fab fobs?

I will be the first to admit that I pretty much only look at the photographic content in most fashion-culture mags. I'd prefer to read a book before I read about whatever of-the-moment person has been propped on the front cover. Don't get me wrong, there are some awesome writers out there who touch on some interesting and vital topics--but usually, I am not drawn to read most bio/fashion/lifestyle articles.

However, while looking through the latest issue of The Fader magazine (#64), I found myself wishing there was an accompanying article for a specific photographic editorial spread. Entitled "No Place Like Home," photographer Gabriele Stabile and stylist Mobolaji Dawodu portray young émigrés and first-gens living in NYC. The puzzling part is, their portraits were taken in their home or neighborhood, and they are dressed in designer clothes. Each image is captioned with the subject's name, age, current location and country of origin. A smaller caption names the designers of the wardrobe. But I want to know more.



Photographer Stabile, according to her website, is a photojournalist. Her style is ultra contemporary, and she shoots with chrome films. Her images are contrasty and luscious with color, and are more beautiful than the snaps by your average Times shooter. Her style pushes the limits of journalism, and straddles the line between photography as reportage and photography as art. You know, the kind of art that mashes up contexts and pokes you in the eye. Moreover, what kind of photojournalist works with a stylist?

I really want to know more about the people in the portraits, and about what the producers' concepts for the images were. Also, being that there isn't any other information in the mag, I wonder how much these images can tell me on their own. Are they a visual commentary on the American dream? I guess I'll need to take some more time to see.

See them for yourself in the free PDF download of the issue, pp 50-54. (The whole issue is great--it's a photo issue.)

retreat

A few weekends ago, I was able to get away to Sequoia National Park. I was there with a group of a dozen or so friends, old and new. We spanned a couple camp sites, and did a fair bit of cooking and hanging out. It was fantastic to sit around the fire and chat and laugh after the sun went down. Smells of wood smoke, chili, whiskey, and forest were the perfect backdrop for the pitch-black nights.

I was able to have a tent to myself one night, and to branch off into a smaller group for an off-trail hike on our one full day there. The quiet moments I thereby got were wonderful, and much needed. Anticipating these quiet moments, I only packed my "no look" CyberShot. I'm glad I didn't get into large-format mode for this short trip.

Here is my favorite image from the "roll:"


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point and shoot

Soo, I went to New York City this summer to see these people get married;



It was a lovely ceremony in Long Island City, and a fantastic party afterward.

Anyhow, the camera I had on hand at any given moment over my long weekend was a recently broken Cyber Shot. Well, it wasn't totally broken, the LCD screen was just busted. Since said LCD was the only viewfinder option on the camera, I was guesstimating at most of the framing. Thank goodness for auto focus and the Zeiss--the pics don't look half bad!