One of things I enjoy about not having a “regular” (as in 9-5) job is that I can go see matinee movies whenever I want. Today I saw a film called “Bellflower” and it blew me away. I absolutely love that the filmmakers chose a style and just went with it (not to mention that it was their first film). Seeing this movie has left me incredibly inspired – I loved everything from the lens choice to the colouring to the music. Check it out if you get the chance, you won’t be sorry.
“…most of the time I miss it. But I try.”
- Bill Cunningham (on photographing the clothing that captures his eye – whether on the street or at Paris fashion week)
Over the weekend I went to see a documentary about an 80-yr old street fashion photographer named Bill Cunningham. Cunningham has worked for major publications and currently contributes to the New York Times Style section. His work is purely about documenting trends – he doesn’t consider himself an artist.
No matter what genre of photography you work in, or what discipline of art you practice – I think we can all take a page out of Cunningham’s book. The pure dedication he has for what he does, the passion he has for clothing is inspirational. Definitely a film worth checking out.
In January I visited the Los Angeles zoo. Going to the zoo reminds me of childhood and so I decided to process the images with that in mind. Actually, it was that – combined with my love of square format photos from the 1970’s.
My first shoot of 2011 was yesterday – with one of my all time favourite models, Diana Dencker. We did a beauty shoot that was slightly 1970’s inspired.
I also came across this 10-min video about a relatively unknown photographer, Vivian Maier. She worked as a nanny in Chicago and is only now getting the recognition her work deserves, after someone bought her old negatives at an auction. Hers is some of the most inspiring street photography I have ever seen.
“Marwencol is a documentary about the fantasy world of Mark Hogancamp. After being beaten into a brain-damaging coma by five men outside a bar, Mark builds a 1/6th scale World War II-era town in his backyard. Mark populates the town he dubs “Marwencol” with dolls representing his friends and family and creates life-like photographs detailing the town’s many relationships and dramas. Playing in the town and photographing the action helps Mark to recover his hand-eye coordination and deal with the psychic wounds of the attack.
I saw this documentary last night at the Nuart in Los Angeles and was moved. Not only is this a compassionate look at a man trying to regain control of basic life skills but, as a photographer, it was visually stunning and an inspiring story. Hogancamp is simply building his town and taking photos as a method of therapy (which began after he ran of medical insurance). His art comes from a place of pain but also a place of innocence. He is creating solely for himself – he’s not creating for financial gain, for validation in the art world, or for any pretentious or shallow reason. For me, this was a beautiful and heart-breaking story and, if nothing else, it reinforces the idea of just doing your work. If you’re in Los Angeles during the next week, you should really make an effort to head over to the Nuart and see this film.
I recently received the latest edition of After Capture magazine and was pleasantly surprised to find not one, but TWO articles on photographers that were actually good. The first is portrait photographer Joel Grimes (whose work I was already familiar with). His trademark is a relatively simple three light setup, but it’s his compositing that takes his images to the next level (although some of his portraits are a little too HDR-looking for my taste). He also does some great work with Polaroid Type 55 film. The second is a young photographer by the name of Alex Uncapher. This kid’s post-production blows my mind…definitely check out his conceptual portfolio.
In addition to working with one of my favourite clients today (more on that later), I also got an email letting me know that my beauty story, Colour Theory (which i spoke about here), is in the latest issue of W25 magazine (January 2010, issue #16). A pretty rad way to say goodbye to 2009 and hello to 2010.
A few weeks ago I came across a heart-breaking documentary photo project by a man named Chris Jordan. The project is titled ‘Midway’ and documents the stomach contents of albatross, who are dying due to consuming a diet of human trash. Also worth mentioning is his series titled: ‘Intolerable Beauty – Portraits of American Mass Consumption’.
A Canadian, Angela is a photographer that lives in Venice Beach, California and has driven from one end of the continent to the other three times in one year. She once flipped her car ten times and used to test explosives for the government.
angela marklew
angela@fstopinertia.com
310.913.5268
venice beach, ca
