Mariel Clayton

Have you ever wondered what would happen if Barbie completely lost her cool and went on a rampage?

Well, thanks to the morbid mind of Mariel Clayton, we now know.

In his project Dolls, the Canadian photographer captures a darker side of Barbie, transforming her from an image of idealized perfection into a psychotic, cold-blooded serial killer.

Using miniatures and dolls, he creates intricate scenes that depict the disturbing endeavors of Barbie as she goes on killing sprees and offs her beloved Ken.

If you’re not really sure what to make of this serial killing Barbie series, you’re not alone.

But, nonetheless, you have to give Clayton credit for his creativity when it comes to conjuring up these twisted crime scenes.

This reimagined version of Barbie is pretty much what nightmares are made of, and after seeing this photo series, you’ll never be able to look at the doll the same way.

More pictures can be found here

Will Pearson

Will Pearson is a London-based panoramic photographer, working worldwide. He is known for sweeping cityscapes that capture the essence of a skyline, yet allow the viewer in to experience the minutiae of the city in razor-sharp detail. One of his major passions is to document London’s ever-changing skyline in all its chaos and beauty. Will’s work comprises cityscapes, landscapes and 360 interactives.

interactive photo found here
other photos found here

Brad Pitt

W’s Creative Director Dennis Freedman wanted a different perspective for their next feature of Angelina Jolie, revealing an angle yet unseen of one of the most photographed women in the world. The answer couldn’t have been more obvious and ambitious. “I was surprised that Brad accepted the challenge,” said Freedman as Brad Pitt showed interest and enthusiasm in shooting the portraits himself.
“For a hobbyist, Pitt certainly knew what he wanted. He was determined to shoot Jolie with *Kodak* Tech Pan film, which hasn’t been manufactured for four years. Photo Editor Nadia Vellam located 40 rolls of the stuff on eBay, which a courier then hand-carried to Pitt in France, where the couple have been hiding out since June. A week later Pitt called; he needed more film. Vellam’s first source was tapped out. She finally tracked down a guy who offered her 30 rolls—in Israel. She then had mere hours to find someone in Tel Aviv who could get on a plane to France with the film that very day. "

Artical and more pictures like this can be found here

Leonard Nimoy: AKA Spock

Leonard's career has spanned many aspects of stage and screen. His contributions have included directing several films, including two of the Star Trek movies as well as the blockbuster hit, "Three Men and A Baby". He has acted and produced for the Silver Screen, Broadway and television.

In 1973 he had his first photographic showing at a gallery. His poetry book "You and I" was published, and by 1977 he had recorded for the Dot Label and earned a Masters Degree in Education. In September 2000 he was awarded a Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Antioch University for his work in Holocaust Remembrance, the Arts and the Environment. Leonard and Susan continue to work hard for various "good causes", In 2001 they made a donation of one million dollars toward the renovation and expansion of Griffith Observatory, located in Los Angeles. A new lecture hall, the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon has been named in his honor.

Since 2003, Mr. Nimoy has been focusing primarily on his photography career.

Go here to find out more about this photo and others like it.

More about him and his photos can be found here. 

Timothy Hogan

Timothy Hogan is an award-winning commercial photographer based in sunny, Los Angeles, California. Known for his lighting mastery and craftsman’s approach to the creative process, Hogan works worldwide for an array of international luxury brands and advertising agencies in the beauty, fashion, beverage and design industries. These top clients repeatedly seek Timothy out for his dramatic imagery and collaborative, easygoing nature. Drawing support from the best producers, retouchers and studios in the business, Timothy's team forges long lasting relationships rooted in the ability to problem solve with clients based on a marketing background and years of experience. When not on set, you can find Tim absorbed in his passion for surfing, contributing to the surf community in an array of creative ways. 

view his pictures here

Barbara Kruger

American conceptual/pop artist Barbara Kruger was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1945 and left there in 1964 to attend Syracuse University. Early on she developed an interest in graphic design, poetry, writing and attended poetry readings.

After studying for a year at Syracuse she moved to New York where she began attending Parsons School of Design in 1965. She studied with fellow artists/photographers Diane Arbus and Marvin Israel, who introduced Kruger to other photographers and fashion/magazine sub-cultures. After a year at Parsons, Kruger again left school and worked at Condé Nast Publications in 1966. Not long after she started to work at Mademoiselle magazine as an entry-level designer, she was promoted to head designer a year later.

Later still she worked as a graphic designer, art director, and picture editor in the art departments at “House and Garden”, “Aperture,” and did magazine layouts, book jacket designs, and freelance picture editing for other publications. Her decade of background in design is evident in the work for which she is now internationally renowned. Like Andy Warhol, Kruger was heavily influenced by her years working as a graphic designer.

the rest of the article can be found here

Cameras and the Old Masters

My design teacher introduced a theory about some of the most famous painters in history and I wanted to share it.

Did you know that some of the most famous master painters from centuries past may have actually used camera “technology” to aid them in creating their masterpieces? According to the hotly debated Hockney-Falco thesis, some well-known artists likely used rudimentary camera obscura rooms as a tool — essentially “tracing” parts of their work
One of the better known painters that may have used such techniques is Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, creator of the masterpiece Girl with a Pearl Earring that has been affectionately called the “Mona Lisa of the North.” Using a camera obscura with a primitive lens would produce halation, which would explain the sparkling pearly highlights often found in Vermeer’s paintings.

Other masters “accused” of using such techniques include Rembrandt and Caravaggio.

British artist and art historian David Hockney outlined his findings in a book titled Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters. Here’s the description:

Hockney’s extensive research led him to conclude that artists such as Caravaggio, Velázquez, da Vinci, and other hyperrealists actually used optics and lenses to create their masterpieces. In this passionate book, Hockney takes readers on a journey of discovery as he builds a case that mirrors and lenses were used by the great masters to create their highly detailed and realistic paintings and drawings. Hundreds of the best-known and best-loved paintings are reproduced alongside his straightforward analysis.

Hockney also includes his own photographs and drawings to illustrate techniques used to capture such accurate likenesses. Extracts from historical and modern documents and correspondence with experts from around the world further illuminate this thought-provoking book that will forever change how the world looks at art.
Proponents of Hockney’s theory maintain that this doesn’t take away from the artist’s talent, while detractors such as essayist Susan Sontag have been quoted as saying (rather tongue-in-cheek) that:

Whatever the art history ramifications, the interesting part of this theory — at least as far as we’re concerned — is the implication that maybe even great artists needed a little help from the “technology” of their day. And as Hockney himself pointed out, “optical devices certainly don’t paint pictures…”

If Vermeer was the old-time equivalent of an image sensor, then we certainly won’t fault him for inserting himself into a high-end camera to properly expose his subject.

Artical found here

Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt was seen as an artist who was far ahead of his time, and much of the work that was produced during the Austrian born artist's career, was seen as controversial. It was criticized due to the erotic and exotic nature. Although symbolism was used in his art forms, it was not at all subtle, and it went far beyond what the imagination during the time frame accepted. Although his work was not widely accepted during his time, some of the pieces that Gustav Klimt did create during his career, are today seen as some of the most important and influential pieces to come out of Austria.
taken from here

I recently discovered Klimt, and fell in love with his paintings, they are full of colors, and have a unique twist on the human figure. The patterns found in his paintings pull in the eye and allow the viewer to sit and stare at it for a long time, I would love to see/ find a photographer who was capable of incorporating Klimt's style into their photos. The result would likely be fascinating.  

Karrah Kobus

“one day i woke up with a dream. i wanted to be a photographer. and ever since march 24th, 2010, that is all i have been.

ive chased the sunrise across fields with my lover. ive spent an evening capturing dragonflies, and watching them fly back to freedom through the sky. ive waded through lakes, with just my camera peeking above the waves. ive driven across the country to meet perfect strangers, and bathed in waterfalls after covering myself in mud. ive spent countless nights, mornings, and afternoons running around aimlessly, and just because i have my camera, everything was, and always will be, ok.

sometimes i feel like photographers have uncovered a special secret. a crazy, amazing, and beautiful secret. the key to truly living. all i want is to be alive. ”

taken from here

check out her photos here

Zhang Jingna: Fashion photographer

Zhang creates dream like photos following fashion as well as her own creations.

Born 1988 in Beijing, Jingna lives and works in New York.

A former Commonwealth Games athlete, Jingna discovered the beauty of photography as a medium of expression during her time at art school.

Jingna's works have been featured by Vogue China, Elle Singapore and British Journal of Photography. Her solo exhibitions have shown in Singapore at The Arts House and Japan Creative Centre; her group exhibitions include "A Glimpse at Photo Vogue" at Galleria Carla Sozzani in Milan, and "Your Favorite Artist's Favorite Artist" at Joshua Liner Gallery, New York.

Jingna was named Master Photographer of the Year by Master Photographers Association in 2007, and Photographer of the Year at the ELLE Awards in Singapore in 2011.

taken from here

find more of her works here

Click here for her advice on entering the fashion photography industry

Whats a boring photo?

I recently met a person who is also taking a photography class and we ended up spending time together at Anime St. Louis. Well, she had an assignment that required her to make a series of photos be connected in some way and she wasn't sure how. (For those of you who don't know what Anime St. Louis is, its pretty similar to comic cons where people dress up as characters.)
 I gave her some advice and we even walked around while she took some photos, I pointed out a shot that gave a pretty interesting view point.  Her response was " yeah.. but I'm worried it might look boring."
Here's the thing,  the shot was not boring at all, to any normal person it would look really odd, especially sense the photo in question was taken where the people in it looked like they where there every day but in costumes that many people have never seen before.  To have an interesting photo doesn't mean there has to be any special thing happening in it.  To me a photo that captures something normal but has that something in it that catches your eye and makes you look closer is an interesting photo.

Feminist photographer: Liora K

"In March of 2012, when I started witnessing all the attacks on birth control, abortion rights, equal pay, and retractions of protections for survivors of domestic violence, I wanted to see an artistic response.  I have seen and studied art that has acted as great catalyst for change – and what we need is a great change.  I wanted to create a body of share-able and instantly understandable work that people could connect with and use to continue to spread the word: “women’s rights are being sabotaged, but we are fighting back.”

I am not an excellent verbal communicator.  I have a tendency to lose my words.  Most of the time when I try to communicate ideas I end up using hand motions, sounds, and gibberish-sounding words to express the feeling of a situation instead of waiting for the perfect descriptive sentences.  Many of the phrases I use in my project are from a list that was a product of much advance thinking.

Art has always been a communicative force for me.  Drawing, painting, dance, photography – each of these things helps me to share my thoughts in a way that is authentic to me.  When I discovered photography at age 18, it fit.  I was able to produce my thoughts in the way that I thought them.  My photographs are direct translations of my thought process, unhampered by lost words. In this way, I find photography to be ideal for me as a way to seek change.

I’m a feminist because I can’t live in a world where I am defined, limited, and categorized by my genitalia, where women are objectified beyond reason, where rape culture thrives, and where these injustices (and more) are so blatantly ignored and denied by so many people.   
..."

read more here

Artical about her can be found here

Weird strange and Beautiful

Alexander Khokhlov and Veronica Ershova is a photographers duo world renowned for it’s creative projects. Unconventional ideas and daring approach to common shootings are their calling card.

Most talked-about series Weird Beauty and 2D or not 2D were created in collaboration with famous russian make-up artist Valeriya Kutsan. Mix of face art, photography and post-production allowed to create optical illusions. 2D or not 2D series were included in Designcollector’s top-10 of Russian projects in 2013.

In 2013 Alexander and Veronica started new art-project called Table Stories. The series is based on the mix of photography and philology, where authors showed their experiments with wordgames and paraphrases. The high-key images are squared and have the only white table as a decoration. It helped to achieve minimalistic approach in Table Stories and to make it funny, laconic and stylish.

The combination of unusual ideas, photographic skills and careful retouching helps duo to create any visual solutions - from amazing art-projects to peculiar collages for adverising.Alexander and Veronica really care about the quality of their shootings, that’s why the duo collaborates only with top-level stylists, make-up artists, image designers, etc. (taken from here)

http://www.alexanderkhokhlov.com/

Techniques to help the model feel at ease while being photographed

In class the other day our teacher was talking about taking portraits and mentioned ways to help the model relax or feel at ease. While she only mentioned having a pleasant conversation, I stumbled across a person who had another way of making the models relax, in a rather humorous way in fact!

"22-year-old Vietnamese photographer Nguyen Dinh An is making headlines in his country. The attention isn’t for his photographs, but for the bizarre way in which he captures those photos. As the video above shows, Nguyen turns framing his pictures into something of a performance art.

Vietnam Today 247 writes that Nguyen incorporates strange moves into his shooting style in order to put brides and grooms at ease and to induce genuine smiles and laughs. Sometimes he’ll do Michael Jackson dance moves such as the moon walk, while other times (like in the video above), he’ll roll around on the ground like a ninja on a photo-taking mission."(taken from here)

The Napalm Girl

Picture and video below found here

Nick Ut began his career as a photographer with the AP in Saigon in 1966 and covered the rest of the war. There were many close calls for Nick while covering the war. When the Americans and South Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in 1970, he was wounded three times. The highlight of Nick’s career came on a rainy day on June 8 1972 when he photographed nine year old Kim Phuc, running and screaming down Route 1 naked. It was near Trang Bang village in Vietnam, after a misdirected napalm bomb was dropped on her family home by a South Vietnamese plane. Seventy five per cent of her body was scorched with third degree burns. Nick captured the little girl on film and then rushed her to a hospital, which saved her life. The shot which seared the world’s conscience became the scream heard around the globe and won every major photographic award in 1973; the Pulitzer Prize, World Press Photo, Sigma Delta Chi, George Polk Memorial Award, Overseas Press Club, National Press Club. Along with that the picture was the choice of the 20th century. The picture remains perhaps the most graphic and memorable image of the Vietnam War.  (description found here)

Our teacher tasked us with coming up with picture that we saw throughout a day that we remember, well rather than a picture I ended up having a short animated film, that I ran across on tumblr, stuck in my head.  While it may not have any actual camera work in it, it provokes questions and acts on your inner child and curiosity.   Regardless, I feel like it could inspire others work to go a different direction, if not its still a cute little film.  The short film called Alma is about a small child who happens upon a small abandoned shop, with a familiar looking doll in the window.