Friday, May 23, 2014

June 2014 Magazine Covers

June/July issues are notoriously among the weakest selling magazine issues of the year. As a result, a lot of magazines give off the impression that they don't even try. However, this year I find myself going crazy over a bunch of June covers. Especially the smaller European glossies have produced some stunning images for their summer issues. 

Have a look at some of my favorites:






 left to right, top to bottom:
Vogue Ukraine June 2014 (Arizona Muse by Cuneyt Akeroglu), Zoo #43 Summer 2014 (Constance Jablonski by Phillip Gay, L'Officiel France June/July 2014 (Angela Lindvall)

i-D Summer 2014 (Julia Nobis by Willy Vanderperre), 032c Summer 2014 (Lara Stone by Sean + Seng), Jalouse June 2014 (Gia Coppola)

Harper's Bazaar España June 2014 (Barbara Palvin by Xevi Muntané), Numéro China #40 June 2014 8Lexi Boling), 032c Summer 2014 (Limited Edition, by Mario Sorrenti)



Thursday, May 15, 2014

We need to talk about We Need To Talk About Kevin

As much as I love reading, it does not occur very often that I feel compelled to write a review about a book. I can think of maybe four or five books that thrilled me so much that I wanted to discuss them again and again. Now I can add "We Need To Talk About Kevin" to that list. 

The author, Lionel Shriver, says she likes creating characters that are "hard to love". And this is true for every person named in "We Need To Talk About Kevin. The main plot: teenager Kevin murdered seven students at his high school. In letters to her husband Franklin, Kevin's mom Eva reflects on Kevin's childhood and her role as a mother. 

source: amazon.com


The book brings up so many questions about parental and social failure, mental illnesses, who to blame for what, who is deserving of what punishment, and it describes the helplessness of everyone. It's a sad and pessimistic view of life, but never have I seen it being portrayed in a more fascinating way.

You don't want to sympathize with Eva, because she is - as she admits herself - not a good mother and maybe also not a very good wife. And yet it's hard to not recognize yourself in some of the things she says or does or thinks. Her honesty is shocking but admirable.

You cannot help but be repulsed by many of the things Kevin does as a young child and of course the horrible actions he takes as a teenager.

And Franklin? He is a bit of  a douchebag. You can give him credit for trying to be a good dad, but it's hard to ignore that in the end he's just a vacuous, shallow, stereotypical suburb American (a Republican, even!) who is in denial about everything that is wrong in his family.

Shriver's language is so precise and the whole story is so well-conceived, it makes this novel all the more terrifying, disturbing and mind-blowing. 

I have nothing but love for this book. I would never have picked it up myself if it had not been recommended to me. I hope this post inspires a few people to read this ingenious book because it's more than worth it.


Monday, May 12, 2014

Cinamatic...

FYI, I am still obsessed with Hipstamatic. But now there is also Cinamatic, basically the video version of Hipstamatic. And guess what? It is just as addictive.


(my video; used Film: Charlie)

Yep, Cinamatic is the perfect outlet for your untameable creativity (i.e. your urge to document your cats' beauty and life and cuuuuteness in motion). The short films can be between three and 15 seconds long, a fancy vintage filter can be added after you have recorded your clip. Which is great, because you can preview the clip with the various filters and decide which one fits your film best. It also gives you the feeling that you are actually doing some neat post-production. But it is, of course, disgustingly simple. A very fun app that makes amateur filming with your phone look good. And addictive, of course. 

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Elina Kechicheva: a foolishly underrated fashion photographer

With the vast amount of fashion magazines readily available as digital editions these days we are literally being flooded with fashion images on a daily basis. The frustrating thing about this is that there only seems to be a handful of photographers (or photographer duos) whose work makes up for the majority of the published images. That surely is one of the reasons many fashion editorials nowadays come across as repetitive, unimaginative and forgettable. I enjoy the work of a lot of the big guns in fashion photography, but I still cannot help but wonder why some talented photographers rarely ever get booked for blue chip magazines? 

One of the photographers whose work has stood out to me a lot lately is Elina Kechicheva's. You won't find her work in any of the Vogues or Elles of this world. The publications she seems to somewhat regularly shoot for are the various editions of Marie Claire. Not really the number one source you would check for striking, unique, different fashion photography (although they also use Jacques Olivar a lot, another favorite fashion photographer of mine). 




The way Elina harmoniously fuses her vision with the fashion and the chosen locations and models in her stories is sublime. She works with light, reflections, water and colorful make-up in a unique way. Her editorials often seem very cinematic and I can only assume that she is very directional and fastidious when it comes to the posing and positioning of the models and the usage of props. I wish more was known about her and her way of working, but it's hard to find any information about her on the web (The biography on her website simply states, "Elina Kechicheva was born and raised in Bulgaria and has been working as a photographer for the last 14 years."). I think she's awesome and I consider myself a big fan. Check her website and also her thread on TheFashionSpot to see more of her impressive work. 

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Numéro Tokyo #77 (June 2014): "Fashion Survivor"



June issues of fashion magazines are only just coming out, but I am already declaring this story from Numéro Tokyo my favorite editorial of the month. Dutch model Querelle Jansen delivers in this story, photographed by Laurie Bartley and styled by Felipe Mendes. Her nonchalance and coolness paired with the unusual photography - gotta love those angles and the intriguing setting - make this an inspiring, memorable editorial that I just had to share here.



source: tfs forums