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:"


.

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!

...

unabsence, originally uploaded by Secret Ultra M.

...and I'm back.

No, he is not from an evil parallel universe...

...he is just from North Korea.



It is amazing to think that while we get to do things like sit down for morning coffee, grab a burrito on a lunch break from work, and chat with friends over dinner, there are people on this very same planet, at this very moment, who are starving. Yes, I know this is not news to you--how many mothers have used this fact to guilt us into eating the rest of our dinner? However, the fact that North Koreans are practically blindfolded and isolated from the rest of the world, on top of being slowly starved--all by their own government--is not just circumstance, but severe injustice. If one could glance away from the nuclear glimmer in Kim's eyes for just a moment and see through his propaganda fog, one would find that a deeper atrocity has already been carried out. Yet, there are organizations that are working very hard to help North Korean people. Liberty in North Korea, headquartered right here in Los Angeles, is one such organization. They work in a grassroots way not only to raise awareness of the situation, but to directly aid NK escapees re-settle in the free world and prosper for the rest of their lives.

A real, live glimmer of hope.

Yard (and Studio!) Sale

What Happens (installation detail), originally uploaded by Secret Ultra M.

This Saturday, September 26, I will be participating in a fund-raising yard sale. Many of the works from What Happens (pictured above) will be among my offerings, along with some other interesting stuff. Yes, stuff. Stuff like CDs, housewares, and a sweet old single-slide projector.

100% of the funds will go to a group of my friends who are traveling to India next month to do some projects. One is to make a documentary in the foothills of the Himalayas, and the other is to put on a children's activity day-camp type thing at a school.

Come to the sale, drop a few bucks, and talk to my friend Rod about what he'll be shooting for this doc!

I'll also be making some delicious Iced Indian Red Tea.

4534 Ambrose Ave, in Los Feliz, 90027. It's near the big Albertson's shopping center on Hillhurst.

I will be there from 8:30am - 11am, and I'm not sure what time the party will stop, but I will make the appropriate update here in this entry when I find out.

Hope to see you there, Cheers!