master cup 4th color awards

i am thrilled to announce that one of my pictures from "dreamers" series won 1st place in masters cup color awards this year, while another picture was nominated in the same category. i am flattered to be a successor of zoren gold & minori who won this award last year:

check out winner's gallery for some amazing imaginary.

i am love

this movie was something i was really looking forward to see, and it lived up to my expectations. one of the critics called it "a guilty pleasure", another one dubbed it as "fashion & food porn", but for me it was more like a beautiful novel printed on glossy pages of a fashion magazine where composition is immaculate, colors are well-thought, and looks are skillfully styled to complement the story.

"The wonderful Antonella Cannarozzi, who's our costume designer, designed the entire collusion of all the wardrobe," said Swinton. "But we did work with two fashion houses -- the house of Fendi dressed the men and also provided extraordinary furs for Marisa.

"But the Emma character was dressed entirely by Jil Sander. Raf Simons and his team created an entire wardrobe -- that's something that classic cinema used to do quite regularly, if you think about the relationship between Givenchy and Audrey Hepburn or Saint Laurent and Catherine Deneuve. Or even in old Hollywood, if you think of Adrian dressing Garbo or Katharine Hepburn."

new cameras

my camera collection has significantly expanded - meet 4 more vintage beauties (from top to bottom):
- kodak w/ twindar lens and very rare design of the front panel
- ansco with on-camera flash
- smena 8M
- FED-5

Z!NK cover party

thank you all who came to celebrate with us our cover story for Z!NK magazine this month! some pictures from that night below

Z!NK may 2010

it almost feels like a friendly take-over - 24 pages and a cover of Z!NK magazine's anniversary issue (may 2010) features work of my amazing team and yours truly. check out NY newsstands for our two stories: "black magic" with stunning asia bugajska and "her majesty" with sarah deanna.

here is to the glorious team:

NEWHEART OHANIAN
ANETTA KLEMENS
LINH NGUYEN
CARLOS PALACIO
SERGE GLINKA
ANASTASIA KUDRASHOVA
NEICE THOMAS

[you are the best!]

marina abramovic @ MOMA

marina abramovic is a mystery to me, and yet she is one of my heroes. her art is unique and intangible, her expressions are very personal and daring. i am so grateful that NY is open-minded enough to host her retrospective in one of its best museums. it was a mind-blowing experience that gives you delicious food for thought. i only wish i had enough patience to wait in line for having a chance to sit in front of her and look her straight in the eyes. (amazing gallery of the lucky ones who did it is here)

screen-3

today i received a new addition to my camera collection (which now has 23 cameras!) - unique looking «ekran-3» ("screen-3"). produced in 1965-70 this camera was considered the best 8mm camera in USSR. it produces both photo and video; the film is however hard to find.

this beauty is in a perfect working condition!

single man

single man is one of the most visually captivating movies i've seen in a while. i loved the way tom ford was translating his character's mood by changing saturation of the world seen through his eyes. perfect frames, photographic depth of field, sensuality of unspoken. and of course, unforgettable soundtrack by shigeru umebayashi (bow to beloved wong kar-wai) and abel korzeniowski.

NYFW, day 5

i knew that due to work i won't be able to attend too many shows this season, and that monday will probably be my last day of NYFW FW2010. donna karan collection was a great to finish this season. beautiful, glamorous, sensual, and strong collection with focus on shape and shimmery textures. timeless black accentuated by pale skin of the models and deep red lacquered lips. and then an unexpected lilac color on sasha pivovarova together with her piercing blue eyes that literally took my breath away for a second. bravo, donna!

 

miroslav tichy

an incredible treat and rest for eyes and soul in between the shows was miroslav tichy exhibition in ICP.

"now over eighty years old, tichý is a stubbornly eccentric artist, known as much for his makeshift cardboard cameras as for his haunting and distorted images of women and landscapes, many of them taken surreptitiously."

even more than exhibition itself i was charmed and mesmerized by documentary about tichy. an incredible character that doesn't take his own work seriously and suggests to throw his pictures on the floor and step on them to add "poetry" to the image.  he believes that a photograph is good enough when it resembles reality, but agrees with plato that reality is nothing but a shadow on the uneven cave wall.  amused at his own success he says: "if you want to be famous you need to do smth worse then the rest of the world. perfect and beautiful is of no interest."

 

 "If you want to be famous you need to do smth worse then the rest of the world. Perfect and beautiful is of no interest nowadays."

NYFW, day 4

this valentine's day i started at greenwhich street at DKNY show. loved the space, as well as the simple but very graphic runway design inspired by bauhaus. collection itself also reflected strong influence of the famous design school and art deco motives: it was a gracious mix of black, charcoal, and beige spiced up with accents of bluebird. i especially loved the slouchy boyfriend jackets and "skyscraper platforms" with studded soats and boot sleeves.

and in the evening there was custo barcelona with their new collection "hairy metal". typical for the brand crazy mix of patterns was complimeneted (complicated?) with metallic colors and fur. my favorite looks, however, were more simple and mostly for men. and only one dress that had a reminiscence of the past - a cartoonish face of a girl in bright colors.

happy valenitine's day!

my "lost in love" editorial in february issue of ROUGE magazine. more on my website.

open your heART

last night coco rocha teamed up with opera gallery, elite models, and designers like narcisco rodriguez, alessandra ambrosio, carolina bittencourt, to host a beautiful event in support of children of haiti. it was a great mix of beautiful people and art, spiced up with music and sparkling wine.thank you, coco!

NYFW, day 1

my fashion week this season has started with toni maticevski's show at altman building. we used one of toni maticevski's pieces - a gorgeous airy dress with aged veil and a big rose with brunt edges (below) - for our recent zink shoot, and i couldn't help but fall in love with his designs immediately.

 the new collection is eclectic but very much in toni's style: romantic and soft meets aggressive and sexy in an unusual combination of patterns and cuts. my favorite looks were the long multi-layered pastel dress that made model look like she was floating in the air, not walking; as well as an all-black ensemble of over-sized belted cardigan with puffy veil skirt.

one show that i always go to but unfortunately missed this season (it was way right after toni maticevski's show but in bryant park) was ports 1961. after checking pictures on style.com i got even more upset - looks like their FW2010 collection is very interesting, with retro-looking head-pieces and architectural designs. i loved the subtle color palette they chose for the season when most of the designers go with safe black.

another eye candy that day was mik cire's show at bryant park. beautiful "street chic" men's wear with amazing detailing on sleeves and shoulders (i wish style.com posted backshots!) styled with rough leather accessories. and even though designed for men, i can totally see some of the jackets and pants worn by women.

her majesty w/ sarah deanna

the following day the same team (newheart ohanian, anetta klemens, linh nguyen), but with a different model (this time it was stunning sarah deanna from muse models) - we were shooting a very graphic and clean studio fashion story using an unfinished 9" long wooden bar as our prop.

the style of this shoot can be described as "british-glamour-punk-rock": newheart was artfully mixing haute couture pieces with ready-to-wear, leather with silk, jeans with sequin, etc. and sarah was definitely rocking the show with her very unique look and unusual poses she was suggesting. ten  looks with three strong cover tries - hopefully this story will be out soon for your to see! for now some quick previews from our backstage (shot by serge glinka)

 

ink drop

it was definitely a very special shoot for me. done for zink magazine, may issue, it was inspired by the abstract pattern ink drop creates while dissolving in the water, as well as tattoo culture using ink to create permanent adornments on human bodies.

the idea was to create visually arresting images utilizing front projection to cast  images of black ink drops on the set as well as the model. combined with graphic shapes and solid colors (black, white, nude) of clothes projections provided abstract dreamlike effects by morphing the shapes of clothes and creating new patterns.

prepping for the shoot i did an extensive research and carefully selected 20 high-res stock images that would work for the story. consultation regarding projections and technical support was provided by carlos palacio.

when i though of a concept there were no hesitation regarding which model i'd like to be shooting with. asia from muse models has been one of my favorites for long time, but located in paris, she is rarely in new york. i couldn't believe our luck when her booker, katie wolland, confirmed that aisa will be arriving just a day before our shoot! not further castings were needed.

it was also my first time working with stylist newheart ohanian, and i was very impressed by her professionalism and creativity.  newheart immediately got inspired by the concept of the shoot, and put together an amazing 12-looks wardrobe with gorgeous reptile patterns/shapes, sequin textures, leather accessories, unusual head pieces.

and of course, the style wouldn't be complete without edgy contoured make-up by anetta klemens and avant-garde shapes linh nguyen created using asia's hair. 6"0 asia on 8" tall heels and in gorgeous outfits looked like the most incredible alien beauty.

the shoot is in post-production for the next couple of weeks. look for it on newstands in may.