……….When the moon is full in Montana during the winter and there has been a fresh snowfall everything is bright and pristine and I love the white.
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I have done many winter snow shoots and they are tough. Shooting in zero degree weather with the wind blowing was not a joy. But I love the white and my blood bubbles at the sight of the shapes snowdrifts make.
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In the west during the winter it seemed as though everywhere I turned there was an image to be photographed.
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Everything about this location and the time of day was perfect. The dark sky, long shadows, virgin snow and a perfect log house. It almost seems like moon light.
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Once we were able to set up on the side of the cabin where I would not see the foot prints and getting inside to light the windows, I only had one shot at bringing the cowboy in from the right in the virgin snow, we either had it on the first take or not.
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As it turned out everything about the photograph is perfect and it was used around the world in different languages as a Christmas card.
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Photography by Jack Ward, Copyright 2012..
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About The Author: Originally an artist of the brush, Jack studied painting and design at Cooper Union in New York City, and color theory under the tutelage of Josef Albers at Yale University, where he received an MFA degree in Color Theory in 1958. It was during a stint in the Air Force – flying the observer (weapons control officer) position in F-100F, F-101F, F-102F, and B-57 aircraft off of Cape Cod and in North Africa, that Jack’s interest in photography became a passion.
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Editor’s Note: To learn more about Jack Ward’s photography, go to the search bar at the top of the page: enter name and click green icon.
Posted on December 8, 2012 by Ypsitylla von Nazareth
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………..Casting a light back onto the shadows showing up details in a visualized twilight theater about the struggle between reality and madness, the paradox of irony and illusion, confronted with the fact that we are “living at the edge of madness”, this is”High Toxi-City”! The new black and red conceptual images by Cheyco Leidmann, never shown before and presented amongst other thematically different images (all together 131) at the Moretti & Moretti Gallery in Paris, are glutted in their monochrome tones, on palettes of a piercing eroticism, they participate with all their heat to any kind of apocalyptic vision. Authentic, real, unrestrained brutal-though at first sight the brutality appears to remain concealed behind an aesthetic contemplation.
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The bodies enjoy and bleed at the same time. Screams of pleasure open fester wounds. The abyss of perversion is only revealed upon closer scrutiny. The beholder is equally captured in the image as are the morbid, seemingly mad figures in their fantasies. These fantasies are only unraveled slowly, by means of the lighting guiding the viewer through the picture and revealing gradually the fundamental aspects to he or she. Empty houses, windows without glass – reflect the desperateness, the finality of the situation. Faces without eyes, beetles and religious symbols with a depth of eroticism turn the image into a memento of our time.
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Photo: Cheyco Leidmann
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Some images create a mural-like, imposing complex composition confronting issues critical to contemporary urbanism. Flux and reflux capture the world in a state of chaos. The event manifests an encounter between two views.One demonstrating Cheyco Leidmann’s commitment to this new interpretation of
neo-visualism, including a specific triptych constellation composed of multiple images, and the other showing his hard-core color classics.
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Photo: Cheyco Leidmann
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It is a dialogue of true substance which should inspire the viewers eyes, thoughts and emotions seeing the truth of the picture , which by then is no longer just in black and white. Creative collaborator Ypsitylla von Nazareth accompanies Cheyco Leidmann on his journey.
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Galerie: Moretti & Moretti
Exhibition Title: “High Toxi-City”
6, Cour Berard, Paris
November 16 to December 8, 2012
……….Anyone who has been a student has interacted with librarians at some point in their life. I’ve always wondered what a librarian’s life was like. My economics teacher back in high school always told us that she should have become a librarian. She could have lived a peaceful life in the quiet library, reading all the books and novels she wanted. In fact, she encouraged everyone in my class to become librarians and study library science in college.
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Photo: J. Antonio
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Unfortunately, librarians and libraries are becoming extinct. The advent of the internet and digital technology has affected the way we receive information, thus making librarians and libraries a rare commodity, or for this series of pictures, a hot commodity.
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Photo: J. Antonio
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I wanted to portray the sexiness of a librarian, yet still remain classy and elegant. The model had an excellent wardrobe of colorful and professional clothes that suited the librarian I was looking to portray. Her personality – intellectual and tenacious but still down-to-earth made her the perfect candidate for the shoot. While she and I have never done a shoot like this before, we trusted each other and understood the story, image and interpretation of our pictorial.
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Photo: J. Antonio
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Also, there is an element of excitement or fascination when it comes to pushing limits and allowing oneself to explore a different side of them. My model and I were no different from the librarian we were both trying to portray in this shoot.
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Photo: J. Antonio
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Like a librarian and a student who spends countless hours reading, it is important to unwind, express oneself, and take risks to challenge oneself. It’s the only way to grow and learn.
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Photo: J. Antonio
About The Author: J. Antonio is enrolled in the Graduate Fine Arts program and City Planning major at the University of Pennsylvania.
Posted on December 2, 2012 nu Natalia Quinteros-Guevara
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……….Meet Pascuale Scioli. He’s a tailor in South Philadelphia’s East Passyunk neighborhood where he has been operating his own store for over 20 years. Pascuale, or “Pat”, as he has people call him, is a petite powerhouse of energy. He was outside of his shop when I first met him, talking to a neighborhood woman about the dying art of hand stitching. He continued to tell me how he uses the methods his grandfather used as a tailor. Pat is a very proud and extremely friendly guy who was more than willing to pose for a series of photos. This series aims to highlight the importance of artisans.
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When I went to photograph Pat, he was helping a customer who drove all the way from New Jersey to see him. “Shirts are made in a generic size nowadays,” he explained to us as he proceeded with his work. “The most important part of a shirt and suit is a good fit and attention to details”. We were all having a great time listening to Pat tell it like it is.
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Photo: Natalia Quinteros-Guevera
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Pat measures everything twice on the person before making some quick reference hand stitches for the alterations he will make. The entire fitting and alteration took 15 minutes at most. His hands are extremely fast and agile. An impressive site.
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The master craftsman shows me how he must iron out all pleats and folds made from a stitch in between each alteration to see how the pants fit. His iron was an amazing old school iron that had valves connecting to a continual feed of steam.
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Photo: Natalia Quinteros-Guevera
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One of the many things that fascinated me about Pat was his simple use of tools and how he had everything set up. Stools double as tables. Soap doubles as fabric markers. The dish has a sponge with water to make hand threading the needles happen in a second. The thread only in two colors to show up on their contrasting fabric. A simple and streamlined method from decades of experience showing that the more you know, the less you need.
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Photo: Natalia Quinteros-Guevera
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The pants from the proceeding shot are now at the worktable where he finalizes the alterations. His work space houses all essential items only. I imagine the ashtray as a harken back to times when people puffed away on cigarettes while being sized for a suit. Now the ashtray is being re-purposed for thimbles and needles, but it’s still on his table.
About The Author: Natalia Quinteros-Guevara is enrolled as a candidate for Master of Fine Arts in Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.
………..East Brady, a small town located on the Allegheny River, can be found 70 miles north of Pittsburgh. While the town used to be a coal-mining community, it has since become a summer destination for city dwellers.
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On any summer day the river is generally bustling and full of life. As you sit on our porch you can hear boats driving by, music, and waves splashing into the shore. However, during the winter months not a sound can be heard except the occasional car traveling over the bridge. All of the summer residents have retreated back to the city.
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Church
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Due to this mass exodus, the population of the town diminishes drastically when the weather cools off. So much so that the only grocery store in the town closed this fall due to insufficient business during the winter season. Sadly this is not uncommon. Many new business ventures fail to survive once the summer residents leave.
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Back in the day, the town of East Brady was where the affluent owners and managers of the coalmines lived. The remnants of their wealth can still be seen today in the architecture. The grandiose house of the wealthiest family was donated to the town, and now functions as a church, library, and town hall.
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Mansion
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As the wealth of the town deteriorated, so did the previously beautiful houses. Some individuals have worked to restore them to their previous grandeur but others have allowed them to continue the downward spiral into decomposition.
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Local Residence
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A quick drive down the main residential street reveals the stark contrast between the full-time and summer residents. Most of the typical residents work low-paying, blue-collar jobs in the manufacturing plants that are nearby, whereas the seasonal residents own their second homes in the town.
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Camp
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My family has been going to East Brady for generations, so we have been able to observe the shifting demographics of the town. More and more seasonal residents are becoming quasi-permanent residents as they retire. I hope that these new additions to the population will help to rejuvenate the town during the dreary winter months.
About The Author: Lauryn LePere is a senior enrolled in The Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. Class of 2013
……….Oberlin, Ohio is a place of opposites. Home to one of the most liberal colleges in the country, it’s also, underneath everything, typical of a small town in Ohio. It’s a place in transition, a place that’s searching for an identity of its own while accommodating the influx of well-off, liberal college kids off the coasts.
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And it’s struggling. The town is poor; it’s empty, often dilapidated. There’s not a lot of hope, and Ohio’s attention in the national news as a swing state was but a weak glimmer of hope that conceals the reality of places like Oberlin.
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Photo: Eillie Anzilloti
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My photographs try to capture that reality. Pulling back from my subjects, I took in the character of Oberlin in its dingy anti-glory. With the students away on fall break, mostly (my brother remained; he’s the lone figure in the alley facing the church), the life of Oberlin locals came to life, but it was spread thin. Few people roamed the few streets; construction was some of the only activity, working to improve the town out of sight of the students.
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Photo: Eillie Anzilloti
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In the images, I tried to portray the emptiness of the town, but also the connections between Oberlin’s physical structures and its people. I tried not to draw attention to the human figures, but rather to let them become part of the town’s buildings. A man blends into the convenience store behind him, unimpressed by the young student riding past on a bicycle. In the back alley behind Oberlin’s one gourmet restaurant, two men rebuild its roof; another pauses for a break on the back stairs, blending with the patterns in the building’s bricks. In front, men unload a shipment from the back of a truck beneath a faded American flag.
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Photo: Eillie Anzilloti
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That’s what Oberlin looked to me this visit: a faded America. Underneath the college brochure life I’d seen there before, it’s a town that needs help. And with the students away, it’s all the more obvious that the college isn’t giving it.
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Photo: Eillie Anzilloti
Copyright 2012
About The Author: Eillie Anzilotti is a senior enrolled in the College of the University of Pennsylvania. Class of 2013.
………..A couple of weeks ago, our Digital Photography class at the University of Pennsylvania had the opportunity to meet Amanda Stevenson, an internationally renowned photographer based in Philadelphia. Amanda retraced her journey to becoming a photographer, in the process showing us her own work while giving her honest opinions on the photography business, and offering advice helpful to anyone wanting to pursue photography in a professional capacity.
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Our first introduction to Amanda came when she generously joined the class in critiquing our current projects. Her perspective as a female photographer gave us new insights into the ways we could approach and interact with our subjects in order to achieve a better visual connection with a potential audience.
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Photo: Amanda Stevenson
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After the critique, Amanda demonstrated her range of interests and skills by presenting a large portfolio of what she called her “scrap work.” While we were able to see many of her own creative projects involving ballerinas, fashion, and beauty, there were also sports, family, and travel themes present in her repertoire. Commenting on the range of her photography, Amanda described the notion of keeping three things in mind, – big clients, creative work, and pro-bono work – in balance.
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This concept truly resonated with me as someone wanting to pursue photography and advertising simultaneously. She spoke about ways in which one can break into the photography world, sharing some entertaining anecdotes about her work as a photographer’s assistant in her youth with the likes of Annie Liebowitz and Francesco Scavullo, while we perused an elegantly crafted portfolio book which she often shows to prospective clients.
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Photo: Amanda Stevenson
Amanda’s visit was personally very eye opening as she made me aware of just how many applications photography can have, all the while providing an insight into the life of a professional working in the industry. As a class we would like to thank Amanda for her time and advice. We await her future work eagerly.
Photo: Amanda Stevenson
About The Author: Francesca Nichol is a senior enrolled in the College of the University of Pennsylvania. Class of 2013.
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Editor’s Note: To learn more about Amanda Stevenson’s photography log on: www.AmandaStevensonPhoto.com
……….Jack Ward – Advertising photographer for Marlboro Cigarette campaign for over twenty-five years. The “Marlboro Man” was created through his camera lens; changing the branding of cigarettes, advertising photography, and some say western-wear fashion for years to come. Jack graciously visited our Fashion Photography class at the University of Pennsylvania last week. The students are working on projects for which they are required to develop their own brand. As young photographers in today’s market, they are being taught to take advantage of their multi-disciplinary talents, and to not only create amazing photographs, but to understand the importance of self-branding when it comes to finding one’s place amongst their competitive peers.
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Photo: Jack Ward
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Photo: Jack Ward
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Jack was fantastic and eager to get to know the students and overflowing with interesting stories from his times on the campaign. I was thrilled to listen to how excited he was about photography; about the thrill of watching the scenes unfold in the viewfinder. It became clear that the only way that someone could do what he did for so long was through a genuine love for the medium and the American West.
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Photo: Jack Ward
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Photo: Jack Ward
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As the class looked through Jack’s portfolio (he had not seen this particular grouping for several years), the photographs of the cowboys and the sprawling, western landscape did not look like advertisements. Later we saw how Marlboro put their stamp on top of the images. But before they were processed with art directors, clients, and witty slogans, the photographs were of refreshing, humble scenes. Jack was right, real cowboys do have a certain “way” about them that only cowboys can have.
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My favorite story that he told us was how the campaign managers had hired a former professional football player to model in the shoots. Jack commented, although the former New York Giants quaterback was deathly handsome, apparently he could not ride a horse with precision, so from that point on, Jack only photographed real cowboys.
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Photo: Jack Ward
This is what made the Marlboro photographs successful in my view: the posture of the men on top of their horses, the coarseness of their hands, the fact that the general public was observing them doing actual work. Yes, there was a product to sell, but regardless of this, the artfulness of the imagery and the sincerity of the people involved transported me to Marlboro Country.
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Photo: Jack Ward
Photos: Copyright 2012 by Jack Ward.
About The Author: Elisa Gabor is enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts program, University of Pennsylvania.
………At night, shadows hold back the truth. What the eye cannot see, the mind makes up. The men and women on the dance floor become beautiful, when before they were not, as we fill in the blanks, rather optimistically in fact. At night, sweat glistens—it does not glare, for that is too ugly a word—as skin becomes wet, saturated by salty perspiration.
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Photo: Evan Robinson
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Unlike fashion meant for the day, the park stroll, there are clothes which live and find their home at night. At night, grunge becomes chic, a style choice no longer relegated to the fringes of societal standing. The DJ’s colored lights, the club’s flashing strobes, all bounce, ricochet, off leather boots and jackets. Colors infuse with the monotone blacks, greys, and whites, creating an ever-changing series of vibrant and patterned combination’s on ever-moving bodies. A tailored suit jacket suddenly represents a rejection of formality when adorning a man wearing boots and a tank top; it is no longer the marker of the business world it was created to represent. Eye contact is rare in the world of the night. Instead, distant gazes and distrusting stares replace the friendly hellos of daylight hours.
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Photo: Evan Robinson
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In the morning, these clothes will go away. The hoods will come down, the fake smiles will come back, and many will be none the wiser for it. But at night, this fashion thrives.
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Photo: Evan Robinson
Model: Nick Marini
Agency: Ford Models New York
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About The Author: Evan Robinson is enrolled in the College of the University of Pennsylvania. Class of 2014. To learn more about Evan Robinson’s Photography log on: www.EvanRobinsonPhotography.com.
Photographs by Evan Robinson, Copyright 2012
……….I met the four girls in front of the Penn bookstore per TW’s instructions. Two models were booked from Main Line Models, Karly Brownstein and Dyana Baurley. They appeared drastically different than their photographs from the agency indicated; a hint at what we would learn later in class. They were impressively effervescent for being students themselves at the end of a long day of classes. The other two girls, who were lugging around what looked like a folded-up director’s chair and several large, rectangular cases made their way over. One of them pushed the wooden legs from the chair along the pavement with her foot as it slipped from her overly ambitious hand. These were the make-up artists: Jessica Saint and her assistant Toni Burke .
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Photo: Anjani Vedula
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Photo: Dan Murphy
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Inside the lab, students of Tony Ward’s Fashion Photography course bustle around, checking out equipment, scouting locations around UPenn’s campus, waiting to see what’s in store for the day. Although I was dying to know how exactly Jessica managed to apply her cat eye liquid eyeliner with such surgical precision, that was not the imperative topic for the day. The girls were there to demonstrate how they professionally apply make-up to models working with fashion photographers.
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Photo: J. Antonio
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Jessica’s impressive resume and background in make-up includes everything from time with my favorite broadway show, The Lion King, to high profile, high fashion shoots, to owning her own make-up artistry business. She gave the students tips for working with make-up artists, forming relationships in the business, and how to handle shoots when the make-up becomes an obstacle on set. The models bravely sat facing the class in their chairs as the artists busily painted their faces.
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Photo: Evan Robinson
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Photo: Anjani Vedula
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After twenty minutes or so of what looked like brushes and powders colliding in a frenzy with the models’ skin, the shimmering dust settled, and the students took over. They took turns shooting the models against various back drops. Some allowed the dramatic eye shadow to create a context for the photograph; others used interesting architecture and even projections to create a narrative within the frame. I could tell they were enjoying themselves – looking through the lens and seeing the models’ faces transformed before them. I admit to feeling a little jealous of the fun they were having. Like all of the other skills they have learned in the class thus far, I am certain the students will run with this and bring amazing images to the next session.
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Photo: Brian Chaffinich
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Photo: Evan Robinson
Editor’s Note: Models courtesy Main Line Models: www.MainLineModelAgency.com.
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About The Author: Elisa Gabor is enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts program, University of Pennsylvania.
