Anime Fest Brno 2011

Last weekend  was held in brno: The Anime Fest, the oldest and largest anime and manga convention in czech Republic. More than 1000 visitors and fans gathered to enjoy a rich program with conferences, workshops and protection of movies.

The most interesting and visual part is obviously the attendees who in their majority where dressed as their favorite anime/manga character, in other words they were the real stars.

As fan that I am too, although "old school', I remember my days watching the adventures of Saint Seiya or Knights of the Zodiac, Captian Tsubasa known too as Flash Kicker, Lady  Oscar, Candy Candy, and the best of all ever Goku and his friends in Dragon ball. And as a fan I wanted to portrait this fantasy world in a way that look like an anime with all its colors and fancy hairstyles.

So the words that I most pronounced those days were: "Mužu ty fotit?" that means "Can I take you a picture" plus some other little instructions in me poor czech but at the end I could survive, I could made myself understood plus the fact that many of them were acting as their characters which help me to make more interesting portraits.

One of the things that most caught my attention were the contacts glasses that make them look as animals. Simply great!

 

And of course the pretty girls:

  

This the first time I attend this kind of events and I really enjoyed, see all these young people (I am as well very young in spirit) living and sharing their fantasy world was a cool experience. So for next year my promise to myself is attend again but this time with a costume, which one?  I don't know yet.

 

Want to see more great photos? have a look to the Animefest photo gallery in my website.

Extras 010 - Nikola

Continuing with the series of models now is the opportunity for Nikola, another girl from South Moravia in Czech Republic.
About the images, if have seen any other previous posts of "extras"  you will have realized that I use a lot of the black background, and the reason is simple, I like more than the white, I think it is easier to get than the pure white and it give some theatrical feeling, no so commercial as the white that is very used.
These photos were taken at her apartment, not in a studio. To my photo sessions I always carry a black cloth which is hanged in some wall,  use a single small as a source of light, simplicity is the key.
I kind of hard for me to make glamour photos, is not that I cannot but you have to accept/know your "limits" not a good fashion photographer will be a good wedding photographer, they are different fields which demand different skills.

The previous image and the two next are nice glamour photos, few of the ones I have shoot in my career.

The following pictures are more personal than the previous ones, in these I don't pretend to show her beauty or sexy side, here is something no so superficial/common, something that we see do not every day when we look at pictures of girls. These are about feelings.

 

Ted videos: photographers

TED is a non-profit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. They held annually a conference where the world's most fascinating thinkers. artist, scientist, ect. are challenged to give a talk of their lives/work (in 18 minutes or less) and as well they have the award TED prize: which consist in:  “One Wish to Change the World.”.

Following I have made a compilation of videos of photographers who had the chance to show their vision of the world in such a important event.

Artist Chris Jordan show here an arresting view of what Western culture looks like. His supersized images picture some almost unimaginable statistics -- like the astonishing number of paper cups we use every single day.

Accepting his 2005 TED Prize, photographer Edward Burtynsky makes a wish: that his images -- stunning landscapes that document humanity's impact on the world -- help persuade millions to join a global conversation on sustainability.

Intimita - 5 days

Please don't cry in my empty hands...

 

Intimacy.

6 days to Intimacy

I think I know you, that...

... I know your secrets...

War Photographer, Jamens Natchwey.

Finally I could find it and complete the documentary about the photographer James Natchwey, directed by Chrisian Frei. It is English and have Spanish subtitles. This movie is a must for anybody interested in journalism and documentary photography.
Enjoy and think about his message.

a poem - Princess of the Balkans

She

a perverted goddess

of milky sinful skin.

She

a forgotten soul

in a snowy forest.

She

a crystal knife

of shimmering beauty.

xxx

My corrupted muse,

don't cry on my dirty hands

don't caress me under gray skies.
Just be there, down in the ground
blessing all creatures that dare look at you.

Extras 8 - Jana

After a long break, I am back with Jana, as with my previous models, I tried to get different looks from the same person but keeping one style. With her it was not exception, I think that is a good way to push your creativity and your model skills to give you more interesting images.

Enjoy them.

Extras 7 - Lenka

Continuing with the "extras" series now is the chance for Lenka, a czech girl student of laws, as well from my city, Brno.

She was a very versatile model, as you can see I was able to get different looks from her with a very simply lighting style, a small flash trough a shoot trough umbrella. This time I have made some diagrams to show my setup and as you can see, is very simple. Enjoy them.

 

For the next ones, I took off the black clothe, leave my wall be the  background and add a reflector. The wall obviously did not come out pure white, it was light gray that was easily whiteout in photoshop.

For this image I remove the umbrella, lower it and shoot it straight, simple, then some post production in photoshop and that was all.

How to be creative?

 

Every photographer/artist  have those days when there are no new ideas or simple there is no mood to "create", to pick the camera, the brush or pencil to take photos, to paint or draw.

If you are in those days, maybe you are waiting for the ideas to come to your mind, waiting for the magical spark that will bring you an original idea for a new series or project. You may be as well surfing the web looking at blogs, stories, others artist work in order to get inspired but is all this worthy?

No, you may get motivation but no inspiration. Inspiration comes from work and more work; not from magic.

You want ideas? Go and look for them. Make what you most like when you most dislike it. If you want to take photos but have no idea of what, the only way to find out is taking photos of everything (portraits, landscapes, still life, etc) only in that way you will discover what you don't like and what give you more pleasure or you are better. After that, you will have to narrow even more. Let's say you choose on work landscapes, now what kind? urban or nature? color or black and white? they will show loneliness or they will be cheerful? etc, etc. In this way after a while you find your theme for a project or series and only after a long period of time you will discover your style.

Creativity is spontaneous for many and for others no at all. Those who lack of it must cultivate it. There is no shortcut or easy way. They must push their selves to think out of the box and don't be afraid of failure. Failure and mistakes are sources for ideas. If something does not work, twist it and you will have a new concept, then keep working.

Extras 6 - Linda

After a while I come back with the "extras", the photographs that did not pass the final edition process for my project "Intimacy". This time my model is Linda, as well from Brno, Czech Republic.
Hope you like them, two different looks for the same person. 

 

The Bratislava portfolio review

Last weekend I attended the Bratislava portfolio review as part of the month of  photography. It were two fantastic days were I had the opportunity to show last work to a a series of gallery owners, curators,  art researches, art critics and photo editors.

This was my first time in this kind of events and it couldn't be better. The chance to hear what other "specialized" people think about your work is invaluable. Obviously, you must be prepared to hear from: "I don't see coherence in what you say and your photos show", "something is missing here,"  "looks commercial" to "I think your work is good". You cannot make everybody happy and to some you will make concessions and to others you will only remember theirs words as wise advices but you won't apply them in to your work because as many of them said carefully before criticize your work: "this is just my opinion". And portfolio reviews are for that, to hear opinions from "experts in the field", make contacts and to tell to a little part of the art world that you exist.

This event take place in the faculty of film and television, a nice place but not the best. The rooms are OK, but it will be better if for next years a place with bigger rooms can be used.

About the reviewers, they a have a good selection: Regina Maria Anzenberger from Anzenberger Agency, Daniela Billner, editor of Camera Austria, Joanne Junga Yang, director of Y&G Art Global Contemporary Project, Horst Kloever, curator and writer from photeurblog.de between others. There were around 25 reviewers and I personally could show my work to 17 of them and the feedback is invaluable.

The cost of this portfolio review is very affordable, only 49 euros for two days. Compared with others that usually goes at least 200 euros is a great deal.

So I hope to see you next year there.

A portrait from the series I presented at the review and I was going to make public this week, but after all the feedback I will "reorganize it" to make it more consistent, stronger and solid. So be patient if you want to see more here soon. :-)