Style Icons: Male »Bert Stern

sternPhotographer

RIP, Bert Stern. I wrote the noted photographer up years ago here. He sadly passed away recently. Here are just a few of the iconic images he leaves behind.

Be sure to check out the lovely Jazz on a Summer’s Day too.

stern2

stern3

See more: Style Icons: Male


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on July 15, 2013

Web Sites »Humans of New York

Untitled-1 Untitled-2City Portraits

So much of the Internet is negative and depressing but Humans of New York is different. While it can hardly be called constantly uplifting – many of the brief interviews involve questions people’s saddest days – it makes people from all walks of life seem like brothers, sisters, children, mothers, and fathers. Where the Internet has given rise to faceless hate (I just don’t even read comments anywhere anymore), HoNY gives grief, humor, pain, joy a face. It’s one of the only feeds on Facebook that I look forward to seeing.

See more: Web Sites


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on June 29, 2013

Web Sites »The Impossible Cool

Photo Tumblr

The Impossible Cool is an aptly titled tumblr that features amazing, mostly black and white photography of the coolest men and women.

Often featuring photos rarely seen and always mesmerizing, the site makes the idea of “celebrity” seem cool again.

Just a few favorites here, but the archives are worth browsing for inspiration.

See more: Web Sites


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on March 18, 2012

Style Icons: Female »Lillian Bassman

Photographer

Lillian Bassman passed away recently and I’ve been meaning to commemorate her influential and inspiring career. A giant among men in the fashion photography world, she lent mystery, dreaminess, and drama with her high contrast, geometric and experimental images.

Her photos are moody and intimate, seeming to capture impromptu moments with the models faces often obscured.

While Bassman may not be a name as widely recognized as Avedon or Himmel (both of whom she helped with their careers as an editor at Bazaar) her iconic images are instantly recognizable.

She was 93.

 

See more: Style Icons: Female


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on February 25, 2012

Spend a Couple Hours »Weegee: Murder Is My Business

at The ICP Museum, 1133 Ave of the Americas

I’ve been looking forward to the ICP Weegee show Murder is My Business for months and it didn’t disappoint.

The larger than life tabloid photographer, never squeamish, brought the bloody and violent truth of NYC crime to the front page with shots of recently killed gangsters (and innocents), taken sometimes before the police even arrived (his nickname came from the Ouija board because people joked he used it’s powers to know about crimes.)

His images, though gruesome, are rarely without a sense of humor though. He not only took photos of the gorey, but often captured he way New Yorkers accepted the violence around them, often convening around crime scenes with smiles on their faces.

His Coney Island images, reversely, always have an element of creepiness among the smiles and summer fun.

ICP has added a couple neat components to the show including a replica of his room and an interactive station that shows Weegee’s images next to the current locations in NYC. It’s hard to imagine people being shot in broad daylight on the steps of the chic stores in Soho and Little Italy.

Fans will be thrilled, but the salacious material should gather new fans too. Don’t forget the gift shop – I always like to get a little something from the best shows I see and they have mugs, totes, pins, and posters.

See more: Spend a Couple Hours


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on February 12, 2012

Spend a Couple Minutes,Web Sites »Instagram

Awesome App

Like Twitter it took me a while to “get” Instagram (and not just me judging by how many friends have posted one or no photos).

Not only does it have it’s own language, the purpose is individual.

I’ve found that it’s a lovely way to document the days. Like a visual journal. Glimpsing others’ lives is also fun.

Sure, it’s strange at first to share images with the public, but unless you put effort into getting followers you won’t have too many looking anyways.

The filters are great and the coolest part is that you apply them after the photo is taken and get previews before applying them.

It takes some of the surprise of say a Polaroid or even the Hipstamatic away but at the same time you won’t lose a great photo to a bad filter.

If you want to get started with a few good people to follow let me recommend:

Manrepeller – style shots with lots of rad jewelry

Freepeople – serious office envy

Cocorocha – super model life

Davidlebovitz – Paris food awesomeness

Miwaramone – dreamy shots of food and more from Japan

Refinery29 – one of my favorite sites with a great feed. Recent Bangkok photos amazed

And of course me! Bhague

A few of my photos and ones from the people listed above are below.

See more: Spend a Couple Minutes,Web Sites


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on December 7, 2011

Web Sites »Vintage Everyday

Excellent Photo Blog

I have been completely captivated by the photo gallery blog Vintage Everyday.

From creepy old Halloween pics to portraits of Circus performers in the 1940’s, from heartbreaking images of London after a bombing to scary NYC subways in the 80’s, there’s so many fascinating images to behold in this neat, clean, well curated site.

It is indeed updated everyday, so be sure to bookmark this one and don’t be surprised if time simply disappears as you go through the archives.

See more: Web Sites


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on November 7, 2011

Style Icons: Male »Tom Palumbo

Photographer

As today’s weepy weather reminds us – everything is fleeting – including the fun days of summer.

Sure we have about a month more of it, but if you haven’t taken time to go to the beach, don a bathing suit or lounge in the sun, these gorgeous Tom Palumbo images will inspire you to snap to it and do so asap.

While his work was versatile, as a staff photographer at Vogue then Bazaar, Palumbo created indelible images of ideal summertime bliss.

Often photographing the great Jean Patchett and Anne Saint Marie, he caught moments of seaside frolicking that feel both exquisitely fashionable and quietly personal.

He taught for a time at my alma mater, RISD and was also an accomplished stage director.

His website features great galleries to peruse and some of my favorites from him are below and after the jump.

Click here for the rest of Tom Palumbo

See more: Style Icons: Male


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on August 14, 2011

Web Sites »J Cosmas Vintage Photography

41 Roslyn Avenue, Providence, RI

I stumbled across J.Cosmas Vintage Photography quite by accident but was immediately drawn into the arresting images.

Surely I am not the only one among us that can’t resist the eyes of the past and if you too are a fan of vintage portraits, this is an incredible collection.

Priced reasonably, these would make a great gift for the lover of antiquities in your life.

The website is well organized, with large, clear scans, and informative and enthusiastic descriptions. Clearly, they have a passion for their trade (and the passionate are the most fun to buy things from).

Plus, they’re based in one of my favorite American cities, Providence.

See more: Web Sites


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on June 2, 2011

Web Sites »Youthquakers

Vogue Magazine 1965-1975

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love Youthquakers!!

These wonderful people have posted large scans of British and American Vogues from 1965-1975. A Golden Era, if you ask me, before Jennifer Aniston took every third cover. If I had the time, resources, and energy, I wish I had provided a site so complete and excellent on the subject – lucky for us all, someone else has done a bang up job.

Not only are there tons upon tons of amazing photos from Bailey, Newton, and Avedon of Anjelica Huston, Lauren Bacall, and Twiggy to name just a few – but it’s also very easy to search by subject, photographer, or date.

This is really quite a feat and very time consuming no doubt, so much, much thanks to the people behind this. I’ve only skimmed a few issues and am already fawning and excited. A must visit for fashion, photography and vintage lovers.

Several of my favorite images are below and after the jump, but give yourself a nice afternoon to really peruse this fantastic resource.

Click here for the rest of Youthquakers

See more: Web Sites


2 Comments →
Posted on April 20, 2011

Spend a Couple Hours »Wang Qingsong: When Worlds Collide

at The ICP, 1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street

The main floor of the ICP is devoted to the historically important uncovering of thought to have been lost Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, and Chim photographs of the Spanish Civil War, but at the risk of sounding uncultured, it wasn’t totally my thing. I found the downstairs exhibits much more interesting starting with the staged giant photographs by China’s Wang Qingsong.

While on a simply visual level they are impressive for the amount of effort to elaborately stage the scenes they remind me a little of the glossy hyper real work of someone like David LaChapelle (who, for the record I can’t call my self a fan of). Thematically, though these imposing images are far more complex and interesting. The modern story of China is infinitely intriguing and Qingsong’s interpretation of recent history – particularly it’s new role in and fascination with consumerism – is thought provoking and revealed things I didn;t know before.

Around the corner is a much smaller exhibit of Baptism photographs and postcards. There’s something haunting and almost eerie about a baptism (just ask the people that made the intro to True Blood). Strolling past the images, I was drawn into the ritual, the costume, and the often blurred faces that looked like ghosts. The tone takes a dramatic shift, however when you read the ignorant and often downright racist messages on the back of some of the postcards. Baptisms were seen as very exotic by visitors and though probably never witnessed by most, postcards depicting the act were sent back home for relatives and loved ones to marvel at the strangeness of it all.

Next door are the photographs of Alonzo Jordan. If the baptism images show the divide between cultures, his show the similarities between black and white communities. Smiling gorgeous young African American men and women celebrate birthdays, weddings, home coming dances and football victories even as the realities of racism simmered in the back ground. In 1998, the town of Jasper, which these photographs capture years before, was home to one of the worst racial motivated murders in US history when James Byrd, Jr was dragged to his death. That one can clearly see in these photographs that the black people of the community were truly equal in their hopes and dreams makes the sting of reality that much more painful and hard to understand.

See more: Spend a Couple Hours


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on March 16, 2011

Web Sites »The Museum of the City of New York Collections

Digital Library

The Museum of the City of New York just put over 50,000 enthralling images of the city’s past online. Quite an undertaking and one that should be greatly appreciated by anyone curious and enchanted with the way things used to be in this vibrant, ever changing city.

Featuring the work of some of the most talented documentary photographers including Berenice Abbott and Jacob Riis, it’s fun to go through familiar neighborhoods and streets to see what they looked like over a hundred years ago. The museum is working to add even more images from their archive soon.

(images left and below: Jacob Riis, 1890, Berenice Abbott, 1935, Jacob Riis, 1890, Byron Company, 1899, Byron Company 1898)

Click here for the rest of The Museum of the City of New York Collections

See more: Web Sites


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on December 29, 2010

Web Sites »Least Wanted

A Flickr Photostream

Browsing through the impressive collection of mug shots from Least Wanted, aka Mark Michaelson is a fascinating trip. I added a few favorites here, but really, you could spend a big chunk of your day going through his flickr albums (and I recommend you set that time aside).

He published portions of his collection in a hardcover book also called Least Wanted and currently creates eye catching street art based on the images.

Click here for the rest of Least Wanted

See more: Web Sites


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on December 3, 2010

Web Sites »The Girl Who Ate Everything

A Blog About Food

If you’ve ever looked up a restaurant on flickr, chances are that one of the mouth watering images you’ve seen will have come from roboppy – aka Robin, the blogger behind the food blog The Girl Who Ate Everything. There are over 1600 pages in her flickr photostream (!) so believe me when I say that the few images I’ve included only scratch the surface of her bright and appetizing photos… just be sure not to go through them on an empty stomach.

The blog itself is charming and not limited to the city. Her travels will surely offer good ideas for where to eat abroad and elsewhere in the US. My only complaint is that it’s a little difficult to browse the extensive archives.

She also writes for one of my favorite blogs, Serious Eats and recently became a fan of exotic short hairs (Tiptoe loves having fans). What a gal!

Click here for the rest of The Girl Who Ate Everything

See more: Web Sites


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on October 20, 2010

Style Icons: Male »Hans Silvester

Photographer

Well, fashion week had some inspirational styles, but the images that have been most profoundly inspiring to me this week are the tribal photographs of Hans Silvester that I came across. These floral adorned people are from the Surma and Mursi tribes of East Africa’s Omo Valley and the subject of Silvester’s book Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa. Their makeup and accessorizing serves no purpose except to be creative, daring, and inventive.

Click here for the rest of Hans Silvester

See more: Style Icons: Male


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on September 18, 2010

Books »The Sartorialist

by Scott Schuman (2009)

Scott Schuman is the dapper creator of fashion’s finest street style blog, The Sartorialist. Last August a book version of the photography site was released. It’s a thick collection of his best images and a great addition to any fashion photography fan. I am still awaiting the day he photographs me but I am very, very patient.

Click here for the rest of The Sartorialist

See more: Books


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on September 12, 2010

Web Sites »Scouting NY (and an Adler Hotel Update)

Film Scouting in NYC

Shaun turned my on the Scouting NY, a fascinating and beautiful blog described by it’s author thusly:

“For the past four years, I’ve worked as a New York City location scout finding locations for feature films. I’ve been pretty much everywhere, from the highest rooftops to the deepest subway tunnels, from abandoned ruins to zillion-dollar luxury penthouse apartments.

What always amazes me about New York is how much there is to see if you take the time to look. Every street has a hidden gem or two, and yet they go largely ignored by thousands of passersby daily who simply don’t have the time to pay attention.

As it happens, my entire job consists of paying attention, and I’ve started this blog to keep a record of what I see.”

The images are amazing and it’s great to learn about all the secret hidden gems in and around the city that we walk by every day. He’s even made a google map of all the places featured on the blog, if you care to no longer walk pass them without a second glance and really take in all the interesting and marvelous locations that are virtually around every corner.

As a bonus web entry this week, also in the vein of abandoned, beautiful buildings.. here’s a great flickr series sent to me from that amazing Adler Hotel Jim and I visited a while back.

Click here for the rest of Scouting NY (and an Adler Hotel Update)

See more: Web Sites


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on July 18, 2010