belk print

after 5 days of shooting for belk print tuesday feels like friday, and i am taking a little break in the middle of the week to catch up on my personal things before new project begins.

it was a challenge this time - from last minute changes of set, lighting, and even models, to working remotely with 2 art directors on 3 different catalogues. but great team as always made it easy and fun.
of course, sometimes we felt tired,

but most of the time we were having fun,

and loving what we do.

i wanted to thank: my indispensable assistants michael & brian, tina (stylist), jae (make-up), kevin (hair), arika (prep), jose (prep), jarda (producer), beloved studio W26, and all beautiful models who helped me to make it happen!

storm king

this weekend i finally accomplished a long-planned trip to storm king park (2 hours drive upstate) and had a chance to see its beautiful open-air sculptures.
storm king art center is a magical place where conceptual art meets nature, and i could not help but thinking about ayn rand's hero howard roark and his approach towards making architectural constructions to merge seamlessly with the landscape as opposed to competing or taking over it.

my favorite "exhibits" there are maya lin's "body of water" (waves of green grass creating an illusion of a stormy emerald-color sea ):

andy goldsworthy's "stormy king wall" that reminds a snake going across the river and up the hill in a beautiful zigzag:

and breathtaking " a moment in time" by chakaia booker - a black "broken" obelisk a la "space odyssey 2001" that floats in the air:

while there, on my special request my boyfriend took couple portraits of me and one of them will be featured as part of my exclusive interview for ROUGE magazine in their september issue. (mark di suvero's graphic bright red "mother piece" sculpture created a perfect background for the portrait since it brought association with of russian constructivism as well as matched the colors of my corporate design)

by the way, all the pictures you see above are also taken by my boyfriend (i should admit that he is way better than me with still life and landscape photography), while i was playing with polaroids 600 creating soft-focus washed-out square frames, trying to capture the magic and the mood of the place.

"lines solitaire" in ocean style, september 2009

just got a confirmation from "ocean style" magazine about publication of "lines solitaire" story with lisa jackson in their september issue. excited to see in print!

model as muse

i probably was one of the last highly interested but late attending visitors of "model as muse" exhibition in metropolitan. it has been up for several months by now, and it will be over next sunday, august 9th, so if you are like me postponing it to the last minute - last minute it is!

it's definitely worth going through skillfully and thoughtfully organized labyrinth lit by softboxes hanging downside from the ceiling and seeing the history of fashion in making: from early b&w pictures of avedon and ritz to recent campaigns by klein and meisel. but this time the focus is shifted - you look at the famous image of sunny harnett leaning gracefully over a casino table, and you are so absorbed by the image itself, the beautiful lighting, its depth of field, sunny's mysterious smile, and the beautiful dress she's wearing almost goes unnoticed since we are taking every element of the image for granted. then next to this 8 by 10 image in a black wooden frame you see a live-size installation - a mannequin leaning over a casino table, and lamp next to it, and the dress, exactly the same like sunny is wearing on that picture.. but something is different. the magic is gone. because the magic is in the art of a photographer to make a timeless image out of a standard fashion picture - and of a model to breathe life into the latter.

so as we go from room to room, from one fashion era to another, we are shifting the focus and seeing how models changed the way we see fashion. it's almost like a story of womens emancipation - from nameless "mannequins cabinet" to strong personalities and world-known faces of linda evangelista, naomi campbell, claudia shiffer, kristy terlington..

and of course there are dresses. giorgio armani, balenciaga, pierre cardin, chanel, louis vuitton, donna karan, calvin klein, ralph lauren, prada, paco rabanne, YSL, versace... i was astounded to see in real extravagant metallic constructions from "qui etes-vous, polly magoo?" and masterpieces of john galliano's haute couture. all these spiced up with music (wide stylist range - from french "chansons" to "beautiful people" by marylin manson) makes the experience unique and very inspiring.