in the woods

despite of non-cooperative new york weather yesterday we finally managed to do our fashion shoot in the woods, and use that dull sky and flat light as our advantage to turn the story into a mysterious fairy tale. that wouldn't be possible without my good friend anetta klemens who this time apart from doing make-up and manicure was also a producer of the shoot - she put together an amazing team (stylist ursula agurto & hairstylist ianthe foushee), organized location scouting (forest park), as well as she provided her beautiful place for us to prep for the shoot before going in the woods.

it was my second time working with jae brickman from major. (you might remember this "blond fatale" from the beauty story "dreamers"). i am in love with this girl! amazing face and great personality. i knew she would be a perfect candidate for the role of the "woods spirit", and i was right. jae was gracefully balancing on her high heels on top of sleepery tree trunks, without a second thought laying down at dusk in the midst of ferns, and bravely ignoring all the bugs and mosqitos even after 6 hours of shooting.

and of course this shoot wouldn't be possile without my assistant aric gutnick who was the one responsible for creating misterious fog (aka "dog", aka "vogue" according to my tired & sloppy pronuciation of the word during the whole day of the shoot) around our model.

look out for this editorial on NY newstands very soon!

unVeiled

today my team (anetta klemens & jamal hodges) and i shot stunning susan coble (FORD) in a neo-romantic beauty story, re-make of one of my early shoots "color.net". for susan we created 5 beautiful looks in pastel colors which worked great with her golden complexion and curls.

i love working with veil - it is such a photogenic material! transparency always fascinated me - the way you can see through smth but at the same time how things just don't look the same way any more.

and looks like my cat fidel loves veil as well. he is such a poser!

lip magazine feature

this was quite a pleasant surprise to see a little feature on myself at lip mag today *)

nominee @ 3rd annual photography masters cup

this year i've been selected as a nominee in the category of FASHION at the 3rd Annual Photography Masters Cup! the first place belongs to ander shald, photographer who does kid-like-adults fashion; the second place was taken by beloved zoren gold & minori murakami with their famous picture of omahyra mota "bleeding" with scarlet roses.

thousands of images were received from 92 countries and my humble work ("chinatown"; see below) got a high percentage of votes overall. it will be featured in the virtual winners' gallery, in PMC's international PR campaign, and in World Photographic Arts Magazine (available october 2009 from newstands all around the world)

certainly an achievement!

mood indigo

style: dina yassin
make-up: anetta klemens
hair: caroline prince (creative management NYC)
set design: angela campos (creative management NYC)
model: camille (NY models)

best gifts

as we used to say in soviet russia "book is the best gift". i made myself several amazing gifts today and was rushing home to start flipping through the pages..

what first attracted my attention in the window of a thrift bookstore was a beautifully designed cover of "russian style". then i saw the name of the author which sounded familiar, and realized that it was the evelina khromchenko - well-known for her stylish looks and immense influence on russian fashion world editor-in-chief of my beloved l'officiel russia. the book occured to be not only nicely designed but also smartly written. being a modern ABC with fashion pictures on russian culture and so-called misterious "russian soul" it gracefully avoids cliches and denounces many of the stereotypes. (for example, it explains that "za zdoroviye!" is a toast while "na zdoroviye!" is an answer to someone's "spasibo") an absolute "must" to read for anyone interested in the subject - and one of the most precious new additions on my bookshelves.

i wrote about edward steichen and his graphic compositions just couple entries before after attending ICP exhibition on fashion photography. his book "in high fashion" is a classic on style and lighting technique, an endless source of inspiration, and a proof that great pictures don't age despite of the subject matter.

diane arbus is my muse. her pictures are misterious, and sometimes scary, but at the same time so romantic and kind. by the way, if you haven't seen the movie "fur" with nicole kidman as diane arbus - please put it on your netflix queue right now! of course, only "inspired by" it's an exciting and visually inspiring story.

rene magrtitte has always been one of my favorites. i remeber how stunned i was to see his exhibition at hermitage museum about 10 years ago. i wrote down the names of all the paintings in a little notepad, and spent hours in front of the pictures trying to desipher them, to solve the colorful riddles - until they closed the museum. i returned to the exhibition the next day and repeated the circle. i know that i will probably spend hours reading annotations in the pictures in this book echoing to my recollections from the past. the images are still in my head. my head is a green apple, i am wearing an invisible bowler, and the sky outside is of a brightly turquoise color.

lines solitaire

style: dina yassin
make-up & hair: anetta klemens
model: lisa (major)

dreamers

make-up by rebecca casciano
hair by linh nguyen
models: jae, samantha, tianna (major)

whitney museum

yesterday it was a perfect rainy sunday to go for an exhibition - or two. so i did. whitney museum was the choice - they are showing couple great projects there right now.

one of them was jenny holzer's installation. jenny is using mixed media (LED signs, oversized scans of documents, and drawings) to deliver the mixed message - overview of historical and politics eventes together with the words of her own philosophy and private confessions of an everyday diary. beautiful exectution of a thoughtful and ambiguous theme.

another fascination was doug aitken's "sites" - 4 rooms filled with video and sound that overpowers your own reality and leave you in a state of an after-dream. it appeals to you on a very subtle sub-consious level - i am sure that each of the person in the audience understands the installation differently.

mood indigo

it is probably one of my favorite shoots so far.. it happens when all elements fall into place harmonically and - as if - magically. camille (beautiful redhead from NY models i wrote about before) was even more stunning in person then on pictures - 6ft. tall, porcelain skin, pale blue eyes of a 15y.o. beauty, and the most incredible hair running down up to hips level in a heavy copper stream. we had 2 new people in the team - caroline prince was the one taking care of the beautiful golden fleece of camille's hair, and angela campos was creating unique sets to create the right mood on set.

the mood was of a color of indigo. very simple and thoughtful, portrait-like and a little dreamy. black and white clothes chosen for this shoot by dina yassin were a perfect match. anetta klemens created an amazing nude look with a little bit of definition for the eyes emphasizing camille's natural beauty.

it all made my task real easy - i just needed to compose all the elements in my viewfinder and press the shutter release button. such a great way to spend a saturday!