My journey as an artist has been anything but linear. Although I loved the idea of a creative life, I had little going for me in that department aside from encouragement from my art teachers when I was younger. I didn’t go to art school and photography didn’t even become part of the journey until after the birth of my daughter. Feeling compelled to document her life, I bought a used camera and taught myself to use it to document this new life I’d hoped to make better than my own. I made a darkroom in my garage and spent almost every night experimenting as she slept. Finding that space to play with my artistic voice became like a drug and emboldened me to try all kinds of unlikely projects, none of which felt particularly inspiring until I was offered the chance to shoot stills for an independent film in Los Angeles. I arrived on day one with my beat up old camera and was told to find the cinematographer, who just happened to be the late and legendary John Alonzo (Chinatown). On day two he called me over to the grip truck, lent me his gear and told me to “stick close.” Thankfully, I did, and basically came away with a first-class education and a direction to head toward. I had no idea how to make a living with photography but knew then and there it was something I wanted to pursue further. 

I began to worry that I wasn’t doing my daughter any favors by dreaming, so I moved to LA to find work in photography. I managed to land a temp position answering phones at an entertainment firm in Beverly Hills. Within a few short weeks, I started filling in as photo editor, eventually taking over the position. I left four years later as director of the photo department, producing for various big name film, tv, and gaming clients, working closely with celebrity photographers and shooting many of the campaigns myself.

The culture of celebrity can be lucrative but holds little interest for me, however. I was always moonlighting on various personal projects and side hustles, shooting various nightscapes, avoiding anything with people. It was during these nightly escapades that I began to observe and appreciate the ever-changing and ephemeral nature of art of the streets. Hollywood was especially peppered with murals and graffiti, and although I was always working to omit their artwork in my photographs, my thoughts always drifted toward the person behind the work, their enduring spirit, flying in the face of traditional ideas around art, where it’s seen, and who gets to see it. I set out to photograph as many of these elusive figures as possible. 

Seven years later, Heroes & Villains (Zero+ Publishing) was published, just as my daughter was about to turn 16. I was thinking about my next project and she’d recently announced her plans to pursue a professional career in ballet. I asked if she’d be interested in sitting for a more formal portrait. Our time in the studio that day was pivotal in many ways. Having always loved dance — I had been photographing local dance artists initially for the Oregon Cultural Trust, and then for some of the dance companies directly. For me, capturing these artists out of context, not dancing, but simply being was something I wanted to explore. My daughter, with all the hopes and dreams she represented, was the perfect choice to begin that endeavor.

You resist being labeled as a photographer. How do you define yourself? 

Is it cheeky for me to say I’ve no interest in defining myself? While photography is my current medium, the idea that it defines me wouldn’t be true. I am many things. A dancer, a mother, a friend. “Photographer” seems so limiting. I guess I’d prefer to be thought of as someone who cultivates relationships with like minded collaborators? I’m interested in portraying someone as their best self. I like to strip away affectation and expected scenarios. In many ways I feel like an anthropologist who speculates on the future. I especially enjoy working with artists on the cusp.

What kind of works do you create? What do you like to photograph?

I make portraits. My approach, while on the surface may look simple and formalist, is a bit more nuanced and collaborative. I enjoy spending time within a specific genre of artists and having time to get to know someone before we work together. I like to immerse myself in a scene or a movement. I follow my interests, basically. Not in a social media way, but in a one-on-one kind of way. 

What makes one photograph stand out from another? 

That would depend on the viewer, I think. If you’re asking about my editing process, then that’s pretty simple. When I’m working with someone, there is almost always a moment where they’ve let their guard down. Those images tend to stand out for me.

What inspires you?

This is a question I find difficult to answer, mainly because it really depends on the day I’m asked. Other artists inspire me is the short answer. The long answer could lead me down a rabbit hole, but I generally like to read nonfiction. Mostly memoirs and history books. Right now I’m reading Mediocre by Ijeoma Ouelo. 

You are from the East Coast, how did you land up in Los Angeles? What do you like about LA and its art scene?

I grew up in a small town in Maryland and quickly became disenchanted with what I felt were limited prospects for my future. I did what any normal teenager does and sought out adventure, usually hopping on the train to DC or Baltimore to see bands, art exhibitions, or hang out on M Street in Georgetown. I’m close to my Aunt, who was an artist in New York, and when she moved to LA, I ventured out to spend what I expected to be a few weeks helping out. In a relatively short time, I felt surrounded by prospects, the energy and ease really meshed with my personality. LA has a reputation as a place for reinvention and possibility. For me, it continues to deliver, especially within art and culture. While sometimes seeming to dwell in the shadow of Hollywood, I believe the opposite is true. Instead, I think the scene here flies in the face of it.

What is the focus of your current practice?

Mainly two projects with the dance community: one focused on a single artist over several years, and the other, a more comprehensive overview of dance artists who come through or live in the LA area. 

How did Covid-19 impact your art?

Given that my work largely relies on human interaction in the studio and dance artists touring, the shooting component of these projects ground to a halt. Compelled by the state of things and using this as a backdrop, I dove into the archive, noticing and experimenting with themes and patterns that reflect what I feel is our collective state of mind. I also created an outdoor studio at home and collaborated with friends and family on some editorial projects. 

What are your future projects?

As a result of the experimentation with some of my existing imagery, I’ve been learning new software to integrate these stills into what I’m hoping will be something visually interesting.

Otherwise, I have some ideas but given the uncertainty around everything, I really don’t know.

Tatiana Wills’ Website

The post Meet the Photographer Tatiana Wills appeared first on Artiholics.

I’ve been known to call myself a most outgoing hermit. Maybe a thought shared by other artists, I don’t know? I do love people and being around others, but I also cherish my quiet time to reflect and simply observe the world around me. I do stay informed with news and current culture and events, but am the kind of person who likes to talk first-hand in working to know what is real – the under the skin feelings, and in the heart stuff, that drives us as individuals. So yea, I like to listen as much as I like to talk and create.

Perhaps it’s an outcome of an adolescence where I never really fit into any one group. I bounced from clique to clique in wanting to find myself (I guess, a normal thing for many teens). Or maybe it was the carry forward from a 20s when I was in demand and labeled a wiz-kid artist, my eye for fashion and special effects feeding my ego in my quest for approval. Or could it be the subconscious of a somewhat emotionally suppressed upbringing? Not that there wasn’t affection or that I faced any abuse in my childhood. I had parents who took good care of me, even to the point of spoiling and supporting me in just about everything (yep, even the police raided high school parties and all). But with all dignity recognized to my parents and sisters, deep emotional or spiritual conversations where a rarity in the home of my childhood. And not putting you in the shoes of a therapist, and for the integrity of sharing what makes this creative mind tick, something inside me has pushed me to share this in defining my origins of why I am so fascinated to better understand the dynamics of human connection, and I’m guessing the reason why I got into arts in the first place.

You are an established photographer in the fashion industry and entertainment world in LA, where and when did you start your journey?

I’m the youngest child with two older sisters, one 8 years, and the other 11 years older. There was always a distance between us because of the age gap. Plus, they both left home by the time I was 13, so, in a way, I spent a big part of development years kind of like an only child in a British household (sarcasm, humor, table manners and all). My father was a dreamer and survivor, who as did my mother, lived through the blitz and mid-century anti-Semitism. Their example to me was a blend of move forward care taking, stiff upper lip thinking, and keep-it-quite intimacy. So I learned early to dream quietly, to push through whatever was in front of me, and to be independent. I know… a strange way to answer a question of how I got into fashion and entertainment, but relevant for defining what I do, how I live, what I see, and why I create.

So per that fashion thing? I don’t really consider myself a fashion photographer… probably more of a portraitist, beauty, and observational photographer (and I’m not describing myself as a fine artist for a reason. I’ll get to that in a minute). To start, I’ve always been driven by emotion, spiritual connection, and, for better or for worse, the feelings I absorb from others. Scary at its worst; a rush beyond all rushes at its best. So to talk about my journey is to expose both the blessings and phantoms that drive me in all that I do. If you had to define me in a simple phrase, you could describe me as an openhearted wall dropper– more interested in who a person is and how we relate, rather than what they do or how deep their resume is. It’s weird; I even look at inanimate objects with the same perspective.

Regarding that “I’m not a fine artist” statement, well, it just feels too constrained and limiting. A lesson I’ve learned throughout my life and career, that being, every time I try to categorize myself, I lose myself. And the result, my work becomes forced, and my imagination becomes replaced by looking at category rather than into my heart, or better yet, toward the heart of others. Most likely, (that besides my subsiding hairline); is the stuff that keeps me young and breathing. Never wanting to stop my quest for the unexpected discoveries of life and intimacy in trusting my relationship with others. An outlook that prompts me to reach into my fears and comforts to face, and own, what I intake, see and feel in every chapter of my evolution. The stuff that comes at me becoming the literal source material I harness for all that I do, and in how I communicate with those I work with.

So here’s the strange artistic dilemma, the conflict that never fails me to see and feel the world around me, and better yet, trust and own emotions within myself. As I see it, the greatest key to vulnerability with others, as well as the hangman’s noose I’m always muscling through. It’s not an easy thing to be in the moment in expressing what’s in my heart. I’ve had some pretty amazing moments with people, as well as some painfully embarrassing slip-ups. But I accept this life view with open arms, for I believe that living on the edge of open-heartedness, is where branches to honestly create can grow to their fullest. Best I can explain it. All in all, it just happens, but as I sit here thinking about it, I guess it’s all about emotional integrity (not genius, concept, bravado, or over-production), and with this acceptance, my feeling is, the purest place for art and expression to happen has to come from trusting ourselves. Like I said, not so easy a thing to do, but a discipline I am now just starting to fully realize and own. And per that journey thing, I’m not sure if it ever started for me, or will even end anywhere in the near future. It’s more like a soulful thing that is simply part of me from the inception of who I am. And in that, even when life sucks, I still feel purpose in what I see, do and create. So, I’ll simply say this, The journey is truly the present. I know, sometimes I sound like such a guru!

How do you like to work with models and other creative minds?

Most importantly, I do my best to divorce myself of all preconceptions and predictions. To realize that everyone I work with, just like I do, brings to the table more than what is first viewed on the outside; regardless of what may seem apparent. I like to be organic, spontaneous, and live by the mantra of Less-is-More. Especially when it comes to photographing a person. I think we all have hidden children dwelling within our hearts, and each of us are carrying so many joys and pains that we are dealing with; and, to be able to tap into the intimacy of a quiet moment with another person, is something that I am at a loss to fully explain. I’ve had a lot of people open up to me in the most humbling ways. So in honor of them, I feel it my responsibility to do the same.

Photography is a very powerful drug. I think that’s why it gets abused in so many ways– the “can you drop your top a little bit” stuff that really infuriates me. My role, as I see it, is to build trust and protect all those in front of my lens, in my life, or under my pen. And if I broke that rule, I know I would not sleep at night, and the integrity of my work would cease. For me, it’s all about sincerity, empathy, and honor in viewing others. Models, Creative minds, the guy at the supermarket who screamed at me, whoever; and in that, is the place I find the deepest creativity, peace to openly interact, and ability to be in the moment.

Would you please describe for us the different seasons/phases you have been involved in with your photography? Where do you see the evolution of photography progressing towards?

Boy, you do ask the probing questions. I’m going to take a second to look at this from an external perspective. Promise I’ll get back to the direct answer, just feels a little less self-serving, and maybe a better way to get to the truest answer. I get the opportunity to talk to a lot of artists, students, and creators, in that, 35 plus years of countless conversations and dealing with a vast set of perspectives, lifestyles, and personalities. The full range of what can be expected within the artistic community. From the kind and fulfilled to the lost, depressed, angry, and disenchanted. So when I share my perspectives, know that they are a mix of my own personal observations of other artists grounded by my quest to find my place as a human and creator. I’ve been rich and in demand, I’ve also been homeless and forgotten. Weathered through a lifetime of swinging doors in navigating my own set of personal, economic, social, political, cultural, and professional challenges. Each phase affecting me in all areas of who I am, how I feel about myself, and my dreams of where I am going. Being a creator is a fragile thing, we live in an A plus B never equals C, or anywhere near the same outcome vocation. Add that to the pressures put on us by our own fulfilled and unfulfilled dreams, the opinions and prejudices put on us by the critiques and attitudes of others, and it becomes easy to find ourselves wandering in the weeds. Yep, I’m one of those philosophical guys. The talker and presenter, but still, the social hermit I trust to keep me centered. But here is the silver lining of it all. A consideration brought to my attention by a stranger I once photographed and interviewed on a Los Angeles street. A clinical psychologist, she asked, “how much of what you do you consider therapy?” I’ll leave it at that. If you are truly a creator, you know exactly what I’m saying. So there it is, Again, back to my earlier thoughts regarding the journey. For me, the season is never-ending, and in looking back, all the feelings and knowledge of what I’ve personally been through are all equal subtexts to all that I create now. Per the future, well, that’s an organic thing that only time will prove what will come to be.

You are currently expanding your art to the new horizons of fine art. Would you please tell us more about this expansion?

First, thank you for calling my work art. Some don’t view the photographic process quite that way. And please know how thankful I am for all the commercial projects I have been, and continue to be, commissioned to produce. Also, gratitude to the creative minds, and friendships, who have trusted me with their vision, reputation, and livelihood. But the rawness and vulnerability to create wholly personal works is a truly remarkable therapy that is beyond assignment, storyboard, or layout. And now pushing into my 50s I have so much emotional history to pull from. A gift and responsibility to care for after having spent a lifetime honing the creative skillset I’ve evolved. So in this opportunity of fine art, I have walked into a rebirth of sorts. A release to put my rubber to the road in listening away from all expectations; the ones of my own making, and those programmed into my head based on the compliments and rejections that come my way. And being a glutton for self-growth and a good old emotional shake-up, expanding into the world of fine art is a natural progression for me. I’ve dabbled with it over time, but never with an honest effort. But something about now feels so not forced. And to be the creator I’m claiming to be, to ignore the promptings of my deeper self would be a sin against my evolution. It’s an exposed and financially risky place to be. Yet in the challenge, I have to admit this is probably the purest and most honest heart-set I’ve felt in a long time, and in looking back, I can now clearly see, why I had to wait until this point in my life to start this journey toward what I hope will be a valuable and meaningful chapter.

You are creating a new series of work, called HEAL. Can you share with us what inspired this new series of work and what you hope to accomplish with your message to the world?

I’ve always been inspired by music, something I can see when I relax my mind and close my eyes. I know, sounds so cliché. But it’s a real thing for me, and in opening up in this interview, a part of my psyche I feel compelled to expose. It’s a bizarre thing that happens in my head, it’s not like feeling the rhythm, beat, or cadence of a musical piece, it’s a visual experience. At its fullest leaving me dream like control to create, view, and move dimensional pictures in my head. And per the music itself, I’ve even awoken at night with fully composed symphonic orchestrations building in my head, but without the musical skills, they are trapped there. So with this reveal, can I put the question so many ask on the table? If you could do it again, what would you do? For me, knowing what I know now, I might have studied musical composition. Perhaps I’d be a composer or conductor now. But, no regrets here, love where I am and what I do. OK, onward to “HEAL.”

It started very vicariously as being a father to an emerging and very disciplined ballet dancer; I’ve been graced to meet some amazing artists. And in this experience, I’ve fallen in love with the movement, emotional depth, physicality and musicality of traditional and contemporary ballet. A trust that is allowing me to connect my emotional self and musicality in a profoundly sensory, emotional, and spiritual way, and the deeper I push into letting go to the project, the more organic and personal the project is becoming.

HEAL is a double meaning title, one part reference to the physicality of dance and reference to foot position, but more passionately, the emotional implications of the title. For it is, that in all of us are hidden, unexpressed or dreamed for feelings, and yes, even reason for healing. And who better to emote the fullest depth of human emotion and relationship than a dancer, who in a most touching way, can own and emote a feeling from head to toe. My hope is, that as more-and-more take the time to look into the frozen frames of the Heal photos, that they may too reflect on what they see in that photo. Perhaps better yet, to relate to what they feel from that photo, and from there, to reflect on how they treat themselves as well as those around them. As the title suggests: to HEAL whatever is in need of forgiveness, to accept the reality we are all dealing with a unique set of inner joys and pains, and to be released to our own calmness by knowing that not one of us is alone in dealing with our feelings and relationships.

And as per what the most amazing choreographer, dancer, and my good friend, Shamika Jones suggested as she helped me conceive the project, “There is grace in that.”

What do you like about photography?

A still frame, if not overly manipulated, is about as honest as artwork can become, especially in regard to capturing a human portrait. There is no cover-up for misplaced technique. No secondary chance to replay a moment. And in the telling of emotion and form, there is nothing like the pureness of an honestly captured photograph, and the larger that photograph is reproduced, the deeper it can be examined. The harder it is to make it lie. But that’s just the final destination. What’s most captivating is the process of making that photo. Now, I’ve directed film, produced, and photographed large commercial productions. Told a ton of stories through both still and moving picture. Processes and adrenaline rushes for sure, but again, to create a meaningful still frame is an experience like no other. For me, as you might presume from what I’ve shared so far, the emotional and spiritual part of photography is the drive for why I create. The self-growth and listening to others all a big part of why I make pictures, and admittedly, a selfish therapy. An important corner stone to the person I am, the human I want to be, and my link to a medium that has, and continues to, guide me to openly and deeply look at the world and people around me.

Who is your audience for your photography?

OK, here you go, and perhaps a welcome surprise. A short answer, I don’t know. Like I’ve framed, I’m a work in progress.

Black and white photography vs color photography. Do you have a preference? And if so, which one and why? And what does the choice depend upon?

Without a doubt, for portraiture, Black and White all the way. It does not lie and if done right, captures the purest of emotion and expression. I do like color for drama, and for some of the still life work I’m doing. A little saturated color does a lot to deepen the depth and texture and history of an object (Yes, inanimate things have a connection to someone too. Hey, I can say that. After all, I’m a weirdo artist).

You must be thinking of some future projects. Could you describe them to us? Will these projects involve more fine art photography?

I’m one of those people who has a mind that never stops moving. The guy who writes into the early morning hours, or wakes up at 2 am to take a photo of a plastic gas can. Yes, the dude who can drive his family nuts with what if’s, and did you see that’s. Give me a Styrofoam cup, and I’ll turn it at different angles, look at it in different light, and then make a claim that the cup has a unique history and story to tell. I know, super nutty, huh? But that’s just me. Take it or leave it, and luckily enough for me, I have friends and a family that let me live in this world that I see. Per those future projects, whatever they look like, my guess is, most likely they will be centered around opening conversations which get us all to consider what might be in the hearts and minds of one another, or ideas that push us to examine ourselves, or at it’s least, to make some sort of statement per the impact we as humans have upon each other as well as the world we share. Stuff like my “Dreams” project, where I film people telling about the dreams they have in their sleep, or the photographs of “Rubbish” and “In•an•i•mate åbjekts” that tell of our human footprint and our impact on the planet. Even the documentaries I’m directing and producing focus on what is, “Under The Hood” in each of us.

You host a podcast called Sidewalk Ghosts. What is it about?

Got to say, I love you tons for asking about Sidewalk Ghosts. It’s more than a podcast, it is an effort of purpose that has reshaped my life for the better. And my most sincere hope is that it will do the same for all who the project touches. Bottom line, in 2011 I challenged myself, regardless of where I was, or how I felt, to interview and photograph a stranger every day for 365 consecutive days. Not one day missed as I blogged an essay and the photographs for the world to read and see. Three months in it caught fire as WordPress featured it as one of the top ten daily blogs to follow, and as comments and subscribers from around the globe flowed in, I fell in love with the world. Now, almost a decade later, 100s more interviews behind me, a book written, a non-profit formed, a speaking outreach and podcast growing, Sidewalk Ghosts has become a mission I hope will touch the hearts and minds of many. A community-forming advocacy based on three fundamental principles:

1, “There is an extraordinary story living within each of us.”

2, “If we seek to truly see each other and grow our connections from a place of sincerity, empathy, and acknowledgment of others; what we create, and the impact we leave, will have long-lasting reach and effect.”

3, “Every moment of every day… your individual impact truly does matter to someone else in the world.”

Now as I approach the 10th anniversary of this journey, I find myself grounded as an ambassador to what I feel a very timely and much needed message. One that, as an artist and human, has helped me to be more committed to recognizing what I have to contribute through and beyond my medium. The payoff (if I have to look for one), my life and work are becoming even more balanced and purpose-based. An awakening I have to consider when I think about just how far the works I am leaving behind will reach (ie, fine art, film works, books, articles, posts, speaking, podcasts, and outreach).

Leaving behind? I know, sounds morbid and maybe a bit self-aggrandizing. But in trusting you, here is my motivation. I’m not on a quest for fame or on a downward spiral toward my deathbed. I’ve got a lot of good years to go and am in my creative prime. So to the world, I pledge, “my friends, you’ll see no razor to my ear.” But here is the thing I wish to share with my artistic allies. A notion I wished I grabbed onto in my 20’s (but even then, I was doing all I knew with what I knew). And not standing on the guru’s soapbox, I’m humbling myself to be as vulnerable as I can in this written interview. So, I stand exposed (OK, I hear a snicker from the back of the room in that statement). On a course to do all I can to be true to the artistic, healed, and damaged voice within myself. My integrity on the line as I set an example to my family, and the sobering mirror to do my best to stand with credibility in all that I do and say; and knowing there are only two unavoidable obstacles, those being, taxes, and death, that when I meet my maker, I wish to be as close as I can to debt-free. And in that, to know, that I did my best to honor the gifts of art that I was given; and if lucky enough, to know I have forwarded the same to you. Pass it on at www.sidewalkghosts.com

www.richardradstone.com

The post Into the Mind and Heart of Photographer and Artist Richard Radstone – A Most Outgoing and Gregarious Hermit appeared first on Artiholics.

Before we get into the informational questions, could you tell us something about you that would be surprising and unique? Tell us about yourself and a curious fact in your life.

I am the only boy of a family of eight children. My little 5′ tall Irish fairy mother gave birth to a girl every year for 5 years straight. My father was working as a salesman for a pharmaceutical company. He was injecting my mother with Vitamin B and Folic acid to “build” her blood back up after all those babies. They did not know my mother was pregnant with me when she was receiving large doses of Vitamin B and folic acid. The result was that I had an energy level unmatched by anybody else.

What an interesting start to your life. What was your pathway like to become a photographer? When did you decide to become a photographer?

I studied radio, television, and film at Pennsylvania State University. I worked in local community television production for a few years. I left the industry and returned to pursue neon body-painting photographic art. The pathway to my art I cut for myself. I do not like to follow and copy other people’s creativity. I prefer to invent my own. Perfecting the technique was accomplished with much trial and error.

Please tell us what the inspiration is for your photography.

I like to make beautiful things, which I do through stimulating other people’s creativity and inspiration. Everyone has a creative side. I attempt to access and amplify it through my art.

Describe for us what is “Glow-Art”? And how do you create it?

GLOW-ART is a portal to experience the ethereal through the use of everyday earthly items. It is a God-source inspired photographic art. I do not create it. I push the buttons; the creativity comes from above, I am simply the conduit. I created GLOW-ART.COM to expand the conscious and the unconscious feelings and thoughts of my audience.

How do you create your designs? Can you tell us about your creative process?

To create the design I blend contrasting colors. The contrast between the colors is what brings out the thought evoking process.

You are a photographer and now you are also a fashion designer. How did you connect these two artistic worlds? What inspired you?

Transforming from body painting photographic artist to fashion designer was a financial decision. I do not want to make an income from photography the way other photographers do. I chose to cut my own path. Fashion design I believe is a natural avenue to promote art. The fashion and art worlds are both beauty driven, so merging the two is a perfect decision.

You recently have been part of NY Fashion Week. How was that experience for you and your career?

I loved New York Fashion Week. I love all fashion shows. New York happens to be driving distance from my home in York, Pennsylvania. I pursue any and all fashion shows I can afford and can travel easily. Fashion shows have an amazing energy you don’t find anywhere else. The models, the designers, the photographers, the audience are always very positive and vibrant.

COVID-19 is having an impact on every facet of life. How is the Covid-19 situation impacting you?

I maximized the quarantine time to create, design, and market my product from home. I shot photography quite a bit less and less and built much more apparel.

What is on the horizon for you concerning your creative outlets of photography and fashion apparel?

I will continue to bring awareness of  GLOW-ART to people through fashion shows, and photoshoots with other photographers and their models. I hope to bring awareness of my apparel through involving other more traditional photographers and BY working with models from their area. I will happily bring a garment bag full of GLOW-ART apparel to a photo shoot to enhance the work of other photographers and models.

Looking farther down the road into the future, are there any future projects percolating, either in your current fields or with an eye to branching out even further?

I am building a studio with a dark GLOW-ART studio and other spaces for more traditional photography. In my studio I am building model’s quarters to host traveling models. This enhances the ability of the model and regional photographers to create by having the model and studio in one place with all the tools to make great photographic art.

Ron Vestal: GLOW-ART.COM

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Photography captures moments in real-time and preserve them through it. A form of art that acts as a window to the past and a way to look back to periods of times and events that created history. A photograph allows the viewer to travel to that specific moment and experience what the photographer tried to capture and convey. It could be a simple memory, a statement, a communication or just a way to tell a story and bring to life a vision of that time.

A photograph is highly influence by the person behind the lens, how the photographer sees the moment, the composition and mostly what is trying to show through the selection of locations, subjects, colors, and methods. For most artists the intention is to produce a photograph that will deliver their intent or will allow the viewer to create their own experience and conclusions.

In Garry Winogrand’s Color exhibition at The Brooklyn Museum, viewers and visitors will find a different side of the artist photography, the less known side, his color photographs. Winogrand was a celebrated photographer. Known for his black and white images, Winogrand was a pioneer of the of “snapshot aesthetics” trend in contemporary art, a trend form around the 1960s in fine art photography consisting on presenting what the photographer saw, casual looks and ordinary living. Winogrand was a figure of his time and a pivotal artist of his generation. According to the press release of Garry Winogrand: Color exhibition, Winogrand used to carry two cameras one with black-and-white film and another with Kodachrome color film, despite not having the resources to produce his color images he still shot them, leaving an unknown and undeveloped work, that now is the center of this exhibition.

As the first exhibition dedicated to Winogrand’s color photography, it presents more than 450 never seen or rarely seen color photographs through seventeen projections in vertical and horizontal points. “Presented in eight thematic sections that highlights Winogrand’s diverse subjects and approaches to color photography” as it was described in the press release. The contrast between the colorful and constant changing slides and the darkness of the gallery room makes it a unique experience to the visitor, a sense of intimacy that allows the viewers to travel through the snaps, the colors and the compositions, to look back to that specific time to recognize and remember their own experiences or to discover a new one. Stories and history not as familiar as the present-day but can still carry an experience, a comparison and distinction to it.

Scenes that seem as everyday life, simple subjects, elements and people who represent that moment in time, leaving a visually compelling experience to the guest making the exhibition a special immersion into Winogrand’s work. The constant changing and movement of the slides give the display a rhythm, engaging the guest and the art in an ingenuous way. Accompanied by a small selection of the artist popular black-and-white photographs the exhibit creates a generous window into the artist photography.

Garry Winogrand (1928-1984) was a renown photographer that defined a generation with his work, creativity, methods and style, originally from a working-class family from the Bronx, New York City, he traveled through New York and the United States capturing with his lens the lives and places of normal America and moments that are now part of his legacy to the world. Winogrand was committed to his unique selection of subjects, large crowds and chaotic places that created a contrast with calmer and less packed scenery, an aesthetic that made him a representation and now a reference in the world of photography.

“Continuing the Museum’s commitment to canon-expanding exhibitions, Garry Winogrand: Color is an exciting opportunity to rethink not only the work of an influential artist but also the history of color photography and its modes of presentation before the 1970” expressed curator Drew Sawyer in the Brooklyn Museum press release.  Garry Winogrand: Color is on view through December 8, 2019, at The Brooklyn Museum.

Written by Monica Herrera

The post Garry Winogrand: Color appeared first on Artiholics.

Written by Catarina Chavez

“People call me Tony.”

With these words, humility and true joy, the veteran Tony Vaccaro, (Medal of Honor, Legion of Honour, Medal of Merit) appears at the end of the NY Premiere of the documentary of his life at the National Museum of History. The lucky audience cannot believe their eyes and  cannot do anything but to welcome him with a standing ovation.

Directed by Max Lewkowicz, this film explores the life of 93-year-old Vaccaro, the former life photographer of famous celebrities who as a soldier in WWII chronicled scenes from the frontline including the Omaha Beach landings.

The documentary has the ability to plunge you into one of the most dramatic periods of the 20th century. The result is a punch in the stomach, while it is also a lesson about bravery: Tony Vaccaro, a WWII infantryman,  carried his $47.50 portable 35mm camera into combat, and, in thousands of images, created one of the most comprehensive and intimate records of war.

Through interviews with Pulitzer Prize-winning photographers and Tony Vaccaro himself, this intimate film delves into issues about witnessing and recording conflict, how photography defines the way wars are perceived by the public, and the sheer difficulty of survival while taking photos in a dangerous war zone. The movie, directed by Max Lewkowicz,  will be aired on the HBO channel this coming Nov 14th at 8:00 pm.

The NY celebration of Tony has just begun. The Tony Vaccaro Studio in association with the Monroe Gallery of Photography is pleased to present the first retrospective of Tony’s work in New York City.

The operation has already attracted the attention of several art critics, curators and collectors.

“To know Tony Vaccaro and to be in constant touch with him is a daily refreshing cascade of emotions. People like him are born once every century and I feel honored and lucky to be involved in the recognition of his life, and in the promotion of his studio,” said Alessandro Berni, Sales Manager of the Tony Vaccaro Studio.

In order to remember and to remind us that past mistakes could still happen, the smile of Tony has appeared in front of us, for a night, and his life and his photos will remain among us forever.

The post Rising Underfire appeared first on Artiholics.

NYC’s Department of Records have recently released an online photo database featuring 870,000 images of the big “rotten” apple dating back to the mid-1800s.  They put together this database from the Municipal Archive of over 2.2 million images.  Many of the newer images are a result of sending photographers out to take pictures of every building in the city for tax purposes, but the older ones not only show buildings and structures going up, but also mugshots and gangland crime scenes.

The UK’s DAILY MAIL put together a good slideshow of just a few dozen of the 870,000.  Here are just a few:

I love looking at old signage and architecture.

Can you imagine this elevated train rolling above 3rd Avenue?

From The Daily Mail:  This circa 1983-1988 photo provided by the New York City Municipal Archives shows 172 Norfolk Street, which is now the Angel Orensanz Foundation, in New York. Over 800,000 color photographs were taken with 35-mm cameras for tax purposes. Every New York City building in the mid-1980s can be viewed in this collection.

It’s funny because this is the only color shot they included, and I was just over at the Angel Orensanz Foundation a few weeks ago and took a picture of it.  Here is what it looks like now:

To see a bunch more pictures, check out the full article on The Daily Mail.

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

The post The Manhattan Bridge, Without The Bridge & Other Recently Released 100+ Year-Old Photos of NYC appeared first on Artiholics.

Of all the weird photo trends, memes, or whatever you want to call them, this one I actually like.  Fuck Planking, owling, and all the others it’s time to see some live-action Dragon Ball Z-ing.  Japanese School girls started this by taking pictures with their friends, which try to capture in real life, still frame ATTACKS from the Anime style cartoons like Dragon Ball Z.

It’s photo art imitating animated art.

Even YouTube’s Deadpool is getting in on the act:

Iron man punches the ground when nobody is around.

Roller Derby Players (Photo by Rudi Holt)

There was also that weird fight scene in one of the Matrix movies.

I remember we used to do this as kids with poses from the game Street Fighter, but never thought to take a picture.

Only effective if you yell “HADOUKEN!!

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

See a whole bunch more photos on Kotaku and on MTV Geek!.

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I grew up in New Jersey a few towns over from the original Mars M&M’s factory.  A lot of my friends parent’s worked there, and there was a common story that early on before environmental regulations were so strict the factory would dump excess candy coating waste colors (melt in your mouth not in your ground water) into a local stream.  A different color every day of the week.  The locals could tell what day it was by what color the stream was flowing.

In my Charlie & The Chocolate Factory influenced mind, these photos are what I was imagining.

The San Francisco based photography / multimedia team of Sean Lenz and Kris Abildgaard otherwise known as From The Lenz have taken long exposure photography to a new “otherworldly” place.  This isn’t writing your name or some winding highway at night.

They drop Cyalume glow sticks into waterfalls and streams.  They shoot them with fixed cameras set to long exposure times (30 seconds up to 7 minutes).  After they collect the glow sticks, they check out their results.  And the results are nothing shy of amazing.

A series like this has never been done before.  After only 20 hours of launching the photos on their website they have gained 13.6 million views.

You can view more photos from their “Neon Luminance” series on their website by clicking here.

Editor’s Note: For any geography nerds out there, I just used Pacific Heights in the title for the alliteration, I have no idea where in Northern California or elsewhere these were actually photographed.

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

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“We’ll always have Paris”, is part of one of the most famous lines in Cinema history, and it’s funny after looking at photos from streets in Paris from today and 100 years ago from the same vantage point.  The Paris of 1940’s Casablanca was pretty much the same Paris then as it is now, as it was in 1900.

The signage might have been a bit updated, there are cars on the streets rather than horses and buggies, and now there are few trees where formerly there weren’t.  I have seen great before and afters with NYC streets, and when a city isn’t already thousands of years old like Paris, a lot of construction and renovation happens in a century, hell in a decade.

Porte Saint-Denis (2013 – 1914)

Passage du Caire (2013-1914)

Rue d’Aboukir (2013-1914)

Rue Basfroi (2013-1918)

Rue Puget – Rue Lepic (2013-1914)

These photos were from the French News Site Rue89 with an interactive slider function, so you can pull them from one century to the next, but that takes precious seconds, and as Americans, Sweet Brown said it best, Ain’t Nobody Got Time For Dat. The good people at 22words already did the heavy lifting (screen grabbing & cropping them).

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

The post Photographs of Paris Taken 100 Years Apart From The Same Location appeared first on Artiholics.

Another art team is stealing your dream gig, that is if your dream gig is building things out of Lego® blocks, photographing what you build, and hanging those photos (along with some of the sculptures) in a New York City gallery.  Open today till Sunday (Feb 28 – Mar 17) a free exhibit called “In Pieces” will be on display at Openhouse Gallery (201 Mulberry Street, between Kenmare and Spring) from 10am-6pm.

The work featured is a collaboration between photographer Dean West, and Lego® sculpture artist Nathan Sawaya.

There seem to be quite a few Lego® artists around all of a sudden, it seems they were inspired like I was as a child by Zack, Zack, the Lego® maniac.

…but unlike them I moved on to adult art materials.

Maybe there is an untapped market for artists specializing in Lego® Duplo, K’nex®, Lincoln Logs®, Tinker Toys®, or Erector® Sets.  The options are only limited by your imagination, and the selection at your local Toys R Us.

Written by Cojo “Art Juggernaut”

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