Here is a sneak preview of the shoot I did with producer and DJ Dennis Ferrer. We used industrial Bushwick as backdrop for the outside portion of the shoot.

My “Dreaming in Rio” Series was a huge success!

Copacabana, 1/23/11, 8:07PM

Lagoa, 1/26/11, 8:12PM

Jardim Botanico, 1/12/11, 8:04PM

Favela do Vitigal, 1/17/11, 8:30PM

Botafogo, 1/23/11, 8:16PM

Copacabana, 1/14/11, 8:25PM

Jardim Botanico, 1/20/11, 9:09PM

Jardim Botanico, 1/20/11, 9:10PM

The “Intersecta” show opening, a project that had been conceived more than a year ago, finally had its debut on March 29th in Rio de Janeiro’s Duilio Sartori Gallery.

Designer and gallery/store owner Duilio Sartori was immediately taken by my Hazyvision work when I showed him an edit I was hoping to exhibit in Rio de Janeiro that was shot exclusively in New York City. He thought it would be a great challenge to create a body of Hazyvision work for a show in Rio.

The next day, I started shooting in the streets and on the beach in Copacabana. I shot mostly during the magic hour when the sun goes down until dark for the next 3 weeks, working my way around Rio, over to Ipanema beach, up the Sugar Loaf and the up the windy road to Santa Teresa, around the Lagoon and again and again through Copacabana beach. It was hard to edit the series down to 8 images, but we managed.

In addition to the exhibition I worked together with John Dill, whose design and typography sensibility is simply stunning, to design a coffee table book entitled “Dreaming in Rio” (click here to view the book). I printed the book online and I’m looking for a publisher to print it on a high quality offset press. Any recommendations are welcome!

Click on this photo to view my "Dreaming in Rio" book!

Tonight “Intersection” is opening at Duilio Sartori Gallery in Rio de Janeiro. Check out the video invite at http://vimeo.com/39073317. I will be showing 8 pieces of my abstract Hazyvision work along with brilliant Glass designer Anna Torfs work. I’m very excited and curious how the people from Rio will receive my work. More later!

Oumlil Fall 2012 Video and Look Book

I had a wonderful time shooting for Hashim Oumlil’s Fall 2012 Collection!

One of the highlights during my time at fashion week was seeing Hashim Oumlil’s sharp men’s collection. The cuts are superb and his esthetic very 1930′s European, which I absolutely love! When he approached me to shoot his Fall 2012 look book and mood images for his website, I was instantly sold. We had a great model; German-looking Brazilian William Jagnow from Request Models was perfect to bring the retro-modernist look to life. I set up studio in the showroom in Oumlil’s showroom. Super-talented David Widjaja from Intro Artists, with whom I’ve worked a number of  times, styled the shoot. Hairstylist and professional groomer Hugh McGuire made William look like a  Bauhaus student.
I kept the set-up simple; I used 2 strip lights on each side to create a cross-shadow, which gave the shoot a stark architectural feeling without distracting from the fashion. I hope Oumlil’s next collection will be unisex!

Also, The Fashionisto was kind enough to post our photo collection to their popular blog site!

The following are some of the photos I took at the shoot…

Today I had the honor to shoot master remixer, producer and swedish House DJ Stonebridge from Stockholm. Appropriately, we had picked a polar cold day to shoot, mostly outside. With the wind chill favor it was probably in the single digits, which made even a born Swede eventually shiver.

I had picked West Chelsea as the area to shoot.  We started out on the High Line. The elevator with the acid yellow glass walls made an excellent shelter/daylight studio, as did the amphitheater with the big window above Tenth Ave. Afterwards, we went to the financial district where we found a stark graphic white architectural background. I worked as fast as I could, the icy wind felt like flying razor blades, but we got the shot. Hot chocolate never tasted so good!

Here are some great shots from the day:

At the GLAAD OUT Auction with my oldie but goodie image “Black Back”. I was very happy that GLAAD chose an image of mine for the aution and be able to contribute to the cause.

There was some outstanding art for sale. My favorite piece there was Alic Trossman’s “Wel Come”, it made me laugh out loud.

The main showcase piece for the live auction was Henri Matisse lithograph, that didn’t impress me at all and it went for half the market value.

Jordan Eagles work was the one that got the best bids. It was an absolutely gorgeous blood/copper/resin piece that looked like a stained glass window. When i looked up his work i was totally blown away. All his pieces are based on blood, but they have a power and depth that is incredible.

Tonight i went to Housing Works yearly fundraiser “Fashion For Action”. I had donated 2 photographs. When I got there i was surprised to find a full on “department store” in the Altman Building. Many designers had donated racks and more racks of  garments, shoes etc. I couldn’t find my pieces anywhere as the walls where surprisingly empty. Hm, I though, did i miss anything? But it turns out that Housing Works found out on the day of the event, that nothing could be put on the walls. So they decided to put the photos together with the merchandise. Fair enough, Nadia Ali was with the designer pumps and the guitar guys i found amongst the Batman scarfs. I was happy to be part of it and hopefully help raise money for a good cause.

DJ, producer and lighting designer Pedro Pons shot in his industrial space. We jammed for only a few minutes during a meeting break and made Metropolis come back to life.

Last night during Fashion Night Out, I shot 5 gorgeous 7 ft tall models, wearing little else but Bootzwallas latest collection  and lots of body painted skin. Street artist Andy Golub gave our topless Amazones finishing touches on Hudson St and basically stopped traffic.  Then our sexy entourage started moving around the Meatpacking District, I had my assistant carry a big silver beauty dish and an Profoto strobe pack – courtesy of Fotocare rental., so we had our own mobile studio lighting with us. A definite high point was when the girls stopped at the Van Leeuwen ice cram truck (best ice cream  in the city and elsewhere!) to get their chilled fill and our last stop was Hogs and Heifers, needless to say to that went down. Camille Currie of PowerImagePR made it all come together drama free.  I will post more pics from out Bootzwalla invasion in the next days.

I’ve known Tedd Patterson, veteran innovative DJ, producer and remixer for a number of years now. His monthly “Vibal” parties at Cielo keep me on the dance floor all night for sure. We’ve talked about a shoot for a very long time but it never came together until recently, when I got a call out of the blue, that Mr. Patterson was indeed finally ready for his close-up. We decided to start out in the studio, i put him in front of my infamous black wall, used one soft box one him and after a short warm-up period, we got some very strong iconic shots. Watch out for his new picture on the Cielo poster!

Tedd Patterson up close

Tedds tatoo