"MY IDEA OF A GOOD PICTURE IS ONE THAT'S IN FOCUS AND OF A FAMOUS PERSON."-ANDY WARHOL

And so in that vein, are these. Some of my favorite celebrity portraits.

MEN IN FASHION!

If there is one thing I really love to shoot it's men, particularly when they are models dressed in fashion. Here is a recent thing I did along those lines. The fashion was furnished by Comme des Garcons and Lanvin and brought to us courtesy of Nicolas Klam, stylist.

MINDS THINK ALIKE; SOME EVIDENCE OF THE ZEITGEIST

The work of Polish artist Margarete Jakschik was brought to my attention recently. Look at these wonderful photographs of hands doing things, and sometimes even with plants. They are from 2008. It may not surprise you when I say that I love them.

(SOME) WORK OF MY MOTHER

These are 3 collages my mother Stephanie made from 1979-1981 that I have hanging in my apartment. Despite her obvious talent and training, she never really pursued her career as an artist. I think the passage I am including below explains, at least partially, why.

"Any analysis of human behavior, however rudimentary should take account of such phenomena. Historically such human beings have existed. Human beings who have worked-worked hard-all their lives with no motive other than love and devotion, who have literally given their lives for others, out of love and devotion. In general, such human beings are generally women."

-From Michel Houellebecq's, "The Elementary Particles".

FOR LOVE OF ADRIAN LYNE

I don't need to say much more about this, except to add, that Jacob's Ladder is perhaps my favorite movie of all time. It is superb, and completely under appreciated.

LES HURLEURS

This artist, who is a photographer, has made his work extremely inaccessible to the English speaking world. He is French, and his name is Mathieu Pernot. These photos, from what I can determine with my scant French abilities, are people shouting to their loved ones detained in a prison somewhere in Spain.

BACKSTAGE, MODELS APPARENTLY SPEAKING TO EACH OTHER

I cut this out of the NY Times a few years ago, it's from the couture shows in Paris. Probably around 2006. And so I ask you, has there ever been a more beautiful and evocative backstage photo? The answer is clearly, no.

ANOTHER GREAT SASSEN

I forgot to add this to the other Viviane Sassen post, but boy, I really should have. I love the pose of her feet.

SPEAKING OF HERB RITTS

As a younger person I never really liked or related to the work of Herb Ritts. Perhaps I found it too overtly homo erotic, or too commercial (in its time). But to visit it now, its so easy to see, this is top level work, work that I doubt anyone would be making, or even able to make, now.

THE RAPTURE IN CHRIS ISAAK

Ive always found this image of a man ascending into the clouds a very beautiful and an extremely optimistic conception of the end of days. I found it on a website somewhere devoted to the (fundamentalist) Christian notion of "The Rapture".
This black and white still from Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" video looks quite like it too don't you think?
It was directed by Herb Ritts (RIP).

1997 WAS THE YEAR

The year I took this, and I still like it.

THE PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY

Early color photography is perhaps one of the most miraculous things to look at. Our impressions of the past are so influenced by the technical capabilities of their time.
These incredible photographs of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorski were documenting the Russian Empire before the Russian Revolution- from 1909-1915. To look at these images is to look right into the face of the past, and, I say with utter seriousness, it's so close it almost makes me uncomfortable.

IN THAT VEIN IS THIS

I love it when bodies and faces are used as architecture. That approach works particularly well in black and white. Yet here, in this Helmut Newton photograph, it manages to stay deeply human and sensual. This image was featured centrally in a collage of my mothers when I was very, very young and so it exists as a primary image of my mind.

MAN'S LOVE IS OF MAN'S LIFE A THING APART

Im not sure what this image is from, or what it is trying to communicate actually. My feeling is that it is showing that the woman is somewhere else, in her head. In any case I am intending to use this as inspiration for a photograph I will do myself. Which reminds me, I remember a teacher I had in art school telling us a quote, that was something like, "an artist is only as good as the obscurity of their sources". I have no idea who said it, or even if it was actually said like that, but I never forgot it. Related to this is the quote that was allegedly said by Picasso, "Good artists borrow, great artists steal."

VIVIANE SASSEN IS GREAT

There is such incredible work coming from Viviane Sassen. I saw that pink toned photograph several years ago as the cover of the lesbian magazine Kutt, and since then I have seen some of my favorite magazine work ever from her in Fantastic Man, both fashion and portrait.
Last night she had an opening at Danziger Projects on 24th street of photos taken in Africa. Its so, so good. You should go.