grafik May 2009

the latest events for your diary:

Talent-spotting, Alex Ostrowsk:

The May show-case includes, daValence, cover art by H5 (shown below left)and BB Saunders British Ceramics Biennale, (shown below right)

A new typeface for Volt Magazine, designed by Studio Julia (shown below left) and Studio8 Design and Applied Works rebrand for Dealerward (shown below right)

The next feature literally had my jaw dangling down in wonder…an interview with Mirko Borsche, who runs his own studio, Bureau Mirko Borsche and Zeit Magazin shown below:

Profile/interview with Danny Sangra, shown below:

The Design Renegades feature is fantastic, shown below:

Book review section includes: Paper Edited by Paul Sloman, Published Black Dog £24.95, Tag Town by Martha Cooper Published by Dokument £13.99, Airside by Airside Published by Gestalten £35.00, Play All Day – Design for Children Published by Gestalten £40.00, We Make Magazines Edited by Andrew Losowsky Published by Mike Koedinger £32.50, Creative Space by Fancesca Gavin Published by Laurence King £19.95.

>EDIT: such a muppet, thought I’d posted this over a week ago!!! Wah….:(

IdN Vol 16, No.1

I don’t know why, but IdN is not a magazine I’ve bought before, the only excuse that I can think of is, accessibility, as I no longer live/work in the ‘big smoke’ I often find literal access or availability to various magazines a problem…and also, if I am honest, in the past I’ve been somewhat shy to spend £10 on one magazine, whereas now I have a greater understanding as to what you’re actually getting for your monies worth, and in regards to IdN it really is worth everydamnedpenny.

Firstly, the layout is stunning and the paper quality both thick and shiny depending on what you happen to be reading, ( OK, sorry if this sounds weird but I love nothing more than inhaling the scent of lovely papers and inks, seriously, this magazine smells yummy to me…) secondly, the features / reviews / interviews are diverse and engaging.

If innovative layout is what you’re looking for then IdN has it in spades, (OK I’ve no idea if they do this in every issue) but either way, the way they organise what you’re looking at, is just gorgeous, an example shown below is the ‘introduction to what’s on the DVD’ and yes well it may look a little crammed-in at this size, but it really, it’s easy to follow and it pulls in your interest, as I am sure some of us are guilty of chucking a DVD to one side, well this really does whet your appetite…

IdN DVD content

As soon as you’re into the magazine, there are some great showcases of some really interesting and talented people. WOW.  I really liked the work of Serge Seidlitz and his ‘world doodles’, his website has a similar approach but with practically everything clickable, the sheer volume of work is staggering. The facing page, shown here too, is about the release of a behind the scenes book “NoiseFive” from ATTIK.

The big craft issue, begins with some in-depth interviews, Julien Vallée, shown below: (I love those little triangles)

and IWant, shown below: (ahhhhh, I also love those birdies, hanging down from the celing…)

and Ciara Phelan, shown below: (what you can’t see is these pages actually fold out)

Silkscreen print work by Kate Gibb, shown below:

The next big feature is about a variety of Parisian studio / designers; 9Eme Concept shown below left, and Frederique Daubal shown below right,  (Parisian designers can include any nationality, as long as they currently live/work in Paris.)

H5 shown below:

Ich & Kar shown below (and I have to admit I absolutely love the dog/cat wall decals shown here):

deValence shown below:

Sylvia Tournerie shown below:

The next section is called ‘pick of the month’, Johan Prag shown left, top, and illustrator Mark Borgions shown bottom left. Gregory Gilbert-Lodge shown right.

Dominik Schwarz and his installation Typoase shown left, top. Designs for Replay and their Children’s Heart Foundation shown bottom left.  Right hand page, top is Soren Severin. Right hand page, bottom left, street art from Brad Downey. And finally right hand page, bottom right, Micro-MIC Mystery Six Series designed by Ultraman.

The next section is a really interesting look at the graphics behind music, work by Invisible Creature shown below:

WOW what can I say? I’m definitely a fan of IdN and will make every effort to get it again in the future!!

]]> http://caffeinatedkit.wordpress.com/2009/05/07/idn/feed/ 0 kit, kitty, kittycat idnvol16no1_fc1 idnvol16no1_02 idnvol16no1_04 idnvol16no1_05 idnvol16no1_06 idnvol16no1_07 idnvol16no1_08 idnvol16no1_13 idnvol16no1_14 idnvol16no1_15 idnvol16no1_16 idnvol16no1_17 idnvol16no1_18 idnvol16no1_19 idnvol16no1_20 http://caffeinatedkit.wordpress.com/2009/05/01/sublime/ http://caffeinatedkit.wordpress.com/2009/05/01/sublime/#comments Fri, 01 May 2009 19:01:41 +0000 caffeinatedkit http://caffeinatedkit.wordpress.com/?p=768 Continue reading →]]> Sublime – another random find.

Sublime, Issue 14 2009

Sublime has an interesting tag line: “The first international sustainable lifestyle magazine” – eh, wow, that’s rather a lot to live up to, right there.  I have to say it starts off strong, or I should say, shiny, as the pages are just amazing (Hhhhhmmmm, now I’m curious, if that means its ethically printed / sourced paper and if one can recycle it, or not? – nah, it must be…) The first feature is on the Earth Awards, to be honest, I’d not heard of the Earth Awards before reading this piece, however, after seeing some of the innovative products out there, such as, the stunning ‘Illuma’ light (by Andrew Neal and Timothy Porter) is a lovely design and and clever product, I’m definitely a fan, in brief the Illuma is described as:

“A net zero-energy, zero carbon footprint light system that employs LED technology. It is deployable via solar, wind, or grid.”

The topic is really interesting…

“We were able to explore the possibilities before us from a spectrum of work covering design solutions for sustainable buildings, packaging, emergency housing and city infrastructures…”

…and the photography, though, big, is sort of jammed-in, however, with that said, I’m sure there were probably many many more images that could have also been included, that didn’t make the cut, makes me think it was a shame this topic wasn’t given more pages:

By contrast, the photography, for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards, is big and utterly brilliant, the first cheeky-chappie, a monkey with the most adorable expression by Stefano Unterthiner entitled ‘Troublemaker’, couldn’t be more fitting and definitely worthy of a top prize…

The next piece is an incredibly powerful interview with Claire Bertschinger, a red cross worker who first witnessed the Ethiopian famine before we, the rest of the world, knew what was going on, indeed the introduction states; “Claire Bertschinger was the inspiration for Live Aid.”

Claire Bertschinger comes across as both world-weary, and yet still full of hope and positivity and she speaks so much common sense you cannot help but shake your head in wonder…wonder, as to why we don’t do more, why we don’t ever seem to learn from our past mistakes. Citing her own experiences crossing through various hostile borders and talking to people – soldiers? terrorists? – people, on each side of the dividing line, wherever that maybe, each has his concerns; concerns for his family, concerns for the future, each the same, each stating the ‘other’ is to blame for bloodshed – a very interesting interview.

The School of Life, piece is interesting and I really am tempting to visit, (I’m pretty sure I read about The School of Life a while ago, in Monocle magazine and I probably said the same thing, then – ha ha…) but not to detract from this piece, as Sublime devotes a lovely full spread to it:

Other topics include: Fair trade chocolate with an interview with Sophi Tranchell, MD of Divine Chocolate. Art with a review of giant sculptures from Gunilla Klingberg:

Music with an interview with PJ Harvey, plus additional album reviews. Film with the Birds Eye View Film Festival. Food also gets a look-in with reviews of the current crop of cook-books Sublime is recommending, plus a few sage words from Richard Ehrilich, in regards to being more energy efficient in your kitchen.

There are some other fantastic features, one big feature on cars, a few pieces on fashion and make-up… Sublime continues with its ‘sustainable lifestyle’ features of which those that really stood out, for me, are the Masdar Project and the two amazingly ambitious New York projects, one a garden/farm the other an entirely new ‘green’ neighbourhood and with that said the Millennium Development Goals feature is also really very interesting!

I’ve also got to mention how much I really enjoyed the stunning fashion pages:

Alongside the  fashion, above, there’s also a feature on ethical fashion, with the London College of Fashion having hosted a ‘Fashion Summit’. Dr Frances Corner, Head of College at the London College of Fashion discusses fashion, climate change and the choices being made by fashion creators / innovators these current – and future – generations will have many tough decisions to make, and those decisions will potentially have a massive impact to our environment. A sample of what’s to come:

Another fashion spread and the photography is seemingly out of this world, photography by Filippo Fortis:

And finally, I just have to add how much I enjoyed reading the ‘tattoo’ feature by Hannah Engelkamp, photography by Lindsay Adler.

I wasn’t too sure what to expect, thought maybe it would be a tad preachy but its an excellent feature with really interesting insights, thoughts and pulls in some interesting arguments, from God and the Devil, to literally sticking a finger up at society expectations, decisions, regret,. its all there…

Overall I really liked Sublime, and would definitely recommend it for anyone who likes their art and fashion a little on the ‘green’-side as well as anyone who likes fashion/photography. However, my only sticking points, is firstly, the masthead, yikes, I’m not so keen and the ‘boxy’ pullquotes, not sure what’s going on there, especially on the smaller one-page items, its just a tad dull…

Qvest March/April 09

Primarily, it is a dedicated fashion magazine for people who really want to read about fashion, there are little newsy gossips, (Kanye West designing trainers for Louis Vuitton) then there are lots and lots of other little tid-bits, a new line here and there (‘Correct’ from G-Star…) and then there are really good full-length features with a surprisingly good mix of interviews: Art/artists, film stars and fashion features all side-by-side…. how odd….

The photos accompanying the Maggie Cheung interview are absolutely stunning, no disrespect to Tamara Rothstein who conducted the interview, but these photos could be on their own (sans interview) and it would still be strong, photography by René Habermacher:

Alongside Maggie Cheung, is Daniel Brühl, both staring in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” yet to be released in UK, according to IMDB, scheduled for August… 

I have to admit I rather like Daniel Brühl, having really fallen for him in the rather darkly humourous“Goodbye Lenin” – in which his mother falls ill / into a coma, during which time she’s completely missed the fall of the Berlin wall, he sets out to spare her from the ‘shock’ of this change, convinced it would kill her…

The interview reads as if two friends are having a bit of a chit-chat and we just happen to be over-hearing… whether this is the laid back approach of Daniel Brühl or interviewer, Isabelle Kountoure, I’ve no idea, but, somehow, it really works – the photography is so calm, so subtle, its just lovely, photography by Tim Gutt.

-

I was rather surprised (and I admit upon first glance a little disappointed) to see a massive interview with TV-star Taylor Momsen of “Gossip Girl” fame, but, upon second reading, I realise, again, I was being rather inconsiderate and now I know Taylor Momsen is actually quite the old pro, having been modeling/acting professionally since she was a mere tot…during the course of the interview, you really get a sense that she’s got many many ambitions, as yet unrealised, (fashion, music…) so I expect to be seeing her more in other magazines, as time goes by, at least next time ’round, it wont be quite such a surprise, photography by Michel Haddi: (…I’m assuming no puppies were harmed during this shoot…)

Did I mention there is some stunning photography in Qvest? Though, OK, I admit I don’t get the connection between the text and the images on this one – interview with Daphne Guinness – but its such a strong image, I love it…

Photography by René Habermacher

The photography for the fashion pages is stunning, tiny selection below:

Photography by Tung Walsh

Photography by Tung Walsh

Photography by Sean & Seng

Photography by Sean & Seng

Photography by Takay

Photography by Aitken Jolly

Photography by Tabassom Charaf

One or two minor sticking points:

1. Typos, wow. towards the end of the magazine, “Casting” section, each young model introduced with a short paragraph giving background info. and well, its just wow one mistake after the next (…makes me think perhaps the wrong version was sent to the printers…?)
2. Layout, though overall the layout is fine, its just a little, ‘pah’, whereas the quality of the words and the images is superb.  I really wish the designer had been given greater freedom to have a little fun and play with the straps/headlines (positioning, font choice) and maybe move things around a little more creatively,. (heck, I urge Qvest to go check out “Little White Lies”, even though entirely different genre and format!)

> All-in-all I am pleased that I was recommended to look at Qvest and that I took the time to do so, properly and I look forward to getting it again…

“It’s Nice That” is absolutely jam-packed with superbly interesting features on artists from a variety of disciplines and at various stages of their career trajectory (from student to seasoned.) The magazine is beautifully printed, on thick thick textured/recycled(?) paper. The features range from a highlight, to full-on interview, each are fascinating…. Love it…

Once you open “It’s Nice That”, you wont put it down until you’ve read the entire magazine! Yes really, it’s that good…

I was happy to see, just a few pages in, the work of Alex Trochut (see “Vroom” post) – alongside is the fantastic Oliver Jeffers iconic illustrated story “Lost and Found” (…a story about a boy and who finds a penguin and decides to return him, home….) been made into a 3D Film, by Studio AKA (I had no idea, and am so excited to hear that!)

I was also pretty transfixed reading the Eike König interview, founder of HORT design studio, it really read as a fantastic place to work…The Jacob Dahlgren interview caught my eye, having seen “The world, things, life” at the Venice Biennial in 2007 and also because of his striped t-shirt addiction, er, very interesting…

Another truly fascinating read, Andreas Laszio Konrath‘s “A road to somewhere” – a really sweet and genuinely heartfelt self- exploratory journey through-out his childhood, how those things that effect us as kids, can, if we allow it, shape the people we’re to be; be this the cruelty of kids, picking on another for a foreign-sounding name, to the love of death metal or punk music, or of skateboards or photography:

There are just so many fascinating highlights, that I run the risk of literally listing them all here,. so just final couple to mention and I’ll stop, “Swimming Pool” by Leandro Erlich (below left) and “Urban Collectables” by ChinnyChinChin

Esopus, #11

I think it was the rather big  – “Boom!” – cover artwork that attracted me to this rather heavy magazine (it is really rather weighty.) This current issue of Esopus is an intriguing mix of beautifully drawn illustrations, photography and features.  Some of the illustrations are truly amazing and they’ve additionally printed some ‘extra long’ via a fold-out, to the equivalent of say, 4pages, I guess so that you can see the context of the artwork, and it really is quite stunning.  The New York Sketches, (shown below) are inspired from suggestions made by the readers of their favourite thing within New York, its quirky, humble and made me chuckle…

New York Sketches

One reason why I really warmed to this publication is that it had a few little extra well thought-out touches, such as; what looks like a reproduction of a handwritten letter, tucked into one of the features, so clever, it makes it seem so much more real and personal… The transcript for Jim Henson’s – Youth ’68 (shown below) is also quite stunning, utterly chaotic and shows the working progress or evolution of an idea, its at times impossible to follow, which makes it seem all the more interesting, as if peeking into the very thoughts of a genius/mad man…

Jim Henson’s – Youth ’68

It really is a beautiful magazine… hope you go check it out…

I know I’ve gushed about Monocle before, so I should try not to, however,. its really very hard for me to not want to go on and on about this magazine, its just perfect in every way imaginable…

The current issue (May ’09) has a special report coverline, which reads; “Vikings vs Pirates” this, coupled with the stunning “model” good-looks of two Danish Navy personnel, with their faces bathed in a warm sunset glow, the sea and sky filling the horizon level… its like the beginning of an amazing epic war movie… (I keep on waiting for a pumping soundtrack to kick in!!)

Monocle, May 09

…all joking aside, its a serious and powerful feature on Somali pirates, stating that:

“…pirates attacked over 120 ships last year and netted an estimated $40m (€29.2m) in ransoms…”

The feature portrays the Danish Navy with the utmost respect for what they are doing, for their skills, professionalism and modern approaches.

Reading about a more modern approach, is so completely the opposite to what I’ve seen portrayed in (American military) movies whereby the hierarchy rules are absolutely rigid, it just seems sort of shocking…. however, the beauty of the feature is you read and see people as being people, not just a uniform.

…and yet there they are, in with over 10,000 square miles to patrol, one sailor is quoted as saying:

“Its like policing the US with a scooter”

One distress signal that they pick up is from a Chinese ship, under attack, but given its distance it would take a full 24hours to get to them, by which time the pirates would be long-gone. The frustration must be agonizing. The sheer scale of this, to me, is just amazing, incomprehensible even..

Also consider these “pirates” they are such desperate people, armed with:

“Rusting Soviet-era weaponry and handmade ladders…”

– however the Danes take the human rights of these individuals very seriously and rigidly follow legislation, the feature continues to say that the pirates are so well treated, in regards to being well looked after and well-fed they often gain a little weight…and even given access to cigarettes should they so wish…

~

Wired

I know that there has been a lot of coverage over this, the UK launch issue of Wired magazine, so I guess I don’t need to go on about it!

And well, apart from the absolutely stunning cover artwork, (below)

I wanted to highlight the fantastic feature “Cowboys of the Deep”, which had me completely riveted whilst I was reading it, honestly it read like a movie staring Bruce Willis (circa 1988) it just oozes maleness and testosterone, you half expect someone to cry out “Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker” – and I’m really not kidding, these guys are risking life and limb (quite literally as it happens) to “right” a capsizing freighter packed full of cargo.

Couger Ace

Using a lot of computer-wizardry and a lot of machomusclepower and experienced know-how a small team set to put the troubled freighter right. Its an really intensely frightening ordeal. I gathered that these men are handsomely paid, but I still cannot comprehend why on earth people choose to risk absolutely everything, (and are so cavalier about it…) and yet, the potential ‘greater disater’ if the ship flips, or flip flops, or sinks,. is also hard to imagine as a good outcome… so hurray for these crazy bunch of misfits.

The round-up sections were also a treat and I enjoyed reading about the current crop of fantastic commuter bikes and high-performance laptops:

~

Elle Decoration

Elle Decoration, May 09

With a lot of blossom and a little sunshine, it seems Spring has arrived… and the current issue of Elle Decoration, is, indeed very bright and Spring-like… I still have a weakness for all things bright and beautiful and in the current issue, the glimpses of beautiful private homes, as ever, a treat, from the coverstory, Fresh & Wild of a designer New York pad, to a hidden gem home in Barcelona to the modernist Californian home… plus all the usual extra round-ups…

Dumbo living…

18thC-apartment, Barcelona

Californian, retro-chic,.

Best of the best…

~

Little White Lies

Little White Lies, the “Let The Right One In” issue, April 2009

I bought the – hopefully still – current issue of Little White Lies as I love movies, I love reading about them, however, I usually shun horror movies, (I am such a wuss) but once you start reading about “Let The Right One In” there’s something about this small, quirky, Swedish film, that according to the buzz surrounding it, is set to be modern-cult-classic… tempting…now I just need the courage to actually go see it…

Tomas Alfredson, director “Let The Right One In”

A really interesting interview with the director of “Let The Right One In” and as you can see, above, a fantastically designed spread, to me, this is the exact reason why Little White Lies is such a fantastic magazine, as it really enjoys what it is doing and as you get the impression that they’re enjoying it, I, in turn, enjoy it all the more too…Still on the vampire topic and another example of Little White Lies beautiful layout, Lawrence Pearce, writer and director “Night Junkies” shown, below:

Little White Lies, also comes packed with reviews of upcoming or current released movies: sample below of reviews:

The layout for reviews is very simple and clear, again exactly what a reader wants…

In this current issue, covering all things-vampire, “blood” obviously rates quite high as a visual theme, however, there is an amazing and incredibly serious feature about the illegal blood trade in China, entitled “Blood of the Dragon”, pictured below, and is one of the most horrific HIV/AIDs features I’ve read. I have to commend Little White Lies for including this feature, ballsy move…

I was quite overwhelmed, when reading journalist, Pierre Haski detailing his horrible dilemma when faced with the problem of how to answer a woman and her husband, who have just returned from hospital, she has a fever and no one has told her what she has, no help, no information – her husband innocently questions, is it contagious? – what do you say…? OK so, I am not the most politically-thinking person in the world, and don’t really know that much about China, but when I read this and the following:

“…This was June 2001. This woman was HIV-positive, but had no idea about the nature of her illness. She and her family knew nothing of a virus that had been known in the rest of the world for the previous two decades. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, China pretended AIDS didn’t exist. The government didn’t inform its citizens about the disease’s transmission modes, and covered up cases like this one, due to official negligence…”

…it makes me very sad and very angry. The feature cites the selling of bloody by people living in poverty, from isolated/rural areas, it was seen as a great means for literally making money. This was back in the 90′s and through corruption, disorganization and a lack of basic sanitary/hygiene it all went horrifically wrong and when contaminated blood was discovered the blood drive just closed-up shop and left… no reasons given, no information, no warnings as to what was to come…the feature explains that given the economics of selling blood, in these areas, had created such a valuable source of income there were even riots over these closures…

It really is a powerfully written feature, I really urge people to go read it… also noted at the end of the feature: Pierre Haski’s book, “China’s Blood Trade” is published by Grasset (Paris) and Susanna Lea Associates.

I first stumbled upon the work of Aaron Nace completely at random, via an intriguingly entitled photograph, “I was born cool, and for that I make no apologies’” of a man (himself) sitting in a chair with a potted plant on his lap, oh, and did I mention apart from said hat, he’s absolutely ‘starkers’? Well, I guess that explains the plant…

The first few photographs of Rosie Hardy‘s that I saw were from her fairytale series and they are insanely creative interpretations of classic fairytales; including a stunning shot of Alice taking a final/fatal leap in, “Alice’s Final Delusion“, to a pocket-sized Thumbelina snuggled-up, asleep, in a packet of cigarette’s in “Thumbelina’s Stunted Growth” to a harrowing-junkie-version of sleeping beauty “Sleeping Beauty’s Other Needles” or a rather sleezy take on Puss in Boots in, “Puss in Boots’ Job on the Side” – I was only going to name one or two, but get carried away, in fact I’d like nothing better than to list them all… but this is just a taster of Rosie’s work:

"Alice's Final Delusion"

"Thumbelina's Stunted Growth"

"Puss in Boots' Job on the Side"

The photographs that Rosie has taken, around her local area, perhaps say on a hilltop, you’ve got to remember, includes lugging her gear, equipment and props, up that steep hill, setting up her shot and posing, often in some truly awful weather conditions and more often than not, in a gorgeous, but flimsy, outfit and occasionally, bare-footed too, wow,. brave girl.

"Breath"

"Auditiorium for Souls"

"Outcasted"

Rosie and Aaron are each, without a shadow of a doubt, excellent photographers, but their “art” really does transcend beyond this, the post-production that each painstakingly does, is as uniquely different as their photographic styles, but each individual leans towards a number of props, themes, styles or techniques, such as: the gorgeous rough textures Rosie uses, or say her playful use of origami planes or a rather fetching clowns wig she’s mightily fond of:

"The Great Escape"

"Release Me"

"What Do You See"

Aaron’s expert Photoshop skills are absolutely stunning (and for all the naysayers, I’m categorically NOT overstating this…) [I will update this info, as and when I've got a response from the man himself, and of course, I hope, permissions, to include some examples of his photos and amazing Photoshop skills,. though you can also nip over to the Aaron and Rosie blog, and see some great 'before' and 'after' examples and some fantastic tutorials, each explaining how they achieved a certain look or effect...]

One entire section of photographs Aaron has are as a homage to other artists/photographers that he admires and some are truly jaw-droppingly amazing. Aaron “as” or “in the style of” a Van Gogh, Dali, Klimt, Andy Warhol, Thierry Le Goues, Anne Geddes and Bansky… to name but a few… The shot that really stands out in this series, for me, is Aaron’s take on “that” National Geographic Cover, entitled “The Eyes of Aaron“, based on Steve McCurry’s “Afghan Girl” (June 1985 issue.)

But what truly amazes me, is, well, all of it, the set-up time, the detailed planning, the lighting techniques and the post-production – all of this – all of this is what makes both Aaron Nace and Rosie Hardy “tick” – I swear, when you read a posting for an image and it states that it took a hours and hours to set up the shot, or that he/she has carried a packload of equipment into the woods at 1am, just to discover they had forgotten something and have had to pack it all away, go home, retrieve the missing item, and, well, do it all over again, yikes!,. that’s dedication for you.

OK if its not yet clear, why these two hugely talented people are getting lumped in together here, let me explain the reason, well, its because they are a couple, (to explain a little further, Rosie is British, Aaron is American and are separated by quite a distance!) but, they often work together – even when miles apart – at which point, they collaboratively work on a final piece whereby, they each take “their” section. The results are stunning. Sometimes you’re totally unaware, that they weren’t physically together at the time, such as the aptly, titled “I had to find you, tell you I need you”, a shot whereby each is on his/her side of a partition wall:

"I had to find you, tell you I need you"

"We Seem To Never End"

"A Play Within A Play"

What Aaron and Rosie share, is a love and dedication of photography, of ideas, creativity, never-ending enthusiasm, a love of highly skilled post-production work and as well as a love for one another (OK I know that last bit is a tad cute, but, really, they are without a doubt simply the cutest couple you’ll ever read about online…) and part of their love for all these things includes sharing their photography via Flickr.

"My Obsession"

For those who don’t know, Flickr is a Yahoo!-based photographic community and amongst other things, is a place for photographers (anyone from absolute beginners-to-pro’s) to “exhibit” their work, perhaps participate in a specific niché group or join in some lively discussions… ….or as it so happens, like for these two, fall in love…

…and when, on the odd occasions, their separate lives do actually, physically, collide, everyone who follows them on Flickr, sends them lots of well-wishes, and though everyone gushes over every development of this relationship, I cannot help, but think, with shots like these, its us that’s being spoilt: (I guess it doesn’t exactly hurt that they are both absolutely gorgeous!!)

"I AM HOME"

"Wrapped Up In You"

I’d love to ask Aaron and Rosie a few questions about their photography, methods of working and plans for the future and to hopefully make more people aware of them and champion their work, heck I’d shout it from the rooftops if I thought it’d help…

KIT: Can I firstly begin by asking each of you to outline how your love of photography began? – and if you were each interested in the artwork/post-production side of it from the outset or if that’s something that grew, in tandem, with the complexity of your ideas?

Aaron:…tbc

Rosie:…I’ve always loved looking at pictures, in magazines and online, and one day while looking at some artists’ photos that I really badly wanted to make images that were as beautiful as theirs, and thats when I started to consider photography as a hobby. I suck at drawing and painting, but I can just about handle a camera, so I decided to get a point and shoot and start practicing! Post production began as just something I spent 5 minutes on, but now I have realized just how far you can go with it. I love editing and photography equally now

KIT: Can you tell me a little bit about what you do for a living? (ie.if photography isn’t currently the ‘day job’… / …Rosie, how much longer have you left at School?

Aaron:…tbc

Rosie:…I have 3months left at school! I am so excited to leave, right now I just feel frustrated because it takes up all my time. Most of my income comes from photoshoots I do at weekends, usually of bands and friends of friends etc. Online exposure hasn’t really altered my income very much, I make about £5 profit per print that I sell personally so not that much really. Hopefully when I leave school I’ll be able to go out and shoot a lot more.

KIT: Considering all the things going on, in each of your lives, how on earth do you make time for such complicated set-ups that also require extra work during post production? – in particular I am thinking of the 365,. (a photo-a-day challenge)

Aaron:…tbc

Rosie:… For me, photography is just higher up on my list of priorities than most other things. If it’s between taking a photo and going out for a night out… photography wins. I’ve pretty much been left with not much of a social life, I suck at handing in homework in time and I’ve dropped two of my four a-levels to make more time for photography. I’m addicted.

KIT: If you had to choose ONE current favourite shot you’ve each taken (or that each other has taken) which would it be and why?

Aaron:…tbc

Rosie:… I really, really love the one of me and Aaron in the lake, in the mist. It was so much fun to shoot, and I really like the way it came out. I love creepy, misty, haunting pictures and the shot came out looking like the idea i had in my head, which is rare.

KIT: What happens next?

Aaron:…tbc

Rosie:…I finish school, get myself together and hopefully move to America to start shooting other people, for companies etc. I hope to become satisfied with the quality of my work by the end of the year and once I am I’m going to start sending my portfolio out and hopefully get some real good jobs on my list. With Aaron by my side, I think that pretty much sums up my ideal life.

I’d recommend you all join Yahoo! / Flickr, you can also check out their blog.

~ photos © Rosie Hardy, shown with kind permissions

Varoom Issue #9 2009

I sometimes treat myself and buy VAROOM magazine, (its a treat as its a tad pricey, but I have to say when I do get it, I am so enthralled by the quality, I wonder why I don’t buy it more regularly and assure you its worth every damned penny – go buy it now!)

Varoom magazine is dedicated to illustration, the current issue, shown above, is actually an ‘illustrated lettering edition’ and as you can see from the front cover artwork, the work is mind-blowing! If you’ve not bought it before, the magazine is a true joy to behold, the pages are thick and I mean THICK and glossy…the features really make the most of this high quality and display the artwork BIG, which, I guess, is really as it should be, for an illustration magazine…

I was really interested in the cover story feature, and was engrossed reading Steven Bateman’s interviews with various lettering artists. In his introduction, the distinction is made between type that is designed to be used across various media, and type that is used to be illustrative, as say, a one-off:

“…illustrated letterforms are liberated from this requirement and are free to boast pictorial qualities enlivened by the idiosyncrasies of the artists who made them…”

Interviews and artwork in the feature include work by; Marian Bantjes, Mike Perry, Grandpeople and Alex Trochut (who also designed the cover artwork, above.)

On a personal note, typography is a really difficult subject for me to comment upon, as its not something I’ve studied (though I’ve had to make decisions based on what might work across a feature or entire magazine and I literally cack myself) …but I am respectful of type and the talent of typographers and feel drawn to it, as it were… So to then look at type from this new perspective, as illustrated letterforms, hhhhhmmmm, interesting…and yes, I believe Steven Batemen hit the proverbial nail-on-the-head, with his comment whereby the artist includes a bit of his or her personality in what they’re working on…

During the course of the various interviews you are also made aware how much of a painfully double-edged-sword fame or notoriety is, as often clients want the exact same style seen in previous work… whereas they (the artist) has moved on, or knows that a particular style doesn’t suit the project/brief they’ve been commissioned to work on…I believe it was Marian Bantjes that made a particularly interesting comment on turning down work that had dull copy, and to that extent enjoys or prefers working with her own words, because there’s no escaping bad copy… its just bad… it can’t be dressed-up… – interesting… Marian Bantjes also had some really interesting comments about how she works through an idea, discarding the obvious, then coming full-circle back to the original idea… (…heh heh…) I was further intrigued to read Mike Perry say that he had a short attention span and as such, prefers to work early mornings and oh yeah, Alex Trochut saying he’s actually not good at drawing! – er,. wow… (…pick me up from off the floor!)

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There is obviously a ton of other stuff in the magazine, I can’t regurgitate it all here, seriously, GO BUY VAROOM NOW! Though, very quickly, I’ve gotta mention, the “sticker” feature, below, is also FAB, perhaps a little short though….

]]> http://caffeinatedkit.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/varoom/feed/ 1 kit, kitty, kittycat varoom-fc varoom-feature1 varoom-feature2 varoom-feature3 varoom-feature4 http://caffeinatedkit.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/cutpaste/ http://caffeinatedkit.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/cutpaste/#comments Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:16:37 +0000 caffeinatedkit http://caffeinatedkit.wordpress.com/?p=498 Continue reading →]]> Cut&Paste, London 2009

Having seen a snippet of a previous Cut&Paste event online, I was really happy to hear about the London event coming up and happily roped in a buddy to come with me to see what’s what.. Most simply put the event is a competition and is organised into 3D, 2D and motion graphics, each participant battling it out, against each other, for a much coveted spot in the finale in New York….

For me, the standout talents of the night; Cory Brown and Jason Turner… Each chap had an abundance of what I can only describe as pizazz and each had his own way to make an impact with the audience… Cory’s seemingly slow-start for the first competition, whereby he used words on his illustrator document to engage with the audience – ultimately those words made-up the structure of his 3D design –  and Jason’s badge-throwing, audience-teasing, self was utterly hilarious and equally engaging, as was his chucklesome Rolling Scone visual pun, as well as being a self-proclaimed design tart in the final round…For me, these chaps were the nights winners and I hope to stumble upon a feature in a magazine or online, detailing all their wonderful career successes.

The stop-motion work felt like it was a very different level of experience and though I wasn’t at all surprised with the judges choice, the beautiful work by Yibi Hu, I really really wanted Richard Tilly to win, his entry was fantastically creative and funny (humour goes a long way for me!)

In each category, I’m still however, a little confused as to whether the audience winner choices actually meant anything(?) and as the audience often disagreed with the judges choices I can’t help but think some of theses talented competitors were left adrift… I would have liked to have seen both the judges choices and the audience choices getting the chance to go battle in NY…but hey ho, sure everyone had fun..

Links:

Cut & Paste

Jason Turner

Cory Brown specifically his work for Cut&Paste can be seen here on his blog, also a link via Viemo so you too can see Cory’s work unfold, just as if you were in the audience, kinda! Link here.