graeme mitchell

It looks like Art and Commerce has added the Norwegian photographer Solve Sundsbo to their stable. Kudos to Sundsbo, b/c Art and Commerce is top tier. Sundsbo has been doing some radical work lately, which deserves respect b/c most people aren’t. This particular picture of his is fantastic:

photo: ©Solve Sundsbo. (From the Art and Commerce website).

Looking through Vogue Paris and the rest of the news stand I also want give props to David Sims (at Art Partner); he’s been shooting hordes of good work recently, and he can make a model move like nobody else.

photo: ©David Sims. (From the Art Partner website).

And finally to Michael Thompson (at Jed Root) for understanding the power of understatement.

photo: ©Michael Thompson. (From the Jed Root website).

Charlotte Cotton has an essay at tip of the tongue discussing the state of contemporary black and white photography. Or you can download this pdf: thenewcolor.pdf. Pretty smart.

I’ve never really thought about it that much. Actually, I try to resist any temptation to delineate what is what in art, seems to me to be a dangerous occupation that, really, only history is qualified for. That’s not meant as an offense to the critics. No no, I love reading this stuff, but my personal hubris can’t muster anything that definitive.

I reserve the right to change my mind on that.

You have to love 690 Polaroid! The stuff is so old-school and far from accurate (by todays standards) it toes the line of nonsense as a proof, and it’s poetic for that very reason. But why spend $18 for a pack of the poetic? Well, I use it b/c it’s iso 100 (a default), b/c I’m used to it, and b/c it looks like shit compared to the film, which can be a good thing; if you’ve ever shot Fuji’roid you know it can be sexier than many a proof sheets – no doubt making for the occasional anticlimax.

Anyway, these are from the freshly wrapped Covet Fall 07 line. In my opinion this is some of the strongest work yet by Covet’s designer, Tara St. James. I can only imagine what she’s going to be pulling out of her bag of tricks in the seasons to come. About tricks from bags, I should give credit to Mr. Steve Steckly for showing me the tricks of one of the odder technical aspects of this shoot, geeky stuff.

Polaroid: Covet Fall 07, ©Graeme Mitchell, 2007

Polaroid: Covet Fall 07, ©Graeme Mitchell, 2007

Polaroid: Covet Fall 07, ©Graeme Mitchell, 2007

Oh, and I can’t not post this one, which Tara saw, then turned to me and said with stark sincerity, “you’re creepy looking.”

Polaroid: Covet Fall 07, ©Graeme Mitchell, 2007

The team:
Hair: Gregory.
M.U.: Munemi w/ See
Girl Model: Catie Parker w/ Elite NY
Boy Model: Marcus w/ Next NY
First Assist+Lighting Tech: Aaron Binaco
Location/Studio: Northside Bank in Williamsburg

1 of 2 is here.

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell, 2004

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell, 2004


photo: ©Graeme Mitchell, 2004

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell, 2004

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell, 2004

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell, 2004

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell, 2004

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell, 2004

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell, 2004

As usual I came upon these while looking for something entirely different amongst my humble little archives. My first sentiment was that I really miss nature and the damp fortitudes of the Pacific Northwest, my second thought was I should put them up here, b/c even though they’re pictures I’ve since rejected they are nonetheless of places not many people get to see – much like the Dammasche series (here and here).

I’m not in the mood to write much, so the short of it is that these are some pics I took in 2004 as a personal project shooting the lasting steam lumber mills of Oregon. I wandered from the project, but I still wish to go back and photograph the dwindling remnants of the timber industry. It’s the lasting remnants that in my mind symbolize a simpler time and way of life. This is a purely romantic notion – a silly one at that- and I’ve no shame in fostering it. Really, it’s so fictionalized in my mind, stills almost don’t do it justice; it’s the kind of project that warrants doing the director-moving-pictures kind of thing.

My biggest ambition is that these might inspire a daydream in you…

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell, 2004

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell, 2004

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell, 2004

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell, 2004

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell, 2004

photo: ©Graeme Mitchell, 2004

Here are two quieting readings by Sylvia Plath of her poems “Lady Lazarus” and “Daddy”, which I hope you take a moment for. Don’t watch the videos, or continue with anything else for that matter, close your eyes, wipe your mind, and listen openly.

Mr. Roversi, if you have a free moment this summer I’d like to visit with you, to drink an obscure vintage while watching the Seine meander through Paris, then go to shoot couture under the warm dusty lights in your studio, well well into the night, well into the models’ tired eyes, before finally retiring for a cigarette, a bite, and a talk about the caustic lingerings of a Polaroid’s smell.

p.s. okay, Paolo, this Vogue Italia “Storm” spread was tops as far as I’m concerned.

photo: Vogue Italia “Storm,” ©Paolo Roversi

photo: Vogue Italia “Storm,” ©Paolo Roversi

photo: Vogue Italia “Storm,” ©Paolo Roversi

(for everyone else, more at Paolo Roversi’s site and his rep’s, Vincent Simonet’s)