Keen observers of this “photography” blog have noticed more and more bicycling culture making it’s way into the virtual pages of this book. A link here, a mention there, some screen grabshere and there. But all that has been a prelude to this blog post.
A while back, I emailed the guys over at my favorite cycling apparel company, Rapha. Their mix of art direction, photography, writing, and style has made me a huge fan. I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email response to my “cold call.” Hmm, I knew these guys were different. The email love affair (back & forth) has been going on for almost a year now, until we finally linked up last month.
Rapha was organizing one of their infamous Gentlemen’s Races in upstate NY and they called to see if I could photograph some of it. I got the phone call about 15 hours before the start of the race. I grabbed whatever cameras I could, some film, a change of clothes, and I was off. There was no way I was gonna miss this. Check out the video to see what it was all about (you can see me laughing on screen left to the kazoo rendition of Seven Nation Army at about 4:10).
Clearly, these aren’t your typical lycra-wearing jocks.
Check out the full write-up on the official Rapha Gentlemen’s Race page. My images are scattered throughout those pages along with Daniel Wakefield Pasley’s work. Here are some of my favorite images I shot.
Just a quick tearsheet to make me forget this weather outside.
I shot the Traveling Stylists back in April for French Glamour. Basically, Meghan and Chelsea set up a table on the street, put up their iconic-Home-Depot-DIY-FREE FASHION ADVICE-banner, and people start coming up to them to talk about fashion. It’s pretty amazing to watch. Questions can range from “what do you think about my outfit,” to more specific “I just bought these shoes, thoughts?” or something more conceptual like “what do you guys think about the ‘no socks’ look?”
Besides being super nice and genuinely interested in helping people make informed fashion decisions, Meghan and Chelsea are adorable. And they complimented my outfit! Score! Maybe I have a chance?
My good friend David Leventi is showing work at Bonni Benrubi Gallery this Thursday. Be there!
“Hot Fun in the Summertime”
Opening: 6-8pm, Thursday, June 18 Bonni Benrubi Gallery
41 East 57th Street, 13th Floor
New York, NY 10022
212.888.6007
HOT FUN IN THE SUMMERTIME
June 18th - September 5th, 2009
Bonni Benrubi Gallery is pleased to announce a group exhibition, HOT FUN IN THE SUMMERTIME. Combining the work of young, up-and-coming photographers with that of established masters, this exhibition covers an impressive range of approaches and subject matter. Surfing photography from the 60’s and 70’s by the legendary surf photographer LeRoy Grannis transports viewers back in time, into the sun and onto the beach. Lavish interiors of opera houses from around the world by artist David Leventi soar with dramatic associations. Black and white photographs of Japan and color photographs of North Korea by Hiroshi Watanabe simmer with quiet mystery, while artist Peter Jones captures the fleeting light, color and texture of the summer season. Offering a unique view of surfers, Blair Seagram deconstructs and reconstructs the beach in her composite panoramas images. Additionally, Heidi Basset Blair offers the ultimate in summer fun with her sun-drenched vacation moments. In addition to these highlights, the exhibition will feature the work of numerous other emerging and established photographers including Evan Schwartz with photographs of cross-dressers at leisure and Damion Berger with views of swimmers underwater.
Here are some of David’s beautiful opera house interiors:
So I’ve been cleaning up my studio preparing for a move to Brooklyn, and I came about some contact sheets from my previous Esquire shoot in Maine. I fire up the ol’ google thing to find out what George Johsnon has been up to, and what do you know? First result takes me to the Esquire article on “What I’ve learned,” but the second web result takes me to a current photo of George proudly holding up my photo of him. Cool! It’s like an online, frame within a frame, timeline of photo goodness. So of course, I’ll add one more dimension to this ‘picture within a picture within a picture’ game:
Finding this online gem also gives me the opportunity to do a bit of self-marketing and post some of the unpublished shots that I really liked. Isn’t this fun?
I recently updated my page over at Gawker Artists. If you haven’t checked them out yet, you should do so ASAP. Lots of cool stuff to look at from our friends responsible for Gawker, Lifehacker, Gizmodo, and other great sites. Gawker Artists leverages the combined power of all these sites to promote emerging artists. Pretty cool.
Pick up the latest XXL Magazine and check out my portrait of Asher Roth. And if you don’t know who Asher is, you better ask somebody! Some are touting him as the new face of Hip Hop. Read up!
This was one of those last minute photoshoots where you get the call 1 day before and you start scrambling immediately. I should have known the rest of the shoot was going to go similarly. Originally, we were going to get about 2 hours with Asher right around sunset. Perfect! But, oh how quickly things fall apart!
The shoot was scheduled for late afternoon in Philly, so we left NYC early to start scouting. In the 1.5 hours that it takes to get to Philly, the times and location were changed about 3 times! All of a sudden, we were rushed to get to his hotel, set up, and start shooting immediately. Oh yeah, those 2 hours we were scheduled for, now turned into about 40 minutes!
Somehow, it all worked out though. We even managed to get 3 looks for the magazine. Asher and his people were totally professional and apologetic about the scheduling situation. Totally cool people. Here are some of the other images.
The baby blue boat shoes with the orange Syracuse shorts are killing it!
My good friend and one of my earliest teachers, Nacho Iasparra, emailed me the other day and pointed out the similarities between one of my images and a 1943 Weegee image. I wasn’t familiar with the image until now, and I’m flattered to death with the comparison. But, Weegee is a master, and he was doing this more than 50 yrs ago. You be the judge:
Weegee - Lovers with 3-D glasses at the Palace Theatre (Infra-red), 1943
Cuz you really can’t get enough! Hopefully you’ve already seen the nerve.comfeature, but I wanted to include some that didn’t make that cut. Not enough T&A, I guess. More news to follow about this Spring Break thing. More secrets revealed soon!
I’ve been keeping a secret. Well, I have a lot of secrets, but that’s another story. Today I’m revealing a secret project that I shot in March with two good friends Stephen K Schuster and Steven Brahms. Here is the text for the project and a link to nerve.com’s slideshow presentation:
Steven Brahms, Emiliano Granado, and Stephen K Schuster are three photographers and friends living in New York City. The three of them traveled to Panama City Beach in early 2009 to document Spring Break. The following series of photographs is a collaborative body of work from all three of them. Unlike other art forms, rarely do you see collaborations in photography. In this case, they agreed to document this cultural phenemon in their own particular way, with their own style, and vision. Each of them comes from different backgrounds, have different perspectives, and different working processes. However, this body of work holds together as a cohesive finished product. Limited edition postcard box sets will be available from the artists.
