Self Portrait
Kitchen
……….my muse about two years ago, love and respect……….
……….a labor day weekend spent shooting friends at the Bonaventure hotel, Los Angeles, a very grand time………….
The Bonaventure
……….a rainy day in Silverlake, Cali…………
To learn more about Stephanie Vovas work log on to www.StephanieVovas.com.
Spectra 1
Notes on my Polaroids: Posted by Stephanie Vovas
……….Ever since I was a young girl I have loved Polaroids. I have about 1500 of them, dating all the way back to when I was little. To me, Polaroids are like precious jewels, you cannot recreate them. I think it’s one of the greatest inventions of modern times.
I was a Polaroid junkie and If I didn’t have any Spectra film on hand I felt uncomfortable, because that meant I was unprepared for any beautiful, sexy, interesting moments that might come up.
Spectra 3
I want to make a book of all my Polaroid work someday. I look forward to meeting the right publisher. I can’t wait to try the new film that is coming out. Thank God Polaroid is making a come back!
Spectra 4
To learn more about Stephanie Vovas Polaroid work log on to www.StephanieVovas.com.
www.StephanieVovas.com
…..We’ve had our eye’s glued to this image since we first discovered the work of LA based photographer Stephanie Vovas, whose work we’ve featured recently. It is very different from most of the other pictures on her repertoire, in that the identity of the person in the photograph remains a mystery, hidden unlike most of her pictures which are more portrait like. We asked her to write a brief commentary on how she arrived at creating this image, the mystery surrounding the photograph. In her own words, Stephanie offers us a glimpse in to her creative process at work……
Posted by Stephanie Vovas
Serena was my muse I guess you could say for many years until she moved away to New York City. Something between us matched as we felt free to play together. I guess we provoked each other creatively, her showing sides of herself, and me experimenting beyond my normal boundaries. It was a sort of fearless collaboration and there was great trust between us. I love how open, strong and confident she is. I wish I could find 10 Serena’s.
The picture just came about organically, we were spending a few hours together trying on different things. Then she put on those red underpants. I suggested we go into the garage where my sister stored this great old BMW. I pulled it onto the street, put the headlights on, and it was raining outside. For some reason those red underpants seemed like they went perfectly with the car. I walked behind the model and there was the picture.
Portrait Of The Artist
….We first learned about the photographic portraiture of Stephanie Vovas through our left coast corespondent Ed Simmons, who recently wrote a piece for us about the pending opening of LA LIVE in Los Angeles. Ms. Vovas produced the portraits of Mr. Simmon’s for the post. We liked them so much here at the studio that we asked Ed to introduce us to more of her work. We were pleasantly surprised. She has an uncanny knack for enhancing the effect’s of the still image, through her choice of subject, lighting, color and treatment of the final image. The images feel like “film stills” from a movie set production, reminiscent of Cindy Sherman’s early self portraits, but with a contemporary twist. Here is a sampling of her creativity at work. To see more, log on to www.stephanievovas.com…………
www.StephanieVovas.com
BIO
Stephanie Vovas first picked up a camera as a young girl growing up in Springfield, MA in the 70’s and has been hooked ever since. She loves to shoot. She’s been known to squeal out in joy when she gets the image just right.
Despite this passion, it never led her to think photography was something to pursue as a career, and so after high school she simply experienced life. She moved to San Francisco, traveled throughout Europe, and then took a very long cross country drive which led to living in several random locations, often as a result of running out of gas. She worked in a retirement home in Denver, CO, was an environmental activist at Redwood Summer in Northern California, and when she found herself in Reno, Nevada working as a change girl with a giant sign on her back that said “Change”, it was in this moment that she realized it was time to change. She decided to pursue her passion for photography and went back to the East Coast to study at the Maine Photographic Workshops.
www.StephanieVovas.com
After school, love brought her to Portland, Oregon where she worked in a camera store, saw lots of live bands, and immersed herself in the mid-90’s art scene. She started experimenting with Polaroid films and processes, which led to a unique and highly stylistic body of work. She co-created a gallery called Barcalounge, where she exhibited her own work and curated shows of other artists. Miniature handmade booklets were made for every show, which eventually led to a full size art magazine.
Stephanie grew restless in Portland and moved to L.A. to take her photography to the next level. L.A. brought a few gigs assisting photographers, some camera store work, and a graphic design career. Photography took the backburner, until she enrolled in a photo course at The Art Center. Stephanie is now shooting regularly and just had her first solo exhibit in Los Angeles. Her work has become more fashion oriented after teaming up with celebrity hair stylist, Aviva Perea, and make-up artist, Stephen Bowman.
www.StephanieVovas.com
From the Portland Polaroids to today’s vivid digital images, her style has evolved and changed, yet there is a similar feeling that pervades through all her images…the same sort of feeling one gets when listening to groovy 70’s music. A shoot with Stephanie is a wildly fun, yet very intimate party. Fellow students at Art Center often questioned what her tricks are…from “How did you get this person naked?” to “How did you get the colors that way?”
www.StephanieVovas.com
www.StephanieVovas.com
A History Of Being Borked
…After seeing part of the Sonia Sotomayor senate hearings as she ascended to the Supreme Court recently, I rummaged through my hard drive in search for another George magazine assignment from my past. I was sent to Washington to photograph former circuit Judge Robert Bork. I knew the name instantly as I recalled that he was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Reagan in 1981 and was riveted to the television set like many Americans, who witnessed a phalanx of US Senators deny his entrance to the ultimate position of power. I didn’t know what to expect from him as I was introduced by his secretary, nor was I briefed much about his temperament or how he perceived representatives of the media in general. He was actually quite engaging and assertive as one would expect a judicial leader to be…..