TonyWardStudio.com

The Kiss

Copyright 2012

Upenn: Photography $ Fashion

Posted on February 8, 2012

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The Walk: What is the best piece of advice you would give someone who wants to go into the fashion photography industry?
TW: Study Art and Photographic History, Politics, Business and current events. It is also very important to be driven by an unrelenting passion/obsession: to become the very best in the field. As the great Alexey Brodovitch used to say: “astonish me”!

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Bonnie Arbittier

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The Walk: Which designers have been most inspirational to your work? What about these designers resonates most with you and your personal voice?
TW: The first designer that was most inspirational early on was Emilio Pucci. He was one of the first artist that I recognized that became a master of his craft and the art of branding – by the application of his signature to has textile designs. I loved his sense of style, his choice of fabric and palette. His scarves for women and ties for men were commonplace in my parent’s wardrobes. In recent times, Calvin Klein has always impressed me for pushing the envelope of eroticism and fashion. Sam Shahid, the man behind CK’s sexy ad campaigns – designed the original lay out for my second book, Tableaux Vivants.

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Renata Siruckova

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The Walk: What does the word “fetish” mean to you? How do you encourage a student to incorporate the concept of fetish into their fashion photographs?
TW:Fetish means a penchant or obsessive interest in a particular thing, often related to sexual desire. Any student that endeavors to incorporate the concept of a particular fetish in a body of work are encouraged to understand the law: as it applies to what is commonly referred to as the censorship of obscene material. Working within the framework of the law, is important for the production of any photograph that may be considered lewd or lascivious in nature.

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Tara McConachie

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The Walk: At what point do you believe that nudity in art crosses the line into pornography? Is there such a distinction?
TW: I don’t believe there is a distinction. Nudity in art is about context and sometimes the subject area of the artists oeuvre has a very compelling erotic component. Pornography is primarily defined by politicians and legislators.

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Clare Din

Editor’s Note: The Walk is a student run fashion magazine, published by the University of Pennsylvania. Cover Photograph: Erica Sasche – Copyright 2012

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Photographs to accompany the interview were produced by TW’s Photography & Fashion students at Penn. The next course offering, Fall of 2012.

www.Summit.OnwardPhoto.org

Posted on February 7, 2012

Dalet Gallery: January 21 - February 25, 2012

Posted on February 3, 2012

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Editor’s Note: Dalet Gallery is located at 141 N. 2nd Street, Philadelphia, Pa. To see more of Leah MacDonald’s work, go to the search bar at the top of the page: enter name and click the green icon.

Model: Elizabeth Southward

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Posted on January 23, 2012 – Copyright 2012

Live Targets

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Ted Adams

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ARTIST STATEMENT

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I’m generally interested in what things look like (as opposed to any sort of inherent meaning), although sometimes events converge to create irony, humor or interesting juxtapositions. These usually happen by accident – I think that when you’re actually taking the pictures, you have to react to things in an immediate, visceral way – then something akin to “meaning” creates itself later when you’re looking at the negatives and deciding what to print.

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Cig Lady

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Barrier

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Picture-taking also has a psychological aspect which reminds me of going fishing or sifting through junk at a flea market: It involves an obsessive-compulsive drive to put your line in the water to see what you reel in – a subtle mood, an ambiance, a visual structure that tickles your brain.

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Double Hugs

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I’m also interested in photography as a way of cropping the world into rectangles, as a way of selectively taking things out of context – which often results in stripping the original meaning out of the subject matter, or at least in making the image open to interpretation. Kind of the opposite of photojournalism, whose intention is to create “narrative” and “context” rather than to discard them.

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The Saint

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Jesus Number

Photography is, in its very essence, the art of cropping – whether in the camera or in the darkroom.

About The Author: Ted Adams was born in Louisville, Kentucky USA. The artist resides and works in Philadelphia as an Art, Street and Documentary photographer. He is also Owner/Director of the Southwark Gallery, Philadelphia. To learn more about Ted Adams’s work log on: www.TedAdams.net.
Copyright 2012