The last fashion shoot. [NSFW]
People who follow my main blog will know by now that I’ve decided to renounce fashion work, at least for the time being. I don’t think I’m very good at it, or at least I’m not very good at judging whether my images are any good, and recently I’ve been lacking the passion for fashion that’s oh-so-necessary for working in that industry. I’m refocussing on editorial portraiture and commercial work (though the thought is occurring to me that I may need to ditch one of those, too, to be truly successful).
Anyway, here are the results of my last fashion shoot. Entitled “Tribal,” this was conceived initially as a submission for PaperCut magazine’s February “anything goes” issue. In the end, it didn’t get picked up for publication, but I’m still very proud of the images we produced.
The natives. (Taken with Instagram at St James’ Park)
Reading in the park. #street (Taken with Instagram at Green Park)
Cristina Otero’s Fruity Self-portraits
With just two and a half years of experience, 16-year-old Spanish photographer Cristina Otero captivates us with these zoomed-in self-portraits. Using fruit as her inspiration in this series entitled Tutti Frutti, Otero disrupts the conventional notions of feminine beauty and interacts with different fruits in a seductive performance for the camera. She draws the viewer in with her wide, innocent eyes while the bold, striking colors of her make-up complement each fruit.
Art is at its best when it’s something people can walk up to and experience. (Taken with Instagram at Angel Of The North)
When we started we HAD no style, no understanding of ourselves or what we were doing. We had feelings, vague ones, a sense of what we liked, maybe, but no unified point of view, not even a real way to express our partnership. We fought constantly and expected to break up every other week. But we did have a few things, things I think you might profit from knowing:
We loved what we did. More than anything. More than sex. Absolutely.
We always felt as if every show was the most important thing in the world, but knew if we bombed, we’d live.
We did not start as friends, but as people who respected and admired each other. Crucial, absolutely crucial for a partnership. As soon as we could afford it, we ceased sharing lodgings. Equally crucial.
We made a solemn vow not to take any job outside of show business. We
borrowed money from parents and friends, rather than take that lethal job waiting tables. This forced us to take any job offered to us. Anything. We once did a show in the middle of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia as part of a fashion show on a hot July night while all around our stage, a race-riot was fully underway. That’s how serious we were about our vow.
Get on stage. A lot. Try stuff. Make your best stab and keep stabbing. If it’s there in your heart, it will eventually find its way out. Or you will give up and have a prudent, contented life doing something else.
—
Teller, of Penn and Teller, in a letter at http://shwood.squarespace.com/news/2009/9/21/14-years-ago-the-day-teller-gave-me-the-secret-to-my-career.html
Strangely, advice as good for writers or musicians as it is for magicians.
(via neil-gaiman)… When I read this I thought that it was basically the same advice photographers should heed, couched in different terms. Looks like that holds true for other creatives, too.
And if you thought that my valentine’s day message earlier was too soft and gentle and too much about the love, try this for size.
(Source: silent-musings)
Blank pages, blank canvases, blank frames of film terrify me. And yet I can’t resist trying to fill them.
