3.10.11

You

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and green
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves


All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a river in the mountains tall,
The rumble of your water would be my call.
If you were the winter, I know I'd be the snow
Just as long as you were with me, when the cold winds blow.

 

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a wink, I'd be a nod
If you were a seed, well I'd be a pod.
If you were the floor, I'd wanna be the rug
And if you were a kiss, I know I'd be a hug

 

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were the wood, I'd be the fire.
If you were the love, I'd be the desire.
If you were a castle, I'd be your moat,
And if you were an ocean, I'd learn to float.


All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea


all images Tim Walker

Day Time

Corrine Day
     what makes her special?
Let me count the ways...


Corinne Day first burst onto the scene via the pages of The Face magazine in the early 90s, capturing the carefree and captivating everyone with her stunning photographs. 
An exhibition that was just held at Gimpel Fils displayed some of Day’s earliest photographs shot for The Face, enabling us as envious photographic onlookers to appreciate and admire her unashamedly. The Face was a huge platform for writers, photographers and stylists alike who refused to conform to the mundane of mainstream. What Day produced for The Face stirred up an international frenzy, which consequently launched the careers of numerous models and established Day as a photographer an undeniably unique talent.



 
It is testament of Day’s talent as a photographer that she was able to capture an air of informality in her images. Her photographs do not feel staged or posed, and the people she chose to work with do not feel removed from the everyday world.

Sheryl Garrett editor of The Face,


"the magazine set out a new editorial task of expressing the underground movements of the 90’s. Acid house, ecstasy and the massive, rapid rise of rave culture was the magazine’s inspiration. It felt like a time for smiling rather than pouting, for bright colours and openness and also for something more natural and real - which Corinne Day’s images tapped into very clearly”.

Day's photographs are filled to the brim with youthful enthusiasm, portraying teens with such a free and determined air that only the young can truely express that it becomes infectious. I
 can do anything I want to.
If they can why the hell can't I?


Day constantly rebelled at all preconceived notions of beauty and rewrote the rule book for a 'good' fashion photograph. Freedom is the stronghold to her work: freedom of the model's self expression but also freedom for Day to pursue her belief that beauty could be found wherever her quizzical gaze would chose to wander.
Corrine Day's work is truly inspirational to all who look, no matter what your opinions on the subject matter its so easy to forget and just appreciate the pure craftsmanship that is so evident in each and every one of her stunning photographs. 





A talent that is already sorely missed.








7.9.11

I love LOVE


As always the moment LOVE hits the stands I find myself heavy handed with the fresh crispness of my new issue. I am obligated to purchase, I owe it to myself to feed my inner creative monster.
Tragically, though I hate to admit it, and do not think badly of me will you? But until this new issue I haven't actually been so far as to sit down and read LOVE. . .

Ridiculous and worthy of a rotten pummeling in stocks I know.

But instead of consuming the literary talent and wisdom that soaks its glossy pages, I find myself eye licking and chewing on the imagery. Not just the editorials either I'm no prude when it comes to the photos within. I love the amount of advertising, its almost as good as pressing your nose up to the chilled windows on Bond Street letting a slim dribble work its way through your open lips to form a sizable puddle of envy and yearning.

This issue I found myself being drawn into the articles like a fat kid to cake. I suppose its due to the fact the subjects are more on my wave length and that the photography turned its head to Romanticism. There is nothing I love more than wisps of soft fabric and heavy lidded eyes and taking a refreshing break from the dominatrix themes of the catwalks it highlights the softer side of things.

More mysterious and super natural.

Its like someone opened the window in a cloying brothel perfumed stink letting in the fresh air.



One of the articles fell into its obsessed section, which interviewed LOVE's favourite fashion people and one of my favourite people Ruth Hogben, someone who's work I envy and admire in equal measure. She is one of fashions leading moving image makers, creating glorious fashion films. Her CV alone is something that automatically makes me want to stab her out of outrageous jealously. She has worked for Nick Knight, Gareth Pugh, Alexander McQueen, Lady Gaga, Givenchy and Celine to name a few.
Ruth started out not particularly knowing whether or not she wanted to be a 'proper photographer', she just loved the models and the clothes and the general fantasy world created by magazines. And honestly I find myself in the same sort of mind frame.

Her work speaks for itself and honestly I struggle to describe just how awesome it is so have a look for yourself, I hope you love her work even half as much as I do.


The jerky movements in the opening sequence completely unnerved me, its all very typical to the manic and perverse style that seems to be a constant theme in her videos though, its whats come to be expected and anticipated. Around 5 mins in it transforms into something more fluid and static which blends and complements the previous beautifully. The whole affect seems to be like a peculiar interpretive dance piece, i would love to be in Hogben's mind just for a few moments to glimpse the triggering inspirations for these videos.



Another article was about one of my new favourite bands, Metronomy. I was first drawn in by their toe tappingly enticing electronic beats. The sound they create sort of creeps into your brain and lodges itself until its all you can do not to hum and sing along to 'The look' or my personal favourite 'The Bay'. Since releasing 'pip paine' in 2006 lead man Joe Mount has worked with pop princesses, Kate Nash, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Nicola Roberts and also folk stars the foals. After listening to the whole album I find myself being charmed by his witty lyrics;

Get up and we get down
We're always running round this town
And to think they said
We'd never make anything better than this


The Bay - Metronomy

Of course it is the photography within LOVE that always enchants me the most. Here are a few of the editorials that appealed to me the most:
 

 I really liked these series of photographs because they look completely genuine of the period. That is until you look very closely and see the feminine faces to pretty for the average young soldier. Its plays on the current trend for androgyny and the military themes that are fluxing the catwalks. When I look at the images they are very sincere and almost poetic. The styling is extremely clean cut and crisp, the photo to the right here was my favourite of the shots. I love the composition, that its favoured heavily to the right leaving alot of soft focused landscape, I believe that this makes the image almost empathetic, its like your also sat daydreaming. These are but a few in this series and if you wish to see them in all their glory i strongly suggest you invest in a copy of your own!

Photography by Alasdair McLellan

"it's 90 years since Guccio Gucci first set up shop in Florence, selling leather goods that showcased the legendary expertise of the local craftsmen. To mark this milestone, Gucci is opening a permanent museum devoted to the heritage of the house in the city's historic Piazza Signoria this September, with a definitive anniversary book published by Rizzoli the following month. And for this special commemorative LOVE shoot, Gucci exclusively opened the doors to its closely guarded archive, allowing us to pick out pieces that have defined its aesthetic over nine decades"



Whilst flicking through this particular sequence I wasn't majorly drawn in or impressed... that was until I came across this photograph. I sat and stared at it for I don't know how long. I love again the open space left by the photographer maybe its becoming my new fetish. But it wasn't only the composition that captured my attention, the way Natalia is being lit is so striking. She is a striking figure in her own right but the way the light is highlighting her profile for me makes the image.






















 "The candle-buds opened their wide white flowers;
their scent spilled out into the air and took
possession of the island...
Soft, romantic fashion with dangerous undercurrents in a hard-edged realm of fantasy.
Made in Pinewood, England"


This beautiful bondage renaissance style shoot truly plays at our darkest fantasies, its based on the Italian Greek myth of Leda and the swan, a tale that inspired many a erotic subject for the old masters. The whole shoot took place in Pinewood Studios and you will safely agree with me that the final images are breathtaking.





The images above were taken from my magazine and are only select few and cropped to the bits that I liked best, if you wish to see them in their full glory go grab yourself a copy!

18.8.11

Im at a loss


Among petals pale as death
And leaves steadfast in shape
They sleep on, mouth to mouth.
A White mist is going up.
The small green nostrils breathe,
And they turn in their sleep.

Ousted from that warm bed
We are a dream they dream.
Their eyelids keep the shade.
No harm can come to them.
We cast out skins and slide
Into another time.



I have lost you but I will never forget you. Sadness has cloaked my thoughts but the happiness you brought shines evermore brightly.

15.8.11

The Satorialist

Anybody within fashion will have heard of the blogger extraordinaire 'The Satorialist' aka Scott Schuman. A man who holds a divine attention to details, he beholds the wondrous among the mundane and captures it for us as fashion consumers to tear apart till only the broken bones are left. Schuman trawls through the streets in a constant search for something special but what sets his work apart from the many street photographers out there is that he is appreciating the minority instead of the majority and by this i am referring to the way schuman notices everything in its individuality. The whole outfit might just be fabulous but it could be one key item that for him makes this person appear special and make him want to record it. Another key aspect for him is the feedback that he gets from 'the satorialist's viewers, the opinions they post on the photos gives the whole process feel really organic. I have selected a few of my favourites below:


                                                        is it a ghost?                                               that necklace.
                                                         renaissance skirt!                                   so simple.
                                                                        urban hippies I salute you with an envious glare.
                                                       tribal patterning at dusk.                             a dictionary bag.
                                                        so cool in a band sort of way.                 Purity in pleats.
                                                                urban Adonis.                                      androgyny is.
                                                      the smile and the shoes.                            tatty tailoring.
                                                         that skirt and that figure.                          glamour has no age.
                                                        perfect layering.                                        fierce paleontology.
                                                            a sex in the city moment.                           just everything.
                                                     saintly?                                                    Hepburn reincarnate.
                                                                the softness.                                               raw edge.
                                                    masculine femininity.                                shirt skirt.
                                                             sandals.                                                    flaming.
                                                            structural.                                                  statement print.
                                                    being bold.                                                innocence.
   vintage quirks.                                      a feathery texture.             
       
 downy swan.                                   dorky grace.
nonchalance.