The Weekly Edit – Zach Gross: The New Yorker

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The New Yorker

Photo Director: Whitney Johnson
Photo Editor: Jessie Wender
Photographer: Zach Gross

When did you start shooting and what process and direction did it take?
I started photography when I was 15. I was very into abstractions of all kinds and experimenting with alternative photographic processes without using the camera, I would make my own negatives out of plastic and other transparent materials using ink and paint. I also shot landscapes and some portraits.

What sort of cues surfaced alerting you to your gifted eye / talent for taking photos at such a young age?
I simply wasn’t into the regular school format, I didn’t understand a lot of it. I felt a huge relief with the white sheets of photo paper I could fill them with anything and explore things in a very open way, it felt hopeful. Teachers started wanting to buy prints, so that got me thinking.

I see you have a love for B&W, what and who were you influences?
I would say Man Ray was a big influence, his work and ideas really clicked with me early on. I love B & W there is simplicity and timelessness to it.

I understand the New Yorker gives you quite a bit of freedom, what sort of process do you develop with them to earn that? Congratulations.
I met with the photo editors a few times over a couple years before receiving assignments, They wanted me to answer key questions about my direction and what types of people I wanted to photograph. They helped me understand my work better. They have a really wonderful understanding of photography. They were/are influential to me.

Clearly you are connecting with your subjects. How are you developing that connection and typically how much time do you spend with them?
I think people are interesting. I like to understand and know them… and I want to make them look good. The average time is 2 hours… really depends on the dynamic. Could be longer could be shorter, its always different.

Do you study your subjects before hand?
Depending on the project, but I usually research what they do, what they’ve done and what they look like.

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You had this image selected as one of the 12 standout portraits for the New Yorker in 2012. What resonated with you in making this image? How did it all come together for you?
The picture of El-P was from my first assignment for the New Yorker, I felt like I had to rise to the occasion and everything just came tougher really smoothly. I think it was a turning point in my photography for more reasons than one. This picture brought together a few sub threads going on within my work. It helped me understand my work in a more mature way.

What can you share about this recent New Yorker project?
Some shoots are smoother than others.

 

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What can you tell me about the Carbonscapes?
The Carbonscapes are photograms, no camera involved. I’ve been making them ever since I started out in the darkroom 10 years ago, they evolved from Rayograms. It took me a long time to understand what they were actually about, and the explanation is still forming but, I’m interested in the very large and the very small more specifically outer space and the microscopic. I’m drawn to ideas that embrace the natural connections between those perceived separate worlds. The work is about exploring imagination and science.

The Weekly Edit – Cover Trends

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Cosmopolitan

Creative Director: Stuart Selner
Art Director: Victoria Horn
Temporary Art Director: Angela Lamb
Picture Editor: Joan McCrea
Assistant Picture Editor: Gemma Roberts
Photographer: Peter Pedonomou

 

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V Magazine

No Masthead available
Photographer: Mario Testino

 

-3Allure

Creative Director: Paul Cavaco
Design Director: Deanna Filippo
Photography: Nadine McCarthy
Photography Editor: Holly Watson
Photographer: Mario Testino

 

I thought I’d take a look at what the body language may be saying in these three covers.  It’s sorta looks like evaluation, interest and a little bit of flirt.

According to Psychology Today the parts of your face that reflect how you feel are called “display rules.”  The tiniest movements around your eyes, face and mouth are referred to as “micro expressions.” Along with expressions and rules, body language or kinesics reveal one’s emotional state.

Kinesics is the study and interpretation of non-verbal behavior related to the movement of the body and face. These movements convey many specific meanings that can be linked to personal, situational and or cultural norms.

So, what do all these hands near the face mean? and what messages do they send to potential viewers?
Here’s what I turned up:

1. Miley Cryus wants you to know she’s sexy.
When a woman caresses her lips, neck, or collarbones, she’s sending  a signal of interest.  This is commonly a subconscious way of drawing your attention to these areas, reminding the onlooker she’s sexy.

2. Is Winona Ryder evaluating her success?
Chin resting on thumb, index finger pointing up against face translates into evaluation. This is a more reliable signal of evaluation than the full hand support, the middle finger commonly rests horizontally between the chin and lower lip.

3. Is Penelope is genuinely interested?
Interested gesture is shown by a closed hand resting on the cheek, often with the index finger pointing upwards. Should the person begin to lose interest but wish to appear interested, for courtesy’s sake, the position will alter slightly so that the heel of the palm supports the head.

ESPN Technique: John Huet and David Nadeau

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Freestyle Mogul Skier – Heather McPhie – Moguls run
See ESPN animations here and the technique fully explained in this animation

JohnHuet_SkiJump-1Ski Jump – Sarah Hendrickson – Ski Jump takeoff
See ESPN animations here and the technique fully explained in this animation

ESPN

Creative Director, Print and Digital Media: John Korpics
Senior Director, Photography: Karen Frank
Senior Art Director: Chin Wang
 Associate Art Director of Digital Media: Heather Donahue
Senior Deputy Photo Editor: Nancy Weisman
Photo Editor: Nick Galac
Photographer: John Huet
Retouching: David Nadeau

How did this project for ESPN come about and how did you make it your own?
JOHN: The first Technique assignment was with figure skaters for their December issue. While I thought the magazine was doing a great job, I wanted to add an extra layer to the final image and make it a little easier to understand the athletics going on. The skaters were throwing a quad, and this team is the only one to do so in competition. Impressive. Since the athletes are spinning in the air 4 times, I wanted to avoid the 16 image sequence looking cluttered, and make a more interesting image.  I added a ghosting effect in post, to delineate complete rotations full color images were added in the sequences.

Are the lights an issue for the athletes? How fast is the camera capturing images?
The motor drive shoots 14 frames a second, however, when I do some of the shots at night, it slows down quite a bit.  The final composite is usually a collection of maybe 3 or 4 takes.

For the ski jumping shot how many remote cameras did you set up?
We have about 15 set up and we got two 4-6 second takes each shot, errors and do over’s aren’t really an option.

How do you know where to set up your remotes? Did you know how far she’d jump?
We were testing our equipment on the previous jumpers, and I assumed they’d all be about the same distance.
Then along comes this young 18 year old, unassuming girl. Takes her first run and goes twice as long, and twice as fast!

What was the most challenging of these assignments so far?
I’d say the bobsled event. I couldn’t use any flashes, only hot lights, it was at night, the athletes were all in black, in a black bobsled going over 90 miles an hour.
The low light slows everything down so I had to be certain everything was in the same position in order to get the sharpest and most accurate shot I could. Each of these events has specific needs, and I love all the problem solving that comes with it.
You can’t show up and set things up. You have to study the environment, and make choices from there.

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Figure Skating Pair – Marissa Castelli & Simon Shnapir – Quad Throw
See ESPN animations here  and the technique fully explained in this animation

Retouching: David Nadeau / Rhymes with Pixel

About how many images do you have to review before selecting the right move?
DAVID: For the skaters, John narrowed it down to about 70 shots that had the cleanest look at the quad throw, that’s not including the stage shots of the empty rink. The freestyle ski shot had 166 (I know he had a big remote set-up for that one). For the bobsled, we had about the same number. He relied heavily on multiple cameras for that one too, since the bobsledders were only able to do a few runs for him.

Do you study the sport prior to piecing these together?
I did. I believed it was important to understand exactly what happens in each event to effectively distill the action into one composed image. I did take liberty with some parts just for artistic sake. For the most part though, I did everything I could to be true to the action.
I also studied the previous technique features that ESPN had done. John and I talked a lot about really making the shots beautiful both in the action as well as the background. We wanted to make a visually interesting stage for the action that didn’t detract from what was happening. We also believed we could come up with a really interesting technique for ghosting the shots. I’m very proud of what we made up.
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2-man Bobsled – Steve Holcomb and Steve Langton – Bobsled Start
The technique is fully explained in this animation.

 

 


Which posed the biggest challenge for you?

The biggest challenge was definitely the bobsledders. Beyond the technical aspect of it being a high-speed shot of a black sled with two guys wearing all black shot at night, getting all of the shots laid out together was especially difficult. I tried for a while to get the track and sledders to be aligned in kind of an S-curve across the page. That blew up in my face. Eventually, after playing around, I came up with a bit of a fish-eye lens look. That format was able to capture all of the action while highlighting the crucial moment when the sledders enter the bobsled.

For the skater’s throwing the quad, how many images do you like to include to show a complete rotation? How did you determine what is the right amount?
I played with the sequence of the shots to see what looked right. We were very lucky that John was able to capture her facing almost exactly front, left, right and back in a couple of the throws. That allowed me to have an order to the images of her in the spin instead of a bunch of random, confusing shots. Each spin shows her facing each cardinal direction. I think that’s one of the big reasons that this shot succeeded so well. If I had just slapped a bunch of shots her together, you wouldn’t be able to follow the action. This way you have touch-points and order throughout the move. We also wanted to give a brighter highlight to one direction of her facing in each of the four spins. We believed it would give the guys at ESPN good reference points to call out parts of the action.

Figure Skating Olympic Athletes: Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir   ( see them skate here )

I understand that you two are the only team to throw a quad in competition. 
Were there any different focus tools you used to perform the move for the photo shoot that were different from competition?
Athletes: Because of the difficulty of executing throw jumps, I need to keep my focus directly on the element and not on my surroundings. Even in the competitive program, where everything is timed so carefully to the music, I need to shut out everything and zero in on my technique.

Did you find any of the lights or the equipment distracting?
Yes, there was a very specific area we had to do throw in, the rest of the rink was pretty dark, that made it hard to find my landings. When we were doing the throw there was a series of flashes and made me disorientated at times.

What are you thinking about, lets say 4 seconds or so before the move, to prepare for the jump?
Focusing on my key points for my throw, such as stay low, follow through, and over the right.

It’s not uncommon to have a photographer ask you to repeat the action, how many times did you throw the quad?
I would estimate that we did about 20 throws. But, I cannot be sure because it was so cold, I think my brain froze after 15.

What was the most challenging part of doing the shoot for you?
I would say staying warm. The rink was freezing and in between each throw I would run over and put my jacket on.

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For more of Johns work visit: official Olympics Instagram @olympics and visit his personal site here

The Weekly Edit: Who Shot it Better?

 

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Woman

Creative Director: Kari Young
Production Director: Juli Roos
Photographer: J-Squared Photography

 

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Outside

Design+ Photography Director: Hannah McCaughey
Art Director: John McCauley
Photo Editor: Amy Silverman
Photographer: Carlos Serrao

 

 

julia-mancuso-in-health-magazine-january-february-2014-issue_1Health

Creative Director: Lan Yin Bachelis
Art Director: Brant Louck
Photo Director: Jo Miller
Photo Editor: Allison Chin
Photographer: Matt Jones

The Weekly Edit – Milk : Delphine Chanet

 

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Milk

Art Director: Karel Balas
Graphic Design: Alice Lagarde, Melanie Gueret

Photographer: Delphine Chanet
Stylist: Shino Itoi

Do you do your own casting?
Absolutely, I’m obsessed with casting, what ever I’m doing I always keep an eye out, I don’t want to miss a child, I cast in the streets, my friend’s kids, everywhere….I always search for news faces.

The children are so composed, almost like paintings, how did you create that environment?
I draw my pictures before the shoot, so I know exactly what I want, what type of attitude, composition, frame, light but I also like to be surprised by the situations, the kids, and hoping for happy accidents.

What was the creative direction for this project?
My project was to create images “à la manière” of a dutch painting, searching for a certain intensity and trying too find the deepness of my models. As in dutch painting I’ve used one directional light, similar to a natural cold morning light coming from a window. With one difference to this genre: I wanted to play, to pair the picture with a bit of artificial. I did this by using rays of color block light and having  very artificial colors for the fashion styling (done by the stylist Shino Itoi).

The soft light demands very long and static poses, otherwise it would have been blurred or out of focus. Thanks to those situations I had time to encounter my models.

My main goal and focus was to find a way for Instantaneousness, spontaneity and honesty in this very restrictive shooting condition.

Can you share something about the shoot with us? Something memorable?
Nothing memorable in fact, everything was so organized. Everybody was quiet easy to shoot even the two pets. Don’t we say that the hardest subjects to shoot are kids and animals?

There’s a unique quality to your striking portraits of the children, as viewers we forget we are looking at images of children, and feel like we are looking into the eyes of an experienced adult. 
My major goal, whatever the story, is to capture the beauty of the kids natural essence, it means being as honest as possible by respecting their true personality and sometimes it can difficult oh yes! I’m really searching for a natural look. I don’t like them to play the adult, to pose like the stereotype adult, and I avoid frameworks that put them in situation of trying to be like adult.

I really let them do what they want, not directing so much. I follow them, I respect what they want to give me during the shoot.

Maybe this is why we can feel them as human beings but not specifically as children.

You are a maverick in children’s fashion photography, what inspires you?
I’m always searching for grace and spontaneity. Also I want to have fun and be free to create my world.  Too much commercial approach to children’s fashion photography can be very boring. My daughter – Thais – inspires me so much, and she makes me reconnect with the childhood world, so creative and intense. A big part of my inspiration comes from her.

How often do you photograph your children?
Well all day to be honest, its so much fun!

The Weekly Edit – Who Shot it better?

 

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Men’s Fitness

Consulting Design Director: Joseph Heroun
Creative Director: Andy Turnbull
Photo Director: Jane Seymour
Associate Photo Editor: Henry Watson
Photographer: Peter Yang

 

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Men’s Health ( US )

Creative Director: Robert Festino
Director of Photography: Jeanne Graves
Art Director: Thomas O’Quinn
Deputy Director of Photography: Don Kinsella
Photo Editor: Mark Haddad
Photographer: Sam Jones

 

 

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Men’s Health ( UK )

Creative Director: Declan Fahy
Photo Director: Cat Costelloe
Art Director: Jamie Sage
Deputy Art Director: Marianne Waller
Picture Editor: Alexandra Kelly
Photographer: Patrik Giardino

 

Weekly Edit – Architectural Digest China: Ben Miller

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Architectural Digest China

Talent (Indigo Communication): Michelle Liu
Visual Director: Leon Sun
Photographer: Ben Miller

Heidi How did you end up working in China on this particular project? Are you sending promos internationally?
Ben: I used to live in Shanghai, so am familiar with the culture and speak the language.  My wife’s parents still live there, so in an effort to see her family more often, I decided to start exploring the market there last year.  I went on a couple of trips and called a lot of agencies, knocked on a lot of doors, and made some good contacts.  I have not done any mailers yet, but the meetings alone were able to get bids on a number of large projects, plus a few editorial assignments.  I also have some informal collaborations with some of the larger production houses there, who are putting my name in the hat for larger projects.
How much are you working here in the US?
I am still working more in the US, I am signed by FRESH Artist Management in NYC, which is part of Greenhouse.  They have been great and helped me out on a ton of large projects and bids last year.  The reception in the China market has been very encouraging as well, so I intend to pursue work on both sides for the foreseeable future.  Some of my bigger clients in 2013 included Dr. Pepper, Adidas, GAP, Ted Baker, Lucky Brand, HUE, Indah, and editorial in Rolling Stone Russia, Ladies Home Journal, Leveled Magazine, Conde Nast Traveler.  I am mainly doing Ad and fashion jobs, but would love to do more editorial.
I assume you speak Chinese, is that right?  
Yes i am fluent in Chinese, which helps a lot.  Most people in Shanghai speak good or decent English, but it does show a level of respect to make the effort to learn their language.  The work of foreign photographers is very popular over there, but most foreigners cannot speak, so it loses them a lot of jobs.
Were there any obstacles to this shoot?
In China, budget is always an issue.  The rates are not the same as in the West, unless you are already a super famous photographer.  So, this means being more creative and figuring out ways to deliver value.  Also, I had to have a Chinese bank account to accept payment for the job, which was fairly easy to do, but an extra step.
What, if any are the differences in how the work flow, production works compared to a US equivalent magazine?
Since it is owned by Conde Nast, it is pretty much like working with any NYC Based magazine.  Similar job roles, people to deal with, editing process, etc…
How did the creative process unfold for this project? Do you get much direction?
I worked with Leon Sun, the Visual Director at AD China, who is a super nice guy with a ton of vision.  He already had a very established concept as far as styling and talent goes.  This freed me up to focus on lighting, composition, color, etc…  We shot everything in a day at a beautiful retail space called Design Republic in Shanghai.  This included a key portrait, and a number of food and table shots.
How does the equipment rental/gear sort out?
I flew my laptop, camera, and one case of lights from the US with me. I have a set of stands, modifiers, and other grip that remain at my parents in laws’ house for all my China shoots.  For larger productions, there are great resources such as Central Studios or Amanacliq, who can rent you any of the standard gear at western prices.
Do you have a stable of assistants you work with over there?
I have a couple of good guys I know, and a number of rental houses I can call on when needed.  The quality of assistants is generally not as high as in the US, so more oversight and tutelage is usually required.

 

 

The Weekly Edit: Who Shot it Better?

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Bon Appetit

Creative Director: Michael Axe
Deputy Art Director: Mike Ley
Photo Director: Alex Pollack
Photo Editor: Susan Getzendanner

Photographer: Michael Graydon
Food Stylist: Nikole-Kerriott

 

 

 

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Martha Stewart Living

Creative Director: Matthew Axe
Deputy Design Director: Jen McManus
Photo Director: Jennifer Miller
Deputy Photo Editor: Linda Denahan
Photographer: Anna Williams
Food Styling: Jennifer Aaronson

 

 

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Food Network Magazine

Creative Director: Deirdre Koribanick
Art Director: Ian Doherty
Deputy Art Director: Marc Davila
Photo Director: Alice Albert
Deputy Photo Editor: Kathleen E. Bednerek
Photographer: Johnny Miller
Food Styling: Christine Albano

 

 

 

WSJ Magazine: Lawrence Beck

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Wall Street Journal Magazine

Creative Director:  Magnus Berger
Design Director: Pierre Tardif
Photography Director: Jennifer Pastore
Photo Editor: Damian Prado
Art Director: Tanya Moskowitz
Assistant Photo Editor: Hope Brimelow
Photographer: Lawrence Beck

 


Heidi: This is your first editorial commission, congratulations and what a treat for WSJ. What was it about this project that made you accept?

Lawrence: The Diego Della Valle/Coliseum shoot seemed the perfect subject for my first editorial commission, in addition to the fact it was for the WSJ magazine, which is beautifully printed and of very high quality and content, the subject matter was right in line with what I’ve been working on for 4 or so years in Italy, and more specifically in Rome.

You have the wonderful gift of creating portraits of the most spectacular pockets of nature, be in gardens or thickets. What is it about landscape/nature that captivates you?

The most captivating element of photographing nature and the union of human-made and the natural, has been the core subject matter of my photographic oeuvre for more than 15 years.  I was extremely lucky growing up in a beautiful setting such as the Italian Alps in summers, and being able to look at great artworks in Italy, fresco cycles being amongst my favorites.  The “Thickets” series represents a kind of “all over” photography, relating to Pollack’s drip paintings and abstract-expressionism as a whole, and the notion of “all over painting”.  The “Italian Gardens” were inspired more from early Renaissance painting were perspective was just being figured out and has a similar look and feel to the inherent flatness of a photograph, specifically in artists such as Masaccio, Piero della Francesca and even from Giotto, who painted a century earlier.

How did Italy’s crumbling Colosseum and the Italian billionaire (Diego Della Valle) who’s funding its restoration project come about? What intrigued you about this?

The commission from the WSJ came about through the gallery that represents my work, The Sonnabend Gallery in New York.  There was interest shown in my photography because of my concentration in photographing gardens, villas and ruins in Rome over these last years.  The idea of photographing the Coliseum made me happy and stirred up excitement within me, though the prospect of making a portrait of Diego Della Valle was intriguing mostly because the vast majority of the portraiture that I have done over the years is of my family, my wife and my young daughter.  The whole thing became a challenge, shooting digitally, which is not what I normally do, and having time constraints which is something that I’m not used to.   With my own work, I still shoot film and use a view camera, which allows me to utilize the inherent camera movements that come in very handy in certain cases of fine focus and depth of field.  It would have been much more difficult to shoot a portrait with a 4 x5”, so I shot with a DSLR and a medium format digital camera.

What are you considerations when executing this type of work?  Did you propose this project to the magazine or did they reach out to you?

Diego was extremely friendly and generous with his time.  We basically started down in the Coliseum, in the cavernous ground level maze of tunnels and passages used to keep animals and the other players who performed on the stage of the Coliseum just above us.  We moved to the top level of the edifice and that is where I ended up getting the best shot of Diego, used in the magazine.  The project was not something that I had considered bringing to the WSJ personally, not really knowing that this is something to consider, though in hindsight, it worked out beautifully and opened a door to editorial photography.  I fully enjoyed the experience, and have a greater understanding of the technical challenges inherent in this type of project, along with the logistical problematic such as the trip from New York to Rome.

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Your work is so dramatic and refined, how do you feel about the quickness of imagery floating about today. Can you share some of your more personal work from your iphone and your thoughts on the brevity of images these days.
Do you enjoy instagram?

For many years, I shied away from digital capture, believing that it was not true photography,  but was forced to learn it when ektachrome was discontinued and reproducing artwork  (painting and sculpture) had to be done digitally.  What has really intrigued me is phone photography, the immediacy and quality of the image and the ability under the proper circumstances to make a decent 8 x 10” photo.  I have come to fully embrace the digital medium, learning Photoshop in the process and being able to use this brilliant new tool, which I believe is one of the greatest inventions in photography.

You can see the complete WSJ story here

The Weekly Edit – Vanity Fair: Peter Crawley

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Vanity Fair
Design Director : Chris Dixon
Photography Director:  Susan White
Art Directors: Julie Weiss, Chris Mueller

Illustrator: Peter Crawley

Are your editorial projects mostly headlines that have to do with style/fashion?

Headlines and typographic treatments work well for editorial pieces. But I have also worked on logos / idents for titles such as Wallpaper* and Wired.

What made you choose that particular color palette for the headline, Best Dressed?

I worked closely with the Vanity Fair Contributing Art Director, Hilary Fitzgibbons to decide on the type and palette. We wanted something bright and engaging on the page, but a palette that felt fashion led.

How long did that headline take you create? In total, it was probably around 5 days – including initial sketching, experiments, computer work and crafting the final piece.

Do you send out promo’s to magazines? How did they discover you?

A few years ago I sent out quite a lot of promo material to magazines and potential clients, which lead to some nice projects. I also seem to get a lot of work through various blogs and previous projects. The great thing about the internet is that your work can take on a life of it’s own, cross international boundaries and reach people you could never have imagined.

Heidi: Are those different widths of string or are they doubled?

Peter: It’s actually a bit of both, to add interest to the piece I decided to add as much texture and change of density as possible.

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What was it about a road trip across America that inspired you to do this work?

When we were driving across America, we had a paper road map. Each night we marked our progress on the overview map of the country, It was great seeing our route develop in front of us in a very analogue, permanent manner. Between the five of us, we must have taken around 5000 images, narrowing these down to just a couple of images to print and frame for the wall proved impossible. So I set about capturing the trip in an analogue hand crafted manner. The materials referenced naval / military maps and traditional book binding techniques.

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Do you mind sharing you process? Are you using a paper piercer and then straight edge?

Each piece varies slightly depending on the subject matter, but the general process is the same. I collect source material for research and sketch out ideas. These ideas are digitised in order to create templates and guides. The guides arranged, and using a standard dressmakers pin, I pierce the paper. The paper is then stitched by hand.

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For the architecture pieces are you tracing photographs/blue prints. Tell me how you executed the empire state building.

I tend to use a combination of photography, tracing and sketching. The Empire State Building image was taken in person on the upper viewing deck of the building. The image was simplified via a process of sketching and tracing, and a vector outline was created which was used as a guide for the final hand stitched piece.

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Do you think you’ll ever create portraits, landscape? ( meaning drift out of type and architecture )

I have created a couple of abstract landscapes previously – Sau Paolo and Los Angeles. Portraiture has always interested me, so I think I will experiment with this at some point.

Do you shoot your pieces or send the originals?

The images on my website are shot by me, but the client tends to shoot the originals for the final print version. A lot of my clients are global, so it’s easier to send them the piece and allow them to experiment with lighting, angles and crops, ensuring the get images they are happy with in a short period of time.

The Weekly Edit: Marie Claire Jonathon Kambouris

Maire Claire

Artistic Director: Alex Gonzalez
Creative Director: Nina Garcia
Design Director: Byron Christian Regej
Photography Director: Caroline Smith
Associate Art Director: Wanyi Jiang
Senior Photo Editor: Ashley Macknica Barhamand
Photographer: Jonathon Kambouris
Heidi: How difficult was it to shoot the crystal embroidered objects?

Jonathon: Photographing accessories can always be tricky but the challenge to make a still object look beautiful and interesting is something that I really thrive on. For this story my goal was to capture a mood and make the items glow. To bring out the crystals and jewels it was really about creating texture. My lighting process used soft light to create an edge on the items which separated them from the black background and then I mixed that with a harder light to create texture. The combination of this lighting was key to making these items sparkle.

What made you decide on black for the background?

The creative direction and inspiration for this assignment was to have a bunch of flares exploding off of the jewels. I figured the best way to capture this would be to photograph them on black. This complemented the accessories well and set a moody background to create beautiful and sexy lighting.

I assume all the star burst flare added in post. Did you have a special technique for that? How do you know when to stop adding more?

There is a crazy amount post work that can be done now a days, but I always approach every assignment trying to capture as much in camera as I possibly can. There were a few techniques I used with lighting and lens filters but in the end the intensity I desired for the flares could not be captured in camera. On-set my retoucher and I played around with different techniques in photoshop to create these intense light flares. It was a lot of trial and error. We would see how one flare would look and then I would go back to my set and light the accessory in a way that would naturally complement the flare that was going to be added. It was really about experimenting with adding and subtracting the flares and lighting until it felt perfectly balanced. Post work is so important, especially with still life photography so I have had to learn and really understand what I need to do in camera to create a seamless and natural transition from capture to final retouched image. As a photographer you really need to not only think about what you are shooting but also plan before you shoot and after during the post production processes. It is really important to be very detailed oriented through out each one of these phases. My retoucher and I have been working together for a good amount years now. We have really learned a lot from each other and it has been an excellent collaboration.

Are those items you shot purple, red and green respectively?  or did you add that light detail?

These items were actually black with clear and black beaded jewels. I originally shot the items as they were designed with no color and they looked very beautiful, but the editor in chief really wanted to see color in these shots. Adding color brought out an other dimension and in the end it was very fitting for this story.

What was the biggest challenge if any for this shoot.

I always feel like the biggest challenge in photography is visualizing an idea in your head and trying to translate that into a successful photograph. It is really about problem solving. For this specific assignment the flares needed to be added in post, which created a huge challenge; on-set there was no real reference point to start with while I was shooting. The hardest part was visualizing the right lighting for the accessories that would look natural and balanced with the flares that were going to be added. The key to making this story successful was having a deep understanding and connection between what I capture in camera with lighting and what needed to be accomplished in post.

 

Do you shoot for Marie Claire often?

Over the past year I have shot numerous accessory stories for Marie Claire and it has been an incredible collaboration. Their creative team is so talented and comes to me with fantastic inspiration and they really push every story to the creative max. It is obvious that we want to create thought provoking imagery of accessories and I think we have managed to accomplish this ambition successfully. It is an absolute wonderful creative process and I am really proud of the work we have accomplished together.

The Weekly Edit – Who Shot it Better?

 

Cooks Illustrated/ Holiday Entertaining

Design Director: Amy Klee
Photo Editor: Steve Klise
Photography: Keller + Keller
Styling: Catrine Kelty

 

Better Homes & Gardens / Holiday Recipes

Art Director: Gene Rauch
Photographer: Andy Lyons
Food Stylist: Jill Lust

 

Martha Stewart Living

Creative Director: Matthew Axe
Photo Director: Jennifer Miller
Photographer: Marcus Nilsson

Savuer

Art Director: David Weaver
Photography Director: Chelesa Pomales
Photographer: Michael Kraus
Food Styling: Penny De Los Santos

The Weekly Edit: Adam Voorhes – Details

Details

Creative Director: Rockwell Harwood
Senior Photo Editor: Ashley Horne
Contributing Photo Editor: Stacey DeLorenzo
Photographer: Adam Voorhes 

Prop Stylist: Robin Finlay

Is Robin Finlay whom you always work with for props?
Robin is my wife and creative partner. We collaborate on everything from the conception of ideas through the final delivery of a photograph. We have an intimate understanding of each other’s process, and are both passionate about our work. We’ve very much evolved into a team over the past few years.

How did the concept evolve?
Details is wonderful to work with on conceptual images because they tend to avoid literal visuals. They open the door to abstract ideas that we generally aren’t able to pursue. We can brainstorm and sketch outside of the box. Although we concept many of the images we execute for them, this wasn’t one of them, and the egg wasn’t the original idea. We were asked to create a wall with a hole in the shape of a fleeing figure, as though someone had run screaming and crashed through the wall. Robin built the wall out of sheetrock, cut the figure, styled broken 2x4s and crumbles of shattered wall. But on the morning of the shoot we received new direction. The new concept was a shattered egg that is being held together by tape, glue, stitches, any possible means.

Is that a real egg? if not what materials did you use?
Real. Since we were down to the wire on time Robin ran to the store, bought a few dozen eggs, and started breaking them, then gluing them back together with super glue while I pre-lit.

How much of this is post?
Everything but some of the glue is added in post. But it was pretty seamless. While I photographed a few of the eggs Robin made stiches in paper. We gobbed some hot glue on paper, and crumpled tape on paper. Then I chose the egg I preferred and started photographing the elements to match the lighting and angles on various parts of the egg. Then it was just a matter of dragging and dropping the elements onto the egg. Easy stuff.

What is the actual size / scale of the egg?
Egg sized.

Here IS one we concepted. The story was about working out so hard that you damage your body. Apparently you can stress to your cardiovascular system and build up plaque by pushing yourself to extremes. We drew a handful of sketches based on anatomical hearts, the vascular system, and I always like to set things on fire so why not a flaming shoe? This image was selected and we went to town. The execution was straightforward. Burning plastic is pretty foul so we dawned our respirators, turned on the vent fan and started to torch the thing. Burn. Shoot. Burn. Shoot. Repeat until done.

The Weekly Edit: Trends- Headline and Image

Runners World

Design Director: Benjamen Purvis
Photo Director: Michele Ervin

 

 

Psychology Today

Creative Director: Edward Levine
Photo Director: Claudia Stefezius

 

Esquire

Design Director: David Curcurito
Photo Director: Michael Norseng

I’ve noticed on the newsstand this week the interplay between type and image on opening spreads.

When it comes to space, the church and state of headline and image have seemingly come together in a happy union, sharing the same space, rather than the type getting designed into negative space or pockets of openness here and there.

Perhaps this is a reaction, creating a feeling of depth and layering that we don’t really get so much from a printed page, or it’s a space issue with the word count, or just creative expression and a sign of the times.

Apps seem to be inviting images and text as well, you can check them out here.


Pinterest even has a page dedicated to headline design.

 

Here’s a small scene from a favorite author, Annie Proulx, in the film “The Shipping News” and is often used when describing how to write a great headline:
Publisher: It’s finding the center of your story, the beating heart of it, that’s what makes a reporter. You have to start by making up some headlines. You know: short, punchy, dramatic headlines. Now, have a look, [pointing at dark clouds gathering in the sky over the ocean] what do you see? Tell me the headline.
Protagonist: HORIZON FILLS WITH DARK CLOUDS?
Publisher: IMMINENT STORM THREATENS VILLAGE.
Protagonist: But what if no storm comes?
Publisher: VILLAGE SPARED FROM DEADLY STORM.

 

 

The Weekly Edit
Brenda Milis: Bloomberg Pursuits

 

 

 

Bloomberg Pursuits

Creative Director: Anton Ioukhnovets
Photo Director: Brenda Milis

Is this publication available on the newsstand? My guess would be no from the discreet use of cover type. Is the magazine both digital and print?
Bloomberg Pursuits is a global luxury and lifestyle magazine published quarterly and sent to Bloomberg subscribers all around the world. It is not sold on newsstands.
Bloomberg does have a Pursuits section on their website which features some of the articles in the magazine as well as providing a link to view the entire magazine digitally and a link to download the issue for free on the iPad.

Tell me about the editorial planning process, and how big is the staff?
Ted Moncreiff is the Editor of Pursuits, Anton Ioukhnovets is the Creative Director, and I am the Director of Photography. Our planning and production process is the opposite of having too many cooks in the kitchen: Ted comes up with ideas for the articles, reaching out to writers and editors he knows to help him gather as many leads as he can find. The three of us brainstorm on which stories have the most appeal to our readers both in terms of content and visuals. Similarly, we collaborate on how we want to treat and approach each article visually and the other photo editors, Lauren Winfield and Manuela Oprea, pitch photographer ideas according to the approach we have discussed for the articles they are working on.  It is wonderful to be part of such a small team that works so closely in building a brand.

What are the differences coming from national titles to custom quarterly titles aside from schedule? (Pro’s Con’s.)
I am also the DOP of Bloomberg Markets and work with Lauren and Manuela on that monthly as well so we do end up being busy! Markets and Pursuits are such different creatures so we never tire of any particular photography genre.

As far as the difference working for a national title and a custom quarterly, because I am working on both Markets and Pursuits, my day to day experience remains pretty similar to what I had experienced working at other newsstand magazines. Markets has a much larger editorial staff, so I am still going to as many meetings and dealing with as many editors as I did at other newsstand monthlies I had worked on previously.

How much synergy to you have with Bloomberg News both creatively and editorially?
Ted does have some Bloomberg writers and reporters pitch ideas for Pursuits articles that end up running in the magazine, but he also hires many outside freelance writers. As far as photographers, so far I have always hired outside freelance photographers to shoot for Pursuits.

You are hiring the cream of the crop, what is the running thread in all the images you commission? Describe the magazine’s aesthetic.
There is no ironclad aesthetic for the publication. We actually want to have a variety of photographic styles because of the variety of topics addressed.
Bloomberg subscribers are mainly men so there is a tendency for us to work in that vein, but overall we are a general interest magazine for Bloomberg subscribers, noting that Pursuits addresses the readers’ life outside of work, their time off. Since Anton and I both have backgrounds in men’s magazines, we are very much aligned in what we do like coming from that background and where we would like to break the mold and not follow traditional visual approaches to magazines created for mainly male readers.

Anton’s design sense is, in my opinion, stunning, and it is his design of the magazine that keeps the overall aesthetic consistent. We are both passionate about photography so ultimately I think we are always trying to come up with the best photographer and photographic style for each individual article –the nature and content of each story-and it is his design that pulls it all together so well. We are trying to make beautiful images that sometimes may have an element of surprise to keep things fresh and exciting.

Beginning production of a new publication definitely had its challenges in the beginning because we did not have a product to show or a brand’s reputation to rely on (we are just finishing our fourth issue next week).  We therefore relied on the relationships we already had with photographers and their agencies for the first issue and with each issue it gets easier, of course, to bring on the caliber of photographers we want, as we now have something to show and the response has been great.

Beyond the relationships we already had established with photographers before beginning production on our first issue of Pursuits together is the fact that Ted comes up with such amazing editorial ideas and content that photographers are excited to shoot for us.  Just three issues in we have been fortunate to be able to attract and assign some really fantastic photographers such as Richard Burbridge, Simon Norfolk, Ralph Mecke, Dan Winters, Horacio Salinas, Kenji Aoki, Tom Schierlitz, and Jamie Chung.

The Gander airport shoot was stunning, how hard was it to produce a shoot in a defunct airport?
It was Anton’s idea to shoot at Gander Airport. He had seen some images of the airport and realized what a fantastic location it would make for a shoot. This Newfoundland airport was an essential refueling stop for transatlantic prop planes from the time it was built in the late 1930’s until the 1960’s. But with the advent of jets in ’60’s, transatlantic refueling fell from favor and thus so did Gander.  After that the airport has mostly become the province of cargo planes so it’s 1959 interior has remained absolutely pristine, frozen in time.

While I immediately agreed that it was a wonderful location for our Fall fashion shoot, I knew just as quickly how challenging it would be to get everyone and the wardrobe itself up to Gander. Flying people from both Europe and the U.S. was tricky because there are so few flights going into Newfoundland, let alone Gander, none of them direct. Beyond that, however, is that the planes flying into Newfoundland are so small that they have very tight luggage limits so we had to make sure that the clothes and accessories were being checked in by as many people involved in the shoot as possible. Lastly, we didn’t book our models until the week of the shoot and I wasn’t sure there would be any room left on the few flights that could get them to the shoot in time. A bit of a nail biter but it turned out beautifully thanks to Anton, Azim Haidaryan, the photographer, Markus Ebner, our contributing Fashion Director and a wonderful, flexible crew!

The Weekly Edit: Tiny Atlas Quarterly with Emily Nathan

 

Tiny Atlas Quarterly

Founder and Publisher: Emily Nathan

Director of User Experience: Jake Huffman

Director of Art and Design: Liz Mullally

Photo EditorDeb Hearey

Why did you start this project? What sort of market space were you hoping to disrupt?
After my son was born, I was still busy shooting for clients but stopped shooting personal projects almost completely for about a year. I was kind of going crazy not being able to shoot for myself so I set up a project in Montana to just go shoot a lifestyle project/test in a part of Glacier National Park. Once I did the Montana shoot I realized that big lifestyle shoots like I had done had the potential to be a magazine.

The pictures that are expected for traditional travel magazines are not as interesting to me over time. A hotel bed, a cup of coffee, and a romantic landscape type of imagery is nice to see but after many years shooting big lifestyle productions, those pictures feel not as compelling to make. I want people! And I want people to do all the stuff there is to do in a given location.

On the flip side, with commercial shoots, you do all this planning and production and activities but viewers never know where you are, where you stayed, who your awesome team was, etc. Additionally with commercial shoots you have budget but obviously a lot of decisions about the content of images (and choices like styling) are made based on a client’s needs and not only your vision. Tiny Atlas seemed like a place to put those things together.

Big beautiful travel stories filled with people experiencing the places we wanted to go, or had been and wanted to share. I have so many creative friends who love travel (and are already traveling for work) and who also yearn to work on projects of their own devising that I figured we could band together and make it happen.

Tell me about the evolution of this, and how it’s either exceeded or disappointed your goals?
I can’t quite even remember how we got started. I had the idea, I spoke with my friend, our art director Liz Mullally, who had just left Apple after many years to move to LA.  Liz had some time to think about a new project while she was in transition and we got started. My husband Jake built Tiny Atlas. He works full time as a UX designer but we have always built my sites together. A big part of the fresh quality of TAQ comes from the UX and that is credited to Jake mostly, or our collaboration.
Tiny Atlas has grown so much and it is becoming very exciting. The magazine hasn’t disappointed me but it has sapped my business financially and time-wise.

You must have had space in your mind in order to think up this type of project, did you have some slow periods with your photography?
Well after you have a child you both lose a lot of free time and then gain a lot of time where you have to stay home at night because there is a baby sleeping in the other room. My husband and I used to go out all the time and now it is pretty rare. A lot of Tiny Atlas happens between 8pm-midnight.

How will you monetize this?
We have purposely put in all the production info and links so that potential branded partners and advertisers will see the opportunity and how open we are to work together, but also so that when the time comes, readers will not be surprised about the more branded connections being made. We are thinking of lots of ways for brands  to work with us, but we have kept the magazine really beautiful and grounded and it will never feel commercial. All of the places, clothing, activities have come from our creators . They are OUR favorite places, and our favorite clothing  and we want to share them. But we are open to sponsors and the great ideas they can bring, as well.  There is also the potential to have an online marketplace for our imagery and favorite crafted objects and destination suggestions in a curated way. We’re starting to examine ideas such as this, for example,  in a small way with our Oakland gallery show in conjunction with our Kickstarter campaign and possibly in a popup gallery/shop in the new year in Oakland, as well.

In a perfect world how do you see this taking off?
In the perfect world, places with fascinating stories, writers with a taste for exploration, and beautiful exciting destinations  (on or off the radar) will approach us with projects they want to collaborate on and we will choose the right ones to shoot/write about/collaborate on. This will be in addition to just going to places we want to share with our readers who will hopefully support the printed magazine/shop.

Why Kickstarter and not private investors?
Tiny Atlas has been completely created by me and a growing group of artists that have a lot in common. We are interested in personal stories and personal vision and we want to share work that feels intentional but also casual and real. Unfortunately we are at a point where we can’t continue to share this work without funding. But, there seem to be many individuals who appreciate what we are doing and a general interest in small magazines with unique vision. We hope to connect with all these affiliated folks directly through the Kickstarter campaign and expand on the groundwork we have done as well as listen to direct thoughts from our readers about what they are liking about what we do. While we are not opposed to funding, we want to continue to grow what we already have going and not to change focus.

How did you start your career in photography?
I went to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and got my degree in English Literature and creative writing/poetry. For me photography has always been visual storytelling and poetic editing mixed together. I grew up traveling a bit with my family and I developed a pretty strong love of travel. I took photo classes in high school and university, but I also did a study abroad in Chile where I had an internship as a photojournalist with the national daily newspaper in Santiago. Everything came together for me there. I wanted to shoot and travel. After my study abroad I traveled alone through parts of Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina for a few months. I thought I would become a photojournalist and travel and shoot, but I was not interested in war as much as humanity. My husband and I met when I was a few months out of college trying to be a stringer for the AP (at 21 years old) in SF and he was an art director at the SF Bay Guardian where I started getting portrait assignments. I excelled far more at that than taking pictures of Willie Brown shaking someone’s hand for a Thanksgiving benefit for AP.

How did your experience at Apple fold into the evolution of this project?
Apple was amazing for my career. I started shooting for them on lifestyle projects when I was still just working editorially mostly. They had a lot more freedom in what they were looking for from photographers than other commercial clients so the goal was to take great images of people-often real families on real trips. But they put production muscle, great producers and amazing vision behind what they do and it set my course for making images.

Does your agent support you on this project?
Bernstein & Andriulli has been very supportive. Carol Alda and Howard Bernstein have been especially helpful in getting the word out. They are enthusiastic about my work coming in from Tiny Atlas and they are excited to share it with their clients and network. It feels fresh and relevant to them and that feels good to me.

Why do you think this style of photography is emerging and becoming valuable?
I think lifestyle is maybe coming into its own as a genre. Lifestyle is not a great word and the connotations aren’t amazing- you think, backlit happy people, but that is not why lifestyle is popular. It’s popular because lifestyle images are taken from the perspective of individual experience.

For a time documentary was predominant for so much of photography. Then it split back into categories, portrait, nature, etcetera. This is a little off track for Tiny Atlas but I guess my point is that lifestyle seems like the new documentary. Its a ubiquitous form that seems current and real and relatable. Lifestyle images can be profound or disposable but they are all fitting into the same bucket right now.

The source/credit information about the shoot is shared, are there direct links out to contributors sites? Do you think that can substitute as payment (essentially it’s free advertizing )
I think people want information to be free online and I think it actually should be. The internet is for sharing information and I hate paying for any content online personally. I don’t want people to pay to be a stylist or photographer for Tiny Atlas. I do want to find partners- be they readers who will pay for a beautiful inspiring quarterly or annual magazine in print to keep at home (or tear apart and put on their walls like I did as a kid), or shoot and put on their pinterest, or an airline that wants to promote their new direct service from SFO to Copenhagen, a gem of a national park, an amazing campground,  a gorgeous boutique hotel, a delicious local food or restaurant, an old resort that is not trendy but it’s still awesome, or a clothing brand that wants to share a new type of jeans that are actually super flattering. I want to know about all of these things and I think the Tiny Atlas reader does too.

Certainly there is an amount of luxury in any travel magazine but while we want to go everywhere in the world I think the best journey is really just about experience ultimately and not price. I talk about this below but one of my best trips ever was taking buses and hitch hiking around South America in college with money saved from waitressing between college semesters. The biggest luxury for any trip is the time to do it.

Is the entire team friend and family?
The team is friends and family first but has been really growing. I think 45  people had a hand in the last issue or more. Lots of people have reached out to collaborate and if their work is the right fit we are happy to get new people in the mix. I am meeting lots of new people both near and far, virtually and in person. I recently met one of our contributors, Ashley Camper when I was in Hawaii shooting. I also just met Erin Kunkel in person- who is another great bay area photographer we are working with in the next issue and on the Kickstarter campaign. We just tried (and kind of failed) at having a global TAQ Google+ hangout the other day but the experience was fun and we hope to do more things like that as well as connect in person with each other both on our travels and in the gallery/popup in Oakland.

Will you ever do a print version?
Yes! We are going to do a limited run annual for the Kickstarter with an edited version of all the work from Tiny Atlas so far, including our new issue that will come out in November/December. If it goes well we might go to a printed quarterly, or just keep doing the annuals and keep the quarterly online if it feels like the right timeline.

What is missing?
We are missing WRITING! I want writing that is excellent writing with a strong sense of place. The writing format is open to poetry, fiction, memoir or straight journalism, but it should ideally be great storytelling. Sentences should sing and make you happy to read them- is there a happiness-in-reading-something well-written word, like farfegnugen? I want that.

Even though I went to school for writing I don’t know many writers anymore and we are hoping to have budget to seek out excellent writers or ideally expand enough so that writers with a similar vision come to find us.

You can follow Emily and the project:
also on instagram
@tinyatlasquarterly
@ernathan
on twitter
@tinyatlasqtrly
and on facebook

10/14: The Weekly Edit Interview
WSJ Magazine: Jennifer Pastore

 

 

Heidi: You are well versed in fashion with your former experience as Photo Director of Teen Vogue Magazine and the Associate Photo Editor of T: The New York Times Style Magazine, and most recently Contributing Photo Director of Bazaar. How do you hope to set WSJ apart from those titles as they all share some of the same photographers/strong fashion sense?

The WSJ readership – and our ability to appeal to that readership – is what distinguishes us.  We reach over 3 million highly sophisticated, well-educated readers worldwide, including the US, Europe and Asia and we always try to keep in mind the broad interests of our demographic when we commission stories and photography. The magazine comprises a wide range of content from art, fashion, design, travel and food to business and technology, which makes it very exciting in terms of the types of photography that we can commission. In recent issues, we have been fortunate enough to work photographers including Alasdair McLallen, Juergen Teller, Nan Goldin, Terry Richardson, Josh Olins and Mikael Jansson for portraiture and fashion as well as William Eggleston, Olaf Otto Becker, Harf Zimmermann and Robert Polidori for travel and features.  By frequently encouraging photographers to explore subjects that they don’t typically shoot, we’re able to create vibrant and unique stories.  For example, Ben Hassett, who’s well known for his fashion photography, recently went to Spain to shoot portraits and food for a story on the legendary Arzak family and their eponymous restaurant in San Sebastien. For the June issue, Harf Zimmermann, who traditionally shoots landscapes and architecture, went to Milan to shoot several pieces from the late Anna Piaggi’s extraordinary fashion collection as still life.  In my experience, photographers enjoy these unexpected assignments/commissions, and the result is a portfolio of beautiful and often unexpected photographs.

How would you like people to get into touch with you?

The best way for people to reach me is via email, preferably not through a list serve or automatic e-blast service as those tend to get stuck in my junk mail.

Has there been a place where you discovered new talent that surprised you?

Instagram has been a great way for me to follow photographers, artists, stylists and editors.  I not only see what they are working on and whom they are working with but it’s also a great place to find new talent, new locations etc. I don’t necessarily find photographers by looking at the images that they post but if someone’s visual perspective on Instagram is intriguing, then I will often visit their website if it is listed in their profile to see their work. I also love going to photography festivals. For example, this past July I traveled to Les Rencontres d’Arles for the first time and spent time with photographers, gallerists and fellow photo editors in a beautiful village in the south of France. It is a wonderful way to share knowledge and discover talent as well as seek out more obscure photo books that feature talent I may not have come across through the more traditional channels.

How much to you look at social media, blogs or instagram for new talent/inspiration

As I said, I am really enjoying Instagram right now. I also spend a good amount of time looking at blogs dedicated to photography, fashion, interiors, food and design. That said I try not to go overboard in the social media space. It is important to me that I am able to get out to see photography in person. There is nothing that makes me appreciate a photograph more than seeing a print on paper, and experiencing its artistry and beauty directly rather than on a screen. I am also fortunate to work with two very talented and resourceful photo editors, our Photo Editor Damian Prado and our Assistant Photo Editor Hope Brimelow. They are always finding talent on obscure photo blogs and in books as well as at established galleries and shows. I can always count on Damian in particular, to find incredible talent in the most unlikely places. Also, our Creative Director, Magnus Berger is of course another great source of inspiration and talent. He, Kristina and I are always discussing the people that we are excited about, the references that we love and who we want to work with next – it is a real collaboration here.

Also I’d love to talk about the fashion piece you did with Lachlan Bailey. What a stunning shoot. How did you and the fashion director approach this fashion shoot? Did you have a concept for this, or did you want to celebrate a particular trend?

For the couture story, our main objective was to show our readers our take on the best of couture at that particular moment. Our Editor-in-Chief Kristina O’Neill, Magnus and I worked together to determine who could achieve the creative and fashion brief while keeping in mind the point of view of the magazine. Photographer Lachlan Bailey and stylist Clare Richardson worked together to bring the story to fruition, working with model Andreea Diaconu, to create something beautiful, ethereal and luxurious. We don’t have a fashion director at the magazine so we work with a small group of freelance stylists.

Do you ever do any celebrity fashion shoots? Or in your mind is that too much of mixed message? Meaning does one dilute the other?

Regarding celebrity shoots, we are starting to dip into that territory.  We like to keep our readers surprised with covers ranging from interiors to landscapes to celebrities. It is really about what makes the strongest cover story.



How long did it take to produce the Daniel Jackson shoot of the curators? and what made you chose him for this portrait project?

Venice was a highly collaborative and intensely challenging shoot to put together from a photographic, journalistic and production point of view. Our Fashion Features Director Elisa Lipsky-Karasz and I worked together to “cast” the portfolio with our Editor-in-Chief Kristina O’Neill and the other editors from the magazine. Our Assistant Photo Editor Hope Brimelow worked tirelessly on the production alongside a local producer in Venice. To say that Venice is a challenging place to shoot, particularly during the opening days of the Biennale, is an understatement but that was part of the fun. We chose Dan to shoot this particular portfolio not only because of his beautiful portrait work but specifically because he had expressed an interest in doing stories that are outside of his usual purview. We had many of the subjects for as little as ten minutes and we ended up shooting over 20 people over two days in three locations so Dan certainly had his work cut out for him. It was quite a scene to watch people like Rem Koolhaas, Thomas Demand, MaurizioCattellan and Marc Quinn arriving one after another in their water taxis to the water entrance of our main location, a private palazzo on the Grand Canal.