Artists of Photoshop...

Images by Swedish photographer/manipulator Erik Johansson.

Day N' Night...

"I firmly believe that everyone is entitled to a little bit of awkwardness, ugliness, weirdness, and individualism. I particularly hate it when people criticize others for their quirky or "flawed" style in clothing, art, or music. So f*ng what? At least they're being honestly expressive, which is more than I can say for so-called tasteful people with their calculated "creativity" that is banal, if anything. Those people have no guts."

New York based photographer Red de Leon says it how it is. His photographs, which are as majestic as his name, have morphed from raw portraits to crisp fashion photography. There is a layer of ambiguity to his images; although he casually writes about current projects and daily philosophies on his flickr page. More work at 990000.com.

Carmen & Elle...

These photographs are by photographer/stylist duo Carmen Fruedenthal and Elle Verhagen (respectively). I found out that the two worked in-house for Bernhard Willhelm from 2001 to 2007, which isn't surprising since like Willhelm's pieces, their photographs are bright, intricate and captivating. Their work is very clean and crisp, but the subjects/settings are ambiguous and bizarre. The duo has also shot for mags like i-D, Jalouse, Visionaire, and Dazed & Confused. Both Carmen and Elle are based in Amsterdam.

Dazed & Confused talks to Mark Borthwick...

by Mark Borthwick, image via dazeddigital.com

Mark Borthwick, fashion photog of the 90's whose airy, moody pictures were featured in i-D, Purple and Self Service magazines, is interviewed by Dazed & Confused this month. Borthwick often challenges the line between art and fashion with his trademark of overexposed film. Oh, and Maria Cornejo is his wife. Borthwick talks about his process, his punk youth and a recent retrospective of his work titled 'Not in Fashion.' Read the rest of the article here.

"The still must tease with the promise of a story the viewer of it itches to be told" - Cindy Sherman

I was introduced to the work of Cindy Sherman in photography class a few days ago, and have been practically obsessed with this woman since. In the 70's, Sherman dressed up in these great costumes and photographed herself, a 69-picture series named Untitled Film Stills. Her images are intended to look like film stills and they are so dramatic and noir. images via mastersofphotography.com.

Linkage: Wiki, Masters of Photography, Cindy Sherman.

If you close the door...

   

images via Vogues Hommes Japan 

Vogue Hommes Japan chose no other than designer-turned-photog Hedi Slimane to shoot a cover/editorial for the second issue, which hits newsstands on March 10. Title "The Americans," the editorial captures toned, white So-Cal boys doing American things, like sleeping in hotel rooms and playing with basketballs and wearing Brian Lichtenberg headpieces and stuff. See the rest of the images here.

Courtney Love shot by Hedi Slimane

Slimane recently bought a Beverly Hills home and says, "I spend most of my time in Los Angeles, and have observed how the artists in L.A. are rejuvenating the L.A. art scene." Hedi has been shooting artists in LA for a couple years now, but a return to fashion might not be out of the question.

[from WWD, Vogues Hommes Japan; images via Vogues Hommes Japan, Hedi Slimane Diary.]

The Last Days of W.

The other day I was introduced to the photography of Alec Soth. Soth's photographs grabbed my attention for their power of turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. Images strongly depict mood and feeling - in a way that is refreshing. I love how his images are both dreamy yet emotional. It's almost as if viewers have a distant connection with the people in the images they are seeing.

Soth's ability is especially obvious in his fashion images, which show simplistic bliss in an often  ostentatious industry. [images via alecsoth.com]