lipstick and hair

     Today Francesca and I wanted to go take pictures. We both had a long week of school and wanted to drive and explore for picture places. We just packed a suit case full of props because we didn't know what exactly we were going to do. We drove for about 30 min and found a side street with a gravel road. But before we did any of that we did shot some pictures in my room.

     I have been wanting to do this idea for almost a year now. I haven't really taken any pictures in over a week so I thought now would be the perfect time to do an old idea. I saw one of Alexander McQueen's fashion show when he made all the models wear nets over their faces. I thought it looked amazing. Also his fall 2009 line all the models had huge lips with lipstick everywhere. That has been made an iconic look and one of my favorites. I wanted to incorporate both in these pictures.

 

       After we did that shoot we jumped in the car and started driving. We found this gravel road off the main street where we turned off. It went a couple miles into the woods but eventually led to an electricity plant. As we got closer to it we saw a huge patch of daisies. I thought it would be really pretty and simple to have her sit it them with the wig. I wanted something simple and pretty, there was no real inspiration  behind this besides nature itself.

 

     After that we took a different gravel path back to the main road. As we drove we found a huge wooden cabin. It was amazing. I was so excited. We were running out of daylight but I decided to shoot with what we had. When I saw the wooden door and my 60" wig I made a connection. I thought of a performance done by Lady Gaga a few months ago for the Japanese VMA's. She was tangled in a huge spider web and her hair was all entangled in it. I wanted to do something similar although I have done it before.

     It was a spur of the moment shooting but we had a lot of fun and we got some amazing shots. We are going back out tomorrow so possible post tomorrow? Not sure yet. Thanks for reading.

xx austin

5 people i look up to

     I'm on vacation all week and I wanted to do a blog post, because the day after I get home I start school. I've been out in the sun the past two days, so today I came back to the and started researching photos and such for this blog. It started out as a current obsession post but it manifested itself into an inspiration post. I wanted to put together a collection of my favorite work from some of my favorite artist. I choose five of them. They're are many many more artist that I look up to and follow but these are the first five that came to mind.

     The first person I chose was Nick Knight. I found him through his website showstudio.com. If you haven't seen this site I suggest bookmarking it. Through his site I have found many other designers and artist. Nick Knight, if you do not already know, is a fashion photographer. His work is amazing. He is known for bridging fashion, film, and technology. I applaud him for his work in both the fashion and art world.

     The second artist I chose was Gareth Pugh. He is an english designer. I found him through one of his films he did last summer. Whenever I see a fashion film or interview that I really enjoy I go back and look the person up and watch interviews on them. That's what I did with Gareth and I liked what I found. He really fought his way into the industry and his work is like no other.


     He works with Nick Knight often and that's why I chose to put these two back to back. 

 

     The third person, or people, is Nicola Formichette and Rick Genest. I wanted to include both of them together. Because without one is not the other. Rick Genest was found through myspace/facebook by Nicola Formichetti who wanted to use him in the Mugler fashion show. Rick hit it big because he is now the leading image for mugler and was featured in the Lady Gaga music video for born this way. He is also being featured by other artist and is only heading up from here.


     Nicola Formichette as I said above is the head creative designer for Mugler. He is also one of Lady Gaga's memebers on the haus of gaga, and one of her best friends. He helps her in music videos and also styles her. He is extremely creative and is really prominent in the fashion world right now.

 

     The next person I picked was Terry Richardson. Terry Richardson is the photographer for the stars. He has photographed almost everyone out there, from britney spears, lil wayne, kanye west, justin bieber, and lady gaga. That it how I discovered him. He shot Lady Gaga for supreme, he also shot her for rolling stones and harpers bazaar. His work is very real and candid. I really like his work.

     He has been on the road following Lady Gaga shooting for 10 months. And in November 2011 the two are releasing a 350+ photo book. 

 

    The last but definitely not the least is the late Alexander McQueen. I discovered him through style.com in 2009. I followed every fashion show he did. I have to say that he is and always will be one of the most creative artist in the world. His clothing, his eye, his whole persona is genious. I think it is fit to have him last in this line up. He is very special and greatly missed by many.

     Long live McQueen.

     I have to say this has taken me about 5 hours to put together. Whether it was making the collage pictures, or looking up the images. But most of all was trying to upload this pictures. The hotel wifi is very slow so it took about 10 min to upload one image. With that said I hope that you all enjoy it and maybe find inspiration from some of them like I did.


xx austin

one sequin at a time

     Francesca and I were at Goodwill about a month ago. We always go there to look for photo props. I think I got a denim jacket and some lace and as we were checking out she saw a roll of sequins for $5.00. At first I was like, no. I didn't want them at all. But she kept bugging me and told me we could use them for something. So I gave in and got them. Since then they have been sitting in my car slowly rotting away. I couldn't think of anything to use them for. But Francesca suggested that we wrap her head in them. (these are the kind of friends I have). And then my mind started going.

     I have done things similar to like that in my past work. Both times were with caution tape. I liked them because of the letters on the tape gave a cool pattern to the image and the bright yellow was also a nice touch.

  

     This time I wanted to do something to really show the sequins. The first thing that came in my head was to do it at night. That way I could use some type of lighting to reflect off the sequins. I thought of using my car head lights, but I knew they would be too strong and bright. I walked around my house looking for things and I found a box full of candles from my birthday part I had. They were perfect.

     I thought of having Francesca sit at the head of the table sitting straight up looking across into the camera. There is something very eerie and mysterious about mask, or wrapping a head. Something about not being able to tell the identity of someone. Two images were brought to my head when I thought of this. One was from the strangers. That movie has to be one of the scariest movies I have ever seen. Without their mask it probably would not have the same effect. Another image was from a short clip played at the Lady Gaga Monster Ball tour. It was called the manifesto of little monsters. You can watch it below.

the strangers

manifesto of little monster

 

      Going with that idea when it came to editing I wanted to keep the visuals that were in that video. Black and white with some grain. I also wanted to keep a since of eeriness that the film the strangers had. I didn't want to use her natural hair. I wanted it to have a little bit of fantasy. So we used a 60in blonde wig. I thought visually it would be better to wrap the sequin strands around the hair rather then under. 

     The positioning of the candles was a bit tricky. I didn't want them to be so perfect and set up, but I also did not want them to be scattered around randomly. I have to position them to light the shot too. I used no other lighting then the candles.

 

 

     I have to say I have some of the best friends in the world. I don't know many people that have friends that would willingly allow them to wrap their face in sequin strands and light candles all around them and have them sit their for 15 min barely able to breath and sweating like crazy. But I can say I have friends like that. And I love them. She sat there like a pro. lol 

 

     I'm leaving for vacation in less than 4 hours and I haven't packed yet a single item. All day I went school shopping since I am getting back the day before school starts and I shot these pictures at 10pm. But I wanted to get the shoot done and have a blog post for you all to read before I go. Hope you enjoy it. 

xx austin 

 

denim, leather, and heels

     These past few days I have been really into fashion editorial pictures. I've been looking at tons of fashion ads to see their pictures. One stood out the most to me, Guess. I came across their ad in vogue magazine and when I was in their store yesterday I saw life size pictures covering the wall.

    I got so inspired. I love high contrasted black & white editorial shots. I spent the last few days at Emma's house and we really wanted to do a photo shoot. I wasn't positive on which direction to go in. But I did know I wanted to shoot some polaroids before. The first thought was makeup. I always loved the big cat eye Amy Winehouse always wears, so I wanted to start with that.

     As soon as we had the makeup on Emma the Guess photoshoots came in mind. Now we had our idea to work off of. I wanted lots of denim, leather, and heels. Thinking of the vintage 50's kind of look made me want to incorporate Rosie the Riveter.

     First thing we did was Emma's makeup. We shot a few polaroids then we went out to our location. This was the first time we brought change of clothes and shoes and a bunch of different things. I have to say, it was one of the most fun shoots we did together. We didn't really plan too much or force anything. Most of the shots were natural when Emma was fixing her hair or looking at someone jogging, and I think that helped the photographs.

 

     We had so much fun shooting and I wanted to share a little 'behind the scenes' blog on the day. I'll be uploading more in the next few days to my flickr.

xx austin

film

    I often get asked why I shoot with film, after all I own a nice expensive camera. Why bother? It's hard to explain to someone who has never experimented with film why I love it so much. Or maybe someone who has used film. Maybe it's personal.  What I can say is that there is something magical about film. Whether you shooting photoshoots, your crazy friends, or just a simple scenery at a family vacation. Once you shoot your roll of film you go get it developed and you can hold them in you hands. Unlike digital these pictures won't get lost in cyberspace. 

     There is something very personal with film. If you allow it to be. They can be locked away in your drawer or tucked neatly into an album. There is nothing secret or bad you're trying to hide. But they are almost like memories. I'm sure some of you think digital can be memories also, and you're right. But, film is different. 

     For me I shoot film during the summer, when I'm most happy. I don't have to worry about school or drama or anything. I don't have test to study for or projects to get done. I can relax and be a kid. And I think that carefree happiness translates through my work. When I get much older I will have these pictures to look back on and take me back in time to these summers. I see them as mini time transporters. 

     Film also carries a simplicity to its pictures. First off I do not have to worry about retaking, because you can not see the pictures you took until they get developed. Second you do not have to worry about editing and getting everything perfect. Most times you will see photographers say "SOOC" which stands for straight out of camera. With film everything is "sooc". They are just raw shots. and there is something special about that.

 

     I have to be careful when I get my rolls developed because they will usually throw away the shoots that aren't usually accepted. Like the two above. If I hadn't said anything they would have been discarded. I find the both of them to be beautiful. I love light leaks because they are random and you don't know which pictures it will happen to, if any at all. 

     My last trip to Hawaii I only shot with film. For the very reasons I've been talking about. I did not want to deal with my 365 or trying to adjust my settings to match the bright sun light on the beach. I didn't want to worry about trying to get my brothers to be models and rigging up some make shift photoshoot to fill a spot. I honestly just wanted to say screw the canon. It's heavy. I didn't want it around my neck, or weighing down my bag. I wanted to wake up and go swimming, build sand castles, and look for shells. And most of all enjoy myself. So that's what I did.

 

     I haven't decided whether I'm going to shoot film once the school year starts or not. I probably will because I have got much more into it this summer than last. If you enjoy photography or even if you have never tried it I would suggest you go and get a simple film camera and give it a shot. 

xx austin

inspiration behind the scans

     So if you follow me on flickr you would have seen my newest pictures. If you were wondering how they were done I did them with a scanner. I have been out of inspiration lately and wanted to do something without my camera. Being a photographer that isn't easy to do. I've used a scanner in the past but there is only so many things you can do, so I thought. The first thought was to use my rosarys and crucifixes. I always wear a rosary, nice little fashion statement ;) 

     At first I was going to create this artistic religious statement with these crosses by arranging them to make this concept. But I thought the whole framing was missing one main focal point. It was too busy for the eye. So I thought to incorporate my hand. But just a random hand in the frame doesn't do any good. Then I thought of a movie I watched with my friend called stigmata. Then all the pieces came together so I wiped out some paint and made it happen.

     I was very happy with how the whole effect came out, but I wanted to push it more. I wasn't finished with the scanner. So I went around my room looking at my things trying to find something to use. It became difficult because you can't just throw anything on a scanner and scan it and be happy with the results. 
    
     I wanted something both conceptual and visually pleasing. So I noticed these flowers on my desk. I cut them from my garden and had them in water. The other day I examined them and noticed that they grew roots. So when I saw them again I thought it would be a really cool concept to scan the roots. I had the visual down but conceptually a bunch of roots doesn't do it for me. So I thought about plants in the ground. Which made me think of death, being buried. So I decided to play off of that idea. I was very excited to see how it turned out.

 

 

     I wasn't finished with the scanner just yet. I wanted to create one more piece while I had all my creativity running. I did a piece a few weeks ago with hair from a my little pony. You can see that one here. So I began thinking of other media. I already had used hair and now plant roots. I have these feathers over my desk that I got from Hawaii. I liked the idea of feathers but I didn't know how to use them and if they would conceptually make since. 

   But there was one feather that I knew I could use. It was a peacock feather I brought home from the island that I wanted to use in a picture. I have a peacock eel in my fish tank. It just so happens I was watching him swim around the other day just examining his pattern and markings. And They are called peacock eels because of there tails. They have the same markings as the birds feather. I thought how they use them, as do peacocks, to distract an enemy because the feathers have these eye shapes. Then the concept came to me. I wanted to play with the idea of the feather being used as an eye. But instead of the feather making you think it was a living thing, use the feather to disguise a living thing something dead.

 

     So that was a little explanation behind some of my pictures. I always enjoy reading how other artist come up with ideas and the process of how they got to them. So I thought I'd share a few with you. Maybe one of you will enjoy it :)

  xxaustin