Slow → articles tagged with photography

On The Periphery

After (seemingly) slowly fading away over the course of this month, Summer has found its way back to The Netherlands again in the last few days. With the temperature back at around 30°C, it feels like the perfect time to share another very inspirational (sun blazing!) ongoing photographic series named 'On The Periphery' by Sinziana Velicescu, which we originally discovered a while ago, but came back to our attention when a new selection was on display at AIA|LA gallery in July. The very talented Los Angeles-based photographer has made a name for herself in the last five years, soon after graduating from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor in Comparative Literature and Film, with her steady high quality output being picked up worldwide ever since — both in exhibitions and publications. Throughout her entire catalogue there is a clear signature to be observed; working predominantly in natural (sun)light, always finding those colorful abstract crops in the seemingly ordinary to create a captivating image, all captured directly in the world around her (oftenly Los Angeles, as the case with 'On The Periphery').

In a time in which 'Instagram-friendly' photography (which Velicescu's work clearly is: make sure to follow here) sometimes gets confused with 'made for Instagram', the genre one could categorize her work in might be de facto an ever-growing field with too much (just our humble opinion) mediocre imagery with no real substance beyond the depiction — Velicescu proves with every series that she truly is part of the highly talented periphery of photographers, never failing to succeed in finding those fragmentations of the ordinary that both please the eye and evoke the question what narrative lays underneath that single frame.

We can't wait for more observations from Velicescu's own private Los Angeles... [ Continue reading ]

Shore Leave

In April of this year cultural anthropologist and graphic design historian Jim Heimann, together with his regular collaborator; editor and archivist Ryan Mungia, presented one of our favorite printed projects which were released in 2016. The incredible 'Shore Leave' is the first photobook to capture Honolulu during the Second World War through a remarkably curated collection of vintage photographs, a lot of them found in personal scrapbooks of veterans, which were collected by Heimann over years and now made public through Mungia's Boyo Press.

It portrays the thousands of US sailors bound for the Pacific during the early 1940's, in a period when the Hawaiian Islands were the staging ground for an unknown fate. Their perception of Honolulu as a tropical paradise quickly deflated upon their arrival. The anticipation of a moonlit Diamond Head, available hula girls and free-flowing and affordable rum quickly materialized into crowded streets, beaches cordoned off with barbed wire and endless lines to nowhere. Still, as with many ports of call, diversions were plentiful, and set against the warm trade winds, sailors took advantage of them on their last stop to hell. A totally unique place and time, which shows throughout the images selected by Mungia and Heimann.

Binding all these insightful photographs together in the book creates a truly unique insight, elegantly designed moreover, 'Shore Leave' is one of the most captivating books we have discovered this year.
It is a one-of-a-kind visual document of a port that, for many sailors who passed through, was their initiation into manhood. [ Continue reading ]

NikeLab x Kim Jones in Saluti da E.U.R.

The NikeLab x Kim Jones debut collection captured in Rome by The Travel Almanac

A little over a month ago NikeLab presented the debut collection of their collaboration with a new high profile name from the fashion world (are we going to see a focus on this, as competitor Adidas has been doing for the last decade?): British sportswear connoisseur Kim Jones. The colorful collection means the highly anticipated return to athletic sportswear for Jones, after he successfully collaborated with Umbro (owned by Nike) for several seasons some years ago, before he became menswear director at Louis Vuitton in 2011, where he has been marrying athletic influences with luxury. In order to celebrate the union between technology and tradition, our inspirational friends of The Travel Almanac decided to set up an exclusive fashion editorial collaboration with NikeLab and Jones in Rome’s E.U.R. [Esposizione Universale Roma] district which they gave the name 'Saluti da E.U.R.'

Esposizione Universale Roma is a neighborhood in the Italian capital that was planned to host the world’s fair and to exhibit Italy’s latest answers to modern urbanism, architecture, design, and sports. Finally completed for the Summer Olympics 1960 held in the city, the area is famous for its orthogonal city plan inspired by Roman Imperial urban planning and for its monumental white architecture characteristic of Italian Rationalism. The buildings’ traditional materials and revolutionary minimal lines were a simplification and modernization of neo-classical architecture and have influenced the most talented architects, from David Chipperfield to Peter Zumthor passing through Oscar Niemeyer. Today E.U.R. has become Rome’s center for sports, finance, and with its newly opened Museum of Fashion in the iconic Palazzo della Civilta’ Italiana, also known as the Squared Colosseum, also for fashion.

A context proving to be a remarkable fit for the collection's colorful pieces, both caught by The Travel Almanac's founder Paul Kominek and Danish photographer Sara Katrine Thiesen, presenting a perfect hybrid of the classicist Italian exterior and some of the most cutting edge athletic pieces available today created by Jones and NikeLab, forming one of our favorite editorials we have seen in the last few months. [ Continue reading ]

Undercover Japan

With most of the blogs we have been following over the course of the last ten years stuck on their last post without much reason left to believe more is still to come and some of them even completely dead and buried for ever (or evolved into much bigger content producers/magazines of course), luckily there are still a few people out there sharing what they admire through an individually curated filter. One of those places we have been visiting regularly for over five years that remains to be (relatively) active is Dave Smith's This Is Collate, where he has been sharing his personal favorites for years: creations ranging from graphic design, art, fashion, music and photography projects.

Last week, Smith shared a true gem in the last category — shot by his friend Christopher Martin (opposite page), when they both visited Japan in March, which we feel deserves to be seen by as many people as possible. Named 'Undercover Japan'  (the series by Martin has little to do with Jun Takahashi's namesake fashion label although we feel the isolated aesthetic would speak to the punk avant-garde designer) the observations through the lens of the Belfast-based photographer form an extraordinary photographic series, portraying the many car- and motorcycle-covers to be observed all over Tokyo and Kyoto. Intriguingly serene, yet also evoking a feeling of covered up secrets, for us the series represents certain important elements that make up Japan, next to being just incredibly aesthetic captions of the country that has no equal.  [ Continue reading ]

And Away They Go

Done to Death publishes a day at the track captured by Eric Chakeen

Another year, another inspirational Done to Death Projects publication by cultural tastemaker Chris Black, who for the first time collaborated with none less than the very talented Eric Chakeen. After assisting the three legendary New York photographers Terry Richardson, Dan Martensen and Ryan McGinley, Eric Chakeen was ready to produce his own work, which he has been doing in the last decade with great vigour — working on a long list of commissions with big names in fashion and pop culture, but also creating free projects of which the new publication is an excellent example. For the series named 'And Away They Go', Chakeen roamed around the racetrack of his hometown in the suburbs of San Diego; Del Mar. It resulted in a beautiful collection of striking photographs, documenting a subtly disquieting space, with everyone in this world apparently lost in a paradise of nostalgia. Both having a cinematic quality as much as the images being raw in your face observations, the series continues to captivate us profoundly, forming another incredible addition to Chris' Done to Death Projects catalogue. [ Continue reading ]

Courts 02

Ward Roberts immaculately documenting sporting courts around the world

Following the release of his remarkable 'Courts 01' in 2012, today New York-based photographer Ward Roberts presents his second printed chapter, named conveniently 'Courts 02', of the ongoing photographic study documenting sporting courts at the Arcana in Culver City, California, after it already has been open for purchase online for the last couple of days. Initially aiming to document Hong Kong's car parks when he started with the series back in 2007, Roberts found a deeper connection with the city's basketball courts and switched his focus to these colorful spaces instead. He noticed that many of the most multicolored courts were located beside low-income apartment buildings, and used these as landmarks to track down the hidden spaces. After publishing 'Courts 01', Roberts continued his search while on travels to Bermuda, Hawaii, New York and Melbourne.  In these locations, he also found the sports grounds that never cease to fascinate him, enhancing his captivating collection of images with interesting new chapters. The result in 'Courts 02' is yet another series of immaculately captured public spaces, in Roberts' signature toned down color palette, finding highly aesthetically fragmentations of these ordinary areas of play, which we can't take our eyes from.
As all iconic images inevitably do, Ward Roberts’s courts have now become a force of their own, circulating the world with terrific velocity via the rushing slipstream of the internet, gathering momentum and making their mark upon the global eye. [...] His art is so powerful: he gives life to the spaces of photography, and photography to the spaces of life. [ Continue reading ]

Iconic Bouquets

Frederik Vercruysse, Clarisse Demory and Mark Colle for The Plant Journal 09

Last month marked the release of already the ninth issue of the inspirational The Plant Journal. Full of flowers this time around, it honors one in particular — not the most trendy flower, but definitely a classic of some sort; the geranium. Seamlessly fitting the changing weather of the last weeks (at least in The Netherlands and Belgium), the magazine celebrates the summer, which for instance also perfectly matches life like artist Roberto Burle Marx, one of the protagonists of the issue. Legendary German illustrator and artist Tomi Ungerer shares his beloved piece of land in Ireland while Elein Fleiss shows her knowledge on herbs and Antoni Arola details his passion for seeds. Kuba Ryniewicz focusses on Conrwall’s mighty marine flora, Mark Borthwick the lush of Jamaica. Formafantasma and Ethel Baraona meditate about the meaning of borders and Mercedes Villalba explores desire paths. Furthermore, one learns about the linen process, how to preserve dandelions into paperweights and the tastiest ice-cream recipes by Kitty Travers.

In all, the new inspirational issue is packed with some of the most beautiful flowers one finds on this earth, captured by talented people like Brian Kanagaki, the always great Scheltens & Abbesses and one of our favorite photographers around; Yoshinori Mizutani, who captured the park life in London like only he can, as is also portrayed on maybe the most beautiful cover created for the magazine. Yet, there is one series, even above Mizutani's, which is our clear favorite, coming from two Belgian inspirators in their particular field: the collaboration between photographer Frederik Vercruysse, who teamed up with stylist Clarisse Demory and no less than flower grandmaster Mark Colle, for a series of bouquets in which they honor six deceased pop cultural icons (Whitney Houston, Kurt Cobain, Michael Jackson. Minnie Riperton, Nina Simone and David Bowie) in bespoke arrangements and settings created for these individuals.  [ Continue reading ]

Bombardier

More than two years ago we wrote about a new Jungles in Paris story which took the reader on an insightful trip to the West African country of Senegal. As in most Sub-Saharan African countries football is the clear favorite sport there, but an indigenous sport that has existed for centuries is traditional wrestling named Laamb in Wolof. It is one of the sports in which the young men engage on the famous 'Plage de Fann' beach in Dakar, which was singled out in the beautiful story. Since ancient times Senegalese wrestlers competed before the king and queen in village squares. Singers, dancers, and storytellers embellished the match. Wrestlers wore amulets to ward off evil spirits and black magic from their opponents. Nowadays, the tradition remains strong. As in former times, griots praise the victors in song and dance.

The contemporary champions of the traditional wrestling sports are celebrities in Senegal, with fighters such as Yékini (Yakhya Diop), Tyson (Mohamed Ndao), and Bombardier (Serigne Ousmane Dia) the best known. Today we want to take another look at the beautiful sport, this time through the lens of French photographer Laurent Laporte who shot a series on one of his many travels named after the famous wrestler: 'Bombardier'. Young Senegalese boys, who meet each other on beaches like Plage de Fann, dreaming to become as big as 'the bomber' — caught remarkably by Laporte who made the series half duotone and half color. Finding remarkable frames which represent both the sport and the country in a unique and exciting way.  [ Continue reading ]

The Posternaks

Although in recent years they have become a household name in fashion photography through their ongoing work relationship with it-brand Mansur Gavriel (and strong visability throughout downtown New York City) and work for numerous fashion magazines, we haven't shared the work of Ukrainian twin sisters Tanya and Zhenya Posternak here before. Known for the so called 'Posternak crop' —staying as close to the essence of their subject which often-times results in a rather unusual yet elegant focus— their style can be described best as minimalist, colorful, never failing to be striking and full of charisma, regardless if an actual human being or just an object is in front of the camera. Flicking through the catalogue they have shared over the course of the last few years: ranging from assignments, the captures from their travels on their blog and all the images they have shared on their instagrams — one can only conclude that the Posternaks make it look so effortless to capture the available essence of what characterizes someone or -thing in front of their lens. We know that isn't true and it's simply their unique perspective on the world around us. Almost like an elegant form of camouflage (reminding strongly of Robby Müller's camerawork) the twins create imagery which is unique without losing a sense of universally appealing emotions to be observed in all of their work, both on commissions and free work. We can't get enough of it...
We are deeply moved by human imperfections, whether it be a birthmark or facial hair. With our photography we aim to get closer both to the subject and the viewer. Frankly, we don’t follow any brand’s guidelines other than curiosity for all things beautiful and woolly. [ Continue reading ]

Bunker Research

Launched on the 30th of June, but presented to the public today at the Rapha Cycle Club in London, writer Max Leonard and photographer Camille McMillan present an incredible new publication by the name of 'Bunker Research'. Leonard, who is an avid cyclist, found inspiration for the new project while riding around the Alpes-Maritimes region of France, where he noticed the strange structures hidden in the landscape — discrete buildings that seemed to appear out of nowhere in remote locations far away from civilization. The question what and why these military bunkers were doing there, drove the writer —who joined forces with Camille McMillan to document them properly— to find and research these hidden concrete shelters for eight months, which eventually resulted in this elegant printed study.

Strategically placed throughout the French Alps by the French, these bunkers were built in some of the most remote places in Europe. Constructed from reinforced concrete, the constructions blend into their rugged, pristine environment. Although they are slowly succumbing to the elements as they aren't used anymore, the bunkers are enduring features in the landscape and relics from a different time in world politics. The structures with fortifications’ concrete walls were built to withstand bomb blasts, so it will take many more decades for them to totally have disappeared. Until that moment they just lay there, constructed from a form follows function ideology, resulting in a brutalist organic aesthetic, being a unique subgenre in architecture, of which a super interesting chapter is now beautifully captured and presented by Leonard and McMillan. [ Continue reading ]

Metro / Polis

Recently we encountered the new series by Vienna-based photographer and director of photography Wolfgang Lehrner named 'Metro / Polis', for which the artists— following his series shot in Moscow named 'WELT / RAUM'— travelled to city of Athens. The remarkable new series is divided into six different chapters for each element of the city as observed through the camera, for which Lehrner created a dedicated online environment to portray his unique complete vision of the city that holds the cradle of democracy, science and occidental philosophy, and for a couple of years now once again has become a focal point – albeit for European crisis and criticism. As portrayed in the immaculate, often-times isolated frames, Athens appears as a city in decay in which concrete has grown uncontrollably, which now waits to slowly rot away. People play the supporting role in this theatre of concrete, as if Lehrner wants to say that those who once decided to form the face of this city, now a days don't differentiate between buildings and those living it it. Not more then playthings in the grande scheme of bigger political decisions, which therewith remarkably summarizes in what wicked narrative the people of Athens, those who walk the actual concrete streets to go to there work, home or elsewhere, find themselves in because of the policies made by others above them, right where Lehrner's camera is positioned. Looking down on the concrete and the people, showing a side of Athens which is both beautiful and sad, reminding of a classical Greek melodrama.
City is a concurrence of the other and the own, difference and sameness, unity and diversity. These components lay the foundations for thought, discussion and resistance. The city is a moving home, a safe haven in foreign parts. [ Continue reading ]

Moroccan Youth

Through the lens of Ilyes Griyeb

Sometimes a photographic series perfectly touches on the field that's in between (and overlays) the staged and documentary, creating a complete compelling narrative which transcends the imagery. More than just being individual photographs with the quality of a verb, the combination of the imagery brings a story to life, taking the mind of the spectator into the head of the photographer at the moments when he captured what he saw. Without forcing any reading of meaning onto the spectator. Generally speaking we tend to prefer abstract (landscape) photography within this particular genre. Photographers finding beauty in the ordinary or not so ordinary, which apparently for us seems to be more often non-human (whatever that really means). After 'Tranquility', which we shared earlier, another series with a prominent place for people has become an instant favorite of ours. 'Moroccan Youth' masterfully combines both portrait and landscape photography and keeps fascinating us deeply since the moment we first laid eyes on it.

Paris-based photographer Ilyes Griyeb released the series of his remarkable observations in a nondescript Moroccan town last year, but we discovered it only recently. In all of the photographs there's that sense of hope combined with sadness — a gaze away from the lens, or on the contrary straight into it. A pair of stripped carseats in the sun, a roof filled with numerous satellite dishes bringing in television programmes from all over the world. Even the people who are actually smiling, raise the question in our heads if these young people actually want to be where they are? Are they dreaming of wearing their Louis Vuitton in the place where it originated, riding their dirt bike in a place where it's less dusty, visiting the city where Ilyes himself came from to capture them. Or is that really just our neocolonial conditioning and are they actually happy being the cool kids where they are? Every time the images tell the story different, without it becoming boring. It has captivated us from the moment we laid eyes on these images and will continue to do so. [ Continue reading ]

FRANCHISE

Last month, a unique new basketball magazine saw light in Los Angeles, taking a bold position in the extensive existing world of the popular sport full of metrics and predominantly presented through a slick aesthetic. Named FRANCHISE, the beautifully designed magazine approaches the sport strictly from an artistic point of view, having created a raw and diverse visual language far from the usual for their debut issue. The magazine was created by editor-in-chief Justin Montag and creative director Chris Dea, two co-workers up in the Bay Area who both love the sport dearly. During a trip to London, Montag saw how many elegant magazines are being printed in England about football (with the Green Soccer Journal as the prime example, no doubt), which inspired the two Americans to create something similar about the game they love, adding third founder Brock Batten for business development. For the debut issue this resulted in portfolios of UNA Studio’s sharp illustrations, Theophilus Mensah’s beautiful photography of pickup players in Ghana, and NBA Injury R3port’s bizar comics rendered massive. It also features a conversation between Clippers center DeAndre Jordan and the team’s longtime supporter Diplo, as well as a short interview with artist Lauren Fisher, who has created 3D court projections for NBA. The result is by far the most interesting publication on the sport we have ever seen. We don't have much affinity with the sport of basketball, but FRANCHISE might very well inspire some change in that area through its inspirational approach and perspective which we really appreciate. [ Continue reading ]

Revisiting Pictures

Jack Davison at Foam Amsterdam

Two weeks ago Amsterdam-based museum Foam presented the first international exhibition of probably one of the most exciting talents on the rise in photography: Jack Davison. We first discovered his work last year when he joined renown agency mini title and through his inspirational collaboration with another great talent from England, artist Joe Cruz, which to our excitement was given a follow up some weeks ago. It is very thrilling to see this first step in a growing international recognition of Davison's great talent, who without a doubt is destined to become a leading name in photography in the years to come. Davison's work shows a diverse range of inspirations that he derived from the historical canon of photography—from Salvador Dali and August Sander, the Flickr community and the Internet in general, to Mark Michaelson’s infamous book, 'Least Wanted: A Century of American Mugshots', next to iconic imagemakers like Richard Avedon, Ernst Hass, Saul Leiter, Irving Penn, and Edward Weston.

As Foam has previously shown the work of many of the icons that inspired him, for the exhibition Davison is moving back and forth between photography’s past and present is an intriguing addition to the context of the photography museum. What you see in the exhibition is that Davison effortlessly employs and appropriates different genres and styles in what seems to be an endless stream of visual consciousness. In our eyes therewith young Davison forms a great hope for a world flooded with mediocre imagery, having grown up right in the middle of this ecosystem, transcending it by looking beyond just Instagram to all the iconic imagemakers of the past and bringing a new excellence into the digital age. Make sure to see the exhibition when in Amsterdam and follow this young photographer, who we believe will become an iconic imagemaker himself in the (near?) future. [ Continue reading ]

Avaunt Magazine 03

Featuring an incredible new series by Nick Ballon

In May of last year, Port Magazine founders Dan Crowe and Matt Willey along with explorer Ben Saunders presented an impeccable new title named Avaunt Magazine. It is among the independent magazines which don't just stand out because of its foundational do-it-yourself ethics and fresh creative vision, but als boasting a look and feel which aligns itself with some of the more glossier counterparts. Named Avaunt, a Middle English term based of the Old French word avant (‘to the front’), the magazine is dedicated to adventure in the broadest possible sense. A niche in printed matter on the rise with magazines like Sidetracked and Collective Quarterly being other inspirational names launched in the last few years. For its stories Avaunt will bring the reader endeavours and endurance from the wildest, highest, deepest, coldest and hottest corners of Earth, from respected writers and thinkers, concerning adventures in technology, music, science, style and culture, alongside insights from the pioneers and innovators who are shaping our new world. After two incredible issues having done just that in an utmost elegant manner, we are very happy to finally express our admiration here for the recently launched third issue. Also because the issue features a truly incredible new series by another favorite of ours, photographer Nick Ballon. In the series Ballon photographs Budapest’s Honved Fencing Club with his remarkable photographic eye, being our favorite out of the magazine with overal an inspirational high level of quality, both in its imagery and narrative. Make sure to pick it up somewhere near you. [ Continue reading ]

Brasília

Vincent Fournier at The Ravestijn Gallery

Two weeks ago a new show by the very talented Vincent Fournier named 'Brasília' opened in one our favorites of Amsterdam: The Ravestijn Gallery. After his super inspirational series 'Post Natural History' was on display in Amsterdam in 2014, the French photographic artist returns with a series taken from a totally different perspective and taken in a dissimilar arena. As the name of the exhibition suggest, the series focusses on the Brazilian capital Brasília, which is a one of a kind city composed of reinforced concrete, a paragon of the tenets of modernist architecture and city planning. Enfolded by the artificial Paranoá Lake, the city fashions a curious structural plane; a grid-like formula of post- war modernism arranged into a light curve. Brasília was constructed in the late 50’s from scratch according to the blueprints by the urban planner Lucío Costa, landscape designer Roberto Burle Marx and the architect Oscar Niemeyer. The three designers proposed a set of speculative opportunities for the future of architectural utopia; future, that some sixty years later has lost itself somewhere in the murky water between the past and present. A far cry from the buzzing city streets of Rio and São Paulo, Brasília is a plateau mostly of purpose-built bureaucratic and governmental settings. The austerity of modernist architecture lends itself to Vincent Fournier’s photography series that bear the name of the concrete capital. The result is a aesthetically captivating, perfectly stylized and emotionally haunting series, feeling like stills from a David Lynch film, showing the artificial city from a remarkably constructed perspective. Make sure to see it when in Amsterdam before the 28th of May! [ Continue reading ]

Tranquility

By Heikki Kaski

Released as a publication in 2014 by publisher Lecturis, Finnish photographer Heikki Kaski's incredible 'Tranquility' series continues to travel the world. Last week the series came from Brussels to London as part of the Foam Talent exhibition at Beaconsfield Gallery, and subsequently it will find its way to Riga. No suprise there by the way, as it is still some of our favorite photographic work which we've encountered recently, moving between the fields of documentary and landscape photography, full of mysticism and narrative, in line with names like Wim Wenders and Todd Hido. The story of the series revolves around its slightly captious moniker: the Californian town of Tranquility, which Kaski visited repeatedly over the course of one and half year. The town exists on a new kind of frontier, which is geographical, but also historical, marking the seeming obsolescence of established forms of production and social organization. Heikki Kaski’s pictures of the town and its inhabitants are a fractured series of reflections on a landscape that seems to have outlived its own history. He does not offer a factual narrative about the specifics of this place, which is treated instead as the archetype of a particular situation, joining subjective experience to economic realities. This is an acknowledgement of the fundamental link that exists between the social order and the lives of those who exist within it. Kaski creates a distinct, palpably uneasy atmosphere, marked by the use of several, and often clashing, visual strategies to demonstrate the unresolved tensions that have come to define not only the place itself, but also evoke the inner lives of those people who call it home. [ Continue reading ]

Models in the Raw

Last month, Chiara Padovan and Thomas Sing introduced their beautiful Models in the Raw project to us, which proved a great discovery. The beautiful on-going photographic series by the Berlin-based duo was born out of their desire for realness, simplicity and authenticity. It chases a glimpse beneath the surface of glossy imagery by portraying those who bring a whole industry to life by lending it their faces: the models. The girls who usually are the passive player in the industry are handed back the choice of their own presentation including the clothes and the place they would like to be photographed in, been only asked to - speaking in Kurt Cobain's word - come as they are. The portraits are shot on film for an increased raw reality effect and accompanied by a personal, tailored interview based on the conversation during the session. We love the approach of Padovan and Sing, but most of all value the body of work they have created so far, showing their great eye to capture these interesting faces in a most sincere way. [ Continue reading ]

Surfing. 1778 — 2015.

Last month this remarkable book was released by German publisher Taschen. Initiated, researched and written by Jim Heiman, executive editor of TASCHEN America, the hefty book is the most comprehensive visual history of surfing to date, marking a major cultural event as much as a publication. Following three and a half years of meticulous research, it brings together more than 900 images to chart the evolution of surfing as a sport, a lifestyle, and a philosophy. The book is arranged into five chronological chapters, tracing surfing culture from the first recorded European contact in 1778 by Captain James Cook to the global and multi-platform phenomenon of today. Utilizing institutions, collections, and photographic archives from around the world, and with accompanying essays by the world’s top surf journalists, it celebrates the sport on and off the water, as a community of 20 million practitioners and countless more devotees, and as a leading influence on fashion, film, art, and music. Such an incredible, well designed insightful gem! [ Continue reading ]

The Tour of Ara

For the launch of the all new Brevet collection by Rapha they found another great angle (and race for that matter) to portray the new gear in the preconditions they were made for. Three riders travelled to South Africa to explore part of the Tour of Ara – a 700km race across some of the country’s most notorious and challenging terrain. The rather demanding tour, named for the Southern Hemisphere constellation of Ara, is an unsupported six-day amateur stage race, and is a true test of self-sufficiency and endurance – definitely not for the faint hearted. It passes through incredibly isolated and arid terrain, including a 400.000 square kilometer expanse of land known as the Karoo, in the southeastern region of the country and is entirely at ones own risk. As of now the Tour of Ara is still completely independent, and paid for by the entrants; there are no sponsors or patrons, and no prize money. In our eyes it formed the perfect presentation of the beautiful new collection. Hopefully we can see the Karoo by bike ourselves one day.. [ Continue reading ]

Sakura

Yoshinori Mizutani at IBASHO Amsterdam

We discovered the Antwerp-based IBASHO gallery as one of the exhibitors of last year's Unseen Photo Fair. During the long weekend in Amsterdam, amongst other work, it showed the incredible 'Tokyo Parrots' series by the very talented Japanese photographer Yoshinori Mizutani, which we were very happy to see in real life for the first time and formed one of the undisputed highlights of the whole festival for us. IBASHO specializes in contemporary photography and next to Mizutani has some very talented photographers in its roster. Despite the other talent Yoshinori Mizutani remains our favorite and on the 7th of April the gallery presents the second solo exhibition of the young Japanese artist. After the successful pop-up show in 2015 at Graanmarkt 13, the work of Mizutani will return in Antwerp with a solo exhibition in the gallery. The exhibition combines images from his earlier popular series 'Tokyo Parrots' and 'Yusurika' with two new series, 'Sakura' and 'Kawau'. In 'Sakura', inspiration of  the name of this particular show, Mizutani shows us an unusual and mesmerizing view on one of Japans icons, the cherry blossom. The abstract and graphic black and white photography of the 'Kawau '- Japanese for the cormorant bird - is Mizutani’s second exploration of birds in an urban environment, and forms the perfect grainy black and white counterpart of the pastel colored 'Tokyo Parrots'. We can't wait for this incredible showcase of Mizutani's talent. [ Continue reading ]

Nowhere Like Home

An on-going monthly photographic project by Jonas Ersland

Recently the promising 'Nowhere Like Home' project by Norwegian Design Academy Eindhoven student Jonas Ersland was brought to our attention. The on-going photographic series started one and a half years ago on a little island in the very south of Norway. There, Ersland found himself back on the place where he had spent every summer since his childhood, after having lived a year abroad in Eindhoven for his studies. For the first time in his life he realized how familiar this place was to him. Every tree, every little street, all the elements you take for granted when you know a place from the inside spoke to him through their ingrained shapes and forms. To catch this exact sentiment, Ersland decided he needed to document his surroundings, imagining what it would look like to someone from the outside. After the first series, taken in the Southern Norwegian town Mandal, he continued making these monthly series from different places, trying to observe each place as an old friend, but from the perspective of an outsider, which at this point the spectator all over Europe: from his current hometown Eindhoven to Paris, different places in Norway, Milan and New York City. In his imagery Ersland seems to be clearly influenced by the impactful isolated imagery of names like Daniel Everett and Adrià Cañameras, but he proves to be of value in the genre with his unique qualities both through his personal aesthetic vision and the accompanying narrative forming the motif of the series. We look forward to more in this project by the talented photographer. [ Continue reading ]

J.W. Anderson Spring/Summer 2016

Designed by M/M Paris, shot by Jamie Hawkesworth

It is undeniable that we live in a time in which it becomes harder and harder to stand out in this world saturated with similar content, partly also because of the seemingly definite loss of the pre-digitalization attention span people used to have (like ourselves by the way; we miss our pre-internet brain). With a never-ending exposure of communicational elements, being unleashed by media, companies and brands alike, most people in search for an relevant audience will use a louder - or bigger - voice to still be heard. Especially in fashion, what has become the most neurotic field in the creative industry. One of the scarce forerunners and real creative thinkers of recent years; Jonathan Anderson, decided to use the far opposite of that approach for his recently released Spring/Summer 2016 campaign. Together with regular collaborators; renown Parisian graphic design studio M/M Paris and Jamie Hawkesworth - who together with the designer created a cutting edge visual language for both the J.W. Anderson label and the Spanish fashion house Loewe - their finest work till date was presented to the world two months ago: a campaign in the size of a postal stamp featuring model Mayka Merino, which will literally force you to take a second look. Next to being a highly elegant - uncommon - aesthetic expression for a seasonal campaign, it is above all hope-giving to observe that in times of shouting some people still dare to whisper. [ Continue reading ]

OVERGROWTH

We recently became familiar with an interesting new project which combines a love for both photography and flowers remarkably. Given the name OVERGROWTH, Portland-based photographer Parker Fitzgerald and floral designer Riley Messina present a new limited edition art publication conceived and produced from their hometown in the United States. Created over the course of two years, the book is comprised of nearly 120 original images that elegantly blur the lines between humans and nature. Photographed primarily in Portland between March 2013 and February 2015, the book features a large cast of friends posed with Messina's striking floral arrangements. Shot entirely on Kodak film by Fitzgerald, and styled by Messina, the images have a soft, painting-like quality that gives the project a timeless aesthetic. In the elegantly composed still lifes and real-life collages (reminding of the extraordinary work of Rocío Montoya), the two artists juxtapose and merge the lines of the flowers with the human body remarkably in different contexts, always succeeding to engage us as the spectator.  [ Continue reading ]