My Brother Evan Mann Brigantine, NJ January 25th, 2012.
New Portrait work for Fortune Magazine - Recently I’ve been lucky to complete a series of assignments for Fortune which I’ve been very happy with. Typically, when I’m photographing people from the business world I’m working with individuals who really don’t enjoy having their picture taken. It’s been a fun practice for me trying to get them loosened up and coax something unusual out of them, other than the typical power poses they’re essentially trained to lock into.
If a person is unknown to me I’ll often try to pick an archetype for them and then try to build on that. For example the woman pictured, Frances Hasselbein, reminded me of an aging starlet. I kept draping her coat over her shoulders and encouraging her to feel glamorous…I think it came natural for her. At one point I had her wearing her own large-framed, darkened sunglasses! It’s like playing dress up, only your dolls are highly influential people. Ta daaaaa!!!
Atticus Ross - Photographed December 8th, 2011 Los Angeles, Ca. By Moi.
(Source: wesleymann.com)
Keith Olbermann re-edit - With Mr. Olbermann making headlines all week, I decided to flip through my session with him and see if I could find something else to take away.
This particular frame came from the final three mins on set with him, once the ice had been cracked (and perhaps thawed out a bit). He became very engaged in a discussion with my friend Luke, whom I’d invited to the shoot hoping he could conjure something out of him. What I got was this and a whole series of very expressive faces from Mr. Olbermann, photographed in quick succession.
-Wesley
Keith Olbermann photographed June 3rd, 2011 by Moi, for The Hollywood Reporter.
(Source: wesleymann.com)
Trent Reznor - Photographed December 8th, 2011 Los Angeles, Ca. By Moi for The Hollywood Reporter.
(Source: wesleymann.com)
Landscapes by Jenny Harmsen
(Source: flickr.com)
I think this is one of the most perfect images I’ve ever seen.
Andrew Rowat, “Gold Ninja Miners of Mongolia” - This image appeared in the New York Times Magazine on Dec. 4th 2011. Reminds me of Pieter Brueghel, The Elder.
From the artists’ blog:
“To access the camp we needed to ride reindeer for three days from the nearest village and sleep outside – without tents mind you – in temperatures that plummeted below -50C. One more I awoke to find my water bottle frozen solid against my body inside the sleeping bag.”
Click it to enlarge, then please take a moment to take it all in. Truly masterful!!
Mert & Marcus Piggot - Following yesterday’s Dana Lixenberg post, I decided take a look at the two names I referenced as work I’m “into” these days. Dana’s work is very true-to-life and stark and by contrast these images are like vignettes of dreams with with lots of burning warm lights. Truthfully I’m not an enormous fan but their names are everywhere and they appear to be responsible a major portion of the successful fashion campaigns floating around these days. What always grabs my attention is their unusual use of color….even though I’m tipping off with a grainy BW. I would have lead with the current Gucci images but I didn’t want to include any with a logo, which speaking of, their agent takes the liberty of slapping (their own) on every image of theirs to deter them from being shared. These I hunted down across the wide expanse of fashion blogs.
Dana Lixenberg - In 2003, when I was 20 y/o, I was able to pick up an internship at VIBE Magazine working in the photo dept. Dana’s portfolio and assignment’s were some of my first tastes of contemporary photography. At the time my eyes were pretty fresh and It’s only now that I recognize that what stood out to me about her work was that she was never selling anything. At the time her style was the one that I was drawn to most. Now I like work like Mert & Marcus….I’ve become a monster.
Sometimes I wish I could go back and utilize my earlier sensibilities which were unsullied by the influences of the photo market and media in general.
*That image of Tupac is amazing. She photographed him no differently than she has anyone else.
See more of Dana Lixenberg’s body of work here
Dan Tobin Smith - I’m definitely not one to geek out of technical prowess, but this photographer is a wizard who knows magic …and is a genius.
*Check out the making of his “alphabet” series to have you mind blown. It could also make you feel a little lazy for not realizing your full potential as an artist or human. You NEED to see how he makes that letter X in the floor!!
Helene Desplechin
These from Viviane Sassen have been sitting on my desktop for awhile. I feel that I’m easing my way back into the chilly waters of blog posting by posting others’ works.
You can learn more about Viviane and see more of her fascinating work here.
Just saw these over at the purple diary. One of many examples illustrating the way in which fashion photographers excel at every form of photography.
Crafting the my book.
Johnathan Wong’s Upside Down Hotel Room Projections Taken from the series’ “Las Vegas” and “Camera Obscura”- Is it too obvious to state that these images are dream-like? A couple of these caught my eye on ffffound a while ago and have stood the test of time. I still adore them.
Is this concept original? I feel like I have some vague memory of this in color, yet a thorough search of his website turns up nothing. EVERYthing is in B&W. Not for nothing but Johnathan if you’re reading this, I would love to see what happens to your work in color.
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