I recently came across the 1987 issue of Italian Lei magazine featuring a then 11 year old Milla Jovovich. The title of the article “Lolita’ is very fitting for these great images captured by Herb Ritz. Milla would then be photographed by Richard Avedon for his “Most unforgettable women in the world” campaign for Revlon.

By coincidence, last week Milla took part in a performance piece entitled FUTURE/PERFECT, created by Tara Subkoff which opened the 55th annual Venice Biennale.

Milla, portraying the protagonist, inhabited a glass house for 6 hours. While in the house Jovovich only contacted the outside world through electronic devices, ordering vast amounts of merchandise, art, and other objects. The objects and packages were then delivered to the house, filling it to the brim.

Tara Subkoff along with Milla may be moving into the world of performance art with the greats such as Yoko Ono and Marina Abramović.

When I started in photography digital wasn’t an option. I fell in love with capturing images, and it is how I began my career. There is something very organic and soothing about shooting film especially larger formats. You have to really slowdown and think. Is that really such a bad thing?

I recently I came across a very interesting article by Ken Rockwell about his views on film: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/why-we-love-film.htm

I was looking through some boxes and found these rolls of film from the 70’s that I have been holding on to. Kodak stopped producing these beautifully crafted aluminum canisters somewhere in the early 70‘s.

Genesis by Sebastiao Salgado

Last night the ROM hosted guest speaker Sebastiao Salgado. He discussed Genesis, his photographic essay eight years in the making. I really enjoyed the event and have admired Salgado’s work quite some time. He spoke of his transition from several decades of documenting global atrocities and conflict to his more recent work which speak of innocents and purity. The prints are truly breathtaking and indeed monumental.

North of Ob River. Inside the Arctic Circle. Yamal Peninsula. Siberia. Russia. 2011. © Sebastião Salgado Courtesy of Amazonas images

“Genesis is about our planet earth, nature and its beauty, and what remains of it today despite the manifold destruction caused by human activity. It is an attempt to portray the beauty and the majesty of regions that are still in a pristine condition, areas where landscapes and wildlife are still unspoiled, places where human communities continue to live according to their ancient culture and traditions.” Sebastiao Salgado

Genesis is showing at the ROM until September 2013.

7 Year Itch

Gio is constantly reinventing and even renaming his restaurants. You could say that he has caught the “7 year itch”. Featuring a Marilyn Monroe inspired wardrobe, and accompanied by Kendo, Mr. Rana (though slightly apprehensive at first) put on a brave face and allowed us to capture this very eye catching image.

Toronto news stands are about to be hit with a creative and beautiful new food magazine. LEO Magazine (Let’s Eat Out) is the brainchild of Peter Mazzotta. Peter and I have been colaborating for a many many years…

“LEO Magazine is Toronto’s exclusive restaurant lifestyle magazine as seen through the eyes, words and taste buds of the Restaurateurs here in Toronto and the GTA. Each and every month we have owners, managers and chefs talking about where they like to eat and other things that make them tick.”

For the feature spread we were welcomed with open arms to Gio’s Really Really Nice Restaurant (The name fits!). The entire staff are much like Gio himself – kind, generous, and great to work with.

We are looking forward to creating content with Peter for the future issues of LEO Magazine. Cheers and Congratulations Mr. Mazotta for realizing your dream.

Dan Hill

THE VAULT 04/13

In 1999, I received a phone call from Sony Music. They were in need of CD art for Dan Hill’s “love of my life” best of and they felt my work would compliment the music he was about to release.

Dan Hill is an Award winning singer/songwriter and author. Born in Toronto, Dan is one of the most respected and successful artists to come out of Canada. Some of his most popular singles include “Sometimes When We Touch” and “Can’t We Try”.

He has written songs for many many artists including Celine Dion, Britney Spears, Michael Bolton, and Reba McEntire.

The shoot took place in studio and on location over the course of 2 days. We shot a lot of different things and had a great time. We built three different sized cubes in order to give each item or person similar presence in the shots.

The images were shot in black and white as well as colour. The colour images were not released, this is the first time I am showing them.

I was going through some prints this week and I just so happened to come across another image I had shot of Dan.It was taken at the Juno Awards sometime around 1978, many years before I knew I would photograph him for Sony. He had just won Male Vocalist of the Year – Burton Cummings and Gordon Lightfoot had also been nominated.

 

Spoiled Rotten

       This months The Vault post takes no prisoners.

 

   THE VAULT 02/13

Inspiration for these images, taken in 2002, came from the capricious heirs to modern fortunes that were frequenting the media at the time. Exposure to a lavish lifestyle from a young age can have an interesting outcome. The more you have, the better – or so it seems. Occasionally when someone is presented with everything they desire without having to earn it,  they can develop an attitude that isn’t always pleasant.

Jockey Wear

THE VAULT 02/13

In our February post for “The Vault”, we decided to go even further into the archives and dig up a couple of really strong images.  This campaign was truly about beauty and simplicity. Calvin Klein was big on the sexy look so Paul and I took it toward a dreamy, floating on air approach with lots of sensuality. The casting went on for a whole day and once these beautiful people walked thru the door we knew we had who we were looking for.

These images were shot for Jockey Underwear in 1988 and was Art Directed by Paul Hains.

Andrew Pyper for Quill and Quire

Over the years we have photographed many well acclaimed authors, such as Farley Mowat, Leonard Cohen, Umberto Eco, and Carol Shields. Recently, we were able to continue the tradition by photographing Andrew Pyper for Quill and Quire magazine.

Much like Umberto Eco, Andrew draws on the topic of paranormal subject matter to lure his audience into his novels. He is a great Canadian author and has been compared to Dan Brown, Author of “The Da Vinci Code”. His most recent work, “The Demonologist”, a novel about a Columbian professor on a quest to save his daughter from the Underworld. The concept for this shoot was to photograph Andrew in a very dark and mystical way. The lighting that was chosen gives the images an otherworldly feel.

For more information on “The Demonologist”:

 http://pages.simonandschuster.com/the-demonologist/

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In The Spirit of Black History Month

The city of Toronto has officially named February 6th Bob Marley Day, and with an ever changing world, there is no better time to spread Marley’s message: Unity, Peace, Love, Freedom and Empowerment to All. Today marks what would have been the Reggae Superstar’s 68th year.

We are very fortunate to have the opportunity to get to know Donisha Prendergast, Grandaughter of Bob and Rita Marley. Donisha is following in her grandfather’s footsteps by sharing her views on love, peace, and understanding as well as the ideology of the Rasta way of life. She is a multitalented, creative and compassionate woman and we are very fortunate to be able to both collaborate and photograph her. Above is Donisha celebrating her birthday with us in Toronto last month and below is a shot we did of her in our studio.

Click our image of Donisha above to view our recent feature on the Broncolor Canada website,which includes other images from this shoot as well as an interview with myself and a behind the scenes video.

A BLAST FROM THE PAST

We’ve been receiving several requests from fans to post some of our older images. We’ve decided to add a special new monthly blog post called “THE VAULT” to keep people in the loop with some of our more iconic images captured several years ago. We’ve got some pretty cool stuff to show.  Have a look!

    THE VAULT 01/13

This 1st photo plays on the James Bond craze.  The client was SCI and it was shot in 1998, using April as the model.