Slow → articles tagged with photography

A.P.C. Transmission

Jean Touitou reflects on thirty years of Atelier de Production et de Création

It's a special year for, what we feel is, one of the most inspiring people working in fashion today; Jean Touitou, and his ever-relevant brainchild A.P.C. (designed with a collective spirit — hence: “Atelier de Production et de Création”). Started as a reaction to the loudness of the Eighties, Touitou created his minimalist fashion brand exactly 30 years ago. To eventually grew into an unprecedented platform, which beyond its own brand has backed smaller counterparts like Louis W., Vanessa Seward and Outdoor Voices. To this day, A.P.C. continues to be an important voice, despite the fact that the fashion ecosystem has changed completely throughout the last two decades shaped by globalization. Where other minimalist icons have silently lost relevance or left (into the art world, for instance) somewhere during the last decade — Touitou and his team continue to cater to a worldwide cult following through clean designed lines and a consistent price point. To celebrate the extraordinary milestone, a new sub-collection named 'Hiver ’87' was created, which is just about to drop at the different stores worldwide, but beyond fashion Touitou also took on the ambitious task to truly reflect (during the course of the last 1,5 years) on 30 years of A.P.C. in a deeply compelling book named 'A.P.C. Transmission', holding 544 pages (published by Phaidon) that will be released on the 7th of September. [ Continue reading ]

Big Papi

by Gilleam Trapenberg

We mentioned his name in last week's post on Rushemy Botter, who found the key inspiration for his 'Fish or Fight' collection on Curaçao  — freshly graduated Gilleam Trapenberg was born and bred in the Caribbean on the former Dutch colony (now part of the Kingdom) from where he came to The Netherlands after high school to study photography six years ago. Or basically, according to Gilleam, he came to study anything in The Netherlands despite his deep love for his home, and he knew photography would be the only direction he was really interested in to pull through. After applying to several academies, he ended up in The Hague at the Royal Academy of the Arts and last month he said his final goodbye to the school with our favorite graduation project of 2017 named 'Big Papi'. With the project he aims to represents the concept of masculinity in the Caribbean, shot over the course of the last two years in which he visited Curaçao, but also other Caribbean islands like St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Vincent, The Grenadines and St. Maarten. His perspective on the thematic resulted in a series comprised of remarkably captivating photographs in a beautiful cohesive color palette, forming a narrative one hardly sees or hears in The Netherlands, but (like Rushemy's collection) the country needs more than anything in the current political and cultural climate... [ Continue reading ]

Incoming

At a moment when the world is facing the world’s largest refugee and migration crisis since the Second World War, the latest deeply inspirational publication by Irish photographic artist Richard Mosse named 'Incoming', deals with this contemporary major humanitarian and political plight, the displacement of millions due to war, persecution and climate change. With illuminating texts by Mosse and the philosopher Giorgio Agamben, the 576-page book, published by the ever-inspirational MACK Books, combines film stills from the artist’s latest video work made in collaboration with electronic composer Ben Frost and cinematographer Trevor Tweeten – a haunting and searing multi-channel film installation, accompanied by a visceral soundtrack. Journeys made by refugees and migrants across the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe are captured with a new weapons-grade surveillance technology that can detect the human body from 30.3km. Blind to skin color, this camera technology registers only the contours of relative heat difference within a given scene, foregrounding the fragile human body’s struggle for survival in hostile environments, resulting in imagery that leaves an everlasting impression on us.

Richard Mosse's 'Incoming' marks a highly inspirational new chapter in the body of work of the photographic artist in which he tackles another extremely relevant thematic in a haunting artistic form that is among the most interesting being produced in this day and age. [ Continue reading ]

The Constructed Landscape

Shibata Toshio at the Japan Museum SieboldHuis in Leiden

Three weeks ago, the Japan Museum SieboldHuis in Leiden, in the west of the Netherlands, opened the exhibition 'The Constructed Landscape', for the first time ever presenting this body of beautiful work by the highly talented Japanese photographer Shibata Toshio in The Netherlands. Known for his captivating landscape photography, Shibata captures signature images of large-scale highways and civil engineering constructions in uninhabited regions in deeply captivating photographic works. Civil engineering structures such as dams, lakes and bridges play a central role in his work. His perspective takes the viewer beyond the functionality of these structures and shows them the aesthetics of the infrastructure. His compositions illustrate how nature — weather, corrosion, erosion, water currents and landslides — reclaims damage done by human intervention. Shibata’s photos, taken with a large-format camera exude an atmosphere of fantasy void of references to time, place and scale. His works have been praised for their timeless, abstract and picturesque qualities — making his body of work among the most interesting in its genre. Specifically featured in this edition of the exhibition is a series of bridges in the Benelux as seen from various different perspectives.

For those in and around The Netherlands: don't miss this extraordinary exhibition before it closes on the 3th of September! [ Continue reading ]

Meditations on the Materials

Outlier Summer 2017 by Luis Alberto Rodriguez

New York City-based technical fashion brand Outlier has been one of the spearheading companies that have set a complete new standard in direct-to-client business from the moment of their foundation in 2008, partly due to their open and direct dialogue with its customers through Reddit, for which we hold them in the highest esteem. Over the years we have kept an eye on their expanding brand and slowly but surely growing collection, in which they have explored both technical innovations and new aesthetic directions beyond 'classical' techwear, but last month they took it to the next level with the release of their extraordinary collaboration with 2017 Hyéres winning photographer (and former dancer) Luis Alberto Rodriguez for their Summer 2017 campaign.

The incredible series named 'Meditations on the Materials' features the contemporary dancer Oskar Landström and artist Moley Talhaoui and is among the strongest lookbooks we have seen in a while. Shot in Kivik, Sweden, the very talented Rodriguez and the just as gifted stylist Paul Maximilian Schlosser, bring a professional dancers eye to imagery, fashion and fabric. New shapes and forms emerge from the movements of the models and raw materials hide within themselves, under the open sky. The result is an utmost intriguing series opening a complete new chapter of narrativity in the world of Outlier's perfectly crafted pieces; reminding us of both the American settlers' aesthetic and Yohji Yamamoto's oversized draping. We can only hope that this is the beginning of a new phase in which Outlier adds new exciting facets to its brand grounded on indisputable leading technical expertise. Continuing to explore new cultural roots in their communication through similar collaborations with extraordinary talents like Rodriguez to create a new richness in the narrative and affect around its beautiful future-proof clothing for them to reach an even larger audience in the years to come. [ Continue reading ]

The last days of Summer

We've been big fans of Australian photographer Akila Berjaoui's sensual photography from the moment whe we discovered her beautiful series 'Lake Como', some years ago. Since then, she has been steadily continuing her worldwide travels with her analogue cameras, showing her beautiful signature in every new series that she produces. Last month, Berjaoui celebrated a new important milestone in her blooming career, when together with Prestel Publishing she officially presented her very first book to the world named 'The last days of Summer'.

The new book proves to be the most elegant platform on printed paper for Berjaoui's work till date, adding a significant new chapter to her ongoing artistic love affair with sandy beaches, sun, water and beautiful woman. In 'The last days of Summer', the spectator is taken to her hometown of Sydney and subsequently to bathing hotspots in Italy, France, and Brazil, amongst other places. Taken over the summers of 2015 to 2016, Berjaoui’s sun-streamed photographs of bathing beauty is brought to life in her familiar lush color palette that reminds of late 70s and early 80s photography. Her photographs have the power to veritably evoke the feeling of an earlier time; every detail is rich in the romance of 20th century travel, right down to the beach umbrellas, miniature but elegant swimwear and hidden Italian coves that are still cherished by the few who are able to keep a secret; in her work Berjaoui paints a sunny dreamworld on film. Beyond the surroundings, through her eye for beautiful framing, the eye-pleasing subjects in front of her camera always seem at total ease, with a hint of sexual tension lingering in the air. Curves are always soft and sandy tan lines both playful and honest — overal the visual narrative (and title) of 'The last days of Summer' transcends an undertone of nostalgia referring to a more heartfelt and colorful (pre-selfie!) era.

With summer all over The Netherlands at the moment, there's no better time than now to order 'The last days of Summer', which finally captures some of our favorite photography in between two book covers to truly reveal its extraordinary beauty in the best possible form. [ Continue reading ]

The Mechanism

We continue to be far from as active here as we would love to be, mostly because of our schedules at ...,staat and New Amsterdam Film Company demanding most of our time, but after some time completely off the grid in (Upstate) New York and California for the both of us in May; we are really picking up the pace again. Starting it up with an incredibly stunning new book by Swedish photographer Mårten Lange published by MACK, that was presented to the world some hours ago at the gallery space of Webber in London. Named 'The Mechanism', the extraordinary publication presents a remarkably melancholic series of monochromatic photographs that form a futuristic narrative about contemporary life. Bringing together anonymous images made in multiple cities, the work deals with themes of technology, economic systems, surveillance and (dystopian?) urban society. Lange attempts to trace the effects of technological developments on human experiences, using architectural tropes to build a narrative loaded with the threats and promises of the future. Cutting back and forth between close-up views and cityscapes, the beautifully designed book offers a filmic sequence of photographs that is at once affective and estranging. We have been familiar with the impeccable work of Lange before, after just discovering 'The Mechanism' we have a new instant favorite. Make sure to order it before this book sells out! [ Continue reading ]

A Saturday at Fondazione Prada

Exactly two months ago we travelled to Milan (unexpectedly as a road trip, due to a storm in Amsterdam) to visit our friend Roel. Looking back at that weekend in February once more; it is safe to conclude that it turned out to be a greatly inspirational (Jos Brink-themed) couple of days, in which we were able to see some of nature's most beautiful hidden treasures in the marble quarries of Carrara ánd some of humankind's more interesting creations when we visited the sweaty Pinacoteca di Brera; the Pirelli HangarBicocca to, for the first time, see Anselm Kiefer's mysterious towers up close; and (finally!) Rem Koolhaas' Fondazione Prada Foundation, where we had the chance to experience the deeply haunting and still extremely relevant 'Kienholz:Five Car Stud' exhibition and sat down with Boglioli's former Creative Director Davide Marello for an enlightening conversation on the state of Italian tailored menswear fashion. The low, late winter sun was out, the sky was blue and the air was cool: this is that rather perfect Saturday at the incredible Fondazione Prada Foundation in captures by Joachim. [ Continue reading ]

Tokyo Compression

When the thrilling 'Tokyo Compression' series by German master photographer Michael Wolf was first presented in 2010, like the rest of the world, we were stunned by its captivating oppressive beauty. In the years that passed, the Asia dwelling photographer kept expanding the series, next to all of the other long-lasting chapters that portray the DNA of different Asian mega cities like Tokyo (and for instance Hong Kong, where the photographer has lived a significant part of his life) as sublime fine-grained puzzles full of mystery and unfamiliar beauty. In total, Wolf worked on'Tokyo Compression' from 2010 until 2013, with three publications as a result, that are among our favorites and part of the most interesting publications of its kind.

Today, we encountered not only one, but three reasons to shine light on this highly inspirational work once again: firstly, the arrival of the definite finale of the 'Tokyo Compression' series in printed form, with yesterday's release of the fourth book named 'The Final Cut' by German publisher Peperoni Books. Secondly, we discovered that some months ago the body of work was nominated for this year's prestigious Prix Pictet and most importantly; as a result of all this renewed interest, the series will be exhibited throughout the world once more in 2017. After it was shown at Blue Lotus Gallery in Hong Kong in the first months of the year, to our great pleasure, a 'Tokyo Compression' exhibition will open for the public in two days in our homebase Amsterdam, where it will be shown next to 'Hong Kong Coat Hangers' at the Wouter van Leeuwen Gallery until the 20th of May. Within that period another part of 'Tokyo Compression' will travel to London, were it will be on display at the Victoria and Albert alongside the other 11 nominees of the Prix Pictet until the 28th of May.

We are extremely excited by this fourth coming of one of our favorite series of all time, so we decided to share some of our favorites below. When in Amsterdam or London: don't miss the opportunity to see Wolf's magic first hand in the coming two months as this seems to be the final chance to do so! [ Continue reading ]

Romain Laprade

The highly talented Paris-based Romain Laprade is among a select group of photographers, succeeding throughout his ever-expanding body of still imagery work to create highly exiting depictions that are nothing short of cinematic: working in a deep warm color palette full of atmosphere and class. From the moment we caught his work of numerous modernist and post modern buildings (most recently the extraordinary Villa Noailles in Hyères) on Instagram, we have truly enjoyed his exquisite perspective on the world around us and kept track of his portfolio with every new entry. The photographer predominantly finds the inspiration for his imagery by mindfully observing his environment, both in the city, in nature and the exchange between the two. Laprade finds the most aesthetic details in the ordinary or on the other hand captures remarkable architectural creations in the most aesthetic frames. In all of these captures there is an interaction: between the borders of the frame; shades of the colors; rays of light; shadow and textures. These elements, that make up his remarkable signature, prove to be a guarantee for engaging images, having catapulted Laprade to one of our favorite photographers working today from the moment we first caught it. Enjoy some of our favorite images below. [ Continue reading ]

Sammy Baloji

From the moment we encountered the super inspirational work of  Congolese photographic artist Sammy Baloji, we haven't been able to get his haunting imagery out of our heads ever since. In the last decade, the artist, who resides in his city of birth Lubumbashi and Brussels, has gathered international acclaim with his photographic works that explore the cultural, architectural and industrial heritage of the region where he was born named Katanga in the African country Congo. Baloji juxtaposes photographic realities, combining past and present, the real and the ideal, to illicit extraordinary cultural and historical tensions.
With his imagery Baloji explores architecture and the human body as traces of social history, sites of memory, and witnesses to operations of power. History of art and documentary photography blend with that of colonialism. His series of photomontages, of revisited albums confront his historical research with the human and economic actuality (such as the new invasions of these territories by companies from China for instance). All of his juxtapositions are highly charged with meaning, but above all: always succeed in leaving an everlasting impression, that forces one to question past, present and future of Congo and the whole continent of Africa.  [ Continue reading ]

You’re Living for Nothing Now

We have been great admirers of the Lisbon-based publisher Pierre von Kleist editions for years and the latest release from the hands of its founder, photographer André Príncipe, named 'You´re Living for Nothing Now (I hope you´re keeping some kind of record)' is another instant favorite ours, following his extraordinary 'Tokyo Diaries' from 2014. The new title is Príncipe´s take on the I-novel, it is a personal account about how it felt to be alive between 2009 and 2013, translated to his photography. With its Leonard Cohen line´s title, the book forms Príncipe´s most ambitious work to date, organized in three books designed to be autonomous but together forming the complete narrative. The classical music score format of his earlier books is revisited and this time the images center on his struggle with marriage, living in Lisboa, spending time in China, Turkey, Japan, Paris, London and other places. Influenced by sufi and buddhist ideas. 'You´re living for nothing now' is a compendium of gestures, a modern mandala, an elegy of the ephemeral in the tradition of Ed van der Elsken, Henry Miller, and Jonas Mekas — making the publication another extraordinary addition to the catalogue of the inspirational folks at Pierre von Kleist. [ Continue reading ]

Flowers of Delusion

We recently encountered the work of Berlin-based photographer Dirk Müggenburg, who is best known for his remarkable still lifes and series of isolated shots from nature — all with a distinct cinematic quality and brooding mystique to them. His still lifes in particular are of an extraordinary beauty and predominantly the result of Müggenburg's obsession with flowers: both their inherent natural (decorative) beauty and the cultural position they hold. People use them as symbols to make statements of affection and mourning, which also means that people avoid them as they stand for vulnerability and doomed promises. It is very hard to view flowers as culturally neutral objects, for their vulnerable natural beauty arouse either admiration and desire or loathing due to cultural overexposure and negative connotations of kitsch. Müggenburg has explored this widespread hate-love relationship through a critical engagement with attraction, melancholia and sentiment in different series, all showing his extraordinary eye for detail and talent to create a distinct mood in his imagery.

The most diffuse series in his portfolio, aptly named 'Flowers of Delusion', is the one we love the most. As if taken behind a foggy window, the ensembles of flowers in vases are for the most part washed out over the frame, creating a photographic abstraction in the natural, pastel-like, color palette, without ever taking it beyond recognition. It is still very clear that this are flowers, but Müggenburg creates an atmosphere as if he is searching for a way to free them from their wide cultural affect — restoring what in our eyes is still the essence: extraordinary beauty. [ Continue reading ]

Bomba

At the end of last year, the highly remarkable series named 'Bomba', shot by the very talented American photographer Thomas Prior, has been presented as a beautiful book by Dashwood Books, which turned out into one of the more interesting releases we have seen recently. 'Bomba' takes the viewer to the Mexican town of San Juan de la Vega, where every February its people gather together to commemorate a four-century-old battle that occurred between the town’s namesake and the area’s landowners. The story goes that Juan de la Vega, a wealthy miner and rancher, was aided by the saint in recovering gold stolen by bandits. Residents took up exploding sledgehammers to commemorate the victory over the thieves. And so, on so-called 'Fat Tuesday', in the middle of a football pitch in the town, packets of fertilizer and sulfur explode into clouds of dust and shrapnel. Today the tools are reinforced with rebar, and the celebration features blasts but now more flying hammer heads. Hundreds of local men strap homemade potassium chlorate fertilizer-based explosives to the heads of sledgehammers and slam them against the lengths of steel rail.

The isolation Thomas has achieved in the imagery, emphasizes the danger and violence of the peculiar tradition. With the clouds of phosphorus smog surrounding each of the men, the subjects are erupting out the cloud, with the rest of the background misted out erasing all kind of context. This could be a scene out of a war if one wouldn't know better. The result is an ambiguous surreality within the series -and the festival as a whole- as it’s still not totally clear where this salute to Juan de la Vega originally derived from, which makes it a series we can't take our eyes from. [ Continue reading ]

American Color 2

The tremendously talented photographer Constantine "Costa" Manos, who joined the roster of the legendary Magnum agency in 1965, first began taking photographs while in high school when he joined his school's camera club. Within a few years after discovering the art form, he actually becomes a professional photographer and at 19 he gets hired as the official photographer for the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, published into his very first book 'Portrait of a Symphony' in 1961. From 1961 until 1964, Manos lives in Greece, the country of birth of both his parents, photographing the people and landscape. Subsequently he returns to the USA, living in Boston. Where for instance in 1974, Manos was hired by the city to create the photographs for the prestigious 'Where's Boston?' exhibition: a large production in honor of Boston's 200th anniversary.

Decades later, in 1995, after having worked relentlessly for all those years, Manos' work finds a totally new audience when his iconic series focussing on the American people named 'American Color' is released. In 2010 he presents his second series of the same kind: 'American Color 2', which once more shows the extraordinary talent of Manos and has been a favorite of ours for years. As the name suggests, the photographer succeeds marvelously in creating incredible colorful images, portraying as much what is actually touched by the sun as what isn't, with most people in the frames hidden in stretches of shade to a slight surreal effect. Every one of the highly captivating images, succeeding to show one highly coherent signature, portray a America in all its richness, represented from a truly unique perspective of a great American photographer that still needs to be discovered by many. [ Continue reading ]

Where They Create, Japan

We are back in the new year and start it off with a name we have been closely following for years: Australian photographer Paul Barbera. At the end of last year, the talented imagemaker presented a new volume in his acclaimed Where They Create series — this time by exploring the theme of his series through geographical locales. Reinvigorated by his first visit to Japan in five years, Barbera made this country the focus point of the all new volume.  Published by Frame Publishers, Barbera, accompanied by Japanese writer Kanae Hasegawa, explores the workspaces of 32 leading creatives in Japan. With this considered curation of subjects and Paul's extraordinary eye for iconic details, the new book unveils the sometimes surreptitious nature of contemporary Japanese design culture.

The country is well known for its incredible food, beautiful landscapes, innovative technology and its attitude around perfectionism, that has been been setting a new worldwide bar of excellence from the moment it became known. Most importantly for Barbera in his personal journey is the sense of discovery, of both the creatives and their process, which he has been portraying for years know and is exemplified in his imagery, being able to portray more with composition than words could ever offer (especially considering the reserved Japanese culture) — resulting in quite possibly his most inspirational installment of his by now often copied, but still very relevant Where They Create project. [ Continue reading ]

Boundaries

Harley Weir presents her first solo-exhibition at Foam in Amsterdam

The official opening is tonight, but the very first solo-exhibition of the talented British photographer Harley Weir at Foam in Amsterdam has been open for the public since the 2nd of December and we had a chance to see it for ourselves this week. It marks an important step in the rise of the 28-year-old, who has been receiving international acclaim and a growing attention in the last years, after kick starting her career at age 17, when she shot her first fashion editorial for Vice UK. Although presentation-wise the exhibition at Foam isn't the best thing we have ever seen, the curation of the imagery shows the incredible talent of Weir, far transcending the specific subject-matter, showing an intriguing coherent body — undisputedly making her one of the most interesting voices in contemporary photography.

The title of the exhibition, 'Boundaries' refers to what is ultimately dissolved in the work of the photographer. But even as she crosses the lines of what usually holds people apart, on personal as well as political levels she is not out to make any statements. The exhibition therefore reads, as Weir specifically intended it, as a visual poem, open to interpretation. The exhibition shows a mix of Weir’s ethereal portraiture with still life images and reportage work in Israel, India, Jordan and the series that struck us deeply when we encountered it on Dazed some weeks ago: the haunting depictions of the temporary homes at the refugee camps of Calais. Whatever it is in front of her lens, Weir always seems to get to its essence by framing that what seems to speak to her most, creating captivating visual narratives that stick. [ Continue reading ]

FRANCHISE 02

Although we aren't big basketball aficionados, when Justin Montag (Editor-in-Chief), Chris Dea (Art Director) and Brock Batten (Business Development) launched FRANCHISE magazine six months ago, a complete new perspective on the sport opened up to us. With the current state of basketball publications still being dominated by high definition, high gloss visuals, the trio found inspiration for their magazine in the European independent magazine equivalents from the world of football, who for some years now have brought a much needed contemporary vision to the traditional world of that sport, which FRANCHISE aims to introduce for basketball. Last month, marked the highly anticipated presentation of their second issue, after successfully finding a significant audience since April. The incredible new edition follows up on the debut of the magazine in the best possibly way, showing a next level in the creation of a distinct, artistic visual language and content-wise featuring an interview with legendary NBA fan James Goldstein, a fashion collaboration between Phil Oh & Kalen Hollomon, features on Stephen Baker, Sporting Life and a series named the 'Pixel Hall of Fame', amongst others.

Make sure to pick up and support this unique and exiting voice in the world of basketball. [ Continue reading ]

Grey Cobalt II

We recently discovered the stunning 'Grey Cobalt II' series by the Finnish photographer and visual artist Felicia Honkasalo, while browsing the greatly inspirational online archive of Aint–Bad, which is an extraordinary source for some of the most interesting photography being produced today. In recent years Honkasalo has been refocussing, both in her most recent Master's studies and the work she has been creating, beyond traditional photography into a broader visual arts direction, yet the more classical photographic series that was produced (and shared by Aint–Bad) at the end of 2014 focusses on objects, documents and photographs inherited from her late grandfather. It also already shows he free approach in experimentation with the still images, juxtaposing different genres of photography to create a narrative that both shows an interesting composition of different aesthetics and evokes an emotional reaction and the questions of what lays behind the depicted. Having never known her grandfather, she uses the narrative of remembrance to reconstruct him through his world that has ceased to exist — portraying rock matter, technical drawings of blast furnaces, and an encyclopedia worth of books on metals and mining, which together symbolizing a man and his world, that she never really knew, but inherently connected to her by blood. We are really inspired by both her aesthetic choices and the emotional narrative that transcends the imagery: incredible! [ Continue reading ]

The Travel Almanac 11

Three weeks ago it was that time of the year again for a beautiful new issue by our friends of The Travel Almanac from Berlin, who presented already their 11th issue, for the first time featuring an all-female cast. The new issue’s cover stars are Isabelle Huppert, shot at the legendary Les Bains in Paris by Heji Shin, and Kacy Hill, shot in Los Angeles by Jenny Hueston. The actrice extraordinaire recounts French radicalism in the 60s and explains Continental approaches to acting. While the American songwriter and model describes the travel mindset of Middle Americans. In their own words: "in a time when interconnectedness is being disavowed and borders feel more pressing, travel is emerging as an ever more crucial and powerful subject matter. In the last five years The Travel Almanac has explored perspectives, places, and objects that evoke telling atmospheres and feelings" — with its latest issue it continues to do exactly this, forming an elegant and important voice in todays world, which we feel (and hope) will continue to be relevant long after the just presented new issue. [ Continue reading ]

Anama

In times of visual abundance, the photography of Petros Koublis still has a quality that more and more seems to disappear in the discipline — it evokes a mythical, almost otherworldly feeling through the immaculate depictions of divine landscapes, as he likes to call it himself. Koublis' latest series named 'Anama' took the photographer to the Greek island of Tinos. Positioned in the heart of the Aegean sea, the island is famous for its strong winds, immortalized since ancient times through the myths about long forgotten legends, among which is Aeolus, the god of winds, who was said to have his palace inside the clouds that embrace the summit of its highest mountain.

The project was initiated by Athens-based Talc Design Studio and it was commissioned by a local group of entrepreneurs. The idea was to project the unseen part of an island more famous as a religion center, with thousands of pilgrims visiting every year the shrine that hosts the miraculous icon of Virgin Mary. From the rough, weather beaten northern part of the island, to the milder south, the landscape opens a door towards an emotional interpretation of its form, in terms of a constant metamorphosis that started with the first awakening of consciousness of the first settlers of the island, thousands of years ago, and it continuous to this day through the eyes of Koublis, who caught the magical place immaculately, honoring all the inherent mythology in a perfect visual translation.  [ Continue reading ]

Mawooshen: Life and Landscape
of the Maritime Archaic

Last month, American photographer Jonathan Levitt, together with Los Angeles-based publisher Snail Press, released a new beautiful printed gem named 'Mawooshen: Life and Landscape of the Maritime Archaic', featuring over 100 carefully selected film photographs taken over the last 10 years. The name of the book refers all the way back to 1605, when British Captain George Waymouth explored what we now know as Midcoast Maine, in an expedition that included a certain gentleman named James Rosier, who wrote a detailed account that was published in England. During this exploration Waymouth and his men kidnapped five Natives and took them to England. The captives reportedly called their homeland Mawooshen. With his book, inspired by Paleolithic animism, western natural history, and shadow archaeology, Levitt creates and alter-world, named after the original native moniker of the lands, through deeply fascinating photographs of geography, plant and animal life, people, and built objects. All of the images are unstaged, analog, and accompanied by fragments of description. The photographs are arranged according to the seasons in which they were taken and span three cycles. The effect is cumulative and modal like a chant. By telling the story of 'Mawooshen' cyclically and ending with the ellipsis of a third spring, Levitt’s cosmology pushes against the linear, eschatological myth of western culture. [ Continue reading ]

Sophie Tajan

After last weekend's highly anticipated (finally!) launch of Amsterdam-based perfume house Abel's new five piece vita odor collection and the accompanying official presentation of the redefined strategy, repositioning of the brand and completely restyled identity, which we worked on over the course of the last twelve months (everything on that later this week) — we first want to shed some well deserved light on the very talented and very lovely Paris-based Sophie Tajan, who was responsible for the photography in the project.

We first encountered her work while researching what direction the visual language for Abel should move towards, in order to distinctively communicate on more than one level what the 100% natural fragrances stand for. The fit with Tajan's artistic vision felt instantly perfect. With a portfolio consisting of part immaculate still life, part abstract documentary and part fashion photography: Tajan succeeds in all three areas. She creates captivating photographs throughout, photographing in natural light, creating imagery in a soft muted color palette and exciting shades of black, gray and white. Particularly her still life experimentations with light, distortions and reflections grabbed our attention and made her the undisputed perfect collaborator for what were trying to create. Looking back today, we can only conclude how happy we are with the outcome and look forward to see what's next for the greatly talented Sophie.

See all of Sophie's work for Abel on their new website. [ Continue reading ]

Index 2006 — 2016

We have been following the highly talented Antwerp-based photographer Frederik Vercruysse from the moment we discovered his collaborations with fellow photographer Filip Dujardin some years ago. In recent years Vercruysse worked on a broad scale of projects, ranging from commissions for brands and magazines, next to free projects of which his 'Tempo Polveroso', shot in the marble quarries outside of Villa Lena, still is a big favorite of ours.

Last week marked another important milestone in the career of the Belgian: for the very first time ever, presenting a collection of some of his best photography in a printed publication, produced together with publisher Luster. Named 'Index 2006-2016' the elegantly designed book includes architecture and interior design photos, as well as his signature captivating clean cut still lifes, compositions and landscape photography — all fresh, graphic images bathed in a soft light, showing his extraordinary eye for details. The two main fascinations behind the world he produces; graphics and composition, are omnipresent in his portfolio. The curation of the works presented in the new book pre-eminently show how controlled Vercruysse works: always taking the time to carefully arrange and rearrange, until he has found the most balanced composition — resulting in immaculately defined images of the highest aesthetic standard. [ Continue reading ]