filthy Dirty Series

By: Valeria Podoynitsyna

   

This series started as a look into Los Angeles and it's night culture; The people that come out to play when most of us go home for dinner. What interested me most about this idea was the fact that Los Angeles was so intricately lit at night - it was a theater and the people that came out at night were the characters in its play. It was incredible to realize, for someone who has lived here all her life, the effect night time had on the citizens of this town. During the day, it seems these people do not have the same freedoms to express themselves. However, at night, there seems to be a different rule and so, we see the affect of the sunset. Here, we are looking at the subculture of Drag Queens in Los Angeles - their stomping ground. I followed Sissy Debut and some of her friends around town and captured what their lives consist of. Considering the fact that I was anticipating this world to be so extremely different from my own, I was pleasantly surprised. They like to joke about sex, they love to sing and dance, they drink, perform, and take care of their friends, amongst many other qualities. It was a wonderful experience to take a glimpse into their lives and I hope to continue to photograph Los Angeles and its many diverse subcultures.

Please visit my website, www.ValeriaP.com for a more in-depth look at the series and other works.

Also, Check out my flickr page for images that are not on my website :         www.flickr.com/photos/valeriasphotography

Best,

Valeria Podoynitsyna

A-List International Magazine Fall 09 Fashion Spread - "Laces on Duty"

This was my first fashion spread I did for a lifestyle magazine called A-List International. The stylist and creative director Reinaldo Irizarry wanted to incorporate boots with couture dresses for an edgy appeal. We also had the models styled with wavy up-dos and contoured makeup. We shot at Chic Little Devil Style house. We planned to shoot on a bright sunny day, but then the clouds came and was starting to drizzle. I decided to use this opportunity to go for an apocalyptic quality with the dramatic clouds in the background. I also applied a slight green cyan cast throughout the images for mood purposes. The editor ended up selecting the images that were going to be published. I did the post production and they said I went overboard on the contrast, sharpness, diffusion and color tinting so some of the images were altered. Overall it was a great and fun shoot and can't wait to do more projects like this. Too bad A-List stopped printing that month. It would have been nice to have a front cover in my book.

To see the rest of the spread: http://issuu.com/alistinternational/docs/alist_nov_lacesonduty

JP Agustin - photographer
www.jariq.com