For the past few months Kareem Black has been documenting his nightlife escapades with a special section on his website entitled /LIFE. Whereas his commercial work is what he shoots during the day, /LIFE is Kareem Black uncut and unbridled in the evening – dirty Chinatown toilets, flowing Champagne in dingy dive bars, and girls riding inflatable fish balloons.
When New York Magazine approached Black to photograph a story on the hotel nightlife scene in New York, the extension of his /LIFE project in a new environment was only natural. Jackie Ladner of New York Magazine explains, “I could see from the free style of Kareem’s ‘Life’ section on his site that he had a positive spirit and a strength. Though this shoot was a slight challenge (July 4th weekend and the hottest day), his way with people made him perfect for an assignment that required him to step into a room, capture people unguarded having a great time as if they all knew each other, and with an amazing eye for details, found moments that were so familiar yet still alluring.”
“Everyone has stuff they care or obsess about,” states Michael Warren. He asks people to bring their most treasured objects, dead, alive, or somewhere in-between for his “Somebodies” project. The only requirement for the objects is that they are able to be carried by hand. The results run the gamut – a boy brings his favorite toys, a father brings used tissues of his late wife, and a sculptor brings a mysteriously formed rock. Each week on Warren’s “Somebodies” blog a new portrait will be posted with that person’s object of value. The chosen objects give insight into each person as the viewer learns about what makes the objects so precious.
Stewart Cohen’s book Identity examines a series of subjects and what makes them unique as individuals. The monograph is compromised of 50 portraits, to which each person Cohen poses the question, “What makes you unique as an individual?” The hand-written answers are displayed on the facing page, giving each portrait a personal touch.
Cohen doggedly pursued characters for his project for over a decade, some were the result of hours of faxing and letter-writing, others happened serendipitously. There are rock and blues legends such as John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, and Edgar Winter. Artists such as Ed Ruscha, Jenny Holzer, Fiona Rae, and Andrew Bennett hold court. Lest we forget those who advanced the sciences such as Jack S. Kilby, Jane Goodall, and Stephen Hawking. Playwrights, novelists, directors, architects, musicians, actors, and many more characters grace the pages of Cohen’s book.
There are currently iPhone apps for cooking, navigation, news, games, travel, and more – but what about photography and self promotion? An idea came to Emir Haveric as he watched countless art directors fiddle with their iPhones while they waited for him to set up lighting during shoots. “iPhones are just like a toy,” he thought, and decided to make himself more marketable by building his own iPhone app. Haveric’s iPhone app shows his portfolio, reel, and his latest news. Unlike other apps where users must keep installing updates to stay current, Haveric’s “News” section can be updated by Haveric himself, thus the Emir Haveric iPhone app only needs to be downloaded once. Best of all, the app is available for free. Simply search “Emir Haveric” in your iPhone app store or click here to start experiencing Emir Haveric’s new iphone app.
Kareem Black was in Haiti March 5th – 11th, 2010 with six other creatives from New York City on behalf of Healing Haiti and Print for Change. Their trip was made possible thanks to a generous donation from BBDO. The group calls themselves “The Sept,” or “The Seven,” and consists of photographers Wyatt Gallery and Alessandro Simonetti, writer Adam Reeves, writer and director Eugene Fuller, and illustrator and EVP of DesignWorks at BBDO, Craig Duffney.
From September 2008 to August 2009, Matthew Monteith was a fellow at the American Academy in Rome. The Academy awards one-year fellowships to four visual artists each year and recently, they created the Abigail Cohen Rome Prize in photography, specifically enabling one photographer to live at the academy while working on a project. Monteith was interested in investigating how different institutions shape the way people look at art. While in Rome, he chose to make a series of images dealing with the odd disconnect of viewing art in a hermetic environment.
With the question, “What does it mean to view art, to be educated, to be able to see the world?” in mind, Monteith followed art students, designers, scholars, tourists, and others around Rome. He visited gardens, museums, public spaces, and churches. “I was trying to describe a viewer’s paradise,” says Monteith. “This place of looking and spending time truly considering something, which is often lost in the rush of contemporary society.”
In Monteith’s photos, the viewer observes the beholder as they take in the actual object. “We study many things in abstraction. You can read forever about Bernini and how he sculpts marble, but until you actually sit there and spend a considerable amount of time with the work itself, you don’t really grasp it,” explains Monteith.
Olaf Hajek’s debut monograph Flowerhead is being released in Europe in Feburary, 2010 by Gestalten. The international release follows shortly in March, 2010. The book is full of advertising, editorial, commercial portraits, fashion illustration, and rarely seen personal work from over the past three years of Hajek’s long illustration career.
Born in Germany and raised in Holland, Olaf Hajek draws inspiration from far-away places such as folk art in Africa and South America and the detailed work and interesting perspectives of India and Persia.
2009 is coming to a close and we would like to thank all of our talent, clients, agents, and friends for a wonderful year. A blog was started (which became our homepage), new artists were signed on, and lots of cool projects were carried out. We leave you with this animated video and wish you happy holidays and a happy new year!
English folklore dates back centuries ago. Popular English folklore stories include the tale of Robin Hood and the legend of King Arthur. Although some traditions are widely believed and recognized throughout England, most folklore is specific to certain areas and each region has its own myriad of rich traditions.
Henry Bourne traveled around the UK photographing participants at various folklore festivals and events, capturing a diverse and colorful array of people. In his portraits one can see that British folklore customs are very much alive today.
Last Sunday afternoon, the William Brown Project set up shop at the Cynthia Rowley boutique in the West Village. Special offerings included homemade pork products such as rillettes, vinegars, savory jams, and bacon. William Brown came about from Matthew Hranek’s love of the outdoors and simple, pure, great-tasting food.
Eight years ago, Hranek and his wife purchased a 131-acre property in Mileses, New York. The pastoral land had a pond, plenty of trees, but no dwelling save for an old red barn. They set out building something modern and simple, and after much research decided on prefab housing by architect Oskar Leo Kaufmann’s company, OLK.
After settling into their new home, Hranek moved onto his next project. Wanting to have more control over the flavor of what he ate, Hranek began raising pigs with his neighbor. They started out smoking bacon, moved onto rillettes, and continually developed their arsenal of charcuterie.
Tronic directed and animated a short film based on the loss of nature in our increasingly man-made landscape. Sebastien Agneessens, founder of Formavision, interviews Vivian Rosenthal of Tronic Design. Formavision “specializes in creating compelling cultural content and dynamic experiential environments.” Tronic Design uses creativity and technology to “transcend preconceived notions of how to arrive at a particular solution.”
Michael Warren was on hand to witness some of the shenanigans going on at the Summer Redneck Games in Dublin, Georgia. Warren has always been curious about his subjects and passionate about telling the stories of real people. One of his eye-catching images of a woman being baptized in mud was chosen as a winner in the Unpublished category of the Communication Arts 2009 Photography Annual.
Out of the 5,470 entries that were submitted to the Communication Arts Illustration Annual (an 11% jump from the previous year), five Bernstein & Andriulli illustrators won in the following categories:
