Photobooth SF

Next time you're in the Bay, make your way to the recently opened Photobooth SF on Valencia at 23rd. It's a portrait studio specializing in Polaroid and tintypes (yes, the old mid-19th century style of portraiture, printed on metal). The results look fabulous! The studio and gallery space also includes a store, selling Impossible Project products and other not-always-easily-found photography accessories.

Via Laughing Squid.

Lady Di..

Lady Di is a nick name she received and I kinda like it. Ms. Abapo is a very talented young photographer who I had the pleasure to meet. I had 3 shota left on a roll of film and had forgot I had my camera on me. When I ask people If I could take their portraits they usually get self conscious but Diane was was quick to let me shoot her. Check out her new tattoo.

Photographs from the National Portrait Museum and the New York Metro

Random photos that I enjoyed.

Chuck Close

Sheppard

Jeff Wall

Arbus

Avedon

Larry Sultan

I really like the Dan Winters stuff as well!

AIDS PROJECT LOS ANGELES: Charity Work

In 2009, I had the amazing opportunity to work with the Young Photographers Alliance in Los Angeles. During that time, I got in contact with Aids Project Los Angeles (APA), but due to time constraints, I was not able to work with them. During the end of 2009, APLA reached out to me and wanted to know I was willing to help them out with some photography.
I believe in Karma, I believe karma is real. Good and bad karma exists and through my life, I try to walk on the side of good karma and patiently wait for good karma to come back in return. With that said, I agreed to do some charity work for APLA.
APLA is a Non Profit Organization, that was a victim of the recession. The Governor cut funding to non profits, and non profits like APLA have to find other avenues of funding. You can check out the amazing services APLA provides by visiting their website. www.apla.org
During this two day photo shoot, I decided to create portraits of the people that would come through and donate their time. I wanted it to be very natural so I used window light and reflectors for this project. I wanted to show viewers that these people are from all walks of life and the sincerity is in their eyes. Each participant was eager to sit for me and was easy to work with. I had the chance to meet each person and listen to their interesting stories. I learned very much from this experience.
I wish APLA the best of luck and thank them for a wonderful opportunity. Please visit my website for more of the portraits of APLA.

Vivian Maier: Amateur Street Photographer Extraordinaire

Recently discovered street photographer Vivian Maier has some 100,000 photographs to her name. She shot from the 1950s-1990s, mostly in Chicago and mostly with a Rolleiflex camera. John Maloof, a real estate agent who discovered her photographs, keeps a blog where he posts her photos. There is currently a Kickstarter campaign to fund a feature-length documentary about her life and work.

Maier, who passed away in 2009 at the age of 83, was an intensely private person who wouldn't show her pictures to anyone, hence why they were not unearthed until now.



Also, check out this video about her Jeff posted.

Via mental_floss.

Lucas Samaras: Photo Transformer Extraordinaire

Lucas Samaras is most famous for his Polaroid "Photo-Transformations" where he would twist and manipulate Polaroids during the developing process, creating eerie effects in the end result:


Currently, Samaras is represented by The Pace Gallery in New York where, at the end of 2010, he exhibited a show called Poses/Born Actors which demonstrated his current style of manipulating digital images through lighting and other effects. The series features portraits of art-world big wigs, hauntingly lit and disturbingly demonic:

Inspiration.

I was on Flikr today looking for inspiring photographs. I have been researching some styles for an upcoming photoshoot with AIDS Project Los Angeles. These images caught my attention. I love the quality of light and how most of these images feel unobtrusive, like I am there and stumbled upon them. There are some constructed images, but I love them for their narrative.

I do not know if I am going to create the images as such, but these do inspire me to work more in portraiture. The best portraits are from the people you know.

Reflecting the Bright Lights: Preserving 19th Century Photo Techniques

Reflecting the Bright Lights: Capturing a Moment with Silver Nitrate from London Sessions Productions on Vimeo.

In "Reflecting the Bright Lights," Walter Hugo demonstrates how he meticulously exposes, processes, and develops silver nitrate portraits on glass plates. He uses a room-sized camera, too! What a fabulous way to preserve

Also, the video is set to this song, which I adore.

Via It's Nice That

New Stuff

Alison


Fernanda
MUA: Karen