Summer 08 Resource Magazine

title 1

For the Professional Photo Productionist

Summer 2008

2 title

title 3

8 title

title 9

10 title

Summer 2008 EDITORS IN CHIEF Alexandra Niki, Aurelie Jezequel CREATIVE DIRECTORS Alexandra Niki, Aurelie Jezequel ART DIRECTOR Sharon Gamss EDITOR Edine N. James DESIGN Sharon Gamss Dylan Kahler Lara Peso Shai Zagury ASSISTANT DESIGN Chris Brody Matt Klein CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Jody Ake, Jennifer Becker Simon Biswas, Juliana Boragina Tracy Lee Cook, Keith Enriquez Nick Ferrari, Gilles Fonlupt Misha Friedman, Aaron Gentles Eric Hason, Audrey Kobayashi Hiroki Kobayashi, Rudy LeCoadic Thomas Lee, Andrew Lucas Samual Rhee, “Chris Scout” Morgan T. Smith, JJ Sulin Christopher Starbody Kirk Weddle, Kfir Ziv CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Kenny Aquiles Marc Cadiente Missye Clarke Taylor Dietrich

Joe Fassler Charlie Fish Jana Hsu Alec Kerr Audrey Kobayashi Jonathan Melamed Justin Muschong “Chris Scout” Heather Simon Jeff Siti Rachel Smith Sachi Yoshii CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS Dylan Kahler Azikiwe Mohammed INTERNS Sylvia Gyrion Kate Hope Ben Kaufman Matt Klein Nicole Meyers Chris Brody

Resource Magazine is a quarterly publication from REMAG Inc. 215 Pacific Street Brooklyn, NY 11201 Fax 212.358.1854 info@resourcemagonline.com Subscriptions are $20 in the US, US$41 in Canada, and US$56 globally. For subscription inquiries, please email info@resourcemagonline.com Special thanks to: Anne Attal, Frank Defalco, Oleh Sharanevych, Tom Clancy, Adam Davids, Tami Mnoian, and Ryan Fahey.

We welcome letters and comments.

Please send any correspondence to info@resourcemagonline.com

PUBLISHERS REMAG Inc. DISTRIBUTION Brian Byrne brian@resourcemagonline.com Andrew Lucas andrew@resourcemagonline.com ADVERTISING Alexandra Niki alex@resourcemagonline.com

The entire contents of this magazine are © 2008, REMAG Inc. and may not be reproduced, downloaded, republished, or transferred in any form or by any means, without written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

Aurelie Jezequel aurelie@resourcemagonline.com

For more info, please visit our website, www.resourcemagonline.com

title 11

10 Letter from the editors

W

hen the heat turns up and a drop of sweat slowly drips down your face, a thought may come to mind…”I should be on vacation.”

Don’t worry, you’re not alone in your dreams of escaping the sweltering heat and violent summer thunderstorms. Of course there are different courses of action for different people. If you’re lucky enough to be able to take off to your country house every weekend, or to fly out to Barbados with no second thought, then you’re set. Or you’ve managed to get booked up throughout those dog days of summer, so vacation will be in the fall. Staying local? Why not enjoy a frozen margarita in an outdoors bar, or check out a summer concert because in a city like New York, there is never any reason to feel short of a damn good time.

In fact, this summer, why not get a little carried away. You’ve worked hard, redesigned your website, shot that kick-ass campaign, found the only four year old trapeze artist in the city, and who knows what else this crazy industry had you doing. So now it’s time to treat yourself to something that makes you radiate with happiness, dance inside, and really truly feel good. Only you can find how to make it happen: summer is what you make of it, much like life.

So, kick back with a nice cold drink and read a little Resource. Find some happiness no matter where you are.

Alex and Aurélie

THINK RENTAL. THINK CALUMET. 22 W 22ND ST, NYC 212.989.8500

title 13

BROWSE calumetphoto.com • Get the latest gear quickly • Comprehensive product information • Chat with our technical experts • Read inspiring articles and view the work of successful pros • Always open to help you

CALL 1.800.CALUMET (225.8638) • CPC certified technical-support staff • Knowledgeable technical support • All your video questions answered • 97% of orders shipped the same day • Customer satisfaction guaranteed • Monday to Friday: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. CST • Saturday: 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. CST

VISIT 10 U.S. Retail Centers • Hands-on product demonstrations • Side-by-side comparisons made easy • Knowledgeable and friendly staff • All your video questions answered • Equipment rental at competitive rates NEW YORK, NY 212.989.8500 CAMBRIDGE, MA 617.576.2600 PHILADELPHIA, PA 215.399.2155 CHICAGO, IL 312.440.4920 OAK BROOK, IL 630.860.7458 SAN FRANCISCO, CA 415.643.9275 SANTA ANA, CA 714.285.0143 LOS ANGELES, CA 323.466.1238 SANTA BARBARA, CA 805.965.7053 SAN DIEGO, CA 760.737.6002 STORE HOURS: Call location for times or visit our website.

CALUMET: IT’S WHERE THE PROS GO • Spacious showroom stocked with the latest and finest cameras and accessories, lighting equipment, inkjet printers, darkroom equipment and supplies • Expanded rental department offers an extensive selection of equipment and competitive rates from such well-respected names as broncolor, Canon, Hasselblad, Leaf, Mamiya, Nikon, Phase One, Profoto, Speedotron and more • 29 retail and rental locations around the world • Our digital imaging center features the latest in high-tech capture and computer devices from Apple, Canon, Epson, Leaf, Nikon, Phase One, Sinar and more • Choose from our tremendous selection of memory cards, film, inkjet media and other supplies from such companies as Brilliant, Canon, Epson, Fujifilm, Hahnemühle, Ilford, Kodak, Lexar, Moab, ProSpec, SanDisk, and more • Affordable leasing options are available • No gray market products sold — all items feature U.S. warranties

12 Letters to the editors

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

You talkin’ to me?

Dear Resource Magazine,

Dear Resource,

I have been passionate about photography since my early teens. I love every aspect of it, and have collected many interesting stories throughout the years assisting and working. It always seems like other people don’t get everything that’s involved in the photo world and it’s great to now see a magazine that discusses it all.

Your magazine is made for everyone within the photo production industry; and I for one can’t stop reading it. I loved the article on Davide Cantoni in the last issue. It was very interesting to see his reinterpretation of photojournalistic work, made into something new and very powerful. Thanks and keep up the great work!!

I just thought I’d write in to let you guys know how great of a job you’re doing. As a digital tech, I have been looking for a magazine that speaks to me for years, but nothing has come close to applying so directly to my interests. Everyone in my studio gets so excited every time a new issue arrives, we’re like a bunch of caffeinated kids on Christmas Day! If it were legal to get married to a stack of paper, I would totally marry Resource… but that’s just crazy talk.

- Dan Morrison

Peace, Love, and Photo Chemicals -Chris Huxley

title 15

Mark Wiens.

As seen in WORKBOOK 30. workbook.com

18 title

TRICKS OF THE TRADE:

HAIR STYLIST By: Joe Fassler | Photos: Simon Biswas

We’ve all had that experience of sitting down in a chair in front of a hairdresser and thinking, “My god, how is this going to turn out?” Imagine, then, the pressure hairstylists face when working with a celebrity before a high-profile appearance, or while styling a model for a photo shoot with designers and photographers hovering over. Hairstylist Wesley O’Meara, who works with models and celebrities, knows the importance of hair in fashion photography, and recently agreed to give Resource an inside look at the business. Represented by the Wall Group, one of New York’s top agencies, he’s learned to navigate the stylist’s fast-paced world without tearing his hair out.

Here are Wesley’s tips for how to survive on set:

Huh? “You’re a vehicle to get to somebody else’s vision,” Wesley says, “which can be difficult because some people can articulate what they want and some people can’t. Sometimes you’ll get references that are complete contradictions—like ‘I want her to look like a princess, but with a rock n’ roll edge.’ How am I supposed to do that? You have to figure out how to interpret their fashion garble.”

Be Confident, Not Cocky “Sometimes you have to be brutally honest. You have to say, ‘No, that’s going to look like shit, and it has to be done like this.’ You have to exude confidence when going through it—after all, they don’t do hair! [The hairstylist] is the expert so they’re going to take your word for it. That being said, it’s not your show.

Nobody likes a diva. You have to know when to meet others halfway.”

Maintain the Right Balance Hairstylists are always collaborating with other artists, and they need to know how to fit in. “You have to look at the dress, you have to look at the jewelry, the makeup,” Wesley says. “If the makeup’s going to be crazy, the hair has to be simple—and if the hair’s going to be crazy you kind of have to tone down the makeup. You just have to know how to account for a healthy balance.”

Don’t Be a Dinosaur “A knowledge of pop culture is important. You have to be aware of trends and of what’s actually going on in the world. That way you can keep up and stay ahead of the trends. Pay attention to how women are wearing their hair now, and think about how you can move that forward. That’s how you’re able to stay on top of the game. I watch a lot of E! News, and read a lot of US Weekly. It’s a really fickle business—if you [can’t stay current] someone else might step up and take your place.”

Be Creative—Go Beyond Hair “Sometimes it helps to go beyond just the practicalities of hair,” Wesley says.

“I was doing a hair story upstate in the woods, and I went around and gathered sticks and acorns. [I had some supplies like] a hot glue gun and made a headpiece out of it. It goes beyond styling hair—it’s being creative and being able to make stuff and set yourself apart. Anything that is put on a model’s head is my responsibility—so if they need a headpiece it’s good to be able to make one. “ Don’t Leave Them Hanging “If working on the hair is going to take a long time, it’s good to let everyone on set know. Make sure that they’re not sitting there thinking, ‘Why is this taking so long?’ You need speed on a regular basis, but sometimes it’s going to take you a long time and you need to let them know. Then they can have their coffee, read the papers, and relax.”

Mean People Suck “In this business it’s 80% personality and 20% skill. No one wants to spend all day on set with you or hire you back if you’re unpleasant to be around. A lot of my work comes from makeup artists who are asked to recommend a hairstylist—so much of the business is word of mouth. It all goes back to personality on set.”

title 19

“In this business it’s 80% personality and 20% skill.”

20 Etiquette 18 title

can ce ETIqUETTE:

Work Holds

By Jonathan Melamed

In the world of freelance, nothing is guaranteed. Sometimes, one job ends and thus the scramble for another gig begins.

And sometimes, as they say, “When it rains it pours,” and you have calls coming from two or more people looking to book you at the same time. It’s nice to be desired, and if you are a dynamo on set and a brilliant networker, you can work more hours and make more money than a “9 to 5er”. A producer or department head may contact you with what could seem as a fairly informal phone call, “Hey, are you around toward the end of next week?” However enigmatic this may sound, if they utter the word “hold,” you are to consider yourself “on deck” to be hired and should schedule yourself accordingly, perhaps lightly penciling it in your appointment book. If you receive a phone call, or even something as unceremonious as a text message, stating that you are in fact “confirmed,” then it is official: you are making loot. Although the meanings of “on hold” and “confirmed” are easy enough to understand, it only sounds good on paper. There is a vast and nebulous gray area with which everyone from the producer to the caterer must wrestle. How much work does one put into a job before they are confirmed? What if you receive another job offer while on hold or confirmed? The caterer has prepared dozens of tin foil trays of Chicken Marsala, which are left to slowly fester under long extinguished sternos with nobody around to eat them. Who is going to pay? How much do they owe you?

a c ell ed Etiquette title 19 21

NEVER:

ALWAYS:

Be afraid to request a kill fee, especially if you turned down other jobs while on hold. It is money lost, and you are entitled to at least half of your initially determined day rate.

Remember that a first offer takes precedence. So you got offered that sick job, the one where maybe your biggest duty will be to buff out the smudge spot left by a nude model on a piece of furniture. If you are already confirmed for another job, no matter how shitty or underpaid, it behooves you to stick to the first offer.

Cancel via email or text message. A phone call suggests that you respect your crew and that you are truly sorry about the inconvenience, ensuring people will return your call the next time you crew up.

Forget that it is your duty to at least recommend somebody to replace you if you need to break a hold. Make sure it is somebody good, but not too good. You don’t want him or her outshining you on set and taking your clients in the future.

Start spending money before telling the client. Light research and compiling of reference images show that you are a go-getter during the non-confirmed, incipient stages of the job, but avoid any out of pocket purchases before being sure that you will be reimbursed.

Forget to tell everyone you hired that the job has been canned or pushed ASAP. The sooner they know, the less money they spend and the less time they waste prepping for a gig that will never come to fruition.

Get it in writing. It’s okay for freelance assistants to operate under the vague formalities of verbal holds and confirmations, but producers and department heads should try to get official documentation to protect them, especially when large sums of money and labor hours are at stake. It doesn’t have to be a full-on purchase order: a simple email is a legal document.

Keep a detailed work calendar. You may get a phone call from an unrecognizable number at the most inopportune time, say in the midst of pinning a model’s underwear or while enjoying happy hour on a day off. You better answer that phone: everybody knows that a phone call is always potential for employment. Pick up or call back ASAP and make sure you make a note of the days you are put on hold.

Otherwise, it can become a scheduling nightmare, and, if you are that desirable, you might accidentally double book yourself.

Pay full fee and reimburse all expenses if the job is cancelled within less than twenty-four hours notice. Producers should pay department heads full day rates, assistant labor fees and incurred expenses, and department heads should pay their assistants in full for all confirmed days.

Keep your crew abreast of what is going on with the job. It’s hard to ascertain if a job is a definite go or not, but letting your assistants know how likely it is to be confirmed allows everybody to plan ahead, and maybe not get screwed over on any other potential gigs.

Celebrate a good kill fee for no work. It’s a free day, have a cocktail before noon!

Interview 25

How did you first become involved with model management?

When I was nineteen, I looked for a summer job in Milan to pay for a trip with my friends. Through a friend of my dad I found a job for a few months at a model agency in Milan. They asked me if I would drop out of college if hired, and I said, ’Yes, of course,’ although I didn’t have any intention of doing that. But I actually got really into the job and realized it was what I wanted to do.

I ended up staying and it’s now been eleven years [in the business].

in New York you can’t get anywhere else. All the top models are here—it’s really challenging. When you’re introducing new models to the market, the competition for them—and for you as an agency—is really very high. Everyday you learn something new.

Tell me about your scouting process.

I used to come to New York and other cities in the States to scout for my agency back home. One day I was visiting Lana—we were just chit-chatting at the agency—and she offered me a job. She was looking for someone here, and she couldn’t find anybody. I was like ’Okay! I’ll come over.’ We talked about it some more and started the visa process. Two months after I was in New York. It was pretty fast.

We do scouting through other agencies in Europe and in America. We plan trips to other cities, where we visit agencies that we have relationships with or would like to establish relationships with. We try to find new models to bring to New York, people we can develop—new faces or more established models who have had some work. We also do scouting through conventions, which are organizations that recruit brand new faces, and all the agencies in the U.S. go to see them for the weekend. Sometimes we scout models in the street! Or online—lots of people send their pictures through our website. Also, people come in through our open calls—we have them once a week. We sometimes find good models that way—the percentage is not very high, but it’s really always worth doing.

Is it different working in New York?

What’s the process like once you bring a new model to the agency?

I’ve been here three or four years now. It’s a great experience because all the photographers and the major designers are here—everyone shoots in New York City. The experience you get

Once we find a new model, we take Polaroids and start sending out photo sheets of fresh, very clean, nice images of them to clients. Then we see what the response is like. We also get them

How did you come to work at VNY?

28 Photo Deco-Page

PHOTO DECO-PAGE

Al Capone’s Hideout By: Rachel Smith | Photos: Christopher Starbody

title 31

32 title

Al Capone is undoubtedly America’s most notorious gangster.

His name still manages to conjure up images of swirling cigar smoke, starched black blazers, and bloody fingerprints, despite his unglamorous excommunication from society on charges of tax evasion and his eventual dementia. His hunger for power and money was no doubt the culprit for the mountains of enigmatic crimes he and his posse stood behind, and such a hunger is often fueled by a taste for the lavish and luxe. Even Capone’s short-term prison cell was outfitted with Persian rugs and fringed lampshades. However, it is his New Mexico hideout that gives a glimpse of the rugged cowboy persona that all gangsters are hiding somewhere under all that blood and glamour. Now, understandably favored by biker gangs in need of a squat-spot, the hideout, with its expansive panoramic views, adobe-style edifices and dusty shrubbery, shows an entirely new side of the Al Capone that we all thought we knew so well. When imagined in its Prohibition Era glory days, this little getaway spot likely achieved a Brooklyn-born mobster’s utmost and maybe only unattainable fantasy; that of the Wild, Wild West.

title 33

32 How to

AD<D >CKD>8: 7^aa id/ 8a^Zci EgdYjXi^dch CN % &+i] HigZZi CZl Ndg`! CN ***** I/ ***#***#**** ;/ ***#***#****

9Vnh$GViZ

HZci ;gdb/ Ndjg CVbZ HVbeaZ EgdYjXi^dch % 8djgi HigZZi 7gdd`anc! CN ***** I/ ***#***#****

?dW CVbZ HVbeaZ >ckd^XZ %-&&%>ckd^XZ 9ViZ %-#&&#%8jhidbZg >9 8a^Zci EgdYjXi^dch

9ZhXg^ei^dc

IdiVa

%

%

Egde$ LVgYgdWZ Hina^hi" EgZee^c\! H]ddi^c\

%#%%

%

%

HZi 7j^aYZg

%#%%

%

%

GZciVa ;aVih -Ém&'É 8aVeWdVgY lVaa! -Ém&'É l]^iZ lVaa! -Ém&%É iZmijgZY lVaa

%#%%

%

%

6hh^hiVci hina^hi EGDE$H:I 6hh^hiVci &

%#%%

%

%

6hh^hiVci Hina^hi H:I 6hh^hiVci '

%#%%

%

%

6hh^hiVci Hina^hi EGDE$ L6G9GD7: 6hh^hiVci (

%#%%

%

%

DkZgi^bZ [dg gZijgch

%#%%

Egde :meZchZh GZXZ^eih ViiVX]ZY

%#%%

IgVchedgiVi^dc GZXZ^eih ViiVX]ZY

%#%%

HjWidiVa 6bdjci

%#%%

6YkVcXZY :meZchZh I]Vc` Ndj

Ä%#%%

IdiVa 6bdjci 9jZ

%#%%

EaZVhZ bV`Z X]ZX` eVnVWaZ id HVbeaZ EgdYjXi^dch# I]Vc` ndj# H^cXZgZan!

Ndjg CVbZ

Ndjg CVbZ q HVbeaZ EgdYjXi^dch q % 8djgi HigZZi q 7gdd`anc! CN ***** q I/ ***#***#**** :bV^a/ ndjg"ZbV^a5hVbeaZ#Xdb

How to 33

HOW TO:

Write an Invoice

By Jeff Siti

W

e live in a society, people, and within this society there is order, a way of doing things. Aaron Burr didn’t just show up in Weehawken one day and pop Alexander Hamilton in the spine with a .54 caliber bullet ball on a whim. He did the legwork. He wrote letters. He outlined explicitly what he was owed and explained in no uncertain terms that he intended to collect what was his–a simple apology. That was over two hundred years ago, and not much has changed. We’re not big on duels anymore, but getting paid is still very much in style. Luckily for people like us, that means writing a professional invoice, not killing people in New Jersey.

Invoices are an extension of your personality, professionalism, and your overall outlook on mankind in general. If you send a client a clumsily written document asking for a couple hundred bucks like you’ve got a can of Pabst in your hand, chances are that’s the way you’ll be treated. You’ll probably get paid, but the phone won’t be ringing any time soon. So look alive, you business savvy animals; this is how to look good on paper.

You! They say just writing your name is worth something on the SAT’s, but this is the real world where trains leave Cleveland heading east at 59 mph and other trains head west from Philadelphia at 76 mph. Who cares where this high-speed collision takes place unless one of them is carrying your check. Putting an emphasis on your name, address, SS number (or EIN one if you have a company), the date, and other contact information atop the invoice isn’t the worst idea you’ve ever had.

Logos. People love logos. They’re exciting, they make us hungry, and they instill confidence in those who do business with you. A company letterhead is like a sexy haircut, and sexy haircuts are never wrong.

Details. Writing invoices is a lot like solving mysterious crimes–both weigh heavily on the fine print. But we don’t traffic in corpses and Zodiac ciphers, so always remember to include the job and invoice numbers, and any other particulars that pertain to the specific job you are referencing.

Client Info. Let them know you’re thinking about them by including their mailing information on the invoice. Everyone loves attention, and it shows that you care enough to know who the hell you’re doing business with.

Description. Here it is: your day in the sun. It is crucial to outline exactly

what work you’re being compensated for, and what equipment was used. You also need to list days worked, the names of any assistants, transportation costs, and any other fees or expenses that apply to the job.

Sum it up. The amount you’re owed is by far the most important thing in your life, and it should be lethally accurate. A slip of the calculator can lead to some serious bullshit and you don’t need that. Numbers can get confusing after a long day, so check the total and check it again. If you’re not sure, ask your weird neighbor with all the computer equipment to take a look at it. He may wear a robe all day, but he’s just the kind of dude you need for this sort of work. Never make eye contact, and do your best not to look at anything in his apartment. People are killed everyday for knowing too much.

Who are they writing this thing out to? You, that’s who, and the world’s a better place because of it. Below the description, give them the name your parents gave you (or your company’s name), and everybody wins.

Etiquette. Following in the fine tradition of Colonel Burr, be nice. Even though Hamilton deserved exactly what he got, Burr never acted in any way unbefitting a gentleman, and neither should you. Regardless of your experience, don’t forget to thank the client. Decorum goes a long way in this world, and we would all do well not to forget it.

If you really feel like making someone’s day, include an extra copy of the invoice. It may just be a disembodied voice you’ve been dealing with, but somewhere in the world there is a healthy, breathing, living human being that could use a simple favor. Make up for all the times you didn’t rewind Road House back in ‘89. It’s the right thing to do.

More you! Sign that thing on the dotted line like you know what you’re doing and treat yourself to a genuine pat on the back. You’ve done your job and you’ve done it well. Now you’ll be compensated accordingly, like a real person in the real world with a real job. And in case you don’t read the newspapers, the best thing you can do with your money is spend it as fast as you can wherever you can, like you’re some sort of loose cannon. Preferably on a nonrenewable resource or meat.

Do it for your country. God save the King.

location:

Theater

Photos by Andrew Lucas | By Rachel Smith

title 37

As a city full of thespians and cinephiles, New York has been in production for quite some time. We don’t just mean Broadway shows or movie shoots; we’re talking about the spectacle houses themselves. What tends to go unnoticed amongst the shining starlets and harlots of both summer blockbusters and The Producer’s competition, is the space in which they entertain us. New York’s theaters are like independent vessels, floating in the antigravity of city life. Their insides often reveal a world untouched by the changes and drama found in the streets. Instead, their interiors possess a different dramatic flair, one that colors their participants and feature films in shades of limelight that would otherwise be washed out by the shadows of skyscrapers and the din of rush hour traffic. Resource set out to shoot some of the most photogenic theaters that New York has to offer. With their unique style and flair, these spots are beautiful in their own right.

ยง

38 title

Flamboyan Theater. 107 Suffolk Street. New York, NY 10002. 212-260-4080

Film Forum. 209 West Houston Street. New York, NY 10014. 212-727-8110

title 39

Teatro Sea at LosKabayitos Theater. 107 Suffolk Street. New York, NY 10002. 212-529-1545

Soho Playhouse. 15 Vandam Street. New York, NY 10014. 212-691-1555

40 title

St. Marks Theater. 80 St. Marks Place. New York, NY 10003. 212-598-9802

Joyce Theater. 175 8th Avenue. New York, NY 10011. 212-691-9740

title 41

HISTORY PAGE:

Nevermind

40 History Page

Nevermind, by Kirk Weddle, Pasadena, California, 1991. By Charlie Fish | Photo by Kirk Weddle

History Page title 41 43

If Kurt Cobain were alive today, no doubt he’d profess he could care less about the 26 million copies the 1991 Nevermind album has sold worldwide. Or he’d mutter indifference about Time naming the album one of the finest of the 90s. Or even laugh at Rolling Stone naming it one of the greatest albums of all time. It’s not an unfounded “what-if”, given that Cobain struggled throughout his short-lived career with his increasing fame and omnipresence on the airwaves. “Selling out” and seeking the limelight was not a code by which the flannel-shirted rocker abided by. His goal was not to become an A-lister, but to—as indicated by the progression from record to record—give a nod to his punk and grunge predecessors while simultaneously propelling the Seattle sound into sonically discordant, transcendent harmony. Er… guitar nirvana, if you will.

Perhaps a clue to his reaction towards his success lies in the lyrics to Nirvana’s biggest radio-friendly unit (and catalyst for the band’s legendary acclaim), “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

The band hadn’t really taken off that much; they were kind of below my radar. So they were like, ‘It’s a cake job; small band.’ I didn’t really know what I was getting into at the time.

“I found it hard/ It’s hard to find/ Oh well, whatever, nevermind.”

On the image: Kurt Cobain wanted to shoot a baby being born underwater, and that’s a difficult thing to do, and it’s kind of a radical visual. I don’t know who did the whole concept part. I think that the album cover is a hell of an image. It is about selling out, going for the cash. You have a little baby underwater with no air swimming for a buck on a fishhook.

Named after the aforementioned lyric, Nirvana’s 1991 album Nevermind effectively changed the course of rock ‘n’ roll, bulldozing the way for other grunge and alternative acts to reign in the charts and on MTV for the duration of the 90s.

At the height of their career, even respectable, highbrow newspapers were singing the band’s guttural praises. But before Nirvana’s music became a staple in rock history, before Kurt Cobain strummed the opening lines of “Rape Me” on stage during the MTV’s Music Awards (even though producers informed him they’d pull the plug on all the band’s videos if he did), before rehab, before Frances Bean, and before his apparent suicide left a legion of fans in stunned silence, the former indie-label band was gearing up to release their first album under Geffen Record’s DGC label. Naturally, the progressive-minded, government-weary, establishment-hating singer wanted an image for the album artwork as jarring and electric as the album itself.

Resource spoke to Kirk Weddle, the underwater photographer responsible for the Nevermind album cover, to find out how the image came about, whatever happened to the kid, and Kurt’s inability to swim.

On shooting an infant underwater: It’s kind of hard to find a kid to do this. But I had a friend of mine who’d just had a baby, Spencer, and he was four months old. We took him out to a public pool in Pasadena [that] we rented for a couple hours. It was really a small crew, just me, one other guy, the kid, and his parents. For that shoot, I used a Nikon F3 and an Aquatica housing. I set up the camera in housing on a tripod on the bottom of the pool. We did a little pre-light on a doll. We got the kid in the water, and blew a little puff of air in his face: when you do that, babies will hold their breath. The mom, Renata, dunked him in the water and gave him a little shove and he drifted by the camera, and bang, bang, bang. The dad, Rick, pulled him out. He was fine so we did it again, and then he started crying, so we were done. The whole shoot was less than one roll of film. I got another guy to do the dollar bill on the fishhook, which I [superimposed] in later.

On the gig: I got a call from somebody at Geffen who wanted to know if I had a stock shot of a baby underwater. I didn’t, so that kind of went away.

And then a couple of months later they called back and asked if I could shoot a baby for them.

On the infant’s penis: It was such a dick shot that I was afraid they were gonna freak out. The kid’s penis is forefront in the picture. So I shot a little girl from the side, a little ten-month old. But the guys in the band really liked it, so we went with the original shot.

On shooting the band: The band shoot was a couple of months later after the album had come out and they were doing well. There was a little intimidation because you had the whole fucking record label there. It was a hectic shoot as there were a lot of technical aspects of it. There were a lot of instruments in the water, there was a set; it was a lot to deal with. Kurt was a little tired. They were traveling on the road a lot. He wasn’t a good swimmer, not much of a water guy. It was a brutal shoot that day. It was really cold and the water was shitty. It was tough.

On the kid: The band gave the kid a platinum album that he had in his bedroom for a long time. They were pretty delighted with it. I shot the kid again when he was ten in the same pool; we recreated the shoot for Rolling Stone.

Where is Spencer Elden?

The seventeen-year old is now in a National Guard Youth Challenge program in California and will finish the program in mid-June. Although he’s made TV appearances and has been interviewed by numerous media outlets (and would presumably speak to Resource to retell his story), the teenager is on a secluded naval air base with no Internet access and restricted phone usage. One of the most recent interviews he gave was to MTV.com, where he said about the image, “It’s kind of creepy that that many people have seen me naked. I feel like I’m the world’s biggest porn star.”

44 title

AS SEEN IN RESOURCE MAGAZINE:

Economy Candy BY: Joe Fassler | Photos: J J Sulin

Economy Candy: the world’s best snacks and sweets are on the Lower East Side, and it’s a bull market.

As Seen 43

“E

conomy” is nobody’s favorite word. It dangles over today’s news and media, brandished like a doomsday sign, a grim specter of things to come. It’s something to hang hopes and fears on—and it often gets saddled with all our culture’s paranoia and dread. The word is sprinkled through our anxious conversations, on the things we watch and read, and through the speeches of politicians. It’s trotted out as fodder for all kinds of cloudy predictions; it walks hand in hand with stern concepts like recession, inflation, and deficit.

“Economy”—it’s a tangle of worries and raw nerves.

Not so, though, at Economy Candy on Rivington Street in the Lower East Side. Here, it is not the dreaded noun “the economy,” but the adjective we all love—cheap, it tells us, and copious. And “candy”, for better or for worse, is a lot of people’s favorite word. The store couldn’t be more aptly named. The place is a wonderland. Stepping inside even from the lively LES streets is like leaving Dorothy’s Kansas for a confectioner’s Technicolor Oz. The store is one huge, high-ceilinged room with brightly colored treats stacked from the floorboards to the rafters. There are every imaginable variety of chocolate, old-time five-cent candies, dried fruits and nuts galore, deluxe teas, and novelty items like wax lips or gigantic Pez dispensers. You’ll find the items you thought had vanished from store shelves for good. No matter what decade you grew up in, they’re all here: Fun Dip, Big League Chew, Necco Wafers, Red Hots, and Beeman’s Gum. Customers rush around giddily, giving new meaning to the phrase “like a kid in a candy store.” “There’s nowhere like this place,” one woman gushed. “They have everything. They remember everybody.” It’s easy to see why people get excited. The economy of this store is no drab commerce, there’s none of the blandness of so many of today’s retail outlets, as redundant and impersonal as Warhol’s soup cans. Instead, there’s a wild palette of colors, all manners of whimsical wrappings and packagings, infinitesimal delights on a massive scale. Everything is loud, cobbled, stacked, and precarious—it’s more like something dreamed up by Takashi Murakami.

Jerry Cohen ambles through the aisles, walking around like he owns the place, which he does. Candy, like sugar, runs in his blood. “The store was opened back in 1937 by my father,” he says. “The only time I saw him was when I was working with him. He was a workaholic— seven days a week.” Sweets might symbolize leisure time and extra cash, but the business was built through hard work. “We used to have early setup at seven in the morning,” Cohen recalls, noting how his father would spend an hour each day at dawn, setting up outdoor displays, during the dog days of summer, in rain, snow, or sleet. “Our hours were seven to seven. Then we’d come home and go right to sleep! That was our lives.” The business so thoroughly dominated his time that Cohen didn’t even get credit from sweet-toothed local youth.

“I was fat,” he says. “I had no friends, just a lot of cavities. I used to run to the dentist down the block and get fillings. I have a lot of silver in my mouth.”

Although the store is no longer in its original building—when a landlord tripled the rent in the mid-eighties, the store moved from the corner to the middle of the block—it retains its old-time feel. “We try to have everything of the old school that I was brought up on,” says Cohen. “Chocolate-covered Graham crackers, dried fruit for the old-timers, halvah bars, jelly beans, gummi bears. We’re a small space, wall to ceiling, not fancy, not a Dylan’s or whatever. We are the real thing.” Even though the store is beloved in New York and known

throughout the country, the staff tries to treat customers with the graciousness of older family businesses. Cohen notes that it’s important to “always tell a joke with the sale,” and stresses negotiating with individual customers. “It’s the old fashioned way,” he insists. “If someone wants a deal, or something—you know, discuss it. You should listen to the customer.” Cohen admits that he’s sometimes tempted to move to the bar code system, or change over to a method that would standardize everything, but he says, “We’re not run that way.” Maybe that’s why people keep coming back. Cohen loves talking to customers who tell him that “their parents came here, their children came, and now their grandchildren come. We’re a store that is handed down,” he says.

Though Economy Candy hasn’t changed much in seventy years, radical changes have taken place outside its doors. Cohen knew the area as a gritty tenement slum, and he watched it develop from a near war zone of street violence and drug gangs to the hot real estate market it is today. “It was a tough neighborhood,” he says. “We would close up the store fourteen different ways and run home. There were drug dealers, knifings. You had to make a living—but you’d be scared!

People would be coming in, and everyone had guns and knives and things. You didn’t see any cops. You took matters into your own hands.” How? “I had my baseball bat underneath the counter,” he shrugs. These days, things are obviously different. “The neighborhood is changing. All the old timers who used to live here are being forced out. Their buildings are coming down and the condos are coming up.”

The country has changed, New York is radically different, and the economy drops and soars and drops again—after years in the shop, with constant access to sweets and treats of all kinds, do your tastes change too? Do you lose your sweet tooth? Do your teeth even fall out of your head? Cohen says no, and he’s still got a white smile to prove it. “When I’m over here, it’s the cashews,” he says. “Over there I’m nibbling on the butter crunch, jelly rings—there’s no end. When my wife is here, I eat raw almonds—it’s healthier.” And when she’s not, does he have a favorite? “Then I go with chocolate-covered Oreos.”

Economy Candy 108 Rivington Street, between Essex & Ludlow Streets New York, NY 10002 800.352.4544 www.economycandy.com

44 Fashion Page

FASHION PAGE:

Photographer

By Rachel Smith | Photos by Eric Hason

Sure, some people unfairly categorize photogs as shady guys, but who could be surprised when many insist on making their shades an almost permanent extension of their oh-so valuable eyes? While one would assume that the cleanest, clearest path of literal vision would be in the best interest of a photo shoot, it’s the photographer’s path of mental vision that seems enhanced by their “shady” ways. Photographers set the mood for the set, the crew and the image. Hiding behind those Ray-Bans can make even the most bashful of shutterbugs come off as the next Terry or a modern-day Thomas of Blowup.

Fashion Page title 45 47

On Francesca: Dress: Disaya Ring: Delphine-Charlotte Parmentier Shoes: 21 from rrrentals On Derrick (throughout): Shirt: Roberto Cavalli for H&M Jeans: Just Cavalli Sunglasses: Gucci Boots: Models own

46 Fashion Page

On Francesca: Dress: Disaya Shoes: Steven from rrrentals

Fashion Page 47

On Francesca: Dress: Hussy Shoes: Nine West from rrrentals Crochet Silver Ring with stones from rrrentals Large Blue Oval Ring: Victoria Tillotson Earrings: Delphine-Charlotte Parmentier

48 Fashion Page

On Francesca: Dress: Disaya Shoes: Steven from rrrentals

Fashion Page title 49 51

Fashion Stylist: Andre Austin - www.AndreAustin.com Fashion Stylist Intern: Omar Make-up: Marina Hirano Hair: Lacy Redway Models: Francesca (Fusion) and Derick Van Den Bussche (Red)

52 title

INDUSTRY TALES:

I Shot Harvey Weinstein And I Have the Pictures to Prove It.

By Kenny Aquiles | Illustrations by Azikiwe Mohammed oasted potatoes with herb garlic cheese and Sevruga Caviar is the, “I want them to know I make money … but not TOO much money” choice. Mini potato pancakes with homemade applesauce is a cheap and easy choice for the “We’re Jewish … but not religious enough to get proper kosher catering” crowds.

Vegetable Tempura with ginger dipping sauce is the hypocrite hybrid-car-driving-Nazi-liberal-hippie choice. And Pesto Pantesco is just too easy: everyone loves fucking pesto. You can add it to a plate of burning PVC pipes and, with proper presentation and lighting, serve it at the most fanciful of galas. Good catering revolves around selection and audience awareness. It’s never about the food’s quality. Most people don’t know anything about genuine food. They think chicken rolls are a delicacy in Liguria.

They think getting their burgers well done will prevent them from contracting mysterious bovine diseases from England. They are the same fatties who think Pellegrino is just seltzer. They are the people who say wine comes in three flavors.

Being a great caterer isn’t easy; actually, it isn’t even fun. Getting lucky means servicing a celebrity photo shoot, a wedding, or better yet a feigned fund raising event with an impractical objective. The latter, usually the most intriguing, involves actors and their immense white guilt, congratulating each other for being so involved in the eradication of world hunger, by, you know, posing for the cameras with their cosmopolitan kid collection.

The hardest thing about catering is accepting that you will inevitably integrate with someone’s elusive party package. You become a lazy susan with a fancy blazer matching the decor.

The only thing separating you from the furnishings is a clip-on bow tie and melanin. A big night, like tonight, usually means missing your breaks and cleaning up leftover squid dishes you never knew existed. You’ll be up till 3 am, but don’t worry, the pungent smell of ammonia from the cleaning Mexicans will keep you more alert than you would like to be. Which is fine to a certain extent, since it’s time and a half pay after midnight.

The official food productionist always has the right to get inebriated. It can be difficult getting drunk discreetly, but it’s nothing a hidden flask can’t fix. If you want to get creative, simply get high off all the hot air emanating from your elite patrons.

Tonight is the night: an event that will draw in all the eyeballs. The slickest Madison Avenue breadwinner couldn’t compete with what’s about to happen. Their attention grabbing gimmicks are as pointless as this sham carousal.

When they speak you’ll realize the most recurrent comments revolve around the same set of phrases. Buzzwords intertwined with insincere compliments and tawdry smiles.

Getting it going at the right moment is key.

Timing constructs the speculation of envy and brainless back-story babble. It should be done right before the dancing begins, which is when the open bar starts, so our audience will be wide-eyed and ready for some viewing. Identify your overweening target, and avoid the floor of bopping bodies since that would require a

Industry Tales 51

very awkward trip past the hipster DJ pumping remixes of last years hits. The confusion would be fun to watch, but we’re here for the eyeballs, not for the humor.

Best way to sneak in your piece? Most recommend the elusive wine case—everyone handles it with care, and no one is allowed to touch the most expensive bottles except for the underpaid and jaded catering manager. Wrap it in a thick cleaning towel and you’ll prevent any conspicuous clanking. Also, befriend the bar back since you’ll need to retrieve your coveted noisemaking instrument. For some reason, shit is a lot clunkier when placed inside a pair of cheap rental trousers.

What’s hard is managing to capture the fright of his fat face within the small window of time between the initial threat and the final takedown.

The cameras will be flashing so make sure your vision is in top condition in order to avoid a misreading from your light meter. It is about anticipation and anxiety control. Steady hands and confidence when you’re capturing make all the difference: you will need to relish in the way he falls back on his bulbous over-fed ass.

His insincere tears will tell you he cares more about his cigar collection than he does about his trophy wife.

Shaking is inevitable, so let the Diazepam work its magic.

Screaming while you shoot is probably the worst. It ruins your concentration and makes you think about how this moment can so easily turn into a psycho fan made-for- TV movie you never wanted made. You need to get beyond the blur of red, gold and hot people. Walk up to him, grip his flabby arm, and whisper in his ear that you have a very important message to deliver.

He’ll ignore it at first and signal his bodyguards.

This is the point when you pull out your piece and pronounce the cliché shooter mantra: “NOBODY MOVE AND NOBODY’LL GET HURT! ” Inhale deeply so your lungs fill with oxygen and your brain releases that much needed adrenaline. Repeat at least four times, and with each sentence regressively slow down your speech.

You’re speaking to children as they watch their Hollywood home burn down so they need to be reassured.

To your unwilling adversary, you say, “Get down on the floor” (always works as long as you make direct eye contact and speak with the assertive tone you would only use for a misbehaving pet).

“Don’t look at my fucking face” (no particular reason, it just keeps you in control). “Smile for the camera you porky piece of shit” (it’s OK to be mean, you’re shooting the guy). Squeeze his face tightly until his skin turns as red as his imported Chinese roses. Press the lens gently above his right eye and quote lines from your

favorite films. Everyone is watching, so make sure you look composed. The calmer a man is with his machine, the less vulnerable you are to be a hoser hero. A panic-stricken antagonist never becomes a quotable figure, let alone a well-respected mad man.

The hardest thing about catering is creating a comfortable environment and providing services beyond the highest level of excellence, all the while remaining invisible. The distance between you and them is only a symptomatic one. The talents possessed by the man with the Minolta are about as credible as the work of any of our champagne sipping starlets. It has to be from France by the way, otherwise you are drinking sparkling garbage. The public attention is easily controlled with inordinate violence and flashing lights. The trails of death planted on the movie mogul’s sweaty forehead, encapsulated in silver crystals ready to transcend the baron himself, only provide jubilation in retrospect, so make sure you have an escape plan for your medium.

My film is loaded and I’m ready to start work.

54 title

IPOD SNAPSHOT:

IPODS: MORE IMPORTANT THAN PANTS? By: Jeff Siti | Photos: Nick Ferrari

John’s iPod- Digital Tech 1. I’m So Tired-The Beatles 2. Can I Kick It?-A Tribe Called quest 3. (Another Song) All Over Again-Justin Timberlake 4. Make Your Own Kind Of Music-“Mama” Cass Elliott 5. Paper Planes (DFA Remix)-M.I.A. 6. Paper Planes-M.I.A. 7. Dream a Little Dream of Me-“Mama” Cass Elliott 8. Oh! Darling-The Beatles 9. Cecilia-Ace of Base 10. Back to the Old House-The Smiths 11. Be My Baby-The Ronettes 12. Me and Mr. Jones-Amy Winehouse 13. Under Pressure-queen and David Bowie 14. Lights-Journey 15. Black and White-Sarah McLachlan 16. Such Great Heights-Iron and Wine 17. Blue Eyes-Cary Brothers 18. That Was A Crazy Game of Poker-O.A.R. 19. The Carnival is Over-The Seekers 20. Hey! Baby-Bruce Channel 21. Highway Blues-Marc Seales 22. Hungry Eyes-Eric Carmen 23. In the Waiting Line-Zero 7 24. Lebanese Blonde-Thievery Corporation 25. New Slang-The Shins

Rita’s iPod- Prop Stylist 1. Let Go-Frou Frou 2. Mercy On Me- Christina Aguilera 3. Save Me From Myself-Christina Aguilera 4. Hurt-Christina Aguilera 5. Don’t Panic-Coldplay 6. Who wants to Live Forever-queen 7. We’re In This Love Together-Al Jarreau 8. The Look of Love-Dusty Springfield 9. Avalon-Roxy Music 10. Hero-David Bowie 11. Lose Yourself-Eminem 12. Ti Amo-Umberto Tozzi 13. A Sorta Fairytale-Tori Amos 14. Every Little Kiss-Bruce Hornsby 15. Breathe Me-Sia 16. I Only Have Eyes For You-The Flamingos 17. Give It To Me Baby-Rick James 18. Don’t You Want Me-The Human League 19. My Prerogative (Single)-Bobby Brown 20. Sunrise-Simply Red 21. Waiting For a Girl Like You-Foreigner 22. I Only Have Eyes For You-The Flamingos 23. Let’s Live For Today-Grass Roots 24. Soul Provider-Michael Bolton 25. Jap Man SatNam-Snatam Kaur

Jack’s iPod- Delivery Boy 1. Innuendo-queen 2. Headlong-queen 3. I’m Going Slightly Mad-queen 4. The Show Must Go On-queen 5. Crucify-Tori Amos 6. Girl-The Beatles 7. Puff, The Magic Dragon-Peter, Paul and Mary 8. Lemon Tree-Peter, Paul and Mary 9. Mrs. Robinson-Simon and Garfunkel 10. Bridge Over Troubled Water-Simon and Garfunkel 11. El Condor Pasa-Simon and Garfunkel 12. Ain’t No particular Way-Shania Twain 13. Always-Atlantic Starr 14. Breathe-Faith Hill 15. Big In Japan-Alphaville 16. Tom Sawyer-Rush 17. Only Hope-Mandy Moore 18. Home-Michael Bublé 19. At Last-Etta James 20. C’est La Vie-Shania Twain 21. See You Again-Miley Cyrus 22. Bad-Michael Jackson 23. Fireflies-Faith Hill 24. Come Away With Me-Nora Jones 25. 99 Red Balloons-Nena

Amelia’s iPod- Photo Editor 1. Lay Lady Lay-Bob Dylan 2. Mack the Knife-Bobby Darin 3. Blue Moon-Billie Holiday 4. You Ain’t Going Nowhere-Bob Dylan 5. For What It’s Worth-Buffalo Springfield 6. Evil Ways-Carlos Santanas 7. The Passenger-Bauhaus 8. Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door-Bob Dylan 9. Me Voy a Pinar Del Rio-Celia Cruz 10. Hollow Log-Beck 11. Cyanide Breath Mint-Beck 12. Harlem-Bill Withers 13. Stop-Bloomfield Kooper Stills 14. Let’s Stay Together-Al Green 15. Tangled Up In Blue-Bob Dylan 16. My Baby Wrote Me A Letter-Box Tops 17. Collage-Breeders 18. I Kill Spies-Agent Orange 19. The Same Love That Made Me-Bill Withers 20. I Shall Be Released-Bob Dylan 21. If Not For You- Bob Dylan 22. The Boy With A Thorn In His SideBelle and Sebastian 23. Ache’n For Acres-Arrested Development 24. Alberts Shuffle-Bloomfield Kooper Stills 25. And I Love Her-Beatles

The iPod has taken over the universe. iPods are more important than pants now.

We would be late for work, stop eating, and push homeless people in front of trains if we didn’t have them. We’re sick. If iPods ever become self-aware and learned how to transform themselves into massive, blood thirsty DeceptiPods, we would all die horrible deaths. Godzilla will look like a nine- year-old fat girl in comparison. But this is crazy talk.

For now, iPods are just hipper, cooler, tiny little portable versions of our medicine cabinets—without the dodgy ointments or exotic balms—that tell who we really are. And we’re just some peace loving Westerners who want to look good naked and carpet bomb the world with David Bowie. Either that, or everybody dies.

54 International

INTERNATIONAL:

Behind the Scenes

By Rachel Smith

While certain industries remain landlocked, save some monthly business trips between multi-lingual associates, photography will always manage to transcend the language and distance barriers created by the vast oceans and time zones of this planet. Here at Resource, we take advantage of this accessibility between coasts and causeways with our promotion of international artists. The following pages showcase photographers reaching far beyond Eastern Standard Time. To see just how universal this industry is, we strive to show you not just the big name shutterbugs, but also those little guys hiding in the dirt beneath your summer home in the south of France and between the cobblestones of some frozen Eastern European street. Even if their toilets run in a different direction, these crazy foreignersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; endeavors in photography succeed in intriguing viewers from all over this blue-green globe.

Submit your photo for the International Productionist Contest!

Go to our Photo Contests on our website for more info: www.resourcemagonline.com

title 57

NOUAKCHOTT, MAURITANIA Artist: Aaron Thomas Gentles Title: In-sha’allah (Lord Willing) Camera: Canon Rebel XT Concept: The streets of Nouakchott became our studio, and this “behind the scenes” image documents the life of the people in Mauritania. Old broken down cars in the middle of the dirt road, trash scattered about and mixing with the sand, a man walking home from work, and two kids running to play soccer at a local garbage dump.

Contact: http://public.fotki.com/Mephibosheth/ aprisonersdream@gmail.com

56 International

VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA. Artist: Morgan T Smith | Title: Model... Maybe?

Camera: Nikon D70 Concept: This is a candid shot of a model waiting for the photographer and his crew to get the lighting right.

Contact: morgantsmith@optonline.net

International 57

NORTHWESTERN BANGLADESH. Artist: Samuel Rhee MD | Title: River Mud Kids Camera used: Panasonic DMC-LX2 Concept: We were on a medical mission to Bangladesh to repair cleft lips and palettes. Bruce Byers was along to document our work so that people at home could understand the importance of helping these children. That day, Bruce was photographing a group of kids that had just covered themselves with gray river mud. By the time we returned to the hospital, he had sixty kids following him.

Contact: rheesam@med.cornell.edu

60 title

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA. Artist: Juliana Boragina | Title: There’s No Glamour in Here Camera: Canon 30D with a semi fish eye (0.45X) mounted in front of a 28mm Canon Lens Concept: The perfect instant photo of backstage: carton on the floor. Shoes that don’t fit.

Last minute text messages. Someone wondering, “Something is wrong with my shirt.” And the model thinking, “I am posing. It’s OK. But I’m bored...”

Contact: http://www.julianaboragina.com soy@julianaboragina.com

International title 59 61

60 International

GULU, UGANDA, Artist: Misha Friedman | Title: Biding Time Camera: Panasonic LC-1 Concept: Photographing photographer Dima Gavrysh on assignment for Doctors Without Borders in Northern Uganda.

Contact: nistru@gmail.com

International 61

BEAUDUC, CAMARGUES, FRANCE. Artist: Gilles Fonlupt | Title: Light to Light Camera: Nikon D2x + 17-55mm Ć&#x2019;2.8, here 17mm Concept: I needed a picture showing our equipment to promote my small company of photographic rental services. We decided with a friend photographer (Antoine Giraudo, here in the picture) to document a shoot he was working on.

Contact: contact@lestudiophoto.fr

64 title

TENERIFE, CANARY ISLAND, SPAIN. Artist: Tracy Lee Cook | Title: Mirror View Camera: Sony DSC-F828, no flash Concept: During a nude shooting, the model wanted to take a small break.

I caught the shot in the mirror.

Contact: http://public.fotki.com/Lee7/

title 65

studios capture file management retouching prepress

www.shootdigital.com

consider shootdigital your official companion to the world. one of the e most knowledgeable crews from the place that pioneered the art of digital capture. ample backup equipment and staff guarantees you to never be left in the cold. prints and contact sheets available on-set or post-shoot for your convenience. password protected server access to view, edit or obtain images from any location worldwide.

23 east fourth street, new york, new york 10003 tel +1 212 353-3330 fax +1 212 353-0367

66 title

set in ice

title 67

ice liquid snow WWW.SETINICE.COM

72 NYPH

A Day at the NYPH Photography Festival

By Jana Hsu Photos by Andrew Lucas and Courtesy of powerHouse Books

NYPH 73

In Brooklyn, there lIes a gorgeous coBBlestone area called duMBo. not far off flows the east rIver, wIth the fossIlIzed crIsscrossIng of raIlroad tracks set agaInst old BuIldIngs, and the Brooklyn and Manhattan BrIdges hoverIng aBove. thIs Is where the heart of the new york Photo festIval Is located.

74 NYPH

NYPH 75

Perhaps you were there on a sunny Thursday or a drizzly Friday, joining the legions of photojournalists, amateur enthusiasts, photography moguls, and tourists for the 2008 NYPH Photography Festival’s first celebration. The festival (held May 14-18th) is heralded as the ignition of contemporary visual media. Festivities included gallery showings and exhibitions, featured artist talks, book signings, and short films by photographers such as Rineke Dijkstra’s Annemeik and Roger Ballen’s Momento Mori. The festival culminated in an evening awards ceremony and an after-party that stretched late into the night.

First, you picked up a pass at the powerHouse Arena, and ambled over to the Media Lounge, grabbing as many free magazines as you could carry home, while pausing to look at the portraiture exhibition curated by Getty Images.

Across the street was Penelope Umbrico’s installation of sunsets pictures from the Ubiquitous Image exhibition.

Next, you strode over to the DUMBO general store café and asked for a baked egg or a breakfast burrito with fresh avocado while noticing everyone in the line had the same NYPH passes hanging around their neck.

If you were lucky, you might have had pre-purchased tickets for the New York Photo Awards Ceremony in the Saint Ann’s Warehouse space.

78 title

While waiting to be seated for a photographerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s presentation, you may have caught a glimpse of a familiar face or two, seen at other photography events around the city. Surrounded by the din of the evening, you looked out the window at the diminishing light on the horizon as you listened to the speakers announcing the names of the award recipients. Sauntering back into the powerHouse Arena space, you mingled with old and new friends, and couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait to tell everyone who missed the festival to come next year.

title 79

80 title

Photoshop Tools

By Marc Cadiente Images provided by Adobe

From Darkroom to Display

"While some of us were wearing pegged acid-wash jeans, baggy sweaters and big hair, photography buffs and brothers Thomas and John Knoll were busy tinkering with early computer technology."

Adobe 79

If I told you I was part of Geek Squad, would you still find my jokes funny or would you look for the nearest escape? What if I told you that I had the skinny on the tools of Adobe Photoshop and the history of their corresponding icons, would you give me another chance then? I think you’d find my tales fascinating, and who knows — maybe you’d find me more attractive. So let’s begin.

In California’s Silicon Valley, Photoshop Product Manager Kevin Conner chats with me over the phone about the world of Photoshop and its evolution. Mr. Conner, as expected, speaks eloquently and intelligently — and with a good degree of technicality — about some of the program’s tools. In a different sense, I feel like a tool, a bit overwhelmed by the incredible abundance of information Mr. Conner can dispense in one single sentence. Still, I manage to understand the Photoshop tool creation process and digest: user interface groups discuss what is needed to improve the program. Engineers write dialogues — sometimes massive scripts — of a certain tool’s capabilities. The software is user-tested, the results are studied, the program is tweaked, and the product is shipped (or updated), and the process starts over again.

Easier said than done.

To fully understand and appreciate Photoshop and its tools, we must look to its creation in 1987. While some of us were wearing pegged acid-wash jeans, baggy sweaters and big hair, photography buffs and brothers Thomas and John Knoll were busy tinkering with early computer technology. Their father had exposed his sons to photography and technology at early ages. Thomas was then in graduate school and had just purchased an Apple Macintosh Plus to help him with his dissertation on the processing of digital images. The computer, Thomas realized, had its limitations — the black and white bitmap monitor could not display gray-scale levels in his images. quite adept with programming, he wrote his own subscripts so the computer would work the way he wanted.

Meanwhile, John was creating computer-generated special effects at Industrial Light and Magic in California. Watching Thomas work one day, John saw his brother writing subscripts that would make the computer recognize objects in an image.

If the computer could recognize these objects, this would allow the users to easily manipulate the images. The brothers decided to create an application that would allow just that, and the result was “Display.” As John continued to test the application, he discussed with his brother what was needed to improve it, and Thomas would write more dialogue. This initial process was followed by several more months of testing and improving the application’s capabilities.

At that point in 1988, the brothers decided to develop Display into a commercial application. Thomas finished a beta version, which John demonstrated to large corporations in Silicon Valley, the birthplace of many technological advancements and mass production. After several rejections, one company, BarneyScan, showed some interest, and the company bundled

82 title Photoshop 1.0 was shipped in February 1990. Since then, the cycle of refinement has continued, and Photoshop has become the standard in digital arts.

the application (under the name BarneyScan XP) in with its scanners.

Later in 1988, John demonstrated Photoshop to Adobe (no one knows exactly when the name of the application changed to Photoshop, not even the brothers). The company was enthusiastic and by April of the following year, Adobe agreed to buy the license to distribute the program. After ten months of further development, Photoshop 1.0 was shipped in February 1990. Since then, the cycle of refinement has continued, and Photoshop has become the standard in digital arts.

Back to present day, when we all feel we’ve known Photoshop forever, let’s examine the nitty-gritty, and explore the application on as human a level as possible. Why do the icons look the way they do and how do the icons relate to their functions?

Photoshop 0.87 Photoshop 1.07 Photoshop2.01 Photoshop2.51 Photoshop 3.02 Photoshop 4.01 Photoshop 5.0/5.5 Photoshop 6.02 Photoshop 7.01 Photoshop Cs

I start with Mr. Conner again, “How was it decided that there was going to be a Flowing Stars or a Dune Grass brush?” “It starts with user interface and how the end-user can interact with the presets and discover the range of possibilities of the tool.” Like kids getting a new toy, who are excited to explore the many fun scenarios the toy could bring, Photoshop users are encouraged to explore each tool, in order to ultimately make our work easier and more enjoyable. One of the early beta versions of Photoshop was given to photo-realist painter Bert Monroy to test. Using the new software, Monroy was able to create computer brushes that he could use in his own paintings. Thus, the Dune Grass brush was born. Like Monroy, users can create brushes and share them with one another on action exchange websites, once again expanding the usability of the tool and application.

Some of today’s new Photoshop users (think back to your first time with the application) might think that there is a strong correlation between the brushes and the pen tool, and that the pen tool would utilize the shapes and sizes of brushes. They will learn, as we all did, that the pen actually functions more as a trace or outline tool to create clipping paths and move areas of an image. So why not call it a trace tool? This may be a case in which Mr. Conner admits that the user interface group may not have been the best at coming up with names for tools (but he does think the healing tool is the best titled). The magic wand can be used for the same function, but you won’t get the same level of control and accuracy as the pen tool. That’s because the pen tool deals with vector graphics rather than raster graphics. Remember learning about these for the first time? In case you need a refresher course, vector graphic are images that are defined using Bezier curves (a mathematical equation), so these graphics are not constrained to pixels. Raster graphics, on the other hand, are images with whole pixels that cannot be split. Simply put, with the pen tool you can select partial pixels for smoother results and avoid the jagged look sometimes associated with the magic wand. With the pen tool, you can also save clipped shapes and fill them, and — here’s the connection with brushes — store them as brushes.

"Try not to get too attached to these cute and idiosyncratic icons because the look of the entire Adobe family of products is always fluctuating as technology evolves and new tools and concepts open the door to new visions."

Adobe 81

Though brushes and the pen can be considered more graphic design-based tools, Photoshop, as we have learned, also owes its success to bringing photography processing out of the darkroom (or should I say dark ages?). The crop tool comes directly from photography. As artists, photographers attempt to capture the perfect composition, but sometimes, it’s just not quite possible to convey a deliberate message without a little cropping here and there. When looking for another or better point of view, or a more dynamic angle, photographers use L-shaped pieces of cardboard that they slide over proof prints as a way to consider cropping options (sort of like the way movie directors put their hands up to create a window to find that perfect shot). A gadget fancier than cardboard is the double-L crop tool and rod. The rod kept the two Ls together and maintained the proportion of the viewing window as the tool was adjusted. This clever device wasn’t lost in the transition to digital processing. It is the model for the metaphor that we see in the Photoshop toolbox.

The crop tool icon is fairly straightforward, but the dodge and burn (the toning tools) metaphors sometimes bring more confusion than clarity: one looks like a black lollipop while the other looks like a hand throwing the “O” sign (coincidentally, the shortcut key for this set of tools and sponge is O). To understand these, we find its origins again in photography. After photographs are developed in a darkroom, the tones of the film are reversed so that everything light in the photo appears dark on the film and vice versa. When the film is printed, the enlarger shines through the film and the image is focused on chemically treated paper. The paper remains light where the film is dark, and gets dark where the film is light. While the photo is developing, the photographer has the opportunity to block out more light (dodge) to make selected areas of an image lighter.

This can be done by casting shadows on the paper. A popular way to do this is to use what is readily available: hands, strips of cardboard, small objects. Sometimes the best method to dodge light from the center of an image without blocking light from the edges is to attach cardboard to thin wire look at that: it looks like a funky lollipop!) and hold it over the paper. After initial exposure, photographers can do the opposite of dodge which is burn. Adding more light to a selected area and covering the rest of the image makes the affected area darker. Since this is the reverse of dodging, tools include cardboard with holes cut into it or even a hand curled into an O-shape (just like the Photoshop icon!) that allows the photographer to direct the light where he wants it. The dodge and burn tools in Photoshop enable you to control shadows, mid-tones, and highlights without the fun of the extra apparatus.

Try not to get too attached to these cute and idiosyncratic icons because the look of the entire Adobe family of products is always fluctuating as technology evolves and new tools and concepts open the door to new visions. Developers create new paths to the past and the future, both vector and metphorical.

I’ve stated a bit of my curiosity, what about yours? Do you have a yearning to flaunt an I GEEKS tee shirt? Maybe you’re even inspired to buy iheartgeeks.com — the domain is for sale. Besides, you’ll need a place to post all those cool designs you’re about to create.

798 District

86 title

By Jana Hsu. Photos by Thomas Lee

798 District 85

Think of a place

where the modern and the his toric co-exist, a place still adhe ring to elements of the past while simultaneously becoming one of the fastest gr owing, culturallyrelevant hotspots around. This place is the Dashanzi Art Distr ict in Beijing, China.

798 Art District (formerly know n as Factory 798) welcomes a constant influx of artists, mainly coming from As ia, with some from Europe. Ar tists work and live in the abandoned football field siz ed factory space complexes, da ting back to the ‘50s.

This network of fifty or so art galleries supports a growing loc al and expatriate artist community, with such an abundance of live-in lofts, stu dios and at such low rents, it would make jealous Ma nhattanites flee to Brooklyn.

The renaissance of Factory 79 8 began in 2002, when nearby artists of the Chaoyang district took advanta ge of the unused spaces, and transformed the red brick factories, warehouse s and offices into a cosmopoli tan post-industrial art center. Combine the Gugg enheim and 3rd Ward, and you’v e got the 798 Art District. The neighborhood ho sts a growing community of co ntemporary artists and boasts a distinct internatio nal flavor, while maintaining a bohemian and “SoHo-esque” urban lifestyle.

88 title

title 89

90 title

This lifestyle can be seemingly at odds with the looming portraits of Chairman Mao Zedong that don the ceiling arches of one of the factoryturned-art-center. Red character slogans still encourage now long-gone factory workers to work hard and at a consistent pace. How does Mao’s constant presence impact the tenants of 798 Art District? Is 798 in fact a fitting representation of a “New China” – one in which a socialist history is wedded with new and contemporary trends? Will this “New China” be one where an au courant laissez-faire community can survive, all the while preserving key elements of China’s past? In a country like China, can these two really co-exist?

Observers would have to look closely and read between the lines to see if censorship is indeed happening. 798 Art District entertains much international commercial traffic, with fashion shows, fairs, festivals, press conferences, and corporate events happening regularly. People from all over the world are drawn to this cross-cultural Mecca. Neighboring Chaoyang district is the commercial heart of the city and home of the 2008 Summer Olympics. With all the international hubbub, and the crowds the Olympics will draw, China’s official authorities are keeping a watchful yet quiet eye on 798…for now. After all, the Art District is an attractive addition for foreigners. As the world takes notice of 798 Art District, will it attract also more attention from the authorities? Can this area of freedom really last? While Chinese officials question the art’s validity and meaning, Time Magazine has nonetheless dubbed 798 as “One of twenty-two urban centers with significant cultural meaning.”

There is one individual from 798 who believes the avant-garde community will continue to survive. Huang Rui, an artist and writer occupying one of the 798 office spaces, drew attention to the existing threat to the 798 Art District in his book, “Beijing 798.” Rui’s book earned the art district a three year respite from possible censorship from Chinese government authorities…at least until the Olympics are over. For the time being, tenants of 798 continue to show their work to locals and visitors alike. Including a particularly telling piece, from the Cultural Revolution section of the Bochi Space exhibit entitled, “Art is in the Hands of the People.”

With these prophetic words, one who sits in the Old Factory Bar of Art Space 798 may find it easy to envision the co-existing elements of the old and the new – the past and the future – in this formerly drab electronics factory that has been startlingly enlivened by the colors of contemporary art and culture. From photo exhibits of the cultural revolution to an erotic art showcase, one could see all of 798 and come to the realization that industrial accommodations for the freedom of artistic expression such as this and all over the world has the power to change an entire system. Or does it?

How does Maoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s constant presence impact the tenants of art space 798?

title 91

798 http://www.798.xinme.com Beijing Wande Pro. Photo Equipment Co. http://www.wandephoto.com Fine Art B&W Lab http://www.wandephoto.com/workroom/aboutus.php

Combine the Guggenheim and 3rd Ward, and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got the 798 Art District.

92 title

title 93

92 White Walls

White Walls:

By Audrey Kobayashi Photos by Rudy LeCoadic

title 95

My father is moving house again.

We think that he may be addicted to moving, hooked on the thrill of it–the smell of the new thick carpet, not yet unevenly worn, without the incidental stains of daily life; the new view of the neighbors’ bedroom window, with their quirks and qualms still unknown and blank, like photos of strangers; the new white walls unmarked by the ghostly outlines of picture frames now removed, with nail holes like eye sockets staring emptily into the past.

My husband and I went down to Florida to help him pack boxes and clean out the garage. I walked in the front door knowing it would be the last time and looked with new eyes at the photos greeting me in the foyer. There we were, my sister and I, eight and ten at the beach, so much like wild animals, inhabiting the moment without thought of the future, unaware of the impending enclosing picture frame. And there we were in middle school with glasses and braces, leaning on a railing, watching boats pass in the harbor and wishing we were aboard, sailing away from the awkwardness of adolescence. Ascending the stairs at eye level is a map of the disconnected moments of our lives and as I climb past, the words of George Eastman, founder of Kodak, come to mind: “Kodak doesn’t sell film, it sells memories.” But is that really what these pieces of paper and pigment are? Or do these images with their static yet vivid permanence eclipse one’s original memories, supplanting them in the end?

Shall I share with you a little secret? I, myself, cannot remember either of the days documented in those two photographs. I cannot remember the feel of the sandy grit in my hair, or the reason why I leaned slightly to the left. I cannot recall what I was thinking that day as the boats slipped by–though I do remember the way my bathing suit would cling uncomfortably when wet and how much I hated those glasses. These are my real memories, and I am grateful for the trigger the photos provide.

96 title

This trigger effect, known as “memory rehearsal,” is a hot topic of debate in the scientific community. In their essay, “Memory for Emotional Events”, Drs. Daniel Reisberg and Friderike Heuer contend that most of our vivid memories remain sharp due to our revisiting them over and over again, with photographs often spurring this review process. However, vividness is not necessarily a guarantee of accuracy. In fact, the more you revisit a memory, the more likely you are to edit it, slightly rewriting it each time. For example, in one study people were interviewed a few days after the Challenger space shuttle disaster and their stories recorded– where they were at the time, what they were doing, who first told them of the explosion. Three years later they were interviewed again, and even though the interviewees expressed high confidence in their recall of such a momentous event, many remembered a different story than the one they had told years before.

Don’t tell that to my father. For him, memory is memory, a real and solid thing. Though it gets more slippery every day, he still takes Eastman’s famous coda at face value. His family photos may be clumsy and unfocused, but they are gloriously perfect snapshots of our lives, chosen for their ability to portray a coherent timeline. On the other hand, my husband is a photographer, and the few photos we have up in our home are surprisingly different in tone from my father’s. Instead of squinting at birthday candles or standing stiffly arm in arm with my prom date, I am a silhouette standing in a cave by the sea. I can’t help but wonder, what will our house look like in twenty years? In fifty? Will it be covered with perfect photos of our children, painstakingly documented by his lens? Or will it be white, spare and clean, the way the future seems to overwhelmingly be depicted in movies?

Blaise Hayward is a father of two, Eva and Kiefer, six and eightyears old, respectively. He has photographed everyone from Tipper Gore and Sarah Polley, to Kate Spade, Harmony Korine and Margaret Atwood. “I enjoy shooting children and elderly people so much though, because children haven’t learned how to put on airs, and older people are so over it, they can’t be bothered,” he tells me. “I have two [kids], and I enjoy their spontaneity and innocence.”

White Walls 95

“I don’t know if Bailey’s connection with photography is because her father is a photographer, or if it’s due to her need to build an infrastructure around her. “ Shari Spencer

Bill Diodato has captured swooning and slinking models for the pages of Vogue, Allure, Black Book and Interview, to name just a few. “I’ve shot children maybe a handful of times,” he says. “I just did a baby shoot. It was about a baby living to be 150 years old who was born in the year 2000. That was a very conceptual shoot. It was a very clinical approach to photographing a child.”

When it comes to photographing his own children, seven-yearold Adrianna and nine year old William, the nature of the game is entirely different. “As a photographer I shoot pictures of my kids not only because I love them, but also because I love photography. The combination of these two is unstoppable. It goes on all the time and they are just over it.”

Does this mean that Diodato’s house is covered with gorgeous family photos? “I would say there are three in the whole house,” he says, laughing. Hayward as well seems taken aback by my question. “We have very few. We’re not big on that. We just happen to have art on our walls as opposed to pictures of our kids,” he explains. Diodato poetically describes his children as “my living art, walking around me all the time. However, we do have almost twenty photo albums and the kids go through them regularly.”

Hayward puts together Polaroid books of their summers, a tradition started by his father. “Three of them are finished and they are really great. My kids look at them a lot.” Eva and Kiefer Hayward will often show them to their friends on their own accord.

Diodato’s family albums are mammoth yearly undertakings. His children keep them on bookshelves in their rooms. He describes them taking the books down, opening them, and asking about themselves, about who they were before their memories solidified after infancy. “What did I do? What did I used to say when I was two?”

There are photographs in my father’s house that took me twenty years to love. I have turned them around, pushing my blemished image to the wall when friends came to visit, once even hiding a particularly embarrassing print in a kitchen drawer. I can argue semantics about whether those prints represent my true

98 title

memories or merely trigger my original emotions, but I cannot deny that they have helped me to remember who I once was, blemishes and all.

Am I getting old, or are children today just different? In the post-post Aughts it seems that even the little ones understand that a photo will become a memory and that it is perhaps best to edit those memories beforehand. They can do for themselves what previously was done by coddling parents. As if to demonstrate my point I see on the sidewalk outside, three elementary school girls in uniforms posing, best angles to the sun, while a boy, tiny in comparison to his friends, squints at their counterparts on the screen of his cell phone–presumably capturing their image. In seconds the trio have broken from their tableau of tucked chins and coquettishly upturned eyes and are surrounding the boy, dwarfing him. The picture apparently passes muster because soon the girls have their cell phones out, demanding that he email them the image. This is not the world that my parents knew and documented. How would Mr. Eastman have felt about this strange new world wherein his own company encourages us not to “Save your happy memories with a Kodak,” but to “Share moments. Share life”?

Spencer Jones runs a small studio in the basement of his house. There, with the aid of a small staff, he shoots stock for Getty Images, Jupiter, and Glasshouse Inc. Today is February 4th. It’s Bailey’s “Gotcha Day,” the day Spencer and Shari first brought her into their home and lives in America.

On this day every year they watch the video Spencer shot in their hotel in Guangzhou, China, of her caregivers delivering her into their arms. Bailey loves to watch the video, and she loves to look at her Red Book. “When you are adopted in China you get a Red Book,” Shari explains. “It has a picture of the new family together. It’s your adoption certificate.

Bailey is very proud of it. She’s taken it into Show and Tell at school.”

Spencer offers to show me pictures of their little girl. “Her favorite thing to do when she goes to bed is to turn on this slide show. It’s a screensaver, and she watches it until she falls asleep,” he says. We are quiet a few moments, letting the waves of images wash over us–Bailey with her friends, her cousins, hugging, jumping and tumbling. “I don’t know if Bailey’s connection with photography is because her father is a photographer and there are so many beautiful pictures of her,” Shari says, breaking the silence, “or if it’s due to her need to build an infrastructure around her. I think through these photos she’s pieced together a life for herself.” We all pause at a picture of Bailey, radiant in the winter cold, posing next to her cousin in his West Point uniform. In the course of a couple of minutes we have just seen Bailey’s life pass before our eyes.

Bailey’s pediatrician Dr. Jane Aronson, the only pediatrician in the United States whose practice is solely devoted to international adoption, understands the importance of photographs in the bonding process, not only for the chil-

White Walls 97

“I enjoy shooting children and elderly people so much, because children haven’t learned how to put on airs, and older people are so over it, they can’t be bothered.”

Blaise Hayward

dren but also for the adoptive parents. “Years ago, before we had really detailed medicals, most people only had this postage stamp sized picture of the kids,” she says. “They would blow this up and put it everywhere, in their wallet, on the refrigerator, while they were waiting to go and get this wonderful little unknown individual.

They treasured those pictures.” The photograph is in many ways the moment of origin for these new families. Dr. Aronson herself knows from personal experience–she is the parent of two adopted boys, Ben from Vietnam and Des from Ethiopia. “Photographs were my first connection to them. Obviously you bring to the table your imagination and the expectations you have about your child. While filling out the papers you dream about what your child might be like.

And when you see the picture, those dreams come together into this face and body and at that moment it finally becomes real: ‘This is my child. This is the person that’s going to be a part of my life forever.’”

Inspired by his personal experience with his adopted daughter and the effect photography has had on memory building, Spencer Jones recently taught a two weekend course on digital photography at the Children’s Museum of the Arts in Lower Manhattan. Any day of the week children ages ten months to twelve years old can be found there smearing paint, molding clay, and wielding surprisingly durable video equipment under the watchful eyes of professional artists from around the city. Joe Vena, the Media Programs Coordinator, supervised the endeavor. “In addition to roving independently or in small groups with digital cameras and snapping their own pictures, the kids were getting together with this larger, bigger, cooler looking camera that Spencer set up in a room and he was guiding them through the process of close up portraiture,” Vena explains. I think back to when I was ten and something inside of me balks at the idea of a large, expensive camera and professional lights in my face. Perhaps these kids have more in common with

100 title

Blaise Hayward’s and Bill Diodato’s camera-inured off-spring than with me as an elementary school child, who dreaded the annual ordeal of Picture Day. Vena disagrees: “Some of them are camera happy, camera crazy even. But some are nervous about being in front of the lens. In that way they are much the same as adults.” While Joe Vena continues to list the many projects completed by the children at the museum, my mind drifts back to Bill Diodato’s recent photo shoot of the baby who lives to be 150 years old. As Vena’s voice floats over the rooftops of Manhattan on cellular waves, being unscrambled by the chip in my cell phone and then re-scrambled by the gray, mushy mess in my brain, I see everything that he describes. I see white walls adorned with finger paint masterpieces, construction paper collages next to flat screen panels playing digital photo slideshows and stop motion epics. I see children tilting and wheeling through these hallways unafraid of creating and being recreated by the camera every day anew, the masters of their own memories. Perhaps this really is what the future will look like–a bit more colorful and chaotic than any of us would have ever presumed.

Thank you to the Society for Martial Arts Instruction Karate - 4 W. 18th St. 3rd Fl., NY, NY 10011 - 212.677.7228

“As a photographer I shoot pictures of my kids not only because I love them, but also because I love photography” Bill Diodato

y t i n a s n i e h stop t

rrrentals

discover and movies lm fi , to o h p r fo

title 101

wardrobe y r a r o p m te n o c and rent and returning g in y u b f o d a te ins

42 6120 oor tel 212 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2 fl th 11 et re st 245 west 29 th m @rrrentalsny.co fo in m co y. n www.rrrentals

100 Propheads

Propheads 105

WEAPONS Specialists LTD

114 Propheads

MODPROP

116 Jody Ake

a ThE LAST ALchEMiST a

By Heather Simon . Photos provided by the artist. Story concept: Cynthia Broderson Jody Ake is one of the last photographers to make a living using the wet a goatee and a tattoo of a skull and hearts on his arm, his demeanor screams collodion process. He lives in Greenpoint, and frequents Grumpyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, a hipearly 90â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. Like his photographic technique, it is clear Jody is content with ster hangout, though he is far from a stereotypical Brooklyn photographer simplicity. It is less about advancing his image or photographic style, and more with tight jeans and a 12mp Nikon or swanky, vintage Cannon. With about finding joy and beauty in subtleties.

title 119

120 title

The Camera is the magic wand held by every photographer.

Jody, what was your first camera?

Uh-I dunno, just a regular camera. It was never about cameras for me. I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t into photography because of all that commercial high-tech fancy shit. I just liked to mix chemicals.

Pyroxylin! Alcohol! Ether! Oh my.

What is the wet collodion process?

Frederick Scott Archer founded this technique in 1851. The process involves mixing pyroxylin, alcohol, and ether to make collodion. Add zinc bromide and nitric acid and pour this solution over a clean glass plate.

After the plate is evenly covered, you place it in silver nitrate for a couple of minutes. This mess of chemicals makes glass plate negatives (ambrotypes), the best reproducible negatives at that time. The process is messy and dangerous and died as dry plate methods came into play. Today the only wet collodion images anyone sees are from the Civil War.

Jody Ake 119

A glimpse of something more.

Why wet collodion?

To conform or not to conform.

What’s it like working in NYC?

I knew how to make a flawless print. Everyone in my photography class at the College of New Mexico could. After four years, I grew tired of working in the same sterile darkroom and producing the same predicable prints.

When I got to the University of Oregon for grad school, I took it upon myself to look into older methods of photography. Keep in mind, this was the early 90’s and there was no Google. I was relying on books with funny words and ancient dialects to teach me how to mix ether with bromide. It took a lot of focus and energy. But I need the feel of a long day’s work. Hell, I’m from Arkansas and grew up working on my grandma’s farm: I’m not happy until my hands are dirty. I don’t use crazy lenses or intentionally misuse chemicals.

Nothing is contrived about the absurdity of my images. That’s why there is a glimpse of something more in every photograph. You don’t get that with other types of photography.

I came to New York City in the late 90’s. It seemed like the only place I could get a job as a wet collodion photographer that didn’t involve Civil War reenactments. But when I got here, everyone was a photographer. I couldn’t compete with them. I had always been into weird subject matter, and in college I mainly photographed myself. I would have to turn to portraiture and commercial photography if I wanted to make money. So I began to photograph friends and still lives to build up my portfolio. All of my compositions were classic; it was the eeriness of wet collodion that set me apart.

I landed some sweet gigs shooting burlesque troupes and fashion models.

It killed me when people began to think my work was one Photoshopped masterpiece. I know what’s fake, but most people today don’t, or worse, don’t care. It’s funny, I’ll get hired for my dated technique but when I arrive to shoot John Legend, he sure isn’t impressed by my 11’’ by 14’’ camera with authentic 1870s portrait lens. I know he’d prefer a quick digital shoot.

But I refuse to conform. That’s not to say I never use Photoshop. When I’m on a time crunch and an image isn’t developing right, I scan the negative and overlay it above a digital print. I don’t really consider it cheating because the errors of wet collodion are still accurate and present.

122 title

The Brady Project.

What has been the high point of your career?

Starting last June, I spent six months working in Mathew Brady’s studio. I got access to the studio through another wet collodion photographer. Even though I was never into the Civil War, this was freakin Brady’s studio, and he’s the most famous wet collodion photographer there is. He took the freakin photo of Abe Lincoln that’s on the penny! I set out to recreate the portraits Brady had taken in his studio with modern subjects. Ideally I would have gotten Bill Clinton to pose exactly where Abe Lincoln had. But I didn’t have the money or connections so I photographed friends, friends of friends, and most notably actor Alan Cummings. The photographs achieved the spooky feel I was going for. My goal was to get a money grant, gain publicity and get Tom Waits up in there. But the landlord kicked me out before I could make headway. The Brady Project died before it could achieve greatness. As good and creepy as the experience was, it left me bummed about my future as a photographer in the city.

Suck it up and get some freakin’ ether already!

What’s next?

I’m engaged. We’ll probably want a yard at some point and I don’t think I will ever get one working in New York as a photographer. I’ll be teaching a wet collodion workshop this summer, and there’s been some talk of a permanent teaching job in Oregon. I’m afraid the only way to be successful in the city is to conform, and I can’t see myself working in one of those fancy studios. I wish everyone would just suck it up, go out and get some freakin’ ether already. Even after fifteen years, the process—it’s alchemy. I’m not ready to give it up.

title 123

OUR CLIENTS COME IN ALL SIZES.

Studios • Equipment • Creative Imaging (CGI, Digital Capture, Retouching) GET IT ALL IN ONE SHOT. New York (W. 35th St. & Soho) • Miami • Los Angeles • 212-268-7247 • splashlight.com Creative Agency: Wieden + Kennedy

Liaison title 123 125

LIAISON:

Contact Photography Festival Article and Photographs by Audrey Kobayashi

I

f you haven’t heard of the Contact Photography Festival, you are forgiven… for this year at least. Billed as the largest photography festival in the world, it’s a month long photo extravaganza held every May featuring over five hundred artists in two hundred venues across the greater Toronto metropolitan area. The 2008 festival marks its 12th incarnation and is entitled “Between Memory and History: From the Epic to the Everyday”, which is as broad and expansive a theme as can be expected to encompass such a grand undertaking.

Helmed by lanky and exuberant Executive Director Darcy Killeen, the festival sets itself apart from the numerous others held worldwide, not only thanks to its massive scale, but also because of the organizers’ policy of holding an open call for exhibition. With warm Canadian smiles and open arms, they welcome both new artists and established photographers, such as Thomas Ruff and Alessandra Sanguinetti. In case it wasn’t enough to confound the beaten down and beleaguered masses of struggling young artists south of the border, the benevolent geniuses behind all of this bewildering niceness also gather together a star-studded panel of reviewers including Magnum photographer Christopher Anderson, Chairman and President of Houston’s Fotofest Frederick Baldwin, and The New Yorker’s Photo Editor Natalie Matutschovsky. They review portfolios, give direct feedback, and, to a select few, offer a chance to exhibit in the festival itself. Oh Canada! Is this love that I’m feeling?

With two hundred galleries, museums, historic hotel lobbies, and assorted public exhibition spaces to visit, it goes unsaid that there are

far too many events to choose from for even those who live in Toronto and have the luxury of venturing out everyday of the festival’s monthlong stay. But what’s a world-class massive arts festival if not an opportunity to enjoy being beaten into wide-eyed, dumbfounded submission by an overabundance of art?

Killeen and his hardworking crew have set their festival apart by playing to their strengths and scattering the city with a number of striking site-specific public installations that set the heart atwitter. To showcase Robert Burley’s Implosion of Buildings #65 & #69, Kodak Park (2007), in which the artist documented the demolition of the Kodak company buildings while its employees looked on, capturing the event with everything from film to digital cameras to their cell phone cameras, the photograph was blown up into a giant mural on the outside wall of the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art. At the Art Gallery of Toronto, currently undergoing massive renovation by none other than Frank Gehry, the construction is hidden from view by Suzy Lake’s Rhythm of a True Space (2008), with its larger than life Cinderella-like figure sweeping up plaster and other rubble against a backdrop of peeling gray painted walls and contemporary feminist critique. Nearby along the fence of the Consulate General of Italy, Raffaela Mariniello’s stunning shots of Italian tourist destinations glow static and timeless as they are swarmed by the blurred, time-lapse figures of gauche and harried tourists.

Along the hip art corridor of queen Street West, other tourists could easily overlook the photo reproductions of bicycle lock posts that stretch, elongated and distorted, on the sidewalk from the base of the actual lock

posts, mimicking their shadows throughout the day. The photo-stickers conform to the shadows’ true measurements, which artist Anthony Kontras painstakingly charted for his series Obelisk (2008). Kontras had to endure a patience-testing back and forth with city officials since he first proposed the idea and during his search for a material that would seamlessly stick to the pavement but not cause unwary passersby to slip or trip.

However, perhaps the best example of Contact’s organizers and the city of Toronto working together can be seen while stuck in rush hour traffic in the gritty and bleak urban wasteland under the Gardiner expressway. Canadian Robert Graham, who in 1981 created a walk-in camera obscura in a British Columbia forest, has reclaimed this blighted space with Tree Portraits. Beautifully shot, these portraits of the giants of the northern woods are affixed upside down to the overpass pylons. Branches stretch like roots down from the foreboding mass of concrete that groans with the passage of trucks overhead. The photos impress the majesty of nature on the hundreds who pass through the intersection daily, waiting for their traffic light to change. When we were pulling up to the installation ourselves, we observed this effect on a rough and ragged transient who was relieving himself against one of the concrete columns while staring up into the root-branches of that far away tree.

126 title

WHERE TO TAKE YOUR CLIENT:

My Moon / The JakeWalk Review by Sachi Yoshii | Photos by Keith Enriquez

My Moon 184 North 10th Street b/w Bedford and Driggs Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY 11211 718 599-7007 www.mymoonnyc.com

T

his year marks the third anniversary of My Moon, a Mediterranean restaurant in Williamsburg renowned for its beautiful front garden patio deck and orange draped, cabana-style seating. Owner Bener Bilgin and manager Del Rahmanov created a stunning interior out of a former boiler room from the factory next door, transforming leftover circular parts of the boiler into striking steel booths and arresting accents hanging on exposed brick walls. My Moon regularly showcases work by local artists, most recently featuring a motorcycle installation suspended from the lofty thirty-foot ceilings.

Executive Chef Genio Saavedra recently revamped the menu to reflect more conventional appetizers and main courses, as opposed to the tapas and meze-style offered in previous years. The new appetizers are hit or miss. The Sigara Borek ($7), a deep-fried filo dough stuffed with feta cheese, parsley, dill and chives, could more accurately be described as a glorified mozzarella stick. The adventurous may like the Sautéed Blue Point Oysters ($12) as an alternative. Drizzled with creamy leeks, the oysters can appear too heavy, but a light sprinkle of chili flakes finishes the dish off well with a spicy kick. Fortunately, the entrées steal the show, and your clients will love the sweet aroma wafting from the succulent Braised Organic Pork Belly ($20), cooked for over four hours in a balsamic reduction and served with white, creamy parmesan polenta. The Filet Mignon and Baby Lobster Tail ($26) are also good, but the scalloped potatoes layered in vodka cream sauce served with it would have been superb as a side dish.

Belly dancers and live jazz frequently appear, making My Moon an ideal place to take a client who prefers elaborate lounge scenes to gourmet fine dining. You can order food until midnight, but I would recommend drinking up at the bar or enjoying a balmy summer night in the garden instead.

Price $$$ Food ** Ambiance ***½ Garden

title 127

a j p r o d u c t i o n s n y, i n c production casting location scouting

917.209.0823

212.979.7585

w w w. a j p r o d u c t i o n s n y. c o m

ajprodnyc@mac.com

130 Book Review

BOOK REVIEW:

Oscar Wao/Stephen Shore Review by Taylor Dietrich | Photos by Nick Ferrari

H H

e answers his house phone like this: The de Leon residence, how may I direct your call? Lola explains: That is my brother for you. This is why everybody in the world hated his guts. When his “moms”, Beli, is feeling rushed because she works two jobs, she’s Dominican in Jersey, dealing with cancer and a wig, and has eczema, she throws things and forces him out of the house.

In Junot Diaz’s first novel since his critically acclaimed short story collection Drown, he tells the story of Oscar Wao. The book is an unconventional immigrant family saga that reads like a wise manual for the disillusioned teenage urban outcast. This is a worthwhile read for everyone else as well. With ubiquitous cultural references from Tony Montana to Lothlórien and hilarious side notes on Caribbean history, this is in all likelihood the first Pulitzer-prize winner written largely in Spanglish, and a book in which the end justifies all the rest.

Narrated primarily by Oscar’s friend (and Lola’s sometimes boyfriend) Yunior, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is funny, handedly stylized, and amounts to a generally enlivening read. The novel examines the shared difficulties of a family haunted by Diaspora and a curse known to the de Leon’s as Fuku. Yes, Fuku. Sound it out. To each character Fuku means something different. Fuku, I’ve lost myself.

Fuku, the darkness. Fuku, a place where he that menaces me has no face, where a man stands watching from among the cane shoots.

Oscar can be described as a typical adolescent, only if adolescence lasts eight years too long. He does eventually grow into a man, surviving ridicule and humiliation before nearly losing his mind. How does he prevent this? He writes: notes for a quartet of science-fiction fantasies—a J.R.R. Tolkien meets E.E. “Doc” Smith spaceopera called Starscourge. Then he falls in love.

At times, Oscar’s unfortunate qualities (his obesity, his socially repulsive paroxysms, his obsession with nerdity and Samuel Delany) threaten to undermine his complexity.

This is tempered when Oscar sheds his access weight, flies to Santo Domingo to confront the chief of police, whose goons had beaten him so badly that after hospitalization he was forced to leave the country. And what Diaz shares with us here creates a martyr out of Oscar, as well as a possible prophet.

Each character comes across an essential truth, what Oscar calls the Cosmic DNA, what ails us—Beli beaten and burned, Lola watching her mother flummox on the Wildwood boardwalk, Yunior’s treasure trove of regrets. In the story of Oscar Wao, paradox rules the land of essential needs. Here, to find the answer, the only way is forward. For Oscar the only way to gain is to lose. Old habits, the past—confronting the sacrificial aspects of his self with the waging of his life against the possibility of shared love, and the inevitable loss of just one of them.

“THE BrIEf WoNdroUS LIfE of oSCAr WAo” BY JUNoT dIAz rIvErHEAd BooKS

Book Review 131

“STEPHEN SHorE”

BY STEPHEN SHorE PHAIdoN PrESS

W W

hen considering the career of Stephen Shore, it’s difficult to avoid the somewhat troubling feeling that he knew exactly what he was doing. His Kodak snapshots of American culture, his color Mick-o-matic portraits and even latter work with an 8x10 viewfinder all carry the heady markings of inborn talent.

When viewing Shore’s early work, which documents his periodic crossing of the United States in a rental car—pausing at rest stops to photograph his pancakes, shrimp Creole or canned spaghetti—it is natural to assume his intentions ran no deeper than to appease a juvenile desire to discover the appearance of an object photographed. These early works, presented in quality reproduction in Stephen Shore from Phaidon Press and originally published in American Surfaces and Uncommon Places, are flat and platitudinous in scope, and unremarkable in effect.

This is exactly what Shore wanted. In an interview with Michael Fried, Shore said he believed that it is the intention of the photographer that makes a surface transparent or opaque, regardless of scale.

Stephen Shore is recognized for pioneering one of the most influential photographic idioms of the past thirty years. Apart from the diaristic snapshot, he should be applauded for persuading the cultural world at large to accept color photography as a valid art form.

The work published in American Surfaces, particularly the images in which Shore used a camera with a flash beneath the lens rather than above it to create a black outline around his subjects, was noteworthy for its deadpan rendering of the American landscape at a particular time. The 70s and 80s seem peculiar to anyone who didn’t live through them, and Shore plants his gaze on these curious whims of style and taste. His ability to seemingly experience and interpret a time and place in the midst of its creation is where his genius lies.

The photographs in Stephen Shore ignore the great pillars of the American landscape, preferring the banality of humdrum highways to nature’s colossal creations, the parking lot to the canyon. The nondescript features of rural America become snapshots of a present age transitioning to past.

Shore’s work provides a stylistic continuity. The photographs he’s left us over the past three decades record without transcending the boundary of actuality. He is somehow able to preserve the contours of the specific, enhancing rather than diminishing its potential meaning for the rest of us.

134 title Striped dress shirt If H&M is just not kickin’ it your style these days, try on this Japanese export for a change. Uniqlo offers a viable (and fashionable) alternative to Tommy Hilfiger or The Gap, and is a great option for cheap and happening outfits to put your models in, not to mention yourself.

Uniqlo 546 Broadway (between Spring & Prince Streets), New York, NY 10002 917.237.8811 - www.uniqlo.com/us/ Women’s striped shirt dress- $49.50 .

Clear attaché Case Ever get a panic attack because you’re not sure if you accidentally packed something weird or suspicious in your luggage? Swiss Army Knife? Cheese grater? Sewing needles? You pull apart your neatly organized bag only to feel like a fool when all you find are nail clippers, while your granny panties are now draped across the conveyor belt. With a clear attaché case from Takashimaya, you can show the world that you have nothing to hide and get through security in a breeze.

Takashimaya 693 Fifth Avenue (between 54th & 55th Streets), New York, NY 10022 800.753.2038 or 212.350.0100 www.takashimaya-ny.com Clear attaché case- $250

Shrink wrapped shirt It looks like a pile of napkins longing to be stocked into a dispenser, but that wrinkled cube of cloth is in fact a T-shirt. As soon as they get something as small as can be, the fine people of MUJI shrink wrap it. They strip away the gratuitous and focus on the functionality of their products. Perhaps we could all learn a lesson from them. I sense a new movement in philosophical thought.

MUJI 455 Broadway (between Grand & Howard Streets), New York, NY 10013 212.334.2002 - www.muji.com Shrink Wrap T-shirt- $9.95

Go See 133

GO SEE:

Japan

By Alec Kerr | Photos by Kfir ziv

Style Deficit Disorder (book) and Tokyo Street: Fashion Show (DVD) Even the most brilliant minds sometimes get into a rut. Zakka is here to rekindle your creative flame. More than just a shop, it is an artists’ space filled with the latest in Japanese subculture. The below book and DVD are prime examples, as they delve into a fashion underground that has inspired stylists from across the globe. Zakka saves you an expensive plane ticket by bringing home that unbound creativity.

Zakka 155 Plymouth Avenue (between Jay & Pearls Streets), Brooklyn, NY 11201 718.801.8037 - www.zakkacorp.com Style Deficit Disorder (book)- $29.95 Tokyo Streets: Fashion Show (DVD)- $19.95

Camera Boy We all love toys. Don’t deny it and don’t try to be all mature about it either. So forget Toys “R” Us and let your inner child run wild at Toy Tokyo. Find things like figurines holding Polaroid cameras, stuffed Gizmos, and bobble-head Yodas. Go ahead and buy yourself a toy. It’ll feel good.

Toy Tokyo 121 2nd Avenue (at East 7th Street, #2F), New York, NY 1003 212.673.5424 - www.toytokyo.com Mozz Toy, Camera Boy 1- $95

Keyboard eraser When hair, dust, and crumbs from long forgotten meals clog your keyboard, bust out this little ruffian with the scar, dark glasses and leather coat to take care of your mess. Similar offbeat items can be found at Aica, an importer of previously hard-to-find Japanese accessories. The store features a wide range of items you never knew you needed, so browse with caution.

Aica 259 East 10th Street (between 1st & 2nd Avenues), New York, NY 10009 212.598.5903 - www.aicany.com Keyboard Eraser- $14

RESOURCE DIRECTORY

ARTIFICIAL FOLIAGE American foliage* 122 W 22nd St. New York, NY 10011 212-741-5555 afdesigngr@aol.com www.americanfoliagedesign.com

BACKDROPS Broderson* 873 Broadway, #603 New York, NY 10003 212-925-9392 info@brodersonbackdrops.com www.brodersonbackdrops.com

CATERING Green Catering 61 Hester St. New York, NY 10002 212-254-9825 www.greenbrownorange.com/green

DIRECTORY PhotoCrew.com 310-855-0345 www.photocrew.com Production Paradise 646-344-1005 www.productionparadise.com

PHOTO EQUIPMENT Adorama* 42 W 18th St., 6th Fl. New York, NY 10011 212-741-0052 info@adorama.com www.adorama.com Alkit Pro Camera* 227 East 45th St., 12th fl.

New York, NY 10017 212-674-1515 rental@alkit.com www.alkit.com Available Light* 29-20 37th Ave. Long Island City, NY 11101 718-707-9670 info@alny.net www.alny.net Calumet 22 W 2nd St. New York, NY 10010 212-989-8500 800-453-2550 www.calumetphoto.com CSI Rentals 133 W 19th St. Ground Fl. 10011 212-243-7368 csirentals.com

Workbook www.workbook.com

DigiCombos 866-485-4826 www.digicombos.com

ICE SCULPTURES & WATER EFFECTS Set In Ice 718-783-7183 917-974-3259 brian@setinice.com www.setinice.com

foto Care* 136 W 21st St. New York, NY 10011 212-741-2990 info@fotocare.com www.fotocare.com

rGH Lighting* 236 W 30th St. New York, NY 10001 212-647-1114 info@rghlighting.com www.rghlighting.com TREC* 127 W 24th St. New York, NY 10011 212-727-1941 info@trecrental.com www.trecrental.com

PHOTO LABS Baboo Color Labs* 37 W 20th St., #1 New York, NY 10011 212-807-1574 info@baboodigital.com www.baboodigital.com duggal* 29 W 23rd St. New York, NY 10010 212-924-8100 info@duggal.com www.duggal.com Ken Horowitz Photographic Services* 134 W 26th St. New York, NY 10001 212-647-9939 ken.horowitz@verizon.net L & I Color Lab* 1 W 22nd St. New York, NY 10010 212-206-7733 info@landiphotolabs.com www.landiphotolabs.com Manhattan Color Lab* 4 W 20th St. New York, NY 10011 212-807-7373

title 3rd138 Ward* 195 Morgan Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11237 718-715-4961 info@3rdwardbrooklyn.org www.3rdwardbrookyln.org 723 Washington* 723 Washington St. New York, NY 10014 646-485-0920 booking@723washington.com www.723washington.com Above Studio* 23 E 31st St. at Madison Ave. New York, NY 10016 212-545-0550 ext. 3 info@abovestudiorental.com www.abovestudiorental.com American Movie Co.* 50 Broadway, #1206 New York, NY 10004 917-414-5489 info@americanmovieco.com www.americanmovieco.com Atelier 34* 34 W 28th St., 6th fl.

New York, NY 10001

212-532-7727 studio@atelier34studio.com www.atelier34studio.com

Camart Studios* 6 W 20th St., 4th fl.

New York, NY 10011 212-691-8840 rentals@camart.com www.camart.com

Atlantic Motion Pictures* 162 W 21st St., 4th fl.

New York, NY 10011 212-924-6170 adam@atlanticmotion.com www.atlanticmotion.com

Capsule Studios* 873 Broadway, #204 New York, NY 10003 212-777-8027 info@capsulestudios.com www.capsulestudio.com

BathHouse Studios* 540 E 11th St. New York, NY 10009 212-388-1111 manager@bathhousestudios.com www.bathhousestudios.com

CECo International* 440 W 15th St. New York, NY 10011 212-206-8280 info@cecostudios.com www.cecostudios.com

Biwa inc.* 214 W 29th St., #1105 New York, NY 10001 212-924-8483 info@biwainc.com www.biwainc.com

Cinema World Studios* 220 dupont St. Greenpoint, NY 11222 718-389-9800 cinemaworldfd@verizon.net www.cinemaworldstudios.com

Brooklyn Studios* 211 Meserole Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11222 718-392-1007 brooklynstudios@verizon.net www.brookylnstudios.net

SHOW-OFF! your best work

s 56,000 subscribers s 66,000 unique visitors s 6Million hits per month

Amsterdam • Barcelona • Buenos Aires • Cape Town • Hamburg • Istanbul • Lisbon • London • Madrid • Milan • New

www.ProductionParadise.com

for more information contact Mario Geissler

646.344.1005

York • Paris • Rio de Janeiro • Zurich

title 139

Composition Workshop* 45 Summit St. Brooklyn, NY 11231 718-855-1211 Setinbrooklyn@mac.com www.compositionworkshop.com dakota Studios* 78 fifth Ave., 8th fl.

New York, NY 10011 212-691-2197 dakotastudios@yahoo.com www.dakotastudio.com daylight Studio* 450 W 31st St., 8th fl.

New York, NY 10001 212-967-2000 info@daylightstudio.com www.daylightstudio.com dayspace Studio* 447 W 36th St., 5th fl.

New York, NY 10018 212-334-1241 info@dayspace.com www.dayspace.com divine Studio* 21 E 4th St. New York, NY 10003 212-387-9655

alex@divinestudio.com www.divinestudio.com Drive-In 24* 443 W 18th St. New York, NY 10011 212-645-2244 info@diveinstudios.com www.driveinstudios.com duval Enterprises* 8-03 43rd Ave. Long Island City, NY 11101 718-392-7474 adv@duvalenterprises.com www.duvalenterprises.com Eagles Nest Studio* 259 W 30th St., 13th fl.

New York, NY 10011 212-736-6221 eaglesnestnyc@yahoo.com www.eaglesnestnyc.com fast Ashleys Studios* 95 N. 10th St. Brooklyn, NY 11211 718-782-9300 shelly@fastashleysstudios.com www.fastashleysstudios.com

Gary’s Manhattan Penthouse Loft* 28 W 36th St., PH New York, NY 10018 917-837-2420 gary@garysloft.com www.garysloft.com Gary’s Loft* 470 flushing Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11205 718-858-4702 gary@garysloft.com www.garysloft.com Go Studios* 245 W 29th St. New York, NY 10001 212-564-4084 info@go-studios.com www.go-studios.com Good Light Studio* 450 W 31st St., #9C New York, NY 10001 212-629-3764 rickard.cn@gmail.com www.goodlightstudio.com

140 title Greenpoint Studios* 190 West St., Unit 10 Brooklyn, NY 11222 212-741-6864 info@greenpointstudios.com www.greenpointstudios.com

Jack Studios* 601 W 26th St., 12th fl.

New York, NY 10001 212-367-7590 mike@jackstudios.com www.jackstudios.com

Home Studios* 873 Broadway, #301 New York, NY 10003 212-475-4663 info@homestudiosinc.com www.homestudiosinc.com

James Salzano Studio* 29 W 15th St. New York, NY 10011 212-242-4820 js@salzanophoto.com www.salzanophoto.com

Hudson Studios* 601 W 26th St., 13th fl.

New York, NY 10001 212-924-2430 info@hudsonstudios.com www.hudsonstudios.com

Jim Galante* 212-529-4300 jim@jimgalante.com www.jimgalante.com

Industria Superstudio* 775 Washington St. New York, NY 10014 212-366-1114 kslayton@industrianyc.com www.industrianyc.com

Land Spiral 214 W 29th St, #1404 New York, NY 10001 212-203-3600 L Gallery Studio* 104 reade St. New York, NY 10013 212-227-7883 info@lgallerystudio.net www.lgallerystudio.net

Light-Space Studio* 1087 flushing Ave., #420 Brooklyn, NY 11237 212-202-0372 info@lightspace.tv www.lightspace.tv Location 05* 568 Broadway, #805 New York, NY 10012 212-219-2144 info@location05.com www.location05.com Markus Aurelius Studio* 303 42nd St., 4th fl.

New York, NY 10036 212-627-2728 info@photostudiorentalsnyc.com www.photostudiorentalsnyc.com Metropolitan Pavilion* 125 W 18th St. New York, NY 10011 212-463-0071 info@metropolitanevents.com www.metropolitanevents.com

NoHo Productions* 636 Broadway, #302 New York, NY 10012 212-228-4068 info@nohoproductions.com www.nohoproductions.com Paul o. Colliton Studio* 305 7th Ave., PH New York, NY 10001 212-807-6192 Paul@collitonstudio.com www.collitonstudio.com Persona Studios* 40 W 39th St., 4th fl.

New York, NY 10018 212-852-4850 persona@kristeratle.com www.kristeratle.com Photo Group Inc.* 88 Lexington Ave., #15E New York, NY 10016 212-213-9539 info@photo-group.com www.photo-group.com Picture ray Studio* 245 W 18th St. New York, NY 10011 212-929-6370 bookings@pictureraystudio.com www.pictureraystudio.com Pier 59 Studios* Chelsea Piers #59, 2nd Level New York, NY 10011 212-691-5959 info@pier59studios.com www.pier59studios.com Pochron Studios* 20 Jay St., #1100 Brooklyn, NY 11201 718-237-1332 info@pochronstudios.com www.pochronstudios.com 20x24 Studio* 588 Broadway, #805 New York, NY 10012 212-925-1403 mail@jennifertrausch.com Primus Studio* 64 Wooster St., #3E New York, NY 10012 212-966-3803

info@primusnyc.com www.primusnyc.com Production Central* 873 Broadway, #205 New York, NY 10003 212-631-0435 david@prodcentral.com www.prodcentral.com Project 35* 381-383 Broadway New York, NY 10013 212-226-0035 studio@project-35.com www.project-35.com Pure Space* 601 W 26th St., #1225 New York, NY 10001 212-937-6041 rida@purespacenyc.com frank@purespacenyc.com www.purespacnyc.com rabbithole Studio* 33 Washington St. Brooklyn, NY 11201 718-852-1500 info@rabbitholestudio.com www.rabbitholestudio.com ramscale Productions* 55 Bethune St., Penthouse New York, NY 10014 212-206-6580 info@ramscale.com www.ramscale.com Serge Nivelle Studios* 205 Hudson St., #1201 New York, NY 10013 212-226-6200 www.sergenivelle.com Shoot Digital* 23 E 4th St. New York, NY 10003 212-353-3330 Kevin@shootdigital.com www.shootdigital.com Shop Studios* 442 W 49th St. New York, NY 10019 212-245-6154 Jacques@shopstudios.com www.shopstudios.com Showroom Seven Studios* 498 7th Ave., 24th fl.

New York, NY 10018 212-643-4810 maricaso@aol.com www.showroomseven.com

retouching

Neo Studios* 628 Broadway, #302 New York, NY 10012 212-533-4195 mail@neostudiosnyc.com www.neostudiosnyc.com

title 141

studio galadriel sharon@galadrielstudio.com 646.678.2836

142 title Silver Cup Studios* 42-22 22nd St. Long Island City, NY 11101 718-906-2000 silvercup@silvercupstudios.com www.silvercupstudios.com

Splashlight Studios* 529-535 W 35th St. New York, NY 10001 212-268-7247 info@splashlightstudios.com www.splashlightstudios.com

Suite 201* 526 W 26th St., #201 New York, NY 10001 212-741-0155 info@suite201.com www.suite201.com

Silver Cup Studios East* 34-02 Starr Ave. Long Island City, NY 11101 718-906-3000 silvercup@silvercupstudios.com www.silvercupstudios.com

Steiner Studios* 15 Washington Ave. Brooklyn Navy Yard, NY 11205 718-858-1600 jwooten@reubenstein.com www.steinerstudios.com

Sun Studios* 628 Broadway New York, NY 10012 212-387-7777 sunproductions@sunnyc.com www.sunstudios.com

SoHo Loft 620* 620 Broadway, #2r New York, NY 10012 212-260-4300 nancy@nancyney.com www.soholoft620.com

Studio 7 New York* 120 Walker St., PH 7 New York, NY 10013 212-274-0486 paul@studio7ny.com www.studio7ny.com

Sun West* 450 W 31st St., 10th fl.

New York, NY 10001 212-330-9900 sunwestevents@sunnyc.com www.sunnyc.com

SoHo Studios* 13-17 Laight St., 4th fl.

New York, NY 10013 212-226-1100 sohostudios@hotmail.com

Studio 147* 147 W 15th St. New York, NY 10011 212-620-7883 info@studio147.net www.studio147.net

Taz Studios* 873 Broadway, #605 New York, NY 10003 212-533-4299 fotogbill@aol.com www.tazstudio.com

Studio 225 Chelsea* 225 W 28th St., #2 New York, NY 10001 917-882-3724 james@jamesweberstudio.com www.studio225chelsea.com

The Bridge Studio* 315 Berry St., #202 Brooklyn, NY 11211 917-676-0425 sander@bridgestudionyc.com www.bridgestudionyc.com

Studio 450* 450 W 31st St., 12th fl.

New York, NY 10001 212-871-0940 www.loft11.com

The foundry* 42-38 9th St. Long Island City, NY 11101 718-786-7776 www.thefoundry.info

Studio W26* 601 W 26th St., #1680B New York, NY 10001 212-647-6002

The Space* 425 W 15th St., 6th fl.

New York, NY 10011 212-929-2442 info@thespaceinc.com www.thespaceinc.com

SoHoSoleil* 136 Grand St., #5-Wf New York, NY 10013 212-431-8824 info@sohosoleil.com www.sohosoleil.com Southlight Studio* 214 W 29th St., #1404 New York, NY 10001 212-465-9466 info@southlightstudio.com www.southlightstudio.com Space 523* 10 Jay St. Brooklyn, NY 11201 646-515-4186 rentals@space523.com www.space523.com

green

catering

café

épicerie

catering

212 254 9825

www.greenbrownorange.com

zoom Studios* 20 vandam St., 4th fl.

New York, NY 10013 212-243-9663 zoomstudios@yahoo.com www.zoomstudios.net

RV RENTALS & LOCATION VANS Big Shot* 212-244-7468 bigshotsinc@aol.com www.bigshotsinc.com Chelsea Motor rental* 212-564-9555 chelsearental@verizon.net royal Buses* 718-657-9609 royalbuses@aol.com www.royalbuses.com

SET BUILDING Ready Set* 663 Morgan Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11222 718-609-0605 info@readysetinc.com www.readysetinc.com

WARDROBE RENTALS RRRentals* 245 W 29th St., #11 New York, NY 10001 212-242-6127 info@rrrentals.com www.rrrentalsny.com

SHOWROOM Maggie Norris Couture* 494 8th Ave., #1505 New York, NY 10001 212-239-3422 Maggie@maggienorriscouture.com www.maggienorriscouture .com

WARDROBE SUPPLY Manhattan Wardrobe Supply* 245 W 29th St., 8th fl.

New York, NY 10001 212-268-9993 info@wardrobesupplies.com www.wardrobesupplies.com

STYLIST PROPS – SET – WARDROBE Atelier Twelve 48 Hicks Str. Brooklyn, NY 11201 718-624-5744 www.ateliertwelve.com

*distribution sites.

title 143

146 title

723 Washington St. NY, NY10014

646 485 0920

booking@BennetMediaStudio.com

This 5-story building offers 10,000 square feet of space with stunning light, striking architectural details and convenient amenities.

Film * Photo Shoots * Special Events With both high-end and more basic spaces for rental, Bennett Media is sure to meet your needs within your budget.

Amenities include: Outdoor Gardens and Terraces on 3 floors; Atrium & Brick Arches; Elevator & Garage Parking; Concert & Performance Space with DJ Booth; Full Gourmet Kitchen; Master Suite and High Speed Internet.

the new Noho Productions. ... a simpler way to shoot still life in a rental studio.

NOHO PRODUCTIONS

www.nohoproductions.com