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book unique et divers for soura magazine:Mise en page 1
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CONTENT | ISSUE 28 Photographer of the Month 16 Frédéric Arnould Featured Photographers 22 Boza Ivanovic 32 Jessica Tremp 40 Karim Ramzi 50 Stacy Novitsky Field Guide 58 Digital Portraiture Photography Quick Tips and Editing Tutorials By Alessadro Maggi Book Reviews 62 Guardians By Andy Freeberg 68 Uniques & Divers By Fabien Lemaire Special Opus Review 72 The Michael Jackson Official Opus book unique et divers for soura magazine:Mise en page 1
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Product Review 76 Canon EOS ID Mark IV and EOS 7D
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Special Feature 78 artnet Auctions
Bams Auteur, compositrice, interprète et cofondatrice du magazine Respect
Special Events 82 Consolation By Nazif Topcuoglu 84 The Last Tribes By Emmanuel Catteau 86 1388 New Works By Ala Ebtekar
« Être libre a toujours été vital pour moi ! » Enfant, Bams lʼintrépide sʼimagine pilote de ligne pour parcourir le monde. Elle grandit dans les bois de La Celle-Saint-Cloud où, garçon manqué, elle grimpe aux arbres et court dans les vergers. Elle se démène tant quʼelle devient championne dʼathlétisme pour la France et pour le Cameroun, terre de ses parents. Hier, elle brillait sur les podiums sportifs, aujourdʼhui elle allume la scène avec ses « chansons hip hop aux accents jazz et à lʼhumeur rock » qui distillent une prose musclée comme ses billets dʼhumeur dans Respect. Bams, cʼest lʼabréviation de ses ancêtres camerounais : les Bamiléké. Cʼest aussi un diamant noir à lʼétat brut et indompté !
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FRÉDÉRIC ARNOULD Couleurs et Musique
Frédéric Arnould arrived at his current status of French photographer and filmmaker by an unusual route. Arnould worked as a graphic artist and artistic director for French and foreign media as well as in advertising for 12 years, he also makes music videos and has just completed his first feature-length film, not to mention his culinary skills in French cuisine. His photos transport us to unexpected environments, where we find the discrepancies of life played out in a series of surreal and fantastic creations. His photographic universe is described as: “Poppy and catchy, the world of Cetrobo.com (Frédéric Arnould’s website) – expert in artist press-books – is in dialogue with the absurd and the iridescent as if each snapshot was a first-rate album cover.” Arnould’s work, and indeed life philosophy that has been the foundation of his artistic endeavors is ‘Do your best with nothing, do better with little, but do it now.’
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© All Images courtesy of Frédéric Arnould
| FRÉDÉRIC ARNOULD
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| FRÉDÉRIC ARNOULD
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| FRÉDÉRIC ARNOULD
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The Tune of The Absurd This photography series, ‘Music at home’ was created at short notice, with genuine French musicians. Its intention is to speak of performance arts and music in particular. Indeed, before being recorded on CD and aired on radio or television, music is primarily created by artists whose faces we do not necessarily get to see. Introducing the musicians into an elderly couple’s living room allowed me to create the discrepancy between a melancholic life and a joyous life, rich in the color that music can give – music that has an important place in our lives, regardless of whether one is a music lover or not. In France, more and more artists offer gigs in their flats, if people will no longer go to performances, why should the gig not come to them? www.cetrobo.com
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BOZA IVANOVIC
Crossing Oceans
Boza Ivanovic was born in Belgrade in 1972. He began taking pictures at the age of 14 with his first camera, a Russian made Lubitel. While living in Belgrade, he worked as a camera assistant at Politika T.V. station. After immigrating to Los Angeles in 1996, he worked as a freelance photographer for the Long Beach Press Telegram. From 2003 to 2008, Ivanovic worked with the U.C.L.A. AIDS Research Institute. His photography has taken him to South Africa, Tanzania, Mexico, Serbia, Macedonia and the Americas. Ivanovic has been working as a freelance photographer for A.P. since Febuary 2009. His most recent exhibitions have been at the Stricola Contemporary Gallery in New York (2009), the Seyhoun Gallery in West Hollywood (2008), and at the Borders Gallery-Santa Monica (2006).
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Š All Images courtesy of Boza Ivanovic
Crossing Oceans | BOZA IVANOVIC
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Crossing Oceans | BOZA IVANOVIC
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Crossing Oceans | BOZA IVANOVIC
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The Soul Of The Beast After a freak motorcycle accident left me with two cracked vertebra in my back and two in my neck and facing a four month confinement to my bed, I realized that I now had ample time on my hands to think about what direction my career as a photographer would take. I recalled a photograph I took a few years back while at a zoo. The subject of that photo was a tiger – but more than an image was shot. I was struck by what jumped out of the picture - a personality, a soul. It dawned on me that what the lens had somehow caught could be best portrayed in black and white. The essence of a creature’s spirit captured solely through motion and light. Once I was able to walk again, I headed directly to the zoo. My enthusiasm was never dampened, but I quickly realized that this was going to be tougher than I thought. It became quite clear that every animal had its very own distinct personality. The seemingly fierce lion may really be a gentle soul and that outwardly cute monkey may have real anger management issues. It took hours of observation to get know each creature as a person and then even more time to await the perfect opportunity for my new “friends’” persona to come shining through. I hope these images similarly speak to you as they reveal each animal’s unique beauty, majesty, power, and spirit. Though all are in physical captivity, their irrepressible characteristics could never be shackled. www.bozaivanovic.com
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Crossing Oceans | BOZA IVANOVIC
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Crossing Oceans | BOZA IVANOVIC
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JESSICA TREMP
The Romantic
© All Images Courtesy of Jessica Tremp
The Romantic | JESSICA TREMP
Born in 1981, Jessica Tremp grew up in Switzerland where she developed a profound love for drama and romanticism. At the age of 18, Tremp moved to Melbourne where she continued to scratch her creative itch, as she had done for years, through various media. It was only in the past few years that Tremp finally settled on seeing the world through the viewfinder of a camera, and since then, her devotion to the art of photography only continued to grow. Though Tremp has attended the odd photography class here and there, she is almost entirely self-taught. Tremp is a self-proclaimed “non-gadgety” person; her camera doesn’t have a lens cap at the moment and freely swings alongside coins, receipts, bobby pins, Twix wrappers and lipstick cases in her handbag. Tremp is a free spirit who prefers the sun to light her shots rather than a studio, enjoying a more organic and spontaneous approach to her medium. Tremp’s work leads you in one of two directions, either into a world filled with drama or into a world of imagination and humor. Her current project focuses on a more primal relationship between humans and animals. Working with road-kill, and alive or taxidermied animals, she tries to blur the boundaries not only between species, but also between the beautiful and the eerie, finding moments of hope, connection and trust in a nature that seems to slip through our fingers. Even though they found themselves at home, they never saw a place quite like it
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The Romantic | JESSICA TREMP
Dear Hunter 34  soura | issue 28
Antler Girls Christmas Wish Winter | 2010  35
The Romantic | JESSICA TREMP
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Visual Prose I am of course thrilled for you to observe, though I would rather invite you in. Let us go for a walk. Will you take my hand? Yes, though it will be but a fleeting touch in a world of ambiguous narratives that leave a kind of emotional authenticity rather than a literal accuracy. You may feel an urge for contact with some sense of the divine, with a wilderness lying in waiting both externally and internally. We can carry a language where our monsters are tamed, shadows illuminated, fears embraced and our vulnerability becomes the hero. And let us skip and jump where the natural and supernatural overlap, where they blur boundaries between memory, imagination, absence and presence. There’s a tension in the lack of connection at times, a small tug at the heart I’m hoping, or a slight ache. It’s in these delicate spaces, in between colors, shapes and forms, that we can glimpse something that rings true, which essentially we feel and know is there within us, though something we can not quite put words to. www.jessicatremp.com
Bathtub Portraiture
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The Romantic | JESSICA TREMP
Bathtub Portraiture
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The Zoo And The Hot Air Balloon
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KARIM RAMZI
Trial and Error
© All Images Courtesy of Karim Ramzi
Trial and Error | KARIM RAMZI
© Photographed by Yousuf Karsh
French Moroccan photographer Karim Ramzi is worldrenowned for his fashion and portrait photography. For over two decades, Karim has been photographing fashion models and celebrities around the world, including Europe, the United States, the Middle East, and South East Asia. The royal families of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Morocco have been among his famous subjects. His outstanding images have been exhibited in France, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Lebanon, Switzerland and Algeria. Karim has a book of his works in the making, which will be published in the second half of 2010. He is also a music video director and has created the film magazine 16/9ème. Karim founded The Karim Ramzi International Photography Workshops, which he has conducted in Japan, France and Hong Kong. His next series is scheduled to run in Saudi Arabia in March 2010. Karim was born in 1961 into a diplomatic family in Marrakech. He attended the Royal College in Rabat, where King Mohammed VI was his classmate. He then attended both Ottawa University and Carleton University in Canada, where he majored in Political Science and Communications. Although Karim has no formal photographic training, he taught himself the craft of photography through reading books and magazines, by attending exhibitions, and by trial and error. Karim had the opportunity to meet the late photographer Yousuf Karsh while studying and working for the Moroccan radio as a correspondent in Canada. Karsh even asked Karim to shoot his portrait; and in turn he too photographed Karim’s portrait. Meeting with Karsh admittedly taught Karim a valuable lesson in modesty, kindness, and greatness. Maxx Drag Queen and showman 40 soura | issue 28
The Little Buddha Personal work Winter | 2010  41
Trial and Error | KARIM RAMZI
Katheleen Chaplin Singer and granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin
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Sonia Roland (Kigali, Rwanda) French-Rwandese actress and former Miss France (2000). She has also competed at Miss Universe. She is the first African-born Miss France pageant winner.
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Trial and Error | KARIM RAMZI
Chris Eubank British boxer and world champion.
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Camilo Azuquita Cuban Salsa singer
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Trial and Error | KARIM RAMZI
Frederic Cartier Nina Ricci’s make up artist
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Facial Expression
Monochromatic Statements Through my work, I aim to seize a particular expression or a meaningful pose and freeze its beauty. Through certain hues, shades, lighting, shapes and textures, my photos embrace my subjects’ true essence in a natural and sincere manifestation. I aim to make my photographs alluring; to make them radiate strength and character with a hint of ambiguity. My motto in life is, “Please leave your ego at the door,” when you enter my Paris studio. This stems from a desire to have relaxed subjects who will allow me to penetrate the essence and core of their spirit and personality. By taking off their masks, my subjects are able to reveal their fundamental nature. I want to know the “who” in each of the models. I appreciate self-expression and I relish in the struggle to reveal inner truth. As a professional photographer, I believe that this art is composed of 80% psychology and 20% technique. I take pride in being able to plant confidence in my sitters so that they are able to freely reflect their truth. It is an intimate and intense relationship between the photographer and the subject. Once I have ascertained there are no façades, no pretenses and no disguises, the skill to expose authentic substance begins. In my photography, I try to subtly suggest the truth rather than obviously reveal it. This mystery gives the viewer the freedom to interpret and perceive as an individual. My favorite subjects are dancers; they tend to comfortably and freely move conveying their inner truth. When seizing such a raw instant, I am able to capture genuine, intimate and powerful reflections of real people, their personalities, their messages and their views. With such subjects and the magic I aim to capture via photography, an exquisite canvas of images is created. I have long been obsessed with black, gray and white and the contrasts between these three “colors”. With these distinct elements: day and night, dark and light, dull and bright, I have been able to add a unique effect to my photographs: a depth that adds to the unspoken language exposed by the true nature of my subjects. www.karimramzi.com
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Trial and Error | KARIM RAMZI
HRH prince Khalid Al-Faisal Son of the late King Faisal. poet, artist and the governor of Makkah Province
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HRH Al Waleed Bin Talal Al Saud Photographed for his book cover
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STACY NOVITSKY
Conventionally Unpleasant
© All Images Courtesy of Stacy Novitsky
Conventionally Unpleasant | STACY NOVITSKY
Stacy Novitsky works as a freelance photojournalist, a documentary photographer as well as a portrait photographer. Novitsky’s focus as a photographer is to help others in making their story heard, and to capture intense portraits and images that inspire help from the appropriate resources. Her portraits tend to be dark, which is her way of isolating the subject and allowing the viewer an undistracted look into a split second capture of another person’s world. Growing up, Novitzky struggled to fit in with her peers, and never really felt like she belonged. She turned to her love of photography as a form of expression and a way of understanding the world around her. Three children and one divorce later, Novitsky currently lives in New York where she focuses entirely on her art and vision as a photographer. With no formal training, Novitsky learned her craft by working as an assistant to professional photographers, as well as by studying her favorite photographers. Novitsky works best when challenged with different lighting conditions, which has led to the creation of her unique style, one that she feels is a continuous work in progress. Her eye is drawn to the beauty in the average, sometimes even conventionally unpleasant looking people and situations create beautiful photographs. She defines beauty by how interesting the subject is, by how deep the story runs behind the face or how important the issue is that needs to be revealed. While at home in the Bronx, Novitsky seeks out intense situations as they happen by listening to fire and police scanners and responding with her camera to dangerous and highly emotional situations. While many photographers arrive at the scene of a typical fire in the Bronx, their cameras are snapping away at the fire and destruction while Novitsky’s camera is turned on the faces of the firemen, to capture the true essence of the disaster that only a man’s eyes can tell. Landline Performance Artist in the streets of lower Manhattan. 50 soura | issue 28
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Conventionally Unpleasant | STACY NOVITSKY
The Father A man left behind, forgotten to the world.
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Young Boxer A fighter prepares for competition, with a sense of eagerness and a hint of fear.
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Conventionally Unpleasant | STACY NOVITSKY
Child On Bridge An adopted girl’s first trip to the Brooklyn Bridge, on a windy day in February. 54 soura | issue 28
My Looking Glass I use photography as a means of selfexpression. Portraiture is my key to the secret garden, my way down the rabbit hole, my looking glass. It allows me to capture elusive moments when light and subject come together and spark an evocative expression. My images can be vibrant or serene, an eyewitness or surreal, stark or dreamy, and almost always eclectic. In all of them, I try to appeal to the emotions and imagination while experimenting with pattern, texture and color. Texture is very important to me, I hope to achieve glossy and smooth areas, dirty rough spots and hair you think you can touch right through the image. In this set of images I used natural lighting, since my subjects were candid captures and many of them out on the street with different lighting scenarios. I stayed dark while editing, crushing the blacks and muting the skin tones to highlight only the areas I wanted to draw attention to, and those areas I enhanced by burning in the details and with lots of sharpening. Some of the people appear to be coming into the light out of an intense darkness, and the subtraction of the world around them isolates the subject so that you can’t look away, even though it may feel a bit uneasy. I work from the inside out. Though I work quite deliberately, consciously employing both traditional and innovative techniques, my subconscious is the undisputed project manager.
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Conventionally Unpleasant | STACY NOVITSKY
Disremembered Portrait of a mixed race family.
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Mariachi A Mariachi Musician takes a break and plays bottle cap checkers on a street corner in Tijuana, Mexico.
Chef A group of kitchen workers make musical instruments with ordinary supplies, and parade through New York City during lunch time.
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Field Guide | DIGITAL PORTRAITURE PHOTOGRAPHY
Digital Portraiture Photography Quick Tips and Editing Tutorials By Alessandro Maggi When the word “portrait” is heard in a photographic contest, it’s almost inevitable to think about classic ID photos with the face of the subject towering in the center of the frame. Nevertheless, little efforts are needed to extend the definition of portraiture to include an incredibly wide variety of themes. The aim of any portrait is, of course, to represent a person in a certain manner, focusing on the face and expression, but it is well known from centuries that there are lots of elements that can be added to a composition to contextualize and express further details about the subject of the portrait. This leads to different approaches to portraiture, and focusing on a person’s face becomes only one possibility among many others. With the development of digital imaging such possibilities have grown exponentially, giving the photographer the adequate tools to shoot portraits in conditions that weren’t suitable for analog photography. The major advantages come from the higher low-light performance of digital sensors, which guarantee acceptable exposures in many conditions where light can’t be controlled, and easier post-processing of digital images, which can partly compensate for the lack of dedicated make-up in spontaneous portraits and add creative effects to the photos. Since there are so many different kinds of photographs that could be called “portraits”, we’ll cover some of the most important themes and see how we can tweak the images to correct imperfections and enhance the look of the photo. For these purposes we’ll use two praised and famous Adobe© products: Photoshop© CS4 and Photoshop© Lightroom© 2. 1 | Studio Portrait: When we can plan in advance, choose the lightning and work with the subject’s look and approach, the first and most important tip to keep in mind is “do everything you can”. This means that the less you leave to luck (and consequently to digital post-processing) the better will be the outcome. Before even getting to the composition and shooting, remember that you should have picked and set the appropriate lights (e.g. look for unwanted shadows and hotspots), applied the desired make-up on the subject if needed and established a relationship of mutual trust with him/her. This last aspect is crucial, as during the session the photographer will have to tell the subject what to do, or how he/ she has to behave: this is a feat unique in photography, where often the photographer can interact with the subject only through the photographic tools and patience. In the first example we can see a classical portrait of a young man staring at the camera. This photo was part of the opening tests of a photosession, so the attitude of the subject is completely spontaneous here. Once I had the chance to take a closer look at this photo I was rather intrigued by his expression though. Then I thought about emphasizing the contrast and facial features a bit, to make the portrait bolder. To do this, I used some quick editing in Lightroom© 2. 58 soura | issue 28
As a base start, I pushed the sharpening to enhance fine details (be aware that you shouldn’t use such values when you want candid portraits): in the “Detail” window I selected the values 50 for Amount and Detail and 0,8 as Radius, keeping Masking at 0. The next step involves tweaking global tones through the “Basic” window. To bring back some washed out details in highlights and shadows I picked a high value of Recovery (50) and a moderate value of Fill Light (15). These modifiers have the obvious disadvantage of decreasing contrast in the photo, so I tweaked the Blacks value and the Exposure to bring back some punch without losing too much detail. As a final touch I used one of my favorite options: Clarity. You can find it inside the “Presence” group of the Basic window. Positive values of Clarity boost the local contrast, something you often don’t want to do with classical portrait as it would make skin imperfections and shades even more noticeable. Since I’m not interested in making my subject look beautiful or silky skinned, I chose the maximum value of Clarity (+100). Despite the fact that we don’t care about skin smoothness in these kind of portraits, there are a number of imperfections that could actually distract/disturb the observer in this photo.
With Lightroom© taking care of such a small problem isn’t an issue thanks to the Spot Removal tool. After taking care of this last issue, the portrait is done. Since I liked the orange look of the photo, I also increased the color temperature giving away a better skin tone reproduction in favor of warmer tones.
Now that we’ve seen how to improve contrast and boost details, we have to cover the opposite scenario: how can we edit a portrait to make the skin look softer and more appealing? This time the sample portrays a girl who’s enjoying some sweet music coming from her pink muffin. What I want to do here is to emphasize the girl’s eyes and make her face look smoother. The first goal is easily achievable in Lightroom© 2 using the Adjustment Brush to selectively increase Clarity (+100) and Saturation (+10). With another application of the same tool we can decrease the local contrast on the skin making it look smoother using negative values for Clarity (-100) and adding a little sharpening (+25) to avoid too much blurring of skin texture.
Finally we can add a little sparkle to her eyes selectively increasing Exposure (+0,69), Saturation (+70) and Clarity (+66) on the iris.
you can select the Fill Tool and click were the subject is to tell the program which is the background that has to be masked. Pressing the Preview button gives you an idea of how the subject will look once extracted.
The results are decent, but we could hardly consider the job done. To hide portions of the background that are still in the image or recover parts of the subject that were incorrectly masked we can work with the Cleanup Tool and the Edge Touchup Tool. The former acts like a quick mask brush, hiding or revealing portions of the image, while the latter enhances the edges of the extracted object. To check if you’ve done an appropriate job you can select a different solid color as background instead of transparent checkers selecting a different option for “Display” under the Preview section. Once done we have a new transparent background ready to be changed. To keep things simple here I’ve only added a gradient layer as background. A couple of quick tonal tweaks later, I’ve got my second sample worked and finished.
To make things a little more interesting, we assume we’re in need of changing the background of our portrait. To do this I exported the retouched image to JPEG and opened it in Photoshop © CS4. Erasing the background is never a one-click operation, but in this case we don’t have frizzy hairs to deal with nor busy backgrounds, so it won’t be too difficult. For this purpose I’ll use the filter “Extract”: once part of the default plug-ins library, since CS4 it’s not bundled in the default installation of Photoshop© any more. You can simply obtain it from the additional resources of the install disc or freely download it from Adobe© support site. Once the plug-in is installed and the image loaded, I used it right away to – guess what – “extract” the subject from the background of the photograph. Using this tool is fairly simple: the first thing to do is to define the borders of the subject using the Edge Highlighter. You can select the brush size or use the Smart Highlighting feature that helps you finding the edges judging the local sharpness of the image. After choosing the appropriate options, I highlighted the edges of the subject the best I could. At this point Winter | 2010 59
Field Guide | DIGITAL PORTRAITURE PHOTOGRAPHY
2 | Street Portrait: When shooting outdoors you generally have much less control on a variety of factors that affect photography compared to studio work. The most important is light, of course. Unless you have access to very powerful remote flash units, you will have to choose the appropriate timing and place (that often are both quite limited). The following sample represents a young break-dancer in front of a Tuscan church, getting ready for a small show near sunset. This shot was taken with a very wide lens to capture the façade of the church behind the boy as it somehow appeared as a weird opposition of elements and themes. The position of the subject and his expression tell us he’s thinking and waiting, maybe planning something. Unfortunately the available light was poor, and the subject is already in shadows. As a first step I’ll add some punch to the photo by compensating the lightning differences and boosting contrast in Lightroom©. To do this I’ve lowered Exposure a bit (-0,20) and raised Fill Light (15), Clarity (+25) and Vibrance (+30). The results are more pleasing, but we still have to address the issue with shadows. In a typical landscape shot I would have tried to recover shadows and enhance local contrast on the whole picture, but here we’re dealing with a portrait and once again local adjustments may serve us better. To obtain the desired effect I started picking up the Adjustment Brush to work on the face. The trick here is to tweak each part in a way that makes the subject stand out, and the face is of course the key of the trial. My first try involved an Exposure increase of +0,30 and Brightness of +10, with Clarity set at +75. As colors seemed to get a little too hot for my taste, I lowered Saturation a bit (-5) to maintain a credible – albeit warm – skin tone. One thing you should note here is the difference between the Exposure and Brightness modifiers: while adjusting brightness changes the whole luminosity uniformly, the Exposure tool tries to simulate realworld EV compensations. Using only the Brightness modifier to lighten up the subject’s face would have resulted in washed out shadows and possibly washed out tones; on the other hand, raising the Exposure setting alone would have left too much shadows. The arms follow the face, as they are the only other undressed part of the body exposed. Since they were a bit brighter from the start and thanks to the fact that there aren’t any major shadows on them, we can use the same settings of the face keeping Brightness at 0 this time. 60 soura | issue 28
With little variations we take care of the clothes, paying attention to the hat and the trousers that have to be lightened up way less than the rest of the subject (with the same settings of the face the hat would turn bright as a lamp and the jeans would become oversaturated, not to mention the resulting noise from lightening up details in deep shadows). The portrait looks much better now, but we can also improve the subject’s eyes which are still quite dark. No more than a couple of brushstrokes with increased Brightness (+20) are needed, and our portrait is successfully corrected.
Up until now we have considered only portraits of models: in other words, we’ve seen photos of people that were acting in response to the presence of the photographer. To achieve more natural portraits the photographer has to make sure his camera doesn’t interfere with the subject. This way we can obtain photos of real life picturing people in a wide variety of spontaneous activities. The difficulty here gets even higher, since the photographer has to deal with an increased number of aspects he/she can’t control. For close distance portraits the best way to go is establishing a conversation with the subject about what he/she is doing, or anything related to that. Understanding the way people think is the first step to understand how they act, and this is the best clue available to predict how the subject will behave. Such a connection between the subject and the photographer is always desirable, but in this case it becomes almost vital as such portraits often carry on some kind of “intimacy”. For distanced portraits the trick is studying movement and acting. Most activities require the iteration of some passages: if the activity involves movement, for example, the first thing to evaluate is the subject’s trajectory to predict where it will be next. This way the photographer can compose the picture in advance and choose the appropriate settings for the shot without hurry. The last sample for this short guide to portraiture is a photo of a shepherd walking his donkey home through the narrow passages of the Oia village in the Greek island of Santorini. In this photo the face of the subject is mostly in shadows, and to make things worse there are a number of tourists in the background that distract the view. To enhance this image we’ll use Photoshop© to boost the visual effect of the subject and make the tourists less evident to the eye.
In a colored photograph such as this one the thing that stands out more is obviously color. In fact when I called the tourists a “distraction” I meant that their colorful clothes are distracting. To address this issue I will increase the contrast of the subject and decrease sharpness and saturation in the background. To make the photo more vivid on the whole, I’ll start duplicating the background layer and applying the Shadows/Highlights image adjustment. Using the high value of 50 on the amount of recovered
Shadows and Midtone Contrast I’m radically changing the tonal distribution of the photo. While the image now has gained a lot of punch, the face of the shepherd still needs some tweaking to stand out. Before working on the face, I’ve merged down the layer and duplicated it again, this time to apply an Unsharp Mask filter to increase local contrast. For this purpose I’ve chosen a high value for Radius (50 pixels) and a very low value of Amount (10%). To avoid an unwanted increase of contrast in the already distracting background, I added a layer mask painting it with black on the tourists and buildings behind the subject. We now have to address the problem of the shadows casted onto the subject, especially on the face. To do this, I created a new Curves adjustment layer and used the layer mask to select only the bust and face of the subject: dragging the RGB curve towards the highlight we can now lighten up the shepherd keeping control of the contrast. We can finally make the tourists less eye-catching by lowering their saturation. For this purpose I used a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer masking everything but the shirts and hats of the people in the background. With a setting of -25 on master saturation the subject now stands out much better.
At this point the post-processing is mostly done. Being a perfectionist I also softened a bit the background and manually brightened skin midtones with the Dodge Tool afterwards to complete the portrait.
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© All Images courtesy of Andy Freeberg
Guardians Book | ANDY FREEBERG
ANDY FREEBERG
The Portrait Maker
Andy Freeberg was born in New York City and studied at the University of Michigan. He began working professionally as a photojournalist in New York with assignments for magazines such as Rolling Stone, Time, The Village Voice and Fortune. At the time, Freeberg specialized in environmental portraits. In 1990, he moved to Northern California where he currently lives and alternates his assignment work with personal projects. Frreberg’s project, Sentry, Gallery Desks in Chelsea, was presented in a one-man show at the Danziger Projects Gallery in New York City in September 2007 and received critical acclaim in the New York Times, The New Yorker and many other publications. Karen Sinsheimer, curator of photography at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, selected Freeberg’s Sentry series as a Discovery of the Meeting Place at Fotofest 2008 and the photos will be exhibited at the 2010 Fotofest in Houston. His current project, Guardians of Russian Art Museums, was selected for the book prize at Photo Lucida’s Critical Mass 2008 and it will be published and available in March 2010. Guardians was also selected as a winner at the Hearst 8 x10 Biennial, in New York City. Prints have been purchased for the permanent collections at MFA Boston, The Portland Art Museum, and MFA Houston. His work is represented by the Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles where he will have a show of Guardians opening in March 2010. The Clark Gallery in Boston will also exhibit Guardians in April 2010. www.andyfreeberg.com
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Guardians Book | ANDY FREEBERG
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Guardians Book | ANDY FREEBERG
66 soura | issue 28
Capturing The Story Guardians is a series of photos of Russian women who work as guards in art museums in Moscow and St. Petersburg. On a trip to Russia in 2008 I saw these women on a visit to the Hermitage Musuem and I was intrigued with how they were part of the experience of looking at the art. I began to photograph them and on subsequent trips I was able to speak with some of them through a translator and was surprised to find how interested they were in the their jobs. They were knowledgeable about the art and many of them were retired professionals. I met guards who had been economists, dentists, teachers, and archivists. A woman in Moscow’s State Tretyakov Gallery Museum said she often returns there on her day off to sit in front of a painting that reminds her of her childhood home. Another guard travels three hours to work and back each day, since at home she would just sit on her porch and complain about her illnesses, ‘as old women do.’ She would rather be at the museum enjoying the people watching, surrounded by the history of her country. Guardians features 36 images captured by Andy Freeberg of women who guard the art in Russian museums. His work covered four Russian museums: the Hermitage and Russian State Museum in St. Petersburg, and the Tretyakov Gallery and Pushkin Museum in Moscow. The work, which was captured in 2008 and 2009, shows stoic figures of Russian women guarding valuable art, placing them in the position of a subject equally as intricate and as captivating as the art they are guarding.
The women, their physical relationship with the art, the unknown narrative of their lives, their clothes, posture, and expression, all play a part in adding an entirely new dimension to the art work that seems to be overlooking the women themselves, almost guarding them from their high positions on the walls and stands, rather than the other way around. The women become a focal point of the voyeur. It is impossible to ignore the relationship between these women and the pieces they guard. Both imprint on one another to an extent that most of these women become three-dimensional extensions of the art work they are guarding.
“
They are the guardians of the country’s masterpieces, but also of much more. This series of photographs reflects the singular role that these women play in both the Russian art world and society as a whole.”
— from the introduction by Clifford Levy, Moscow bureau chief of the New York Times Guardians series will be published in a book by Photolucida and will be available in early 2010. For more information about Guardians book, visit www.guardiansbook.com.
Winter | 2010 67
Uniques & Divers Book | FABIEN LEMAIRE
46 Portraits: Celebrating Diversity In Image and Word Photographs by Fabien Lemaire
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© All Images courtesy of Fabien Lemaire
Uniques & Divers
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PHOTOGRAPHE FABIEN LEMAIRE TEXTE BENOIT GAUTIER
Toléde is a citizen and independent French nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote responsible citizenship, dialogue among cultures, and a celebration of diversity (ethnic, religious, gender, disability, age). Toléde aims to promote diversity as a source of wealth. Uniques & Divers is the initiative of Toléde, it is a book of 46 photographic portraits taken by Fabien Lemaire of 46 prominent French figures like Rama Yade, Pascal Duquenne, Aida Touihri, Firmine Richard, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Nordine Nabil and Yamina Benguigui.
Every year, Toléde organizes a conference that brings together prominent figures in culture, politics and other relevant arenas to celebrate diversity and tolerance for a better society. This event is supported on an official level by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and in 2010; Toléde will be receiving the Unesco label. Toléde published the book Uniques & Divers to promote the ‘Diversity Forum’ in which a specially held exhibition featured the 46 portraits from the book. The Uniques & Divers project got underway in March 2009 and was completed by September 2009. In 2010, Toléde plans to renew the Uniques & Divers formula and will be publishing another book on the same topic of cultural diversity and tolerance, but will this time bring together prominent figures in culture, politics, education and the arts from all over the world, not just from France. Uniques & Divers focuses on people whose work and career accomplishments have contributed to promoting respect for social diversity, and who have contributed to an ongoing dialogue on the subject matter. Some of the people featured in this book are widely known and others are not, they are diverse in many ways and thus provide a fitting representation for the cause this book aims to promote. Lemaire created sincere and accessible portraits of the personalities featured in Uniques & Divers. Each of whom shared a personal message on the topic of tolerance of differences and respect for diversity through hand written messages accompanying their photo. The text of Uniques & Divers was written by Benoit Gautier who beautifully captured and celebrated the uniquesness of each of the 46 personalities and the diversity shared by all of them together as a microcosm of French society.
68 soura | issue 28
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Chris Ambraisse Directeur artistique de A & K Classics et président de lʼassociation Mode & Handicap… cʼest possible !
Frédéric Taddeï Animateur TV et radio
Une amie invalide demande un jour à Chris Ambraisse de créer des vêtements pour les personnes handicapées. Le désir est immédiat, mais une question surgit dans lʼesprit du jeune styliste : comment allier le pratique à lʼesthétique ? Pendant un an, Chris visite des hôpitaux, rencontre des ergothérapeutes, des personnes en situation de handicap. Fort de ses recherches, il dessine des vêtements ornés de Zip et de bandes Velcro dont les ouvertures sʼadaptent aux personnes valides ou non. À 9 ans, cet artiste en herbe issu dʼun milieu modeste raccommodait ses chaussettes en tricotant. Aujourdʼhui, à la tête dʼune marque pleine de promesses, Chris Ambraisse embrasse la vie à pleines dents !
Ce soir ou jamais, Dʼart dʼart, Paris dernière, Regarde les hommes changer et Regarde le monde changer… Le débit nerveux entrecoupé par les bouffées dʼune cigarette blonde, Frédéric Taddeï se revendique comme « le présentateur le plus diversifié du PAF ! ». Son principal trait de caractère ? « La curiosité ! » Enfant, il veut savoir ce quʼil se passe pendant la nuit. Il règle son réveil et apprend ainsi à raccourcir son sommeil en jouant ou en lisant. À présent, lʼhomme compare son existence à une succession de photographies qui se présentent à lui avec leur « obscur objet du désir ». Dès que Frédéric Taddeï est assouvi, une autre photo lʼappelle et lʼincorrigible curieux ne peut résister à lʼirrésistible !
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Aïda Touihri Journaliste TV et radio
Bams Auteur, compositrice, interprète et cofondatrice du magazine Respect
À Villefranche-sur-Saône dans une famille pauvre de huit enfants, Aïda Touihri ne se voit pas journaliste car ce nʼest pas « une fenêtre ouverte dans son cerveau ». Elle tente médecine, puis psycho, mais cʼest en se retrouvant bénévole lors de la Coupe du monde de football quʼelle découvre le journalisme. Lʼinsouciance en bandoulière, elle gagne le concours « Les espoirs François Chalais du jeune reporter ». Aïda Touihri présente aujourdʼhui le 66 minutes et le 12-50 sur M6. Image publique, elle sʼaperçoit que les jeunes issus de lʼimmigration lui écrivent et lʼabordent souvent. Dans un rire de printemps, elle lance : « Comme Monsieur Jourdain de Molière avec sa prose, je fais de la diversité sans le savoir ! »
« Être libre a toujours été vital pour moi ! » Enfant, Bams lʼintrépide sʼimagine pilote de ligne pour parcourir le monde. Elle grandit dans les bois de La Celle-Saint-Cloud où, garçon manqué, elle grimpe aux arbres et court dans les vergers. Elle se démène tant quʼelle devient championne dʼathlétisme pour la France et pour le Cameroun, terre de ses parents. Hier, elle brillait sur les podiums sportifs, aujourdʼhui elle allume la scène avec ses « chansons hip hop aux accents jazz et à lʼhumeur rock » qui distillent une prose musclée comme ses billets dʼhumeur dans Respect. Bams, cʼest lʼabréviation de ses ancêtres camerounais : les Bamiléké. Cʼest aussi un diamant noir à lʼétat brut et indompté !
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Lofti "Yko" Hammadi & Fred "Lek" Malek Peintres Le graffiti, art alternatif né pendant les seventies, possède ses chefs de file. Parmi eux, Lek et Yko du collectif RAW créent des oeuvres en commun. Ces deux artistes au physique biblique affirment que leur démarche se révèle plus importante que le résultat. Invités à des ateliers par des associations, ils insistent sur le caractère structurant du graffiti car cette peinture libre dans son expression ne peut sʼexécuter sans une préparation minutieuse. Si Lek garde les réflexes graphiques de ses études en architecture, Yko, vidéaste et champion de BMX, maîtrise la forme picturale des lettres de lʼalphabet. Pour ces deux-là, être « raccord avec lʼenfance », cʼest bondir et rebondir sur les idéaux !
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Éric Bergère Styliste, directeur artistique et consultant dans la mode Dandy chic, serein et humble, Éric Bergère crée sa griffe en 1996. Son engagement ? Dessiner des vêtements qui embellissent les femmes, les hommes de toutes tailles et de tous âges. Comment ? En harmonisant lʼajustement des épaules, en décalant le cintré de la taille. Éric y parvient si bien quʼen 2002 il fait défiler à New York des modèles en pleine forme et bien dans leur peau. Pendant les seventies, le petit garçon né à Troyes rêve de rhabiller les stars de la TV. Aujourdʼhui, cʼest chose faite avec Sheila et Michel Delpech, mais aussi Inès de la Fressange, Emmanuelle Béart… Demain, Éric Bergère dessinera une collection pour les gay bears. Gageons que son amour tous azimuts pour lʼhumain prenne non seulement corps, mais fière allure !
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Uniques & Divers Book | FABIEN LEMAIRE
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Misia Interprète Misia, tel son pseudonyme polonais, diffuse une sensation slave. Pourtant, cʼest à Porto que cette interprète entre autres de fado vit une enfance contrastée. Dʼun côté, sa mère espagnole a les volants dʼune Gitane dans la tête. De lʼautre, son père portugais, influencé par la culture anglo-saxonne, sacrifie à la rigidité mentale du kilt. Comme un buvard, Misia absorbe toutes ces différences. À présent, cette artiste se produit dans le monde entier et a choisi la cause des femmes tibétaines. Elle leur lègue ses biens et désire retourner régulièrement à leurs côtés pour les aider. Fado veut dire « destin ». Celui de Misia est dʼêtre une icône qui se qualifie joliment de « caméléonistique ».
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About Fabien Lemaire Fabien Lemaire was born in 1980, in Meaux, France, and started his photography career at the early age of 12 when he discovered an old camera. He studied graphic design at Claude Garamond and Maximilien Vox but still pursued his passion for photography during this time by continuously photographing his environment. Eventually, Lemaire discovered the art of digital photography. Before he became a graphic artist, Lemaire was always an image fanatic. Today he is known as a talented photographer, his work has been exhibited in Dubai, Paris, London and Milan. He created the 46 portraits in the book Uniques & Divers, of prominent French figures. Uniques & Divers is published by the prestigious publishing firm Somogy. Along with his career as a photographer, in the past 8 years, Lemaire directed about 50 different workshops focusing on Art as a vehicle for personal development. In 2010 Lemaire will make stops in places like Tokyo, Dubai, London, Paris, New-York shooting portraits, jewelry, photographic reporting and much more. Lemaire’s work has been exhibited in Dubai, Paris, London and Milan. www.fabienlemaire.com
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Soumia Malinbaum Chef dʼentreprise et porte-parole Diversité du MEDEF Élégante, Soumia Malinbaum se présente comme une « manager de la diversité ». Directrice du développement au sein du groupe Keyrus, la jeune femme revendique depuis toujours le même credo : mettre en lumière les différences et le « savoir être » de chacun pour faire tous ensemble des étincelles ! Née dans une famille nombreuse du nord de la France, Soumia enfant imagine un monde meilleur et se voit intégrer une ONG. Les cartes de la vie lʼentraînent vers le monde de lʼentreprise où, guerrière assumée, elle affûte ses armes. Pour lutter égoïstement ? Non, pour redistribuer autour dʼelle en gommant toute discrimination. Sachez-le, la beauté de Soumia Malinbaum nʼa quʼun seul rival : son panache !
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Jean-Philippe Rykiel & Lama Gyourmé Compositeur et Responsable du centre Kagyu-Dzong de Vincennes et de la congrégation Vajradhara-Ling en Normandie Il était une fois un moine bouddhiste et un aveugle qui sʼunirent pour faire de la musique… Non, ce nʼest pas le début dʼun conte ori e ntal, mais une histoire vraie. Une rencontre entre les machines électroniques de Jean-Philippe Rykiel et les chants traditionnels du Lama Gyourmé « fondus comme une aspirine qui se dissout dans lʼeau ». Si le petit Jean-Philippe rêve de fauves à appri voiser, le Lama né au Bhoutan sʼimagine « chef de chanteurs » dans un monastère même sʼil perd sa voix pendant les mantras. Jean-Philippe avoue avoir croisé de « gentils fauves » dans lʼexistence. Quant au Lama, non seulement il chante, mais il oeuvre à lʼédification dʼun temple, lieu interconfessionnel dédié à la paix dans le monde.
AED 35 QR/SR 35 KD/BD/OR 3.5 LBP 15,000 US$/CAN$ 10.00 GB£ 6.99 EUR 7.99 AUS$ 11.99 NZ$ 15.00
€
Opus Review | THE OFFICIAL MICHAEL JACKSON OPUS
This enormous publication is the official tribute to Michael Jackson, the ‘King Of Pop’. A legendary figure in music, a man who shaped contemporary pop music, as we know it, and unknowingly created his own genre of dance. Influencing generations for decades past, and more decades to come, Michael Jackson is immortalized in this 12 kg book, hand-bound in black leather, each copy is presented in a protective clamshell case, adorned with a special drawing by Nate Giorgio, friend of Michael, collaborator and acclaimed artist, who also created original artwork for the various chapters within the book itself. The Official Michael Jackson Opus was approved and endorsed by Michael Jackson himself, and then later by his Estate. Proceeds from the sale of the book will benefit Michael’s Estate and his designated beneficiaries – his children, mother and the charitable causes that were important to him.
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The book features over 300 iconic and remarkable photographs captured by world-renowned photographers like Mathew Rolston, Herb Ritts, and Steve Whitsitt. The Opus provides us with a golden opportunity to view rare and never-before published photographs of the ‘King Of Pop’ in ten riveting chapters that take us on a gripping journey through Michael Jackson’s life and career. The Opus showcases the magic of his musical gift as composer, singer and dancer, as well as his highly influential role as fashion icon, making certain items of clothing synonymous with his name, to his philanthropic work, and global fame. The ten chapters are titled “Child star”, “Voice”, “Composer”, “Moonwalk”, “Vision”, “One Glove”, “Friend”, “Heart”, “Art Lover” and “Global Icon”. Friends, musical collaborators and others close to Michael share their memories of the legendary performer. This epic collection of tales includes contributions from Berry Gordy, Quincy Jones, Smokey Robinson, John Landis, Spike Lee, John Singleton, Sugar Ray Leonard, Lionel Richie, and Paula Abdul along with a number of dancers, choreographers and photographers who worked with Michael. This rich archive and luxurious book is the final tribute to one of the world’s most prominent personalities of all time, Michael Jackson, the ‘King Of Pop’. Opus Reality Each owner of The Official Michael Jackson Opus receives an individual online membership card, giving them access to the full Michael Jackson Opus Reality Experience™. It is an unprecedented interactive media experience that brings the ‘King Of Pop’ to you. For a demonstration please go to www.michaeljacksonopus. com and see Michael Jackson like you have never seen him before.
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Opus Review | THE OFFICIAL MICHAEL JACKSON OPUS
Photographer: Jacky Sallow Michael at the Jacksons’ family house on Hayvenhurst in Encino, California, in 1979. Photographer: Steve Whitsitt “Tired of injustice, Tired of the schemes…” Michael acts out the lyrics to “Scream” by smashing a Flying V guitar in the video. Steve Whitsitt was asked by Michael to shoot an extraordinary series of stills for the cover of “Smile” in 1994, based on Charlie Chaplin’s classic movie, The Kid. “Michael educated me on Charlie Chaplin, and specifically his film The Kid, and about Jackie Coogan the child actor who played opposite Chaplin in the film, and how Jackie’s experiences led to all of the laws that now exist protecting child performers. Michael was a wealth of information. We discussed how we wanted to approach shooting a single cover for the song, and settled on a couple of concepts. The next few weeks were a blur of interviewing setbuilders, casting and covering all of the details necessary to pull the shoot together. Michael didn’t need to tell me that he expected perfection out of this shoot. He inspired it in me when he sang the song. We were both pleased with the results.” – Steven Paul Whitsitt Artist: Nate Giorgio Heroes; oil on paper mounted on board; 18” x 35”. “Michael sent me a list of his heroes, people through history that he looked up to and who inspired him: Lincoln, Kennedy, Edison, Einstein, Disney, Chaplin, Elvis and Little Richard. Michael wanted me to design the painting as if they were having a private conference, a final meeting.” – Nate Giorgio
Opus Media Group The Official Michael Jackson Opus, published by Opus Media Group (OMG), is the only new tribute book approved by Jackson’s Estate, with proceeds going to his designated beneficiaries. It can be purchased by calling +44 207 213 9587. Alternatively, visit the Opus website www.michaeljacksonopus.com. The book costs US$249 plus postage and will retail in the UAE for Dh899. 74 soura | issue 28
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(www.artnetauctions.com) features continuous online auctions of modern and contemporary fine art, prints and photographs by renowned artists. The site offers an exceptional range of photographs from early masterworks by artists such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Edward Weston to works by celebrated contemporary photographers including Nan Goldin and Thomas Ruff. Several times a year, holds special themed photographs sales. Faces & Figures Photographs During November 2009 featured the Faces & Figures Photographs auction in which 375 photos by 185 of the world’s most renowned photographers were up for auction. Portraits of some of the most famous faces of the 20th and 21st centuries were sold. Some of the featured photographers included Howell Conant, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Ron Gallella, Yousuf Karsh and Bert Stern. Some of the faces as seen through the lens of the camera of these photographers were those of Marilyn Monroe, Kate Moss, Salvatore Dali, Princess Diana, Keith Richards, Cindy Crawford, among many other faces synonymous with art, beauty, intrigue, and fame. As for figures, the auction also featured photographs capturing the form of athletes and celebrities such as Muhammad Ali in motion captured by photojournalist Bill Ray, and Dennis Stock’s shot of James Dean walking in Times Square.
Grace Kelly © Howell Conant 1955
© Howard Conant 1955
Icons of the 20th and 21st Centuries Another auction that took place earlier last year in June 2009 was Icons which featured 20th and 21st century photographic portraits of contemporary legends like Barack Obama, The Beatles, Grace Kelly, Elvis Presley, and Madonna. Two hundred photographs by 70 renowned photographers were up for sale including a rare portrait, never before seen at auction, of Audrey Hepburn taken in 1956 by Yousuf Karash. Music legends were also celebrated in this sale through photographs such as those of the Beatles. They are also immortalized in photographs chronicling the 60’s and 70’s rock and roll era, as are Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, John Lennon, and Jimi Hendrix.
Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s © Howell Conant 1961
© Howard Conant 1955
The Icons auction also focused on prominent figures in the fashion industry like a collection of 20 rare vintage portraits from the 1930’s and 1950’s by fashion photographer Louise Dahl-Wolfe. Included in DahlWolfe’s collection are photos of Lauren Bacall, Balenciaga, Christian Dior and Spencer Tracy. Contemporary fashion icons were not overlooked in this sale; works featuring Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell by Sante D’Orazio were among the photos on sale. Also on sale were photographs of legendary athletes, including Bobby Jones and Jackie Robinson; artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, and Pablo Picasso; and literary figures such as Samuel Beckett, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs.
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Photographer Howell Conant was best known for his pictures of Princess Grace of Monaco. He was working as a fashion photographer when in 1955 Photoplay magazine commissioned him to do a cover photograph of Grace Kelly, who was soon to win an Oscar for her role in “The Country Girl.” The two got along well and after her engagement to Prince Rainier of Monaco, Kelly invited Conant to accompany her on her voyage to the tiny principality on the French Riviera. There were many photographers on the ship but Conant had exclusive access. He photographed the wedding and continued thereafter to photograph the family through the years up to Princess Grace’s death in 1982. Ten years later he would publish Grace, a book of his photographs of Grace Kelly the movie star and Princess Grace of Monaco and her family.
© Howard Conant 1961
Howell Conant’s father had a photography portrait studio in Marinette, Wisconsin, where Conant first learned his trade. He went on to study photography at the University of Wisconsin and the Art Center School in Los Angeles. During World War II, he was Navy photographer serving under Admiral Chester Nimitz. After the war, he relocated to New York City and became a fashion photographer, publishing his work for magazines such as Life, Look, and Paris Match. He photographed many notables and celebrities, including Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, and Presidents Kennedy and Nixon. He photographed Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s creating iconic images of the star and the film.
George Hurrell is known for his stunning photographs of American film stars. He was signed to MGM as head of still photography in the 1930s and over the next fifty years photographed legendary stars including Marlene Dietrich, Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford and Clark Gable. Hurrell’s dramatic poses and lighting effects transformed traditional Hollywood portraiture introducing a new style of “glamour photography.” Les petits pains de Picasso © Robert Doisneau 1962 Robert Doisneau (1912-1994) was one of France’s most popular and prolific reportage photographers. He is known for his modest, playful, and ironic images of amusing juxtapositions, mingling social classes, and eccentrics in contemporary Paris. Influenced by the work of Kertesz, Atget, and Cartier-Bresson, Doisneau has presented a charming vision of human frailty and life as a series of quiet, incongruous moments. He has written: “The marvels of daily life are exciting; no movie director can arrange the unexpected that you find in the street.” (An excerpt from www. robertdoisneau.com). Marlene Dietrich © George Hurrell 1937
Robert Redford, W. Averell Harriman’s Residence, Mary Lasker’s Cocktail Party for Wayne Owens, New York © Ron Galella 1974
Einstein © Ruth Orkin 1953
Born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1921, Ruth Orkin led an ambitious and accomplished life. She grew up in Hollywood where her mother was a silent movie actress. At 18, she wowed the nation and made headlines by traveling from Los Angeles to New York, 2,000 miles, in four months, on her bicycle for the 1939 World’s Fair. In 1941, Orkin became the first messenger girl at MGM Studios, but was not allowed to join the Cinematographer’s Union because she was a woman. She then moved to New York to pursue her photography career, with a great deal of success. Orkin is best known for her 1951 photograph Ron Galella is one of the most An American Girl in Italy, and famous celebrity photographers her celebrated photographs from the window of her New York City of all time, known as a “pioneer apartment in 1978, looking over paparazzo” for capturing Central Park, entitled A World celebrities, often by surprise. Referring to Redford, Gallela later through My Window, which she continued in 1983 with More recalled “He was nice to me. I always beat him to his apartment Pictures from My Window. She and he asked me, years [after this is also known for her realistic portraiture depicting Europeans photo was taken], how I did it.” Galella’s work has been exhibited and Americans in the 1940’s, at museums and galleries 1950’s and 1960’s. Orkin married filmmaker Morris Engel and in 1952 worldwide, including the Tate Modern in London, and the Helmut helped photograph and edit their Newton Foundation Museum of independent film, “Little Fugitive”, Photography in Berlin. which was nominated for an Oscar.
Kate Moss © Albert Watson 2006 Albert Watson has made his mark as one of the world’s most successful fashion and commercial photographers during the last four decades, while creating his own art along the way. Over the years, his striking images have appeared on more than 250 covers of Vogue around the world and have been featured in countless other publications, from Rolling Stone to Time to Vibe – many of his photographs are iconic portraits of rock stars, rappers, actors and other celebrities. Watson was also the official Royal Photographer for Prince Andrew’s wedding to Sarah Ferguson. Watson has created the photography for hundreds of successful advertising campaigns for major corporations, such as the Gap, Levi’s, Revlon and Chanel, and he has directed more than 500 TV commercials and shot dozens of posters for major Hollywood movies. All the while, Watson has spent much of his time working on personal projects, creating stunning images from his travels from Marrakech to Las Vegas to the Orkneys. Much of this work, along with his well-known portraits and fashion photographs, has been featured in museum and gallery exhibitions worldwide.
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his friends. In 2006, a magazine published still shots from his film Don’t Blink, which led to his career as a photographer. He has since shot the covers of Vogue, Esquire and Rolling Stone and in 2008 directed a film series featuring Hollywood stars called The New York Times Screen Tests.
projects that took him to marine and freshwater environments around the world, from the South Pacific to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, often with French explorer Jacques Cousteau. Much of Schulke’s reputation in underwater photography came from his contributions to the technology required to do this sort of photography. His book Underwater Photography for Everyone (1976) was the authoritative source for the general underwater photographer for more than a decade. Marilyn as Jacqueline Kennedy (from the Lost Sitting) © Bert Stern 1962 Muhammad Ali Underwater © Flip Schulke 1960 Working most of his career as a freelance photographer, Flip Schulke earned national and international accolades as a photojournalist. After graduating from Macalester, Schulke was shooting for magazines such as Life, National Geographic, and Ebony. Well known for his photographs of Fidel Castro and John F. Kennedy, Schulke is most famous for his photo documentation of the U.S. civil rights movement. Schulke spent much of the 1960s traveling with and photographing Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders. While being recognized domestically for his work in the civil rights movement, Schulke was also earning an international reputation as a pioneer in underwater photography, a skill he began developing in 1955.
This photograph depicts Marilyn Monroe wearing a black wig posing as Jacqueline Kennedy -- a tongue in cheek nod to the First Lady. This image is one of a collection of 19 transparencies taken for Vogue that were originally part of Mr. Stern’s infamous “Last Sitting” that have been missing since 1962. It is one of nine limited edition prints now known as “The Lost Sitting.” The prints are of a limited edition of 50, of which only 25 have been produced to date. An entire limited edition portfolio of all 9 prints of “The Lost Sitting” is now part of the Never just a “fish photographer,” Schulke applied his photojournalist permanent collection at The Johnson skills to the underwater environment, Museum of Art, Cornell University. All prints are signed and numbered primarily photographing people by Bert Stern and have a copyright working or playing underwater. He was the principal photojournalist stamp on the verso. The portfolio is accompanied with a certificate of for many underwater scientific authenticity. This piece is part of the studies, including archaeological, original edition of 50. paleontological, and biological
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Rene Magritte with his Picture, ‘The Great War’, Brussels © Bill Brandt 1966
Salvador Dali © Alfredo Valente 1940 Singer, painter, photographer, art collector, dealer, cultural administrator, Alfredo Valente (1899-1973) was among the most cultured of the camera artists who chronicled Broadway. Born in Calabria, Italy, trained as a fine artist and also as an opera singer, he came to the United States in 1927. Valente documented a number of important figures including Salvador Dali. Keith Richards © Francesco Carrozzini 2008
Francesco Carrozzini became fascinated with filmmaking and portraiture at an early age, making short films and photographing
Bill Brandt is considered one of the most important photographers of the 20th century, and referenced widely throughout art history. He is best known for high contrast and distorted images of nudes and landscapes and was a pioneer of documentary/ photojournalism photography photographing all levels of British society in the 1930s, an uncommon practice at the time. Brandt’s work has been widely exhibited and is part of numerous museum collections. This particular photograph appears in the book Brandt, The Photography of Bill Brandt, and is also part of the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. The image shown here is of Rene Magritte holding one of his paintings (a variation of one of the many bowler hat works he painted over his lifetime) and is not unlike Brandt’s own self-portraits. The two artists had very much in common, both have been known to have been quiet, unassuming men - their work speaks loudly for them.
“I remember when she first contacted me. I had done a picture for Vogue in which a model was opening her coat to show a picture of a little, laughing boy tucked into the inside pocket. The boy was, in fact, my son, and Diana, maybe because of her little boys, loved that picture so much that she got in touch. We became friends. She was funny and kind - but fundamentally she was a very simple woman who liked very simple things.”
orbited above. The mission fulfilled President John F. Kennedy’s goal of reaching the moon by the end of the 1960s, which he expressed during a 1961 speech: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” The Beatles Land in LA © Bill Ray 1964
This photograph was taken at Edwin Eugene ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, NASA the Los Angeles airport as the Beatles landed in August 1964, - Apollo 11 Moonwalk while Bill Ray was on assignment © Neil Armstrong 1969 for Life magazine. Ray was a staff photographer for Life magazine, Her Royal Highness Diana, working out of its bureaus in New the Princess of Wales York, Paris, and Beverly Hills, © Patrick Demarchelier 1993 covering the great events and personalities of the day. Perhaps Patrick Demarchelier, born August his most famous photograph is 21, 1943, is a French fashion the shot of Marilyn Monroe from photographer. Since the late behind singing “Happy Birthday” 1970s he has shot the covers to President John F. Kennedy. for nearly every major fashion Since Life ceased publication, magazine including American, his work has appeared in British and Paris Vogue. He has numerous publications, including also shot covers for Rolling Stone, Newsweek (with almost 50 Glamour, Life, Newsweek, Elle covers), Smithsonian, Fortune, and and Mademoiselle. others. His work has been widely exhibited in galleries and museums, He has photographed many An iconic image and vintage print including the International Center advertising campaigns, including for Photography, New York, and the from America’s space program. Farrah Fawcett shampoo in Brooklyn Museum of Art. Astronaut Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin as 1978, the Brooke Shields photographed by Astronaut Neil doll in 1982, Lauren by Ralph Armstrong during the first Lunar Lauren, Cutty Sark, and a Calvin surface moonwalk by Man. Klein ad with Talisa Soto as well as ads for Giorgio Armani, The Apollo 11 Mission was the Chanel, GAP, Gianni Versace, first manned mission to land L’Oréal, Elizabeth Arden, Revlon, on the Moon, the fifth human Lancôme, Gianfranco Ferré. spaceflight of Project Apollo, and Demarchelier also photographed the third human voyage to the entire international advertising Moon. Launched on July 16, 1969, campaigns for Dior, Louis Vuitton, it carried Commander Neil Alden Celine, TAG Heuer, Chanel, Yves Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Saint Laurent, Lacoste, Calvin Michael Collins and Lunar Module Klein and Ralph Lauren. Pilot Edwin Eugene ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, Jr. On July 20, Armstrong and About Diana, Demarchelier Aldrin became the first humans recounted to The Telegraph, to land on the Moon, while Collins
Andy Warhol © Bill Ray 1980 This photograph was taken in 1980 in New York on assignment for New York Magazine. Andy is holding a Polaroid print taken moments earlier by Bill Ray. Bill Ray was a staff photographer for Life magazine, working out of its bureaus in New York, Paris, and Beverly Hills, covering the great events and personalities of the day. Since Life ceased publication, his work has appeared in numerous publications, including Newsweek, Smithsonian, Fortune, and others. His work has been widely exhibited in galleries and museums, including the International Center for Photography, New York, and the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
© All Images are courtesy of For more Information about the auctions and the photographers, vist www.artnetauctions.com
Winter | 2010 81
Special Events | CONSOLATION
Consolation
By Nazif Topcuoglu © All Images Courtesy of Nazif Topcuoglu and Green Art Gallery
82 soura | issue 28
Last December, Green Art Gallery exhibited Consolation, a solo show for Turkish photographer Nazif Topcuoglu, marking the Istanbul-based artist’s first appearance in the Middle East. Born in 1954, Topcuoglu graduated with a Masters degree from the Institute of Design in Chicago in 1981. Since then he has exhibited worldwide and has published 3 books on the history and criticism of photography. The exhibition encompassed new works in addition to those developed in his earlier series including Readers, Curiosity & Experience and New World. Topcuoglu works in the domain of constructed, staged photography, where everything is controlled. Rather than capturing actual events, Topcuoglu tends to create controlled events in which he allows small accidents to happen. Over the years, he has created a consistent body of work that predominantly features young girls set in period backdrops and engaged in a variety of symbolic actions and roles. Topcuoglu’s photographs are almost akin to painting in their rich color and detail, while also resembling stills from a theatre play. The underlying thread in his work is a constant preoccupation with time, memory and loss. He worries about the transience of people and ideals, and tries to reconstruct unclear and imperfect images of an idealized past. Hence his constant art-historical references to classical paintings and photographs such as Rembrandt and Caravaggio as well as to authors like Marcel Proust, Thomas Mann, Vladimir Nabokav and Lewis Carrol, all of which are an attempt to recapture the past. Despite the old-fashioned mise-en-scene, however, the subtexts in Topcuoglu’s work remains purely contemporary. There is often a characteristic duality in his work, hovering between innocence and experience, passivity and aggression, masculinity and femininity. His work references and satirizes the evolution of Turkish society, current affairs and media. For instance, Suicide shows how Turkish girls, in an attempt to be Western, have become consumers of fashion and their loss of traditional ideals, a critique of a segment of young females in society. In his Readers series, books and the library play an important role. The books function not only as symbols of knowledge but, more importantly, as tools for female self-empowerment. Meanwhile, Lamentations (New World Series, 2006 - 2007), showing 11 girls sprawled across an oriental rug, was based on the Abu Ghraib prison incident that occurred during the current American occupation of Iraq. This was the starting point, but Lamentations also references various other ideas: Goya’s Disasters of War and Theodore Gericault’s painting Raft of the Medusa. Winter | 2010 83
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