Jun/100
Helmut Newton.
A German born Jew in the 1920's, Helmut Newton or Helmut Neustädter, began his work from the age of twelve working in the fashion industry in Germany. The war and Nuremburg caused his family to flee the country and he soon found himself working as a reporter in Singapore. Eventually, Helmut made his way to Australia after being comissioned by the British army where he joined and served as a truck driver, constantly working on his film as he served. Helmut created his own studio in Flinders Lane, a fashionable area in Victoria, Australia. He quickly rose to fame sharing success in the affluent post-war years with Wolfgang Sievers, a fellow German refugee and architectural photographer. Helmut eventually left Australia for London, and in 1956 landed a publication in Vogue Magazine, the rest is of course, history.
The vanguard of women in this first photo wear their skin as if it is a costume to which they are more or less indifferent, having removed themselves from their personalities, they become "specimens." Fine ones at that. Newton's portrait skills from 1930's Germany showcase well, and even Andy Warhol, the veritable king of pop art, new age, 1960's portraits, was a subject of Newton. These photos above and below, represent "Big Nudes," an erotic urban style that pinnacled in the 1980's.
Mar/101
David Hockney.
David Hockney is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer, who is based in Bridlington, Yorkshire, England. An important contributor to the Pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists of the twentieth century.
Bricollage and collage art is a staple of the post-modern, as in a lot of avante-garde art, and the Semprematist movement and even in Dada. Hockney's images are incredible and I plan on making use of a decent 50mm lense and a load of prints, like these.
Mar/101
Philippe Halsman.
On the count of 'four', Salvador Dali leaped 
and Halsman's assistants threw three cats and a bucket of water across the scene, while the photographer's wife held up the chair on the left. It took twenty six attempts and five hours before Halsman had the result he wanted. The picture is entitled Dali Atomicus, and both he and Dali formed a collaboration for more than forty years. Halsman also produced 32 images for the book Dali's Mustache. Halsman is best known for his portraits and had more than 100 Life covers to his credit, a record, as well as Einstein's famous mug.
Mar/100
David LaChapelle.
The perfectly formed body builder is as faultlessly presentable as the spacecraft behind him. All the others, though, have a long way to go... LaChapelle is interested in the everyday, less because of anthropology than because it is inescapable and because "good taste is the death of art" - Truman Capote.
LaChapelle started off as a busboy at Studio 54 in New York and then ended up working with Andy Warhol. His idea about photography is that it is a break from beauty, an intermission. Once he was hired by Details magazine in the early 1990's, his work went "crazy." He now receives commissions from almost any celebrity who wants to add that pizazz to their portfolio of head shots, the latest is Lady Gaga of course....
Mar/100
William Eggleston.
Billy Eggleston is a tough photographer to discuss, mostly because I wouldn’t know where to begin, or stop for that matter. I mean, I have loads of awe for his vision and his pursuit of it, because in so many ways, he is the father of modern fine-art photography. He brought the colour to fine art photography, the irony, and the vernacular, and pretty much anything you see in colour hanging in art galleries today or marked up in the portfolios and facebook albums of the amatuers and professionals alike.
I feel a certain relationship to his photographs, they're the type of photographs that when once viewed, plague your everyday visions. You seem to tell yourself that everything you see should be photographed. His photos remind us of an excited kind of nostalgia. Eggleston once commented on the fact that everything around him was so ugly, to which his friend responded "Well, take photos of the ugly stuff then." Indeed, it can be seen that what he seemed to do was not just take photos of the ugly and mundane but transform them into beauty. The ordinary is gorgeous.
Jan/102
Rare photos of the cool.
Found a website that rivals The Impossible Cool. Nothing better than perusing photos of the coolest people eva!
Nov/091
Shooting your job.
...As this project progressed and I slowly learned my craft, I became increasingly fascinated with other photographers who had been in a similar situation, those who had found themselves recording their own jobs...
Between 2005-2007, London investment bank worker Hin Chua began practicing his new hobby by photographing his own workplace. Here he shows off his own stuff and the work of others who did the same. [Via Metafilter]
Oct/092
Walking with the zombies.
Yesterday's Zombie Walk was awesome. Check out my photos from the event here.
PH0T0ADAY.
FLICKR TAG W0RD.CA.
