Stefan Ruiz for Interview magazine

I Just saw portraits of Stefan Ruiz which he shot for Interview magazine. I like this first one a lot. He has also a relatively new website with some great work.

Interview magazine has also a lot of interesting (visual) content on their website, it’s worth to check that out,too.

Pocketwizardstrobist – The Strobist Jet Pack Video

I actually stopped to care too much about technical issues but this one is awesome and really innovative!

Terry Richardson photo diary

http://www.terrysdiary.com/

I like this guy.

The independent photobook list of Joerg Colberg and Mrs. Deane

Admired bloggers Jörg Colberg from “Conscientious” and Hester and Norman from “Mrs. Deane” started a new blog “the independent photo book” that lists independent photo books that are not available on amazon etc.

What a great idea to collect all the wonderful work and books one never comes across beacause they are too small which actually says nothing about their quality- so many of the self-made and self-published books are really interesting and cool.

Again, great idea, thanks Jörg, Hester and Norman!

(Hope to produce and publish my own project “Bergwerk Ost” later this year – and put it on the list…)

ROMKA Magazine No. 4 by Joscha Bruckert out now!

Fellow student Joscha Bruckert has published the 4th issue of Romka magazine. He’s also asking for a small donation as his online photography magazine has been downloaded sooo often that it exceeded his server limits by far (I know the numbers….).

I like the magazine because a larger part of photography I’m interested in is not “amateur” photography and further more is not emotional, “subjective” photography. But with Joscha’s project Romka magazine, I like very much that it is very personal and also coming with some text about the personal relation to the picture and the story behind it.

I like these very much (the following two screenshots come one after another in the pdf ):

Also this one is nice

But Joscha, come on, don’t make fun of the boy next to you,ok?

Making of “storylines” by Robert Frank with Steidl

By chance I found this kind of a “making of” of Robert Frank’s book “storylines“, which was published by Steidl in April 2004. I love designing photo books!

Art and photography @ the telegraph

Another interesting resource including articles, videos and Q&A’s about art and photography is the telegraph.co.uk website.

For those I haven’t seen recently, I wish everybody a merry christmas and a very happy 2010!

students and talents, listen up!

From an interview with art director Robin Milgrim ( here). Had to post it immediately because this is so true but also at my school this issue is totally underrated.

Do you have any advice for a student or young professional currently working on their portfolio and/or promotional materials?

Every job is different, of which different skills are needed. Given that understanding, be yourself first and foremost. Find what it is you love about the work, your passion, and do that. The greatest talents live and breathe the business because they love what they do. It’s the commonality in most successful people, regardless of industry. Also, make nice with EVERYONE, especially at school. I was told this early on, and I am convinced it helped me survive while many of my peers dropped out of the industry. The people you go to school with, other artists, illustrators, directors, designers, etc. They are the people that will refer you the most work. As creative’s our egos can often get in the way, don’t let it happen. I have seen the ego destroy brilliantly talented people. So learn to collaborate early on. Perhaps you are good at lighting, but not as strong at concept. Team up. Find partners. Work together. The greatest of the greats stand on the shoulders of us all

Mark Cohen – True Color and more

Next to Bruce Wrighton one of the most interesting photographers I “discovered” this year was Mark Cohen (born 1943, lives and works in Wilkes-Barre,PA). Especially in the 1970s with shows at the Moma and famous New York art galleries, he was a well-known street photographer and a pioneer in color photography.Nevertheless, Cohen was (and is?) a professional photographer in his home town Wilkes-Barre, doing assignement photography for a living and taking  harsh, often flashed street photographs in his free time (I’m focussing here on color photography but he also did a lot of black&white, see his book Grimm Street).

What I like about Mark Cohen’s work is that the photographs are very spontaneous and one get’s somewhat close to the subject (as far as photography is able to do so…), at least to their surface. But then it’s also great great colors and extraordinary composed photographs.

Beside the quality of his work, the way he works is maybe even more remarkable but also questionable. See these videos (one is german though, the other one starts at 1.35 mins):

I’m not sure what to think about the way he works. On the one hand, I wold love to be able to be that direct, brave, agressive because often enough I probably do miss pictures because I am too shy,too polite even. But then, for Cohen it’s all about the picture and he doesn’t care at all how is subjects feel  and that he invades their privacy. Honestly, until now I can’t work like that, but for sure the way Cohen works can result in beautiful pictures with great impact. In a comment about Cohen’s work I read: “I would probably describe Cohen (at least at that time) as displaying traits suggestive of being somewhere on the autism spectrum.” Interesting thought.

Other blog posts about Cohen:

@ Tim Connor

@ Colin Pantall

Electric city article

A short New York Times review about his recent show “True color” at Hasted Hunt Kraeutler

Here are some of my favourite b&w shots:

A collection of Cohen’s black and white photographs is held by the George Eastman House.

All photographs © Mark Cohen and Hasted Hunt Kraeuetler

h I would love ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOr5MHlJQUA

Thorsten kleine Holthaus wins “red dot: best of the best”

With his campaign “Molecular food“, fellow student Thorsten kleine Holthaus recently was awarded the “red dot: best of the best” prize in the categorie advertising (find it on the red dot site under communication design).

I’m not a specialist in the field of food photography, though I think that Thorsten’s work is absolutely remarkable and innovative. Food Styling by René Bastian Stein.

Congratulations!

Here his concept:

The concept of Molecular Gastronomy has been the most influential trend in haute cuisine over the last fifteen years. Inspired by findings in modern science this avant-garde cuisine alters texture and appearance of individual products. The purpose of this campaign is to attract attention to the fictional 65°restaurant that utilizes the potential of Molecular Gastronomy to weave amazing new creations indulging the customer’s senses. The campaign follows the idea of Molecular Gastronomy. The innovative cuisine is promoted combining the concept of irritation and an unusual visual language. Both printed advertisements and the Citylight campaign are divided into two phases that are released consecutively.