the sartorialist

i was immediately attracted to the the sartorialist's straightforward portraiture and was delighted upon reading his biography to learn that his emphasis on photography is in no way accidental and indeed intended to express a point of view heavily influenced by his experience in the fashion industry:

"i thought i could shoot people on the street the way designers looked at people, and get and give inspiration to lots of people in the process. my only strategy when i began the sartorialist was to try and shoot style in a way that i knew most designers hunted for inspiration. rarely do they look at the whole outfit as a yes or no but they try and look for the abstract concepts of color, proportion, pattern mixing or mixed genres. i’m always really happy when i meet a designer and hear that they use some of my photos for their inspiration boards. at the same time i’m also really touched when i get emails from everyday people who say they have been inspired to see themselves and others in a new and usually more accepting way."

plus, i learned a new word:
main entry: sar·to·ri·al
pronunciation: sär-'tor-E-&l, s&(r)-
function: adjective
etymology: medieval latin sartor
: of or relating to a tailor or tailored clothes; broadly : of or relating to clothes
- sar·to·ri·al·ly /-E-&-lE/ adverb

aleksandra radonic/ 3

wendy kromer (cake godess) & victor schrager

wendy kromer is a cake making goddess. i'm not going to re-write her bio or anything, but let's just say that she and martha stewart seem pretty tight. which means that aside from designing some of the most spectacular cakes i've ever seen, she also employs some of the best photographers in the industry, like the author of the above image, victor schrager, who i know more for his fine art work, pictured below (i first remember seeing his fantastic series of images of color studies of the spines of books), than i do for his commercial work.

aleksandra rodinic/ 2

aleksandra radonic/ 1

my dream studio

i'm in the process of building/cleaning/painting a studio/darkroom in a room in my house that when last occupied some twenty years ago housed the operating chair of my grandfather's dental office (creepy, right?). i really wish i had thought to take 'before' pictures of the space because i don't think i can accurately describe the piles of crap and dust i had to fight through just to get into the room.

but at long last the space is entirely empty (save for the ikea bookcase i just erected), and is waiting patiently to be painted, or rather i am waiting patiently to paint it and trying not to just call it quits and move my crap in immediately since i still haven't unpacked any of my photo and darkroom stuff since i moved home from school last june. what a relief it will be to finally have my things organized again. the wait is almost over; i can taste it.

i plan to use the room for a variety of art and photography work, so i've been shopping around for a work table that can accomodate my dual needs, which explains how i came across this amazing behemoth work table (pictured above) at pottery barn. the table neither fits inside the room nor into my budget (i'm not even going to bother posting the price) but i'm in love with it's sensible organization, matter-of-fact height, and large working space. i also really want the magnetic calendar pictured on the right hand side of the image.

and just for fun, i threw in a picture (below) of this ironing cupboard for no real reason other than that the very of idea of it makes so much sense to me that i think everyone should have one, although at $279, it too, is kind of out of my price range.

scraps of paper

tiny little notebooks; handmade, one-of-a-kind journals; recycled materials like junkmail, floppy disks, and nancy drew books: these things and more make up the wealth of treasures found at scraps of paper. designer kristin amico will also cater to custom orders and to designing unique sationary for weddings and other special events.

above: 4" x 5" mini book from junkmail collection, $12


post script:
liz if you would just start a blog already, i could stop posting about things that you told me about. i'm not going to quit harrassing you about this; the sooner you cave the better it will be for all of us.

departure lounge

christine castro

christine castro kept an online journal for about two years, from 1999 - 2001. well before this blogging phenomenon took hold, she chronicled her daily life in a quirky tone, revealing through journal entries precious morsels of her life. christine's confessional manner resonates with me as the lover of memoirs that i am, and as she is also a graphic designer, the site has a distinct eccentric aesthetic to which i also respond. and of course, she also has a shop. i found the above sketchbook image on her flickr page.


an aside:

i never imagined that by browsing flickr's endless supply of imagery for my "a flickr a day" that flickr would turn into my prinicpal source of posting material. but, oh, what wonders i've found simply by responding to an attraction to a tiny thumbnail image.

photobrettwalker/ 5

le gray club

le gray club posted this on our myspace page today and i liked it so much i wanted to pass it along.

photobrettwalker/ 4

photobrettwalker/ 3

noah wilson

being able to post about photography like noah wilson's is the best part about having this blog because now when i want to tell everyone i know that i found a great new photographer, i can. wilson's images remind me of robert parke harrison's, only wilson's work is less narrative than harrison's and much more formally composed, probably on account of the square format and the decreased emphasis on a main character. i love that the roots in the image on the left look like they are melting off the page into the earth, while the trees in the right image seem to grow from some dark abyss into an oblivion of white fog. i can only imagine how beautiful his hand toned, hand bleached, gelatin silver prints are. especially since in this increasingly digital age, gelatin silver prints have become quite a rare breed (sugimoto, a silver printing god, recently switched over to digital effectively solidifying the traditional silver print's new postion in the catagory of 'alternative process'). i found the above images on wilson's flickr page, but he also has a really nice website if you want to see more (i know you do alissa).

perfidious

peridious
root: perfidy
pronunciation: 'p&r-f&-dE
function: noun
inflected form(s): plural -dies
etymology: latin perfidia, from perfidus faithless, from per- detrimental to + fides faith -- more at

1 : the quality or state of being faithless or disloyal : TREACHERY
2 : an act or an instance of disloyalty

my sister and i had to look this up tonight while she was translating italian for an aria she is learning (which is just as dorky as it sounds). i thought i'd pass it along for your educational pleasure. i'm pretty sure i used to know what that word meant...

photobrettwalker/ 2

boygirlparty

illustration artist, susie ghahremani, is the artist behind boygirlparty i've been admiring the above pocket mirrors ($6.50) for quite sometime. they are also for sale, as well as mirror designs by other artists, at my favorite mirror. and if that isn't enough, susie ghahremani also has an etsy shop, oh, and a myspace page. i'm kinda of a fan.

photobrettwalker/ 1

paper relics

okay, so paper relics does not technically design wedding invitations. my guess is that if if you pleaded and negotiated you could work something out. but otherwise just buy some birthday cards, or some of her beautiful collages. you can also purchase her stationary here: my bonnie & clyde.