Hong Kong dong

It would seem that never a week goes by here on 'Whats The Jackanory ?' with out mentioning our favorite T-bone himself Terry Richardson. Not one to miss out on a marketing / promotional opportunity El Tel is currently 'Terryizing' Hong Kong through December 23. In association with Diesel, read all about it here, Terry has been paired up with local contemporary artist and illustrator Michael Lau for a special exhibition. Terry supplies new work from a recent trip to Rio and Michael one of the worlds most famous cult-toy designers has created some unique pieces of art encompassing all things Terry including a life size plastic double with erect dangly bit, above.

Nice one . . . . Vanity Fair

Photo © Mark Heithoff

Its the usual list of suspects in the December issue of Vanity Fair, Annie (Leibovitz), Norman Jean (Roy), Jonathan (Becker), Michael (Thompson), Mark (Seliger), Gasper (Triangle) but what was really refreshing was to see some new talent breaking through. Kudos to Mark Heithoff for a bang up well story featuring artist of the moment Richard Prince. I really like the opening spread, there's hope for the rest of us one light practitioners yet in this pantheon of big production.

Nice one Mark !

Arty W

November sees W magazines 'Art' issue curated by creative director Dennis Freedman and contemporary art writer, commentator and man of many hats Neville Wakefield. There are a number interesting features featuring artists Richard Prince (who is reponsible for the eight different covers here), Matthew Barney, John Baldessari. Its some of the usual suspects contributing photography to the mix: Mario Sorrenti, Jurgen Teller and a portrait from our man in Istanbul Andres Gonzalez, who seems to be getting around a bit !

Photo © Philip-Lorca diCorcia

There is also a spread with famed fashion designer Marc Jacobs whose Paris home and its art collection get the full Lorca diCorcia treatment. Jacobs has been hard to miss over the last couple of months as he and his rock hard abs seem to have graced just about every publication following the revelation of his new physique. Philip manages to keep Marc clothed for most of the pics, see photos here.

Summertime redux

With autumn falling it might be worth another look see at Ryan McGinleys summertime collaboration with sportswear giant Puma. Looking for a unique way to advertise its Urban Mobility Edition Bag and the Urban Mobility Bike; Puma commissioned McGinley to produce a short film extolling the virtues of both and little else. Ever wonder what it might be like to ride through the countryside with nothing more then bag, bike and dangly bits well here you go. Hope the lithe young nudies didn't forget to pack the sunblock and some tasty treats in their Mobility Edition Bag.

Things to do tonight . . . . Los Angeles

If you are in Los Angeles tonight and have a hankering to know once and for all 'Does Size Matter ?' then get yourself along to LACMA where there will be light-hearted debate on this most serious of questions; artist Jason Fulford and LACMA's new Curator of Photography Charlotte Cotton explore the issues of increasing size and seductive production values in contemporary photography today as part of LACMA's Conversations With Artists series.

The conversation kicks off at 7.00pm and its totally free and no reservations are required, very accommodating. Books (courtesy of D.A.P.) and refreshments will be served after the event until 9.00pm.

Jason is not only one of my favorite photographers but he is also the J behind J & L Books. Unfortunately I will have to miss this weekends New York Art Book Fair where J & L will be holding court amongst some of the other 120 exhibitors as I am back out on duty in the editorial trenches.

A Heads Up

Just wanted to remind you that coming up at the end of the month, the 28, 29 & 30 to be exact sees the return of The NY Art Book Fair. The fair includes art and photography books, art catalogues, artists' books and 'zines offered for sale by over 120 international publishers, booksellers and antiquarian dealers and best of all there is free admission to help you stay on budget. There is however a benefit preview on Thursday the 27th proceeds going to Printed Matter, Inc should you wish to get a head start on all the goodies.

It was here last year I purchased one of my all time favorite books 'European Fields The Landscape of Lower League Football' by the Dutch master Hans van der Meer as well as some other fine finds.

Out and about

Chelsea was a veritable zoo last night as a swarm descended on area galleries to take in a beautiful September evening, free booze, beautiful people watching oh and of course the real reason we were all there ? the art and photography. To say the streets were hoppin would be an understatement.

First stop for me was the Alen MacWeeney show. Much as I had expected to be honest with most of the images available for preview on the gallery website here. But some of the prints were exquisite; well worth an up close and personal look. There were also some breathtaking colour prints from MacWeeneys 1990 monograph 'Bloomsbury Reflections' on display and there were signed copies of the out of print book for sale. All in all my travelling party, Mr & Mrs Arun Kuplas and Mr & Mrs Ber Murphy agreed the munchies were most tasty, who makes those exotic tortilla chips ? Alen / Steven ? Spotted in the crowd were photographers Marc Asnin and Dietmar Busse.

Photo © Kohei Yoshiyuki

Next up was the hotly anticipated Kohei Yoshiyuki show 'The Park' at Yossi Milo. The gallery was packed to bursting and it was hard to get a good look see at the pictures themselves but apparently the artist was somewhere in the crowd signing the accompanying book. I was informed the print run has been limited to 1,000 copies so you might want to get your order in fast. I did not get a copy but friend and 'Inspirator' Eric McNatt snapped up one for his collection. Also spotted were Jennifer Pastore from the New York Times T Magazine, Jenny Burgos of ace scanning house Sugarhill Works, Dietmar Busse (again) and man about town Rafael Fuchs.

Photo © Danziger Projects

Then it was a quick hop skip and a jump to Danziger Projects for Andy Freeberg's 'Sentry' show. To be quiet honest I really wasn't enamoured by the narrow gallery space; okay it was busy and thats good but it was hot, hot, hot so we didn't last long but I did like the photographs and managed to grab a couple of extra mini Budweiser cans for the onward journey.


Finally we headed one block further north to the Aperture Foundation Gallery for the Lisette Model show. The place was buzzing but there was still plenty of room to move around and enjoy the huge and varied volume of work on display. A well stocked bar helped keep all happy and the end of the evening came very much like closing time down the pub with flashing house lights and I swear I could hear the bartender calls to kindly finish up ladies and gents, its gone waaaaaaaaaay past the time. Spotted here were Kellie McLaughlin (formerly of Retna now at Aperture), Rafael Fuchs (again), Eric McNatt, artist Dominic Albo, Christopher McLallen, Karl Doyle, the always entertaining Lauren Fleishman and boyfriend Scott Rudd and the papa bear himself Bruce Weber with partner Nan Bush buying up the Aperture bookstore. All in all a most enjoyable evening was had by all.

As featured in . . . . ESPN the Magazine

It has been a busy couple of months and I am now beginning to see some of the work come to fruition as printed matter. First up is ESPN the Magazine where I am fortunate enough to be heavily featured. I have been working on a 'package' for them about people who have cool jobs in sports but who don't actually play the games themselves.

The feature was split between myself and two other fine photographers Peter Yang and Misha Gravenor. I was aware that other photographers were shooting simultaneously but I did not know their names. Hard to know if it would have been a good or bad thing. I like to think I bring my A-Game no matter what but competition is always good and I am rather pleased with myself scoring the 'Opener' and 'Closer'.

The above (opener) was actually the first shoot I did. Its definitely not as subtle as the Larry Sultan pic I featured from the previous issue here, but the concept of the package was to feature the subject with one of the athlete(s) they service while creating a fun and interesting yet relevant image. So to get the ball rolling I photographed Chris Doyle the senior product development specialist at Burton Snowboards with Winter Olympic gold medal snowboarder herself Hannah Teter. It was shot on location in his workshop at the Burton HQ in Burlington, Vermont. Chris was game for anything as was Hannah. I tried a couple of different set ups before this one the last one. The editor, Maisie Todd, had requested that Hannah be photographed on Chris's desk only problem Chris didn't really have a desk, just a work bench but we made do and improvised. I think it worked well as you need a strong image to open the feature and whet the appetite.

Next up was the above spread with Yang top and Gravenor bottom.

Then me again, but where is the image ? Well you are going to have to get yourself an issue to see this one. The picture was bought out by the subject and I am not permitted use it in any form, on the web, in my portfolio, resell etc. But I can tell you about it. It features Sari Mellman a nutrition guru/counselor who has an unusual approach to healthy eating and has more then 150 star athletes as clients, including Grant Hill, Oscar de la Hoya and she is accompanied in the pic by Superbowl winning defensive end Dwight Freeney of the Indianapolis Colts. This was why the magical talents of food stylist Ed Gabriels were required see earlier post here. It was certainly an interesting day, we arrived in the night before and were at Dwights house at noon as scheduled. The concept on this one to shoot Sari and Dwight with all the food he would typically eat in a week. The list goes a little something like this.

14 lbs. Buffalo meat
14 lbs. Black Cod
1 bottle of Honey bear organic honey
6 Bundles of Bananas
4 Bunches of Green Grapes
1 lb. of Pecans
1 Bottle of Grapeseed oil
10 Bottles of Organic White Grape Fruit Juice (Lakewood)
7 Whole Watermelons
6 cans Black Beans
Rice
Bread
1 Bottle of Sari Mellman's A Little Magic-Hypoallergenic Vitamins (17 caps.
per day)
1 Bottle of Sari Mellman's DMG

We were given two hours set up time in Dwights kitchen in Carmel, Indiana followed by two hours to shoot. Plenty of time, right ! As with most shoots there is always something. In the end Dwight did not arrive till 5pm. A bit of a hassle seeing as we had gotten all the meat and fish ready for their 2pm close up, it can be tricky dealing with food it has a short shoot life. He was coming from Syracuse where he had been having some pre pre season workouts. His flight was delayed and I have to honestly say he really didn't seem in the mood by the time he got to us. But when Sari finally showed up, she was even later and we reset the set Dwights spirits changed for the better. Maybe it was my congratulating him on the new $ 72,000,000.00 contract he had just signed the week before with the Colts that really saw him seeing good and not the raw meat and fish stinking up his kitchen. I knew I wouldn't have him for long so we managed to wrap it up in 30 minutes. Got to take what you can get.

Peter Yang above x 2.

The final featured shot and perhaps the trickiest one for me involved Nascar artist Sam Bass and Petty Enterprises Nextel Cup driver Bobby Labonte. Sam designs the cars art work, on computer but he is also an artist and he paints officially sanctioned water colors of the drivers and their cars. Sam had been asked to bring some of the tools of his trade with him but unfortunately the message didn't get through and apart from arriving a little late, he came empty handed so this one shot was a real scramble. He had just driven from Charlotte to outside Greensboro so all his kit was a couple of hours back down the high way, bummer ! Although having plenty of set up time before the subjects arrived there really weren't many options, the car was the main prop but suitable spots were limited. We were relying on Sam to bring in da funk and the noise (sorry Robert I know that's your line but I laughed hard when I read it on your post here, very appropriate) but had to make do with whatever we could find last minute. Bobby was the utmost professional but he was really doing Sam a favor so the clock was never really on our side, but we got at least one usable image that didn't totally suck. Relive that weeks travel adventures here.

The above was shot as part of the previous 'package' but ended up running directly after as its own entity as a day in the life piece. This feature involved following Michael Thompson, Director of Corporate Communications for the New Orleans Hornets basketball team around on NBA draft day. Its a fun piece, I really like the opener, its semi real, he has got his wife on one phone and is waiting to do a radio interview on the other with all his notes and news in front I knew it kind of worked at the time not knowing what would be in store for the rest of the day. This shot was taken at 7.00am in his office, it was the first roll of film of what would end up being a 13 hour day. We had just arrived in to New Orleans a couple of hours before from Boston due to plane delay, delay, delays, read the recap of the week here.

All in all I am very satisfied with the results, a lot of work for each picture, but each one rewarding in its own way and every one a new life experience personally and professionally. Oh and I thought I would leave all the advertising in just as it appears in the magazine next to the pictures, its a real battle on the eyes sometimes. Come on Big Red give me a crack at Montoya and some of those fine advertising dollars.

Desktop entrant # 7

This one comes courtesy of Roy Grisewood my uncle in law. Roy is multi-talented, an artist, teacher, photographer amongst many other things. He also has a taste for the good things in life, fine Irish whiskey. He has been documenting his sprawling Dansville New York estate for some time. Check out L'Hermitage in all its seasonal glories here.

Here's to you Lord Grisewood !