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Hands

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Ilona Limonta-Volkova

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I live in the shadows. In many ways, this is my truest self. Divorced from the expectations of others and the outside world, my shadow’s sole function is to serve as an extension of me. Quiet, unassuming, it exists in the space between my internal and external self.

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The shadows of my hands depict the physical part of me that I value most. Years of playing the piano have stretched shaped them into their present long form. When used properly, they command the violin, a paintbrush, and now, a photo camera. This intimate connection between my hands and musicality is what I wish to depict.

Guitar

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Music has always played an important role in my life. One of my favorite childhood stories is one that is recounted to me by my mother and uncle. When my family first moved to Russia from Cuba when I was two, I was a shy child. I sat alone on the couch, shell-shocked by my surroundings. My uncle thought it would be fun to put a set of headphones on me. Although I do not remember what song was playing, it was by a Soviet rock band called Kino.

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My uncle left me alone in the room, and when they came back, they saw that I was in complete shock, with sweat collecting on my upper lip. The sight of a toddler in such a state surely must have been hilarious, and my family jokingly credits this moment as contributing to the development of my connection with music. At least, I’d like to think of like that.

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Self-Portrait 2011

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This connection with music shapes many, if not all, aspects of my life. Beyond influencing what I hear, it affects how I photograph things, how I evaluate my surroundings, and ultimately, how I perceive my existence as a human being. Without my uncle placing those headphones on my ears, I may never have become the person I am today, and the photos in this series may not have been what they are.

About The Author: Ilona Limonta-Volkova is enrolled in the College of the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School – Class of 2011

Dani Waagen Braatveit

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Dani Waagen Braatveit

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……….The beautiful, and the de-construction of it`s form and shape has always interested me. Taking what is looked upon as “the complete” and destroying it, for maybe uncovering something even more powerful and seemingly less. The human body, in all it´s grace and glory, is for me the perfect element to further explore my way of both thinking and making artwork.

Dani Waagen Braatveit

Dani Waagen Braatveit

Dani Waagen Braatveit

I work only with analog, medium and large format, and all the manipulation is done by hand. I often take up the construction and de-construction of “the perfect” and how the two sperate “poles” either can work together or function as a gap between the elements.

Dani Waagen Braatveit

Click 1

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Marque Love

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………. I was in my apartment talking with TW yesterday – when I showed him some test shots I had taken a few days ago of a woman I had known for over 2 years. She often teased about allowing me to photograph her, but consistently refused. The other day I was returning from the neighborhood Chinese restaurant and ran into her coming out of her apartment, which is just across the street from mine.

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We greeted each other and she asked to use my cell phone. While she was talking – I dug into my won ton soup. She finished the conversation and hung up, then proceeded to take a bite of egg roll. The image of her eating was inviting. With my camera at hand, I was compelled to take her picture. However she would would not allow me to photograph her while she was eating. She left to clean up at her place and later stopped by my apartment and started to remove her clothes. Ok click. Click………!

Click 2

Home

Posted on December 28, 2010 by Shumita Basu

……….Ever since I was very young I loved to write. I’d write short stories, poems, diary entries- anything to put my ideas to paper. Something about the freedom of combining words and phrases to express anything I wanted was incredibly empowering, and I played with words in this way all throughout my elementary school education. As I got older, I gained even more of an appreciation for different forms of communication. I became an avid reader, an involved actress in my school and community, and a prospective journalist. As far as I was concerned, these aspects of my life were all very connected; they all challenged me to find the best way to express an idea, and this challenge inspired me.
Taking a photography class has been an extension of my ongoing goal to challenge myself to learn how to express myself in different mediums, and I’ve found it to be an incredibly rewarding experience. While my stacks of draft prints, archived negatives, and contact sheets show evidence of the time I put into the class, my final portfolio is truly representative of what I took away from the course in regards to acquired skills and acquired perspectives (for what kind of photographer could succeed on skills alone?). My journey began with the first assignment- the self-portrait- and I can say with confidence that I will always remember shooting and developing that first series.

Self Portrait

At the onset of the assignment, I vaguely knew what I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to show myself as openly as possible, and to do this I made sure to take plenty of shots from a very close distance. I remember setting up my shots, focusing the camera on myself by tying a protruding scarf where my face would appear in the picture, and setting up the cable release to assure that I would have the right timing. I also recall having a difficult time planning this series, as I always tend to be judgmental of pictures of myself, but in the end I really enjoyed the shots I was able to take away from the shoot. Something about the assignment was particularly appropriate for my first introduction to photography- I had to determine how to photograph myself before I could photograph anything else.
Our second assignment was to take pictures of a landscape, people, or inanimate objects. I chose to take a picture of inanimate objects and explained my choice of shoes in my statement for that assignment, but I really had a lot of fun planning this shoot. I deliberately chose different types of shoes that I use for different purposes- tennis shoes for exercise, heels for parties, etc- and arranged them in different places as though they had been abandoned mid-action by their wearer. I enjoyed the planning and production of these photos and feel as though they really represented the side of me that finds humor in everyday life.

Shoes

The third assignment required us to examine a news event, so I decided to shoot my mother’s middle school where dramatic curriculum changes are underway. There was a career fair going on that day, so professions were visiting individual classrooms to tell the students about their careers and what led them to their career paths. I liked having the freedom of walking around the school and taking pictures in classrooms, but I also recognized the fact that I couldn’t directly take pictures of any of the students’ faces. This project gave me an understanding of the boundaries that exist while taking photos as a journalist and the importance of taking photos that accurately reflect the news story.

Hand Prints

The fourth and final assignment was supposed to be a personal project, and I relished in the freedom. I’d like to think that I’m a very independent and self-sustaining person, so when I moved to Penn for my first year of university last year I never really felt very homesick. However, even though this is now my second year at university, I have never felt more ready to go home than I’ve felt at the end of this semester. Perhaps it was a combination of the stressful workload and my seemingly never-ending list of responsibilities, but I’ve been feeling so ready to return home for a break, and for this reason I decided to go home for the weekend to shoot my final photo project.

Jewels

I’m a passionate music lover and have always appreciated music and lyrics that can express strong feelings which is why I chose my favorite song lyrics that remind me of home and wrote them directly on my photos with a calligraphy pen. I knew there were certain shots I definitely wanted to get- several of my younger cousins, several of my boyfriend, several shots of my bedroom, which is where I feel most at peace when I’m at home. Even though I was pressed for time this weekend to complete this project while working on my other finals, I’m happy with how these photos came out. They express everything I wanted them to- snapshots of what it means to be at home.

Peace

About The Author: Shumita Basu is a sophomore enrolled in the College at the University of Pennsylvania, Class 2013
Photos: Shumita Basu – Copyright 2010

Crucifix 1

Posted on December 8, 2010

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The last shoot I did in LA, I was very sad over some heartache. The model was also going through some of that too when I picked her up, so my head wasn’t in the right space and hers wasn’t either. I still shot her and in many of the pictures the sadness came out. Not until now because I’m feeling a lot better that, I edited photos with a different eye, I liked some of the results. I think they reflect that, dark, sadness and to me the cross speaks more in terms of what men can put you through in love, a crucifix……

Crucifix 2

Photographer: Alejandra Guerrero - Fashion: Vex Clothing Co.

To purchase Skin Two – Issue 61: http://www.adultmagstore.co.uk/skintwo/
To learn more about Vex Clothing: http://www.vexclothing.com
To learn more about Alejandra Guerrero’s photography: http://www.alt-er-ego.com

Anya

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Posted by Mikel Elam on November 12, 2010

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There is a nostalgic quality to this photo of James’s cousin Anya. She was a young aspiring model standing at almost six feet tall. Quite inexperienced in front of the camera at the time of the shoot, and yet somehow that lack of confidence was used to her advantage. James simply wrapped her in a lace cloth and well the rest is magic.

Damsel In Distress

The second photo reminds me of a movie still. Perhaps a damsel in distress and on the run. They both share a certain quality of the early photographers of the last century. James Vanderzee comes to mind.I have often wondered if James Rushing’s photographs were intermixed with photos of another time would I be able to discern the difference. He has always been an old soul and it reflects in his vision.

Self Portrait: Monday, October 4th, 2010, Chicago

Posted on October 6, 2010

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In general my self portraits are more spontaneous, a thing of the moment, though sometimes I elaborate a bit more. I had been wanting to portray an alter ego as somewhat of a Photography Villain. My work deals with the erotic, taboos & fetishism, which are more associated in general with the darker side. I identify with characters that are somewhat dark and mysterious, femme fatales, vamps, villains etc… I wanted to portray this using common kind’s of cartoonish elements, the eye patch, the smoke, the overall look and since my work is mostly of an erotic nature, I thought it would be nice, since I don’t create explicit self portraits to produce something a bit more bold by being body painted and have that erotic undertone, while at the same time being covered in paint.

I also didn’t want to have the camera in my hand like I usually do.  Instead, I held a remote as to make it clear, “I took this image of my self”. So I got in touch with my make-up artist friend and told her the idea and she loved it. It took her a few hours to prep me. She also assisted me by holding a mirror while I framed the shot, so I was able to see what I was doing.

By the way it wasn’t easy at all! Modeling, holding poses, firing the camera and mostly smoking (which by the way I’m not a smoker), made me very dizzy, but worth it because the effect with the smoke gave the self-portrait that touch of bad ass it needed. Funny enough I was going after to a Playboy Magazine party and it took me a long time to wash the black off, I got tired of scrubbing and left my upper body clean, while the lower part had still some stain spots. Two days later I’m still stained! The photo made it all worth while.

To learn more about Alejandra Guerrero’s work, log on to www.Alt-Er-Ego.com.

Diane: Rochester, New York 1978

……….This picture of Diane was taken in our apartment, while I was studying photography in the Master of Fine Arts program at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1978. This was a very playful time for me, as I was experimenting with various way’s to create interesting pictures. As you can see, I was already interested in the nude as subject matter and Diane, my girlfriend at the time, was always a willing participant in these visual explorations. I will send a signed copy of my latest book entitled Wasteland, to anyone that can figure out how this picture was created. Send your comments to my email address at tony@tonyward.com. Good Luck!

For Immediate Release

Posted By Jessica Moats

Introducing KONG Magazine

KONG Magazine is pleased to announce the launch of its inaugural issue on Friday, July 2, 2010. This bi-monthly magazine will be available both online and with a limited edition print version containing all the original artwork from the site. KONG Magazine is a sex and comedy publication that seeks to bring stimulating entertainment and art to women around the world.

Creative Director and Founder, Jessica Moats, uses her impressive background at publications such as New York-based Playgirl and BlackBook Magazines, to create a magazine that will fill the void in the current women’s interest market. KONG Magazine creates an interface were sexual interests coincide with cultural ones by offering the newest trends in music, art, foreplay, design, humor, comedy, politics, technical innovations (including vibrators and other sex gadgetry) and photography—the X-rated kind.

The first issue seamlessly blends the mission of KONG Magazine by entertaining, informing, and promoting collaborations between emerging artists and writers. Cover model, Greg Sestero of famed cult classic, The Room best exemplifies the magazines’ ability to effortlessly mix sex and comedy.

Please email press@kongmagazine.com for a press kit, interview requests, and additional information on the magazine or any of its subjects.