Bubblegum Club

Tag: Fashion photography

  • ‘Beautiful Boy’ – an editorial inspired by the perfect moment not the perfect look

    ‘Beautiful Boy’ – an editorial inspired by the perfect moment not the perfect look

    German photographers Timmi Taubenschreck and Detlef Honigstein have been working in the fashion industry in various capacities for the past 12 years. The two of them decided to team up together and form the duo Honig Schreck when they discovered their mutual love for analog photography, and took note of the fact that a number of brands were interested in their specific aesthetic for backstage photography and campaigns. “We started analog photography with passion for the perfect imperfect look and the time-saving method of photography without retouching. Our photography is real and handmade with new and old 35mm films, old cameras and experimental double exposures, always capturing the perfect moment, not the perfect look,” Timmi explains.

    Earlier this year the duo spent time in Cape Town to escape the Berlin winter. The idea of being in the sun and meeting new faces inspired them to conceptualise an editorial based in the city. “The results are a combination of all our wishes, ideas and visions. We wanted to reflect the personality of each model,” Timmi explains As part of this they created a unique concept for the styling, makeup and general look for each model. An important element of this shoot, as with all their work, was to make the models and their stories the centre of the editorial. For Honig Schreck the perfect editorial comes from having a wide knowledge of their cameras, as well as capturing “the perfect moment, not the perfect look.” Their work is fashion photography that does not solely focus on highlighting the fashion.

    The editorial focuses on the fact that every model that they worked with is beautiful in their own way, hence the name ‘Beautiful Boy’. “They’re all very different. Different personalities. Maybe they’re not the type of model you’ll find in a fashion magazine. But that’s not important for us,” Timmi explains, “Cape Town was the chance to tried new films and new concepts. The chance to work with wonderful models, and the agencies meeting us with full confidence. This way to form a unity and to create an exchange of ideas was amazing.”

    Credits:

    Models:

    Chad-lee van Wyk from 20 Model Management

    Sanele Junior Xaba from BOSS Models 

    Alex Kirimi from D&A Management

    Photographers: Detlef Honigstein & Timmi Taubenschreck represented by Double Studio Berlin

    Hair and Make-up: Annika Jeck &  Jane Jacobi

    Looks:

    Chad-lee: Flower Top – model’s own, white coat from Amanda Laird Cherry Apparel

    Alex: Tropical Shirt from BARRE NOIRE

    Sanele: White T-Shirt from Calvin Klein

     

     

     

     

  • The starry-eyed fashion depictions of photographer Annie Lai

    The starry-eyed fashion depictions of photographer Annie Lai

    Soft romantic lighting. Colours saturated. Models often captured as if in deep contemplation. Images that display as a fictitious 70s idealism. Near shadow-less representations. A warm arresting memory made clear.

    Annie Lai is a London based photographer best known for her romantically styled editorials for independent, cult magazines such as Teeth, OE and Sicky. Having grown up in a small costal town in China, Annie decided to move to London to study fashion photography at the London Collage of Fashion.

    Annie’s photography has developed to show a clear signature. Whether she photographs her models on location (both inside and outside) or in studio, one is able to identify her creative input in an image effortlessly. An element that makes up her style is the use of very natural and soft lighting choices – when employing coloured filters or gels she uses it as a highlight to merely kiss her model’s features. Another element is models sharing similar features that aid in building this signature style as well as fashion that remains within the same style through various bodies of work. The last elements that builds the foundation of her style are that of shooting frequently from high or low angles as well as abidance by the rule of thirds.

    Annie’s work presents as clean, untampered with and natural romantic fashion depictions that climb straight into your heart.

    As her practice and lived experience in London has grown she has become a cultural traveller effortlessly navigating between the contexts and cultures that form her identity. While Annie currently resides in London and travels to China she has found where her heart lies – behind her lens.

  • Rosanna Jones’ Ripped Up Portraiture explores visual identity and embodiment

    Rosanna Jones’ Ripped Up Portraiture explores visual identity and embodiment

    The act of obscuring faces and bodies. Faces hidden beneath colour smudges. Or ripped out of works entirely. Rosanna Jones’ tactile work is of a personal nature and is aimed at examining visual identity and notions of embodiment.

    For the photographer, her process has become therapeutic. Her ripped up portraiture reflects on her own life, this can be seen in series such as Destroy. “…I guess you could say it’s a little sadistic to enjoy bleaching, tearing, scouring, and outright burning away the subject’s eyes, face, or other body parts, but there is definitely a close connection between Destroy and my relationship to my own body and mind,” she expresses in an interview with Format.

    The hereditary duality (photography both immortalizes and acts violently) that Rosanna addresses in her work is photography and by extension the photograph’s ability to either immortalize their subject or to behave as an act of violence toward that subject. The exploitation of the female form in fashion photography is one of the clearest examples of this duality and/or contradiction. Rosanna’s deliberate intervention in the images of her beautiful models obscures them. Her method of ripping, bleaching, burning and blotching out her models is an aggressive act and mimics the potentiality the camera has to create violence.

    To check out more of Jones’ work visit her website.

  • Sivan Miller – The Cape Town born photographer who reached the international frontier

    Sivan Miller – The Cape Town born photographer who reached the international frontier

    Bodies inhabiting strong poses and near confrontational gazes. The sun creeping behind a model’s head, low angles, lengthened bodies. Glare as a stylistic device. Welcome to the sexy future crafted by one of Cape Town’s own fashion image auteurs.

    Sivan Miller is a South African-born photographer from Cape Town who currently lives in and travels for work from New York. Growing up around Sea Point and Camps Bay he was inspired by his surroundings and started his photographic documentation of the area from the age of 16 as a hobbyist. Frequently skating about Cape Town, Sivan was endlessly influenced by new scenery that he would discover and later return to for the purpose of image creation. With no particular interest in doing photography professionally, he initially channelled his energies towards 3D Animation and VFX after school, aspiring to work in technology and art.

    The self-taught photographer has come a long way since his early landscape images of Camps Bay and has been practising as an international fashion photographer for the past 12 years.

    At the age of 16, Sivan was discovered by Oprah Winfrey with a photograph he took of Camps Bay and uploaded onto a free photo website. He explains that he believes this chance occurrence happened since Oprah has a school in South Africa and she was looking for images of the country. Oprah got in contact with Sivan and he received payment for the use of the image.

    “It had no influence on my career in the fact that no one booked me anymore or any less because of this. It was more a serious motivation for myself, that led me to carry on. If it was good enough for Oprah, then I was good enough to continue on this path, I would tell myself.”

    Sivan justifies his move from landscape work to fashion photography as one that arose due to the necessity of having to maintain a sustainable income. Describing his photographic style as futuristic with an editorial feel, Sivan states that emotion in his images and a connection with the people he photographs is key to his practice. Often shooting from low angles facing up towards the model, Sivan believes that shooting models from below bestows a sense that they are majestic.

    The inspiration for a shoot is frequently sought from the clothing that will be photographed. “My ideas come from the garments I see. I love clothing and new style. I strive to create new work the whole time.”

    Sivan started his career photographing new faces that have now levitated to top faces, such as Jaden Smith, Jocete Coote, Gigi Hadid and Maria Borgers. His ever-growing client list includes New York Fashion Week, Puma, The Oscars, The Grammy Awards, Mercedes Benz, ZARA Clothing, Vida E Caffe, Tashkaya, Soul Candy Records, VISI Magazine, MOT / Zone Models London, Karl Lagerfeld and Jockey SA, to name a few.

    Sivan shares that his journey to becoming the accomplished photographer he is today came with incessant hard work, shooting for 12 years. He hopes to act as an inspiration for other photographers in realizing their own dreams and potential.

    Sivan’s work is technically sound with composition and location choice strengthening the power of his images, as well as emphasizing the majestic and strong essence that is evoked by the models he photographs. Acting as an example of a photographer with no formal training Sivan worked hard to earn his merits and occupy the space he does in the industry today. His excellence should be a motivator for all photographers who dream of a similar future – it can be done clearly.

  • Blonde – a new photographic series by Marcia Elizabeth

    Blonde – a new photographic series by Marcia Elizabeth

    Like many creatives, Marcia Elizabeth was introduced to her passion when she was a child. Having received a set from her grandparents which included a snapshot camera, she soon became attached to the ability to capture moments through this device. During our conversation she recalled how this camera, and the old family camera she received from her aunt later, opened up her mind to imagining a future as a National Geographic photographer treading through forests clicking away. As she got older her career goal to be a photographer remained the same, but her areas of interest shifted. During university she got into band photography, and later dabbled with fashion. Her new series, ‘Blonde’ encompasses all the elements of the direction she is going with at the moment – that she describes as environmental portraitist work.

    Tying in with her recent focus on womxn and the female figure, ‘Blonde’ explores the narrative of trying to mould oneself to the desires of others, whether a lover or society as a whole, and how eventually the choice to embrace one’s true self is freeing. “Women have always been the painted but never the painters of our own stories, and I guess that is why it [portraying womxn] is so important to me, and it is important for me to document this specific time that I think we are in.”

    With a lot of her past work being digital, Marcia began experimenting with film photography for the first time since childhood when photographing the Fine Art Masters show of Daniella Dagnin last year. Slowly building up confidence, ‘Blonde’ is a project built completely through the textured softness of film.

    The completion of the series took a few months, which unintentionally added a layer to the work. Not only did the breaks between shoots result in her film photography improving, but it allowed her to take time to piece together a clear and concise story based on her initial concept. This also led to more experimentation. Looking at the images one can tell the difference in time between the photographs, and yet the series marries together well. This difference in time almost mimics the narrative of the series; that over time these young womxn will slowly free themselves by embracing themselves, therefore creating and projecting a different image to the world.

    In conversation about the narrative for the series, Marcia explained that, “The whole reason why the young womxn who were photographed had dyed hair was because I was trying to speak about this fake illusion of women trying to live up to these beauty standards that are not real…. You know, this idea that we are not good enough as we are.” This is represented by the white ring binder stickers placed on the faces of the models; the stickers are abstract ways of pointing out the scrutinizing gaze that society has on womxn.

    There are recurring elements that tie the series together, and are used symbolically. The majority of the images are taken in intimate spaces, such as the bedroom. Marcia explained that these are the rooms of the young womxn photographed, tying into her description of herself as an environmental portraitist. “I generally photograph people in their own spaces. Specifically for this series I wanted it to be very intimate, and I wanted people to show me who they were,” Marcia explained. Adding to the feeling of intimacy are this soft, lacey fabrics worn by the models. Marcia’s presence is included directly through the mirrors that some of the models interact with in her images. The series comes full circle in the last set of photographs where a young womxn is photographed in a garden. Being outside is representative of letting go and choosing to reject the box that she is “supposed” to fit into. One of the most important recurring elements is that of flowers. They are symbolic of feminine energy and feminine power.

    This series is an illustration of Marcia’s work as an amalgamation of capturing moods, telling stories from her own perspective, and viewing photographs as surrealist duplications of real life.

    Credits:

    Photography & Styling:  Marcia Elizabeth, Portrait of artist by Jemma Rose

    Models: Jemma Rose, Gemma Hart, Maren Mia du Plessis, Eline Sweg, Marcia Elizabeth, Fabiana Katz

  • Dune Tilley – A young photographer documenting the world around him with beautiful frankness and subtlety

    Dune Tilley – A young photographer documenting the world around him with beautiful frankness and subtlety

    Diluted tones, traditional composition married to the monumentalizing of subject matter. Human and non-human. This acts as a description of Dune Tilley’s work; Cape Town’s rising star photographer. The now 18-year-old image creator has made his mark with images that consume you. Images that pull you closer and beg you to question “Who are the people in these images? What are they like?” or “Where is this amazing building?”.

    His interest in documenting the world began at a very young age. As is the case with many photographers today, it is difficult to label Dune’s specialty. His work extends over the disciplines of documentary, portraiture and fashion photography.

    With an emphasis placed on capturing his subject matter’s (human or not) soul he seeks out to document the feelings he observes around his subjects. His style has shifted since the first time I saw his presence online two years ago – a natural happening for a young creative in any medium. What stays is a rather peculiar objectiveness in his images. A frankness which can be attributed to his aim at making his images genuine, and project integrity onto his sitters.

     

    “I think there is beauty in both well thought out, staged, conceptual photographs and spontaneous photographs on the street. It all depends on your intention and your reason for taking that picture in the first place. The most effective way to capture great images, in my opinion, is just to constantly have a camera on you…” he states in an interview with DEAD TOWN Zine.

    Dune’s style is one that can be summed up as beautiful frankness with immense sensitivity. I look forward to witnessing his growth into an even greater and skilled photographer than he already encompasses.

  • Photographer Hana Jayne Sho’s series Boys in Light // The Intimate Moments of Collaboration

    Photographer Hana Jayne Sho’s series Boys in Light // The Intimate Moments of Collaboration

    Forms of flesh awash with pale pink hues, steeped in the sounds Lana Del Rey’s youthful lullabies. Tendrils of smoke twist and turn off the tips of cigarettes, held gently between tentative fingers. Nostalgic desire captured by the grain of film. Intimacy found in those moments of home.

    It was a Tuesday night. Photographer, Hana Sho, ventured over to a friend’s apartment in the Cape Town city bowl. Armed with only a studio light, a desk lamp, DIY gels and a few rolls of film she adopted her usual modus operandi of spontaneity and experimentation. “We’re all friends, and during the shoot it kind’ve felt like what they would usually do before going to a party, except I was documenting it. Have a few drinks, smoke cigarettes and try on each other’s clothes…It almost felt like a mini production team. Adam turns out to be a hella good Art Director. Alex popped in for some Art Direction, and Mziyanda pulled through with some bomb styling.”

    Hana’s photographic work spans the space of portraiture, editorials, fashion and documentary style images. “When I shoot it’s always a collaboration.” She often goes for a walk with the model before the shoot – as a means to put them at ease. “I find that walking around and getting to know somebody makes them more comfortable, and whatever mood their feeling in that moment reflects in the photographs.” Hana also values collaboration as a space of learning, “from my experience, collaborative work is always better and has other layers of meaning that I wouldn’t have thought of… I’ve learned so much from the collaborators I’ve had the pleasure of working with.”

    After discovering her mother’s old Nikon from the 90s, she bought some film and started taking photographs of her friends. “I realized film gave a more three-dimensional affect. I can’t describe it, but it’s so much more textured and alive.”

    For Boys in Light, Hana took the opportunity to play with light and explore expressions of youth on film. “My concepts are always based on people and how they portray themselves – everyone’s just trying to figure themselves out; experimenting, having fun, making mistakes and learning from them. I think I’ve managed to capture those sweet in between moments where everyone kind of forgets.” She described a shift in the atmosphere when the lights used in her images were turned on, “It felt like we stepped into another realm where everyone could express their alter egos.”

    “I think collaboration is definitely an important part of learning and developing as a young artist, whatever the medium may be.”

    Credits:

    Models: Alex Paterimos, Jeremy, Adam Lennox, Mziyanda 

  • Nkhensani Mkhari creates dreamy photographic masterpieces on film

    Nkhensani Mkhari creates dreamy photographic masterpieces on film

    “A visual dissertation, a meditation on time, place, memory and personal history; amalgamating the passage through life and dreams, bridging philosophy, politics and prose. A reflection of my being in abstract form.” – Nkhensani Mkhari on his work.

    A dreamy reality caked with attention-halting architectural shots, documentary images and glamorous fashion depictions come together to create the visual language of a budding artist. Nkhensani Mkhari is a young multi-disciplinary practitioner who grew up in Mabopane, township in the North of Pretoria. “I consider myself a hybrid artist,” he tells me. Completing his studies in Film and Television production at the Open Window Institute in 2016, he traverses between directing films, script writing, photography, art direction and music.

    Editorial with Ilaphulam for Inga Madibyi (2018)

    His childhood was spent around a hum of creativity with his father practicing as a landscape artist and his mother as a Setswana teacher. Nkhensani shares with me that his mother’s vocation acted as an introduction to language and narrative. “I’ve had an affinity for storytelling and aesthetic for as long as I can remember. Cognizance of how concepts and ideas can affect society drove me towards wanting to participate in the creative field.”

    ‘Portraits for consolation’ (4) with Buyani Duma

    Non-linear, acoustic, literary and artistic attentiveness attracted him to his chosen mediums of expression. “Growing up in the internet age assisted in idealizing and realizing my artistic vision. I always felt like we live in a multidimensional universe, which is also part of a multidimensional infinite consciousness we call God or the universe or nkulu nkulu or creation. We are multidimensional actualities. Therefore, I feel like my work should be multidimensional if it is to have a remarkable influence on human freedom. I make art in the hope that it will call me and the audience to a deeper awareness of living itself.” An interest in Afro Futurism was explored with his final film during his studies. The premise of the motion picture was that of software that alters human beings’ consciousness and is used by the government to indoctrinate citizens. Since graduation, he has been occupying himself with the writing of an African feature-length film. To add to his merits, the passionate creative self-published a photobook ‘grain’ Volume 1 and a conceptual EP, ‘23′ that he describes to me as a personal interpretation of science fiction soundscapes – released under the pseudonym, Ndzilo Xiluva.

    Project Mayhem (1) in collaboration with Bambatha Jones (2017)

    “I’ve also been busy shooting an array of photo series, portraits, editorials and experimental films themed on a range of subjects from mythology to Artificial Intelligence, I’m fascinated by the prospect of these ideas and how they influence society especially African communities.” The photographic side of Nkhensani can only be described as one of calculated risk. Utilizing manual, vintage Japanese film cameras and countless rolls of film as his visual narrative tools. “I come up with titles and captions from conversations, reading books or watching movies, certain words and phrases stand out. These titles usually form the centrifuge for my conceptual photographs like fashion editorials and commercial work, I’ll research the etymology of the word or the origin of the phrase or word and create a mood board from that. With my fine art photography, it’s a more organic cathartic process based on intuition, the work is unscripted.”

    His widespread influences include Pantsula culture, African Neo-expressionism, conceptual fashion, Jean Michel Basquiat, Zanele Muholi, FAKA, Frank Ocean and Claude Monet, to name a few. Delving deeper Nkhensani shares with me the concept of his ongoing personal portrait series, ‘Portraits for Consolation’. It is focused on the idea of the “Gaze” and it confronts commonly held notions of beauty.

    Essence editorial (4); (2017)

    A preference for analogue photography is explained in his statement, “I like how skin tones, light and tone are rendered on emulsions. I like the simplicity of the technology, the mechanics, chemistry and the historical aspect. I like seeing photographs develop in a seemingly magical way in the darkroom, it’s an enthralling process I feel like films limitations have been advantageous in developing my eye.” From my own experience, I tend to agree with Nkhensani; nothing develops your eye, technical skill and understanding of lighting combinations quite like the unknown world of an image caught on film, only to be reviewed after development.

    Nkhensani, like many young content creators, chooses not to box himself into a specific field of photographic study. “I don’t think photography is fissiparous. I shoot from an artistic eye whether it’s fashion, documentary or fine arts.”

    ‘Portraits for consolation’ (7)

    Nkhensani’s sound technical understanding of his gear, his unique focus on titles, the etymology of words as well as an uncanny ability to traverse a multitude of photographic disciplines shows not only skill but talent. The artist has another ability, that which is perhaps the most difficult to cultivate – Nkhensani is a psychologist. To be a photographer means to have an innate understanding of the human psyche. The intimacy recorded in his technically excellent images is a clear signifier of his ability to relate to the models in his unforgettable images. His experience orientated work is hoped to take on a more holistic nature in the coming year. Keep an eye out for him, he’s taken my cognitive consciousness by a storm. On another note, I want a print of one of his images on a t-shirt.

    ‘Portraits of consolation’ (5)
    ‘Untitled Theory’ (1); (2017)
    ‘Between distance and time’ (2017)

  • Splash of the Southern – Frill Paradise. Exploding Colour

    Liz Valentina is a 23-year-old fashion graduate from FEDISA. Born and raised in Hamburg, Germany she moved to Cape Town some years ago and expresses that the coastal city allows her to be the colourful person that she is. Her graduate collection has been memorialized by the lens of photographer Gabriella Achadinha. Drawing on the work of David LaChapelle, a collaboration was born between designer, photographer, and art director Lana Fredericks, and makeup artists Toni Olver. Ocean, earth, air, fire. These are the natural elements that inspired Liz’s colour pop choices for the collection.

    The editorial created by this team drives the eccentricity of a world that they wanted to create. This world, albeit taking inspiration from LaChapelle, is an extension of the vibrant and unconventional personhood that Liz embodies. With a visual account on her WhatsApp DP that is cued by lily pad head adornments and earrings resembling a cluster of grapes, it is no wonder that the collaborative team saw it fit to extend on her expression of individuality. Their scenic fictional land was created with these thoughts, “all things colour and crazy” Gabriella tells me, and succeed on this notion they did. The title of their work then is not only catchy but appropriate. ‘Splash of the Southern’ speaks of water in movement, referring back to the natural elements that inspired colour choices for the collection as well as coastal living and the vibrancy of South Africa – a fitting analogy.

    Liz has always been on her way to becoming a designer and after industry insight gained through various internships, the young eccentric aspired to make her passion her career. Her graduate show collection is reminiscent of some sort of fantastical colour party. A party inspired by 1970s fashion, with Salvador Dali on the guest list. Dali, of course, saw it fit to create human-like sculptures with lobsters during the festivities. No, not really. Liz created all of the lobster and jelly fish jewellery herself and styled her models with head pieces and pompoms by Crystal Birch. “I have a very fun and colourful look on life, that resembles in everything I design,” Liz points out.

    The use of frills ranging on superfluous is motivated by a desire to emphasize movement. The movement of ocean waves reminds one of the way in which frills move on the human body when walking. When asked about the patterns on some of the garments in her collection I am told, “The pattern actually started with me playing around. Sushi is my favourite food, and rainbow is my favourite colour, so my first little sushi character came to life. I feel like all these different excited characters just put a smile on your face.” Liz’s sushi characters contain an edge on quirk and contribute to the depth of her designs worthy of high fashion status.

    An obsession with Alessandro Michelle and his recent work with Gucci is almost visually given away by the boldness and unafraid nature of Liz’s designs. Dutchess satin and chiffon are Liz’s pet fabrics to play with. She enjoys combining them to transform fabric into garments that contain not only nostalgia for its observers or wearers alike, but a keen sense of otherworldliness.

    Gabriella’s practice is an indicator within itself of the level at which she is drawn to studying the female form with her ocular eye. A student of film production at AFDA in Cape Town, Gabriella initially began her experiments with photography in her final year of study. Gabriella’s work, in short, is never devoid of distinct employments of colour utilized to evoke emotion and individuality. With work that traverses in between fashion, street, documentary and travel, Gabriella has a photographic eye more developed than most. Her colour keen obsession is perfectly aligned with Liz’s collection acting as proof of the powerful collaborative project that has ensued.

    During the conceptualization of the shoot, Liz and Gabriella came to a decision to join their ranks with that of MYUZU, a South African conceptual branding and art direction collective, in order to make their vision a reality. Gabriella met Liz accidentally, and when acquainted with her practice fell in love with her prints, designs and uncommon style. As initial conversations pursued regarding ‘Splash of the Southern’ Liz mentioned that she was eager on the inclusion of art elements. This made Gabriella think of a favoured collaborator, Lana, from MYUZU and so they set forward to putting this body of work together.

    A fashion editorial not devoid of art, the grouping of models that occupy this narrative was done painstakingly well by Liz who wore many hats to bring this work to life. Gabriella implemented strikingly unusual framing within this range of photographs, consciously cutting off fingers and limbs of models at times. Awkward cutting and close ups are used to highlight specific design features forcing the viewer’s eyes to her intended focal point. There is a pleasing discomfort in the way that Gabriella chooses to frame her subjects. A framing that carries a message of its own.

    Taking her visual cues from Liz’s designs that can be described as a paroxysm of colour and form, Gabriella made the discussion to photograph in studio. Not naturally inclined to work within the clinical studio setting, Gabriella’s choice was motivated to enhance Liz’s designs. “I just could not imagine them in a natural setting; they’re so consuming and engaging that any setting would make the picture too busy. The designs take centre stage.”

    Not playing a copy and paste game, the David LaChapelle influence can be seen in styling, makeup and art direction. This shoot, however, retains its integrity by being a fresh body of work combining the creative inputs of various collaborators and kind-hearted souls who were willing to make this more than an aspiration. If vibrant colour, quirky designs and patterns are your thing, then Liz Valentina is a name you should familiarize yourself with. Of course, if you enjoy intimate soft spoken photography combined with a variety of framing techniques, then Gabriella Achadinha is your go-to photographer for femme inspiration.

    Credits

    Designer | All pieces by: Liz Valentina

    Photography: Gabriella Achadinha
    Art Direction: Lana Fredericks & Liz
    MUA: Toni Olver
    Models: