Since Henri Cartier-Bresson picked up a 50mm Leica camera and gave birth to photojournalism at the beginning of the 20th century; we have been fascinated by candid shots of people on the street.

At the end of the Noughties, the advent of the internet has seen an explosion of interest in the phenomenon of street style, none more apparent than in the case of The Sartorialist.

The blog of American Scott Schuman, his 4 year old website which documents the varied sartorial taste of fashionable folk from places as diverse as London, New York, Paris, Milan, India and Sweden (to name a few) now receives 1.3 million hits a month, and has established Schuman as a unique force within the fashion industry. Following an exhibition at Danziger Projects last year, he has compiled his favourite images in a handsome anthology published by Penguin.

Dazed Digital: How did the book come about?

Scott Schuman: I always knew what I wanted to do with the book and what I wanted to accomplish with it. I wanted it to reflect the blog, not so much in a literal way but in the spirit of the blog. The blog is about things not having to be super expensive, a mix of high end and low end. One of the reasons why working with Penguin was so perfect was they were willing to do a paperback version and a hardcover at the same time.

That really made it work for me. I really wanted to do a bespoke edition, limited edition, beautiful and expensive. But then I wanted people to have something not so expensive where they could rip out the pages and paste the pictures up, something like that. I didn’t want to do a big coffee table book. Penguin were totally onboard with all that stuff.

DD: It must be satisfying to see your pictures in a gallery or in a book – giving it a sense of permanence the internet maybe does not?

Scott Schuman: The funny part is that the internet will give it not only a permanence, once it’s out there it’s totally out of my control. Once they’re on the internet, they take on a life of their own but I think that technology that it is now like no other time that we’ve had before, the permanence will come from the fact that I can take a picture today and my contemporaries can make a comment on those pictures and we can capture their thoughts.

Someone like Lartigue who shot a lot of people around the streets in the 1900s or even Bill Cunningham, people can look at those pictures but we don’t know what those people were thinking at that time. But with the blog now you know, I’m working to archive and save these comments so that in say a 100 years, people can not only look at these pictures but also know what we were thinking at that time, what those issues were.

So I really like that part. I take the pictures and capture what people are thinking right now but I also think about what this is going to mean historically.

DD: T here’s the sense of community on your website where people post comments and sometimes fall in love with the subjects in your photos. Is the goal intimacy with the subject?

Scott Schuman: One of the things I try and do is keep a distance from a lot of these people. I have a very short time and I like to shoot them in the romantic way that I see them. For me it always seems to work out better that way.

DD: Terry Richardson would say he would always put himself in the portrait whereas Bruce Weber would say he would only photograph things he could never be. Which camp do you fall in?

Scott Schuman: Somewhere right in between that. There’s definitely an aspirational aspect to it – something that I want to be. One of the things that separates me from other people who shot street style before me, they always shot the most dramatic thing, things people had never seen anywhere .Like Amy Arbus, she shot for the Village Voice in the early 90s, she would shoot the punks and the most dramatic people.

Which is great but I  don’t really relate to that. What’s different about what I do is I shoot something that is aspirational and something that people can really relate to. People of different sizes, races and income levels.

DD: Do you think that’s why your website has succeeded? That you celebrates different aspects of beauty and make fashion more democratic and accessible?

Scott Schuman: That wasn’t the goal when I started out. I was just shooting people that I saw that I really liked. I can find inspiration from a lot of different cultures, different kinds of people. I’m never looking for something that’s perfect, if anything if it is perfect, it’s harder for me to relate to it.

DD: You have a pic of Bill Cunningham from The New York Times in your book – an inspiration of yours? Would you like to do it as long as he did?
Scott Schuman:

Oh yeah I’d love to be doing this for the rest of my life. It’s funny – I’m a self taught photographer and I can’t really say he was specifically an influence. He was more of an influence as a fashion person. My background is in fashion marketing and just like any other person I would look at his page on Sunday.

But I never said,  “Oh I want to be like Bill Cunningham” or anything, it wasn’t anything like that. So he was probably a loose inspiration. I do really respect him as a person, he’s so committed to it. So that’s more of an inspiration than anything else, his commitment to that.

DD: You taught yourself photography? What magazines did you read growing up?

Scott Schuman: American GQ was the first fashion magazine that I started reading when I was in junior high. I-D, Italian Vogue…But growing up in Indiana, it was hard to get those magazines and there was no internet and the fact that we didn’t have many things like that helps me to keep the romance of it.

For me there’s still this romanticized idea of what the fashion world must be like. It took so long for me to actually move here that it was so ingrained in my head and I still see the world that way. Not growing up with the magazines that I would have liked to had that effect on me.

DD: The book is dedicated to your late father – how was he inspirational to your life?

Scott Schuman: Like any good father. His inspiration was more as a person and in some ways that’s the very core of the book. How he looked at people and how he looked at the world. He was always very respectful. So I like that. I shoot a lot of people for the blog whose style I wouldn’t necessarily wear but I can think it’s great and respect the quality of what they do. He grew up in North Dakota which is even more rural than Indiana and he used to say he was too stupid to know that he couldn’t do something.

And there was this acceptance of being naïve which I think is beautiful. With this blog, I didn’t know that I could become a photographer for GQ, I didn’t really know anything about photography. I knew it probably was a stretch. But I came up with my own take and to me, there was no reason why I couldn’t be. I didn’t realize how big that world was but I let myself be stupid. So sometimes ignorance can be bliss.

DD: Has there been a specific favorite highlight over the last few years?

Scott Schuman: The moment when I really knew I was on to something was when I would get these really beautiful, heartfelt emails from people. So it’s those things – the true emotional response from people ‘cos you can’t buy that. The next steps were having someone like Carine Rotifeld ask me to shoot something for Paris Vogue, that was a big deal. But the number one thing was the community we were able to create on the blog that crosses a lot of different cultures. That’s probably the thing that’s going to last the longest.

DD : How does it feel to hear that respected designers like Lucas Ossendrijver use your pics in their mood boards?

Scott Schuman: Oh it’s great I love that. When I was in fashion I would work with designers so I would know how they work. So that’s how I want to shoot it. I don’t want to shoot things that are trendy. By the time you shoot it, it’s over. I want to shoot things that I was reacting to whether it was perfect or not. I’m glad that some really great designers are using the site in the way I hoped that they would.

DD: What did you make of The Refinery29’s chart of how to get photographed by The Sartorialist?

Scott Schuman: Of course I saw that. I saw it within minutes of when it went up. I got 40 emails about it! I thought it was done in good fun and the thing that I like about it is that it has so many different branches. People think I only shoot one kind of thing and there are so many different branches there – young and old. When you build something successful, those are the kind of things that you can expect.

DD: How did you find making the transition to shooting for mags and major ad campaigns?

Scott Schuman: Everybody wants me to do my own thing. Because I never been to many other shoots before my own, I had no qualms telling people what to do on my own shoots! The transition’s actually been great because I shoot in the exact same way that I do. I tell my agent, “Don’t put me in a situation I can’t win.” I only accept jobs that I will be able to shoot in my way. I’m lucky I’ve been able to shoot a lot more and my ability as a photographer has grown and grown but the essence is the same. It really is the next step of what I do.

DD: You’ve travelled the whole world with your blog – is there anywhere left you’d like to go? Are there any worlds and cultures you’re still fascinated by?

Scott Schuman: Seems like I’ve travelled the world but there’s still a lot of places I haven’t been to yet. I haven’t been to Japan, that’s the next big one I wanna go to. But the way you keep it honest and real is to continuing to go to new kinds of places. Maybe after Fashion Week has ended I have a little bit more time to a place like Beunos Aires or Peru and shoot not only the fashionable people but also the folkloric dress and national costume.

DD: Is there anyone you’re dying to shoot? The Queen for example?

Scott Schuman: Not the Queen. (laughs) The one person I wish I shot, that I would have got the chance to but I didn’t jump on it was Gianfranco Ferre. He’s a big guy but he always looked so great. I went to a few of his shows and he was there but I never made time to take pictures of him. When he died, I thought he was someone I would really have loved to have photographed. He was always so elegant. I thought the way he dressed himself was so much better than what he did with his menswear! I just thought he seemed really cool.

DD: You’re curating a space at Liberty’s and just did a similar thing at Barneys in NYC. Is this the next step in developing the brand of The Sartorialist?

Scott Schuman: I wanted to take the concept of the blog and how I look at fashion and put it in a real-life setting. I had this idea of the pop-up shop, The SartoriaLUST with stuff that you would really lust for, things that you would really love. It doesn’t have to be super expensive things. It can be APC jeans mixed with Japanese jackets. That’s how a lot of men dress. Part of the ulterior business of the pop-up shop was creating this idea of what the Sartorialist would be as a retail business.

Joelle’s Tips

The Blog: The Sartorialist

The Book : The Sartorialist ( Bespoke Edition) Penguin

Photo Credits: Scott Shuman  and Joelle Maslaton

The Source: Interview  Via Dazed

Since I was little girl I have been fascinated by photographic cameras.

Throughout the years, my traveling companions who’s clicks captured  most of my life’s  magic moments were called :  35 mm Nikkon , 4X5  Hasselblad,  Sony Cyberchot and  Cannon G9. I am seriously considering to add a new one to the prestigious list : The legendary Leica. Goes without saying it must be through the help of the company brand new service   ” a la carte “.

Before making my choice I am studying the different components, qualities and the company philosophy. According to Leica , people’s preferences are as individual as themselves. Why should choosing a camera be any different? Leica à la carte will enable me  to put together my own unique camera, with more than four thousand variations in style and technical details.

An essential element of the extensive range of custom design options is individually handcrafted workmanship which only the longstanding tradition of the Leica workshop can offer. Each Leica M, with its approximately 1,300 individual parts, is built exactly to order, with fastidious attention to detail, in true “à la carte” style, including my engraved signature, for example.

The steps are as follows: I Choose a LEICA MP or M7 other than the standard model, and from the modular component system I am selecting the details that match my needs and wishes in terms of style, functionality, and practicality. Among all options some of the followings are included : lens cap color; leather trim; viewfinder frame-lines; controls; personalized engraving with my logo” Joellelifestyle” With over 4000 combination options, even unusual wishes can be met. The Configurator lets me try out your ideas before turning them into reality.

Classic, elegant, robust, dynamic, attractive, discreet and  I  complemented my  custom-made Leica with the matching carrying strap or an exclusive ever-ready case.  There are no limits to  imagination when choosing my combination: all the color and variants range handcrafted in high-grade leather are available on the screen of my Mac in front of me. while I sip my tea and check my handbags, shoes, eyewear and suitcases.

I have changed many combinatorial of colors and functionality.  Calf in blue and glossy red, Napa Bordeaux, Lizard embossing in Balck, chestnuts and Ostrich Wow! But thinking thoughtfully  with all my travel accessories showcased on my bed nothing better than a customized naturally tanned cognac.

This is my final choice. Check it  above. Very Chic!

Joelle’s Tips

The Company: Leica

The Service: Leica a la Carte

Because of my gypsy nature I have always been fascinated by the desert. Believe it or not, I meet in Beer Sheva , the artist and filmmaker Joseph Dadoune who over several cups of warm mint tea presented to me in a beautiful velvet book a stunning project taking place in the Ofaquim desert .

The unique project involves the local community in Ofaquim and will include works of mediums-cinema, photography and video-and will evolve over the course of five years. Hearing about my world wanderings, passions and beliefs he finally says with a large smile ” Joelle, you must work by my side in this project! ”

I take a few seconds to catch my breath….. “  I am honored Joseph ” – I reply- ” Actually, it would be great if we started now if that is ok with you of course ; I happen to carry my Belkin voice recorder in my backpack.”

Joseph smiles satisfied and agrees to reveal in person more information about his dream project . The first part will consist of a feature film produced in Ofaquim with the participation of local adolescents . It will be part of wide-ranging initiative carefully planned over the past several years. This same initiative will involve the foundation of a local studio, which will serve as the center for his artistic and cinematic activities.

Ofaquim, the town in which Dadoune grew up, constitutes a central axis in his cinematic works, ‘Universes’, ‘Chanti’ and ‘Sion’, were featured in the solo exhibition the Petach Tikva Museum of Art.

‘Sion‘  starring Ronit Elkabetz, was filmed in Ofaquim, Teqoa,  Jerusalem and the Louvre Museum in Paris.  The costumes were created by Christian Lacroix. What an eccletic mix I am thinking while I listen to him talking over his tea.  The film was created in collaboaration with the Louvre Museum, at the Palais of Tokio in Paris ,at the Kunst Palast in Dusseldoff, at the Light & Sie Gallery in Dallas, Texas.

Joseph Dadoune’s films he explains, are a continuous odyssey between various mental and geographic realms in Israel and Europe, between the landscape of his childhood in Ofaquim and the different Mediterranean landscapes, between Southern views from the Negev Desert and realms of sanctity and mysticism, and between East and West. The first of two films is centered upon a group of adolescents boys involved in building a giant missile in an abandoned Ofaquim factory.

The missile which will take shape in front of the viewer’s eyes, will later be carried by the boys throughout the fields surrounding the town, against the background of nearby landscapes and sites where the negative energy and radiation is at it’s highest ; The Negev Desert, the Ze’elim military base, the Duda’im garage disposal site, Sderot and Gaza. In the course of the this Sisyphean journey that appears to have no purpose and no end, the boys engage in a complex and charged relationship with one another.

The presence of one of them an individualist visionary concerned with esoteric subjects, produces conflict-ridden situations and dilemmas that lead to an examination of individual values in the context of collective values.  At the same time the boys attempt to come to terms with the questions of human existence, resulting in an intense and violent argument between those who define themselves as believers and those who define themselves as atheists.

The boys-an allegory for everyman-represent various aspects of human life: a child soul, a worker who carries a missile as a symbol of life’s difficulties and an act of despair , person fleeing a concrete threat         (terror, Kassam rockets, Iran) or abstract evil , and modern man-who is motivated by a destructive urge that leads him to create a weapon of mass destruction. Dadoune raises questions concerning the future of humanity in a nuclear age and produces a social statement about the working class in the contemporary world. This state in emblematized by the residents of unemployment-stricken, peripheral Ofaquim,who bear the burden of defending the country’s center in a threatened area.

The film will examine key issues and ideas related to human existence and human consciousness: faith, fear, atheism, power and democracy as well as universal values such as liberty,choice, honor and allegiance, The film makes use of biblical materials ( the Book of Numbers, whose Hebrew name literally means ” In the desert”) autobiographical elements, and concepts related to contemporary Israeli culture and reality.

The social context has been the center of Joseph Dadoune’s work. The virginal desert sands, the open expanse, the Bedouin tents, the poverty and the acrid odor of the garbage being burnt at the Duda’im disposal site are all embedded in his world of images, and serve as recurrent motifs of his work.

His deep commitment to the city and to its residents engenders discussions and raises awareness shaping the desire to create a true dialogue between the local community and the Israeli cultural field to participate through lectures, forums, contemporary art mediums and concerts,  in a process of artistic creation and to contribute to shaping society.

The project will raise public and International awareness ( and this is why I am here ) to the concerns of contributing to the recognition of the importance of the cultural landscape of the South and of related social and environmental issues as well as making local idenity and culture present within the Israeli cultural sphere.

Joseph chose a factory that has been abandoned for over 30 years as one of the sites featured in the film also offering a form of hope: The factory will serve as a platform for the youth community of the periphery and center of Ofaquim to express themselves with a ” voice’.

This will be attained through artistic and cultural creations such as art, cinema open studio for the community cultural events, acting and interaction with professional actors, literary evenings, poetry readings, performances by Internationally  acknowledged artists, art collectors, curators, museum directors ,filmakers, scholars and journalists, Yoga and Dance therapy Workshops sponsored by well known Israeli teachers who are specialized in adolescents, Judaism classes centered on the Book of numbers.These  visits will  undoubtedly contribute to promote the city, it’s landscape and residents engaging the participants into ” positive energies ” .

The innauguaration of the project will be accompaigned by a new Hebrew and English website that will update curators, filmakers, scholars and other cultural figures and institutions in Israel and abroad about the develpoment of the project. The production of the two films, video works and esperimantal satellite photography will be screened in a large scale exhibition in Israel and at International museums, as well as at film festivals, art forums and biennals worldwide .

This will provide to all participants as well as  a great sense of shared pride,  a national and International exposure and the commercial distribution of the films allowing exposure to a greater public. The project ” In the Desert ” will make an important contribution to revealing the complex and multifaceted character of Israeli society, as well as to bringing the periphery to the center and involving it in the process of cultural production pointing the city’s young residents towards a new path, filled with hope for a better future.

Joseph pauses….my tape recorder too. Nearby a small baby goat makes a timid noise in the valley illuminated by a strong sunset, I assume she got scared with so much talking.  Joseph picks her up and lifts her gently to her shoulders with a smile, then looks at me and says” Ok Joelle, I count on you to get the  start-up information going, but when is it that you are you coming back?”

Joelle’s Tips:

The Artist: Yosef Joseph Dadoune , born in 1957 in Nice, France, and immigrated in Israel in 1980 with his mother. The two settled in Ofaquim where he grew up and studied at a local Yeshiva. Photographer,video artist and director.

The Project: In the Desert Project /  P.O.B Ofaquim 80300, Israel, 292 ( o) 545 221949 / infos@inthedesert.org

Photo credits: Joseph Dadoune

The other Movies: Sion

The Partners : The Ministry of Israeli Foreign Affairs / Rabinowitz foundation Cinema Project Tel Aviv / Le Louvre Museum / Center Photographique, l’Ile de France

When Marc Jacobs found himself in a meeting on a recent Monday morning to brainstorm about Louis Vuitton’s next fashion advertising campaign, inspiration struck. “I just blurted out, ‘I think we should do Madonna,’” said the designer, Vuitton’s creative director, mentioning he’d attended a concert by the pop icon the night before in Paris. “I was totally just blown away by it, and moved by her performance, by what she had to say, and her energy.”

As the meeting went on, Jacobs tapped out a message to Madonna on his BlackBerry, and within about five minutes came the reply: “I’d love to.”

The result is six atmospheric pictures of a smoldering Madonna by Steven Meisel that will break in a range of fashion magazines this February. “It’s a big change from what we were doing. It tells a story,” said Antoine Arnault, Vuitton’s director of communications. “This I think is an amazing coup, but more than that, there’s real logic behind it. It’s very linked to Marc’s fashion show.”

Although Arnault declined to give figures, he said media budgets for the fashion campaign would be on par with a year ago. And he dismissed as “absurd” reports pegging Madonna’s fees at $10 million. “It’s very far away from that,” he assured.

The campaign marks the end of Vuitton’s six-year collaboration with photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, with the parting characterized as amicable, and another reunion for long-time collaborators Madonna and Meisel. Jacobs last worked with Meisel in his Perry Ellis days. (Arnault noted it’s “very probable” Vuitton’s association with Meisel will continue.)

The campaign takes the very Parisian theme of Jacobs’ hit spring Vuitton collection, with a smoky French bistro the setting, and the sepia-toned images evoking a Brassai atmosphere. “As cliché as they are, I love all these French references,” the designer said. (Although the restaurant, Figaro, is on North Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles).

“I still feel it looks like beautiful, gorgeous Madonna,” Jacobs said about the images. “Excepting the references and excepting the clichés, this still feels very today. And it didn’t feel so much like a fashion shoot, it feels like portraits.”

The shoot wrapped up in less than a day and without incident, although Jacobs said hordes of paparazzi literally “appeared out of the bushes” the moment Madonna arrived. “It went from a quiet street to complete chaos,” he said.

The designer also marveled at the singer’s incredible fitness that allowed her to recline, her back arched, on bentwood chairs, or shoot a leg straight up in the air, no sweat. “She’s so sure of herself as an icon and as a woman. It was her idea to do the fishnets,” Jacobs said. “What fascinates me the most about her is her never-ending energy, and the idea of becoming and changing. She’s an artist who’s unafraid to use her voice.”

Arnault said the fashion campaign would appear “very strongly” in February and March issues and with few changes in media placements. “We’re staying on target,” he stressed.

The first visuals will spotlight slouchy bags in monogram canvas and monogram-embossed leather, along with ethnic-inspired sandals, bangles and sexy ready-to-wear. In tandem, Vuitton will continue to run its “core values” campaign, with spots featuring Sean Connery, the latest celebrity spokesman, continuing into next year. Analysts have estimated Vuitton spends more than $250 million annually on advertising, most of it print-driven.

Joelle’s Picks:
The Video

The Cafe: Figaro Bistro 1802 N. Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA, 90027 – Tel +1 323.662.1587

Photos credits: Steven Meisel for Louis Vuitton All rights reserved

“Our revenge… is to live.”

Tuvie Bielski

Lately I have been very angry with what I see, read and hear around me.  Moreover, my teacher today at the Tuesday Zohar class told a crowd of 200 people, “This world we live in, is the worst of all worlds; we cannot trust our leaders, our friends, our financial institutions.”

Just before class, one of my counselors asked to see me for a chat.  “Joelle, what is your personal dream?” he asked.  “I am practically there ,” I replied.  He looked, with the deepest depth his blue eyes can muster, straight into mine and pronounced the following statement: “You think you are getting there, but in reality your dream hasn’t come true yet.  You must still work very hard for it.”

I gasped.  Speechless at such a comment but with a large smile on my face, I finally felt relieved.  In a few seconds the ’spiritual master’ in front of me would give me the secret and the tools I’ve always fought so hard for and deserve.  I would finally fulfill this dream of mine and get it over with.

Obviously sorry for interrupting the enlightened expression on my face, he added: “Come and see me in two weeks.  If I can, I will help you figure it out.  As I am very busy at the moment with another project, I may ask one of my colleagues to help you sort it out.”

What I understood at the end of our brief encounter is that once guided by the more available master, the answers would finally be given to me by the universe itself, leading me to recognize my correct path for eternity – and possibly to immortality.  With a sense of frustration, I left the Kabbalah center towards my supposed immortality, feeling much farther from my dream than when I had stepped through that door earlier.

Recognizing one’s path is not necessarily an easy task to do.  An example can be seen in one of the most expressive movies I have ever seen in my life.  It’s called Defiance and it’s directed by Edward Zwick portraying the movie’s principal hero, in my humble opinion, the sexiest man alive – actor Daniel Craig.

Based on an extraordinary true story, Defiance is an epic tale of family, honor, vengeance and salvation in World War II. The year is 1941 and the Jews of Eastern Europe are being massacred by the thousands. Managing to escape certain death, three brothers take refuge in the dense surrounding woods they have known since childhood.

There they begin their desperate battle against the Nazis.  Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell star as brothers who turn a primitive struggle to survive into something far more consequential-a way to avenge the deaths of their loved ones by saving thousands of others.

At first it is all they can do to stay alive.  But gradually, as whispers of their daring spreads, they begin to attract others-men and women, young and old-willing to risk everything for the sake of even a moment’s freedom.  Tuvia (Craig) is a reluctant leader and his decisions are challenged by his brother, Zus (Schreiber) who worries that Tuvia’s idealistic plans will doom them all.

Asael (Bell) is the youngest – caught between his brothers’ fierce rivalry.  As a brutal winter descends, they work to create a community, and to keep faith alive when all humanity appeared to be lost.

The Bielski brothers started one of the most noted Jewish partisan groups.  They were famous because, unlike other partisan groups who were focused on mainly fighting the Germans, the Bielskis first and foremost wanted to save Jewish lives.  To do so they had to fight battles on a daily basis.

Tuvia, among the greatest heroes of World War II, a man who led the most stunning Jewish rescue and resistance operation of his time said, “I would rather save one old Jewish woman than kill 10 Nazi soldiers.”

If you look in the dictionary, the definition of the word resistance is “The act of resisting; opposition, passive or active.  The quality of not yielding to force or external pressure; that power of a body which acts in opposition to the impulse or pressure of another, or which prevents the effect of another power; as, the resistance of the air to a body passing through it; the resistance of a target to projectiles.”

Jewish resistance took many forms during World War II.  One of the least known Jewish groups, but with some of the greatest impact, was the partisans.  20,000 to 30,000 escaped from the ghettos and camps all over Europe to form organized, armed resistance groups.

They blew up thousands of German trains and convoys, and saved thousands of lives.  Other forms of resistance included spiritual (studying Jewish Texts, praying, keeping Jewish holidays and traditions), artistic, intellectual (creating underground newspapers), and economic (labor stoppage).

The forest was not only a battleground, but it was a land of survival and a place the partisans called home for two years.  They built very strong and long-lasting relationships.

There were relationships between men and women, and people even found their true loves in the forest.  Several scenes caught me with tears in my eyes, when there were opportunities for occasional celebrations in the community created in the woods.

There was not too much time for the partisans to enjoy each other, as the enemy could attack at any point.  They had to constantly to change the location of their base camp, as they were afraid if they did not do so the Germans would find them easily with their numerous aerial surveys.

Defiance is known as the act of defying, putting in opposition, or provoking to combat; a challenge; a provocation; a summons to combat.  A casting aside; a renunciation; a rejection.  A state of opposition; willingness to fight; disposition to resist; contempt of opposition.

I called Adrian Gray, a stone balancing master and photographer as well, in London and requested an interview.  One of his sculptures features a large stone balancing atop another.  When I asked him the reason he had titled this work “Defiance” he answered:

“With sea water from the previous wave still running down the stones, I was amazed that this very delicate balance defied nature to the end and resolutely held on until the final wave of the set, shown powering towards it, finally brought it down.

For what seems such a simple picture there is so much in it – the various deep colors, the rock-steadfastness of the stones against the movement of the water and the lonely defiance against the inevitable.  It breaks your heart.”

The meaning of balance is to equal in number, weight, force, or proportion; to counterpoise, counterbalance, counteract, or neutralize.  To compare in relative force, importance, value, to estimate.  To settle and adjust, as an account; to make two accounts equal by paying the difference between them.  Equipoise is reached for a certain period of time.

Equipoise is universally understood as equality of weight or force; hence, equilibrium: a state in which the two ends or sides of a thing are balanced, and hence equal; a state of being equally balanced; said of moral, political, or social interests or forces.

And it’s because of the laws of equipoise, balance of the Jewish partisans and the Bielski brothers’ efforts that over 10,000 people are alive today.  1,200 individuals were saved and were thus able to have numerous children and grandchildren accomplishing survival in one of history’s severest points.  Jewish partisans were able to fight back against the Germans and their oppressors and this gave tremendous amount of pride to Jews as well.

Some like Bishop Richard Williamson dare to deny the holocaust with statements such as this, made last week: “I believe that the historical evidence … is hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler.”

Vocal denunciations of Israel by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez encouraged last Friday’s armed group attack vandalizing Caracas’ oldest synagogue, shattering religious objects and spray-painting walls.

As long as Hamas leader Khaled Meshal continues to deny and fails to acknowledge the right of Israel to exist as a state, just watch, Jewish defiance will take place.

By the way, I must call my counselor at the center, and simply thank him for giving me the opportunity to need his guidance no longer.

He was actually right.  I hadn’t quite reached my dream yet, and that is because I have defied my opponent’s gravitational energy only in order to survive.

I realize now the lesson I have learned: My path from now on is to defy that opponent for good so that I can, as I have for centuries, surrender peacefully into the sacred immortality of my own existence.

Amen

Joelle’s Picks:

The movie: Defiance

The Stone balancer and Photographer : Adrian Gray

The Us Memorial:  Holocaust Museum

Jerusalem : Yad Vashem

International Day of Commemoration to honor the victims of the Holocaust. January 29 2009

Photo Credits all Copyrights reserved: Adrian Gray/Reuters Images/Paramount Vantage/Karen Ballard

“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.”
— Oscar Wilde

For the past few months I have been trying to meet with Tewfic El-Sawy. When he’s in London, I am in Bombay. When he’s in New York, I am in Brussels. When he’s in Brussels, I am in Brazil.

But we both receive our respective travel newsletters and in several occasions showed each other mutual respect and admiration through brief comments on our online publications, websites and emails hoping to have a chance to meet at last between one continent and the other.

Have you ever had that feeling before? When you get so global there are no frontiers or dimensions. Without necessarily traveling, today you are able to connect at any level with people through the millions of miles that separate you from that person without even knowing her, through the different social networks, or any other platform provided by the internet.  Tewfic and I were connected through visual images.

The month of November has come, where accidentally or not, both of us are in the same part of the world and that is New York City. Believe it or not, after a few exchanges of texts and emails to decide where  we would meet I get to “miss” our appointment that should have been in Tewfic’s West Village apartment.

“It’s interesting as an apartment because its walls are totally covered with artwork…with Asian stuff I get when I travel. Would it get a mention in architectural digest? No.

“From a photography standpoint, its not interesting because its not a  studio…the only thing is that there are some of my pics in my office and a couple of computers and lots of hard drives. All digital now. I know what you have in mind…a sort of ‘photographer in his work milieu ‘…while the paintings, Buddhas and Burmese prayer books would be good, its not really photography. So its really up to you to decide…I’m open to whatever you’re  comfortable with.” He writes.

And my Apple Calendar for some reason lost its info that week. So he “cleaned the mess” of his apartment for a visit he was expecting that never took place, Tewfic had travel appointments he could not cancel and patiently agreed to meet me at the Bottega Del Vino the next Monday before my November Newsletter edition.

He recognized me immediately. I could not say the same for me as there are practically no picture of him in his profiles. Tall, grey hair, black wool turtleneck and an Allure from a distant but familiar place, he greets me with a handshake and half of a smile.

My usual decaff expresso macchiato and a capuccino for him are on the Italian wood table. A couple from Sao Paulo passes by and after exchanging a few words in Portuguese with them I find myself answering  Tewfic questions such as, “So you are Brazilian? Is this a Canon G9?”

“Yes I am Brazilian, without noticing I am talking about my life, career, travels and cameras and in a rush because I remind him that It was me who asked for the interview! Finally, inspired or on guard, he pronounces his first statement: “I am very good at listening (pause, silence) I am used to listening. I was a banker.” Wow! After such a revelation I almost stop breathing hoping the rest would come righteously.

And in a paused tone, almost of a nobleman he recounts his story: “I was born in Cairo, Egypt, (that’s where the Allure comes from) and used to work for Citibank there. On my several trips to South East Asia and Indonesia, I used to take some pictures in my free time and I guess this awakened my interested in travel photography” He used a 35mm Canon A-1 and his only experience, according to Tewfic, apart from those business trips, was just shooting “family stuff.”

His Canon choice was based on the fact that it was user friendly and that he could neatly see the shutter speed and light numeric conditions in a clear viewfinder while he was shooting. After being transferred to different cities for his business such as Houston, Texas; Bahrain, London and lastly New York, a sort of epiphany took place when he realized his banking milieu was more about politics than proper and pure finance. “I had enough,” he says, “and this is how I decided to do photography 13 years ago.”

In 2000 he travels for the first time to India armed with a better Canon and large telephoto lenses. Nowhere better than the Rajastan circuit to realize that he started a love story  with its colors and “beautiful people as you know” being mostly the theme and the expression of his capturing eye through the shutter speed.

The Internet was just beginning to boom. Tewfic decided to invite a few friends and people who have an interest in photography to join him for, a first of many that will follow, travel expeditions to Nepal, India and Bhutan. Most of those friends were interested in India and thought Tewfic would know his way around (which he confided me he didn’t) and went along touring with him in complete instinctive trust.

And the photo expedition destinations reached  four corners of distant lands. From Indigenous inhabitants of Central India to exorcism rituals at the shrines of Sufi-Soldier Saint-Baba Bahadur Shahid,  Burma’s Irrawai waters where they befriended the people of Tha’nakha, the Guelagueza festival of Zappotek native inhabitants of Oaxaca, Mexico, honoring the corn-goddess Centeotl and of course I could I not mention Tewfic “rubbing shoulders with ascetics, mendicants, mystics, pilgrims, gurus and yogis, charlatans and beggars in Allahabad ” the largest pilgrimage in the world?

Not making a living out the photo-expeditions “provided my costs are covered, I am fine with it “  Tewfic manages to keep their price extremely affordable (approximately $3,000 US dollars for an average of 10 days trip exuding airfare). Because he uses local travel guides and agencies and does not market at all, people get to know about them through his blog or word-of-mouth and are required to have a special invitation to participate.

He generally organizes three expeditions a year and one workshop where he happen sometimes to teach to an audience of 700 people locally like in Mexico last year. His pictures are sold as individually supervised prints by large multinational companies, banks and art galleries who send their buying agents directly to Tewfic desiring a specific work of art. Other clients include image banks, adventure-travel catalogs, and renowned publications.

For those who still don’t know, Tewfic is pleased to announce he has finished the task of reviewing some of the photographs he returned with from his October 2008 Bhutan photo~expedition.

There are many that he hasn’t seen yet (what a suspense!) but will finally  managed to upload some made during the Tamshing and Thangbi Mani Tsechus onto a gallery. He also recorded a lot of ambient audio at various locations, which he will soon start to work on a multimedia feature.

Curiously he mentions in his last newsletter: “If you’re expecting ‘pretty’ travel photographs in this gallery, don’t. Most of these were chosen based on my current stylistic preference for more photo-journalism and documentary photography.”

My last question: “Any future project or dream?” Tewfic confides in me that in he wants his work ” to move away from the pretty smiles…” Thank God he has no camera in his hand as I couldn’t possibly avoid the large smile on my face.

Joelle’s Tips:

Copyright: All photos in this post are courtesy of Tewfic Al- Sawy.
Photo credits of Tewfic during the expeditions are from tour participant Ralph N. Childs.

The 2009 Travel Photographer Photo Expeditions and workshops : Tewfic Al- Sawy

The Blog : The Travel Photographer

The Motion : Multimedia

Inquiries: tes@telsawy.com

A very good friend of mine, a prominent private banker, sent me an e-mail this morning: “My dear friend and client Zeze, who is considered by the Zagat survey to be “The Best of Bests” florist around, is expanding his horizons. He, and his wife Peggy, have partnered with Roberto Belissimo and his wife Monica, both former Chefs atLe Cirque to open Ze Cafe. Zeze, savy as he can be, decided to grow and diversify in these bearish times. Kudos Zeze! Please check out the New York Times blurb.”

After receiving this information, I wrote back, “Would you like to get out of Wall Street and work for me in the joellelifestyle? He replied, ” I owe you several calls, I have been working 16 hours a day including weekends, traveling like crazy, it’s hilarious to realize that when you get on a plane, the flight attendant  already knows you by name… I have no idea of what a personal life is, but wasn’t it Einstein who said ” In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity?”  What have you been up to? By the way, that ” story” of getting out of  Wall Street is nowadays very well accepted by former bankers!”

Last week, a good friend from Brazil forwarded me an invitation: “Through the Lens of Nathaniel Kramer” -  cocktails and hors d’oeuvres to celebrate the opening exhibition of photographs by Nathaniel Kramer at Guy Regal on 223 East 60th Street in New York.

Trusting my friend, I checked it out on the Internet; encountering words such as private equities, public and private capital markets, investments,  digital media-focused venture media, entertainment, telecommunications, video service provider Broadband Enterprises, wireless infrastructure, waste management, data communications, B2B commerce and Internet infrastructure sectors and environmental asset managements. Strange, very strange.

Intrigued more than ever, I decided to contact Nathaniel—especially because I love his name, strong powerful but yet delicate and passionate. After introducing myself and mentioning my friend’s name, I ask him if he would give me the pleasure of an interview for my on line review. “My first interview,”he says, of course Joelle it will be a pleasure to meet you but my work is still piled in my dining room  and it will have to wait after the show.”

His astrological sign is Gemini; although he tells me he does not like to interpret life through astrology or psychology.

The show was a success. I had to guess which one among these tall elegant New York men was Nathaniel Kramer. And there he was, talking to a young little blond girl holding her grandmother’s hand Terry Allen Kramer who was looking for her coat before going away. “Your coat,” I hear him say, “is the only child coat among all others and it’s not difficult to find!” Among his friends Samantha and Aby Rosen, Arianna Boardman, James and Margo Nederlander, hedge fund oracle John Paulson, Kelly Klein ,and Valesca Guerrand-Hermes. Everyone, including antique connoisseurs, clients, critics and photographers, were making sure to catch his attention.

Large framed photographs of orchids are harmoniously assembled among rigorously selected 17th and 18th century Continental furniture at the elegant Upper Est Side brownstone gallery. There is a warm light inside and it really feels cozy while it’s raining outside. Other photographic collages of blossoming treetops reign through intricate patterns over the quite first floor where we are both sitting for a chat over Starbucks coffee.

Like his father, Nathaniel loved photography and instinctively grew up among the latest Hasselblads, Nikons, and Pentax cameras which his father collected through the years.

In 1985, he was working in his family business. He was 25 and bored. His hidden desire was to meet pretty girls and admired the fashion photographers great lifestyle. His thoughts were: “You get to go to Saint Barth …Lets do this. I am going to leave Wall Street and become a photographer.”

With close friend Muriel Brandolini (who at the time was an ambitious young stylist) he flew to Milan and began knocking on doors. He got introduced to Franca Sozzani, the forefront woman of fashion who at the time was directing legendary publications LEI since 1980 and PER LUI since 1982 before heading up the Italian edition of VOGUE starting in 1988. (She was appointed Editor in Chief of Condé Nast Italia in 1994.)

Sozzani gives him  a job shooting a newspaper insert for LEI.He meets models, has great Mozzarella sandwiches for lunch and in the first year he is forced  to shoot thousands of shots (scared to miss the right one). He is successful. “I liked my pictures but I had very little technical skill from high school.” On his way back to New York he decides to play smart.

Nathaniel looks for assistants who have worked with iconic photographers  such as Albert Watson, Herb Ritts, and Arthur Elgort, who teach him the tricks and lab techniques. He returns to Italy, despite his father disapproval (who thought he was out of his mind and that photography was only to be considered as a hobby unlike his great grand father who was a professional photographer).  American magazines started wanting him to shoot for them. Unfortunately the first jobs are with male models, not exactly what he was looking for. Eventually, he starts shooting regularly for Seventeen, Mademoiselle, Glamour, ELLE and Marie Claire . His first job for Seventeen is shooting young Hollywood stars like  Jennifer Connelly, and then his dream has came true. He married a model.

,

“The marriage was a disaster .”

As time passed, Nathaniel, had to prove that it was not a dream just because he was well connected. He shoot a lot in the Bahamas were his mother had a home, photography became a 9-to-5 job and he tells me at that time still he “payed for business to get more business.” “I knew that a little investment upfront could bring substantially larger returns down the road. If you got the editorial work which payed basically nothing, the big money catalog and advertising jobs always followed.”

He got fast, better, and counted among his steady clients, J.Crew, Talbots, Ray Ban, and Macys, He shot national campaigns for Gap, Cover Girl and Reebok. But he did not like the harsh way and hypocrisy he was treated with. “Getting every pound of your flesh, I also did not like rejection…your agent says they really like you and then you don’t get the job, why don’t they say so from the beginning?” Eventually, the adventure became  just another 9-to-5 job. “I realized then, that I wasn’t going to be one of the top 20 photographers in the world, and being only in the top 200 wasn’t worth the headaches that came along with running a photography business. I was like a carpenter. The work became commerce. And like a carpenter, if I don’t show up to pound nails, I don’t get paid!

As his interest in the still image begins to decrease, he looks for new mediums.

In 1992, snowing on the beach, a rope tied on his waist and of the woman who will be the mother of his son he shoots his first images in a reel . It is just 3 minutes of  her with a snow storm and the Atlantic ocean spinning around her, set to an old Sinatra song. He is “allowed” to film for a few TV commercials.  “This is going to be really hard,” he thinks.

Through a friend, he meets a guy who was just released after serving 20 years in prison for murder. He produces his story into a documentary with actor Martin Sheen  and Lawrence Fishburne, interviewing other prisoners in loco with similar stories. “CHOICES wins best documentary of the year at the Houston internation film festival, get nominated for an Emmy, and also wins three International Monitor awards.

After the successful experience, the idea of making low budget films and going straight to video, comes to his mind but this time without putting his money but raising it from Blockbuster Entertainment Group.. The movie, “Monster Mash” is inspired by by the famous song by the same name.

In 1997, he decides to follow the steps of his mother as theatrical producer (“I didn’t want to go back to Wall Street or fashion photography”). As his first experience in theater, he produces on Broadway, Arthur Miller’s “A View from the Bridge.” It goes without saying that he gets awarded with a Tony, surprising his mother and the milieu. Nathaniel jumps into a new challenge.

In 1998,  watching the internet boom, he gets together with an old friend and they start a venture capital fund to invest in media technologies. “It was a lot of fun the first year” but we all know what happened when the boom went bust. The next 6 years were not fun and finally I picked up my camera again.

“Two years ago after my second divorce,” he pauses, “I proved myself everywhere. I now like doing what I feel inside… One day, looking at some tree tops and reflecting about life, I took my camera and shot a few, I wondered coming back home how they would in look framed in collage form.

“Today, I wait during seasons days with no sunshine, the very flat sunlight, the proper tree shape, the light color manipulation and examine in my mind which one will look good , how it will play with the shadows, how is this going to look when I flop it upside down. I often get to walk by myself in Central Park and Long Island.

After two years, his work has matured. He first showed the prints to his friend Guy at the gallery for an honest opinion who suggested he do a show, his first show.

“Nathaniel,” I ask, “I have three more questions then I will let you go.” He smiles, I guess he is amused and relaxed,”

“Not at all,” he is so polite finishing the last drop of his coffee. “I thank you for your support”.

The Orchdis?  “They are sensual, sorry if I may seem rude, vaginal.”

Future projects? “Roses, doves…fishing… just under water….something so relaxing….”

Investment funds?  “I am very immature…I will find something else.”

He told me he changes careers every 7 years… But  what he didn’t realize yet is that he is flying to the top.

Joelle’s Tips:

The Gallery : Guy Regal lltd Store Location: 223 E. 60th St., New York, NY 10022
Phone: 212-888-2134 • Fax: 212-888-2136/ guy@guyregalltd.com
Store Hours: Monday–Friday 10am–6pm and Saturdays 11am–5pm

The Artist: Nathaniel Kramer

For Info on photographic Collages :Contact phoebe@guyregalltd.com

When you spend time in a wonderful place like Capri, you meet many interesting people. Among them is one of the island’s most renowned photographers, Umberto D’ Aniello.

I was given his contact by a friend, who knowing far too well my passion for photography, thought I’d appreciate his work. Without hesitation I sent him an e-mail from Naples last month. His response was kind and polite–offering himself with anything I’d need upon my arrival to Capri.

A few days later, we made plans to meet at a small cafe called the “Michelangelo” at Annacapri (another town on a higher hill in the island above the city of Capri). “E bello vedrai!” (It’s pretty, you’ll see), he reassured me.

On my way through the Piazzetta (consciously submitting myself to the judgment of regular customers of the four open-air bars where a cosmopolitan and intransigent crowd gathers and demands only the best), I decide for a change and take a small bus to Annacapri.

The views there are absolutely stunning. The color spectrum of the sunset in the sky ranges from a bright pink to a deep orange discretely allowing at the horizon a sight of the Sorrento peninsula over the port of Marina Grande. I am intrigued,I would like to know how the man I am going to meet soon, catches the secrets of the light behaving as I see it, in this island known to be the most beautiful in the world.

I walk a few steps with a small digital Casio camera in the direction of the Cafe Michelangelo. I am a little early. I took some time to capture the difference of energy between the historical center of this small town and the Capri Piazzetta where I was walking not long ago. It’s a journey, a journey that I feel just started and all together very different.

At the non pretentious cafe, a good place for people-watching, a short man wearing vintage black original Wayfarer Ray-Bans and a tall blond woman walk in my direction: “Joelle?  How are you? I am Umberto and this is Nicole Renaud my girlfriend (she’s French and a performing artist-she lives in the West Village in New York) and by the way we have 20 minutes today–is that okay for you?

“Umberto is very different from what I expected. He’s is funny, a rebel in his own way. I find out over two ristretti (Short expressos) and a grapefruit juice that he is the creator of the masterful photography book of Island of Capri. With texts by Capri-born writer Claretta Cerio, the book illustrates the Italian island in all its facets, contrasts and unique beauty.

Through dazzling black and white photography, and Claretta’s vivid texts, the book’s journey follows familiar and unfamiliar paths, opening perspectives that remain hidden from the casual visitor.

The beauty of nature, the magnificent villas of eccentric residents, the distinctive worlds of Capri and Annacapri, the accounts of luxury the jet set and trendy beaches, ancient palaces ,churches and cemeteries even faith and superstition are fascinating subjects illustrated with expressive photographs and described with humor and insider knowledge.

Francesco Durante wrote in the Corriere del Mezzogiorno, “Umberto D’Aniello’s photographs are the fruit of a deep and constant relationship with his island, in an endless and never satisfied quest. This is why his photos are always miraculously refreshing, even though some of them represent subjects that have been photographed a million if not a billiard times and therefore could have seemed kitch or déjà vu.”

By choosing to shoot in black and white, Umberto wishes to capture a surreal Mediterranean light beyond its plain colors. Dark clouds, reflecting waters, transcending sunshine… Whether pointing his lens at some mythical landscape, mysterious statue, splendid villa or religious procession, the photographer catches an instant melancholic poetry, neo-classical beauty, modern glamour.

He orders an espresso while Nicole talks to me about her latest CD released this summer and the joined work ” ” My heart is a bouquet” they did at the Villa Lysis last year. He tell me proudly he is also a musician as a hobby he is a member of a group of locals amateurs called Capri Cibum Cibum that play Cuban music in the manner of Buena Vista Social Club in a small tavern bar of the hotel Villa San Michele in Annacapri called Lanterna Verde.

But every time he changes the subject I bring it back to his work. I learn Umberto started his career casually when he was 23 on a trip to Paris. A Brazilian friend, the renowned photographer Sebastiao Salgado,  showed a “view camera” and explained to him that when the light comes into it, you can interfere and that is the secret!. Umberto realizes that it is not just a mechanical act, something more happens with it! (There was the answer of my previous mental question in the bus!)

He is influenced by Cartier Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Edouard Boubat and Eikoh Hosoe and other black & white photography seen in exhibitions and workshops he attended in Paris. After a while he decides to bring back the emotional expression he absorbed with those masters to his beloved island.

Umberto’s twenty minute availability turned into a two-and-a-half hour encounter the next Sunday after we met. Upon my request, with his large lens, keen attentive eye, and a great sense of humor, he captured my essence in Capri through personal, precious and spontaneous moments near close friends, shops and small cafes. An unforgettable afternoon where I could grasp the illusory sensation of being, for just a moment, a movie star pictured in a black and white photographs like one of Sophia Loren at the climax of her colored years.

And if this is called La Dolce vita…please let it be.

Joelle’s Tips:

Check his first composition Video with musician Al Martino from Capri

The Book: Capri-Claretta Cerio, Yvonne Meyer-Lohr and Umberto D’Aniello -320 pages, black and white photographs edited by Yvonne Meyer-Lohr -Text by Claretta Cerio Photographs by Umberto D’Aniello- Prestel, 2007 www.prestel.com – available at Amazon

The Cafe: Cafe Michelangelo 138 Via G. Orlandi, Annacapri

The Performing Artist CD : Nicole Renaud
Couleurs
© 2008 Nicole Renaud
MP3 price: $8.00
(About MP3 downloads at CD Baby)
Ethereal moody original French songs. A love story seen through colors where each song is a color. 20 pages booklet included with lyrics in French and in English.

The piano-bar live music: La Lanterna Verde – At the Hotel San Michele in Anacapri, with breathtaking views overlooking the whole of the Gulf of Naples. By night-Via G. Orlandi, 1 -80071 Anacapri (Napoli)
Ph. +39 081 8371427 – Fax +39 081 8371420- smichele@capri.it

Last year at this time, I was preparing to take a trip to Andalusia, Spain. When suddenly I came across a blog talking about the spiritual importance of water in the Islamic architecture of the Alhambra. In the same blog, I saw a picture that made a huge emotional impact on me.

I saved the link and left for Spain. On my way back, I would contact the artist, he certainly lived in Europe I thought and on my way back I ‘ll find more about him. On my arrival to New York, for some reasons my hard drive got burnt and ended up loosing all my information including that particular link. One year later, at a dinner in New York with artist Mattia Biagi and some friends, Yasmina Alaoui and Marco Guerra were right there in front of me.

Still, I had no idea about them being the “the famous link” persona. I found out after dinner only before going to sleep when I checked their website on the business card. There it was the picture that haunted my spirit was back talking to me once more.

I am now in the elevator of their loft on Green Street down in Soho. As soon as I get in I am received by a noisy small dog. The light is just amazing, the afternoon spring sun filters through a Moroccan embroidered white cotton curtain, the window is open, nobody around. Just the sound of an old record player emanating traditional Persian music almost as if prayers are sang around that space to prepare me for exactly don’t know what.

Yasmina dressed in a cute child-like light blue cotton dress with white lace and cowboy boots welcomes me and inviting me to sit. Marco with a large smile on his face comes after a few seconds eating a green apple and offering me one. The dog went sun-bathing on the roof. Yasmina filled him with suntan lotion and I without listening about he dogs tan details I look at the majestic life-sized art work that imperates their high ceilings walls.

Marco Guerra is a Chilean New York based fashion photographer whose works have appeared in the biggest magazines such as Cone Nast Traveler, Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue . He tells me that outside his career he is inspired by poet Pablo Neruda poetry, and the intersecting lens of photographer Edward Weston, and Tina Morotti.

He also undertakes personal projects like film and a passionate ode to love and women, he confides me he keeps secretly in a drawer away from everyone else his own world of personal photography, a search devoted in expressing the mysterious, the haunting, the sensual and the sculptured nudes of the human figure evoking the timeless and exoticism of mixed atemporary cultures passing through his life like a in a message.

That message finally understood, he confides me ,thirty years later he’ll exhibit on a powerful and meaningful retrospective solo exhibition . But in India there is a saying: ” You make the plans and the elephants (deities over there) laugh about it”

Yasmina Alaoui North African, precisely Morocco, is an artist herself. She studied Fine Arts in Paris and lived there for 10 years. She then got her BA in Fine Art from the college of William & Mary. Until she met Marco Guerra, her main expression were intricate drawings evoking her cultural heritage, a blend of Islamic calligraphy , Henna patterns and primitive naive arts.

Yasmina and Marco meet in New York and decide to live together. One day, almost by accident, the One thousand and One Nights miracle naturally fits into place. Maybe by coincidence, may be by spiritual drive, maybe by excessive longing for the sake of merging one with the other breaking the safety of the other’s boundaries, Yasmina firmly decides to ask Marco the access to his secret drawer.

Each drawing begins with black and white nude photography by Marco. Layers of complex ink drawings by Yasmina are meticulously added like a spider working on her net, and then digitally fused with the portrait in a breath- taking media solution.

The sun is setting above the Soho roof top. Marco talks about his ” Letting go” he’s still a little stiff about the effort he provided when Yasmina asked her aiming and direct question… I do not listen to him anymore …for a minute I pause sipping my cold water, looking at the sun reflecting when my gaze stops at a small Indian miniature painting they have on a corner of their staircase….

I realize that like in Tantra philosophy, the entire universe is a manifestation of pure consciousness. In manifesting the universe, this pure consciousness seems to become divided into two poles or aspects, neither of which can exist without the other. Shiva and Shakti come immediately in my mind.

One aspect is Shiva, masculine, retains a static quality and remains identified with unmanifested consciousness. Shiva has the power to be but not the power to become or change. The other aspect, Shakti, is feminine, dynamic, energetic and creative. Shakti is the Great Mother of the universe, for it is from her that all form is born.

Like in a miniature universe a legendary collection of tales from the Midlle East or the realism of South American poetry, are found in the cosmos and can be found within each individual, and the same principles that apply to the universe apply in the case of the individual being.

Shiva and Shakti, King Solomon and Bithiah, Marco and Yasmina, unite above the crown of the head with the pure consciousness. This union has the aim in all cultures, Islamic, Indian, Shaman, or Kabbalistic, it doesn’t really matter, to blend into a resolution of duality and a fusion with the Absolute.

By this union liberation is attained while living and considered in Indian Tantric life to be the highest experience: an union of the individual with the universe. The ultimate bliss is a transcendence of dualities male-female, energy-consciousness.

Yasmina is up checking on the dog , Marco wakes me up from my wandering thoughts ” Are you ok?”

“Yes Marco- I answer- thank you. There is a message for me, I think must prepare for a trip. ” “Yes of course..and where are you going?”

“May I have see that portrait again?

Joelle’s Tips:

To purchase Yasmina Alaoui and Marco Guerra contact:

y@yasminaalaoui.com /www.onethousandandonedreams.com

June 5 Exhibit:

Opera Gallery
115 spring street
NY NY 10012
1 212 966 6675