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CHEEKMagazine Issues

Lomo Camera goes high-end

photo from lomography

Capture your golden moments with a Lomo LC-A+Gold special edition camera. For everyone who loves a good looking tech toys, this camera is for you.

 Twenty-four carat gold leaf gilding, smooth leather wrapping, and an original Russian Minitar lens, beautiful wooden casing, and a unique number guaranteeing authenticity—we know, you’re drooling, us too.

photo from lomo

 Only 130 are being produced making them super duper, insert key word, exclusive. They retail for $600USD, so it may not be something you buy on a whim, but, should definitely be on your list of must-haves. The plastic Lomo cameras have been around since the 80’s, and were popular because they were cheap. Who doesn’t love a good cheap toy?

Get ready to snap dreamy photos, full of the saturated colours just like the original ones.

 Well the new guys aren’t cheap, but they sure are pretty.

-Melissa S. Robinson

Gaga for Polaroid

After a tumultuous few years, filled with constant questioning over the future of the Polaroid, lovers of this classic camera can sleep soundly again.

The Polaroid camera has officially been saved. The company has introduced a new camera and a new creative director alongside it.

The queen of excess, Lady Gaga, has jumped on board as creative director and will be appearing at the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas on January 8, 2010 to talk about her relationship with Polaroid and what it will entail.

image from electricpig.co.uk

The new Polaroid has an old look, with new technology. The PIC-1000 comes in a blonde 70’s style wooden exterior, complete with new features such as red-eye reduction, self-timer and flash.

For those less endeared by the 70’s aesthetic, an alternate look in a metallic plastic grey is also available.

image from electricpig.co.uk

Thanks to the Impossible Project, a massive initiative by photographers and lovers’ of the vintage imagery the camera stands for, to stop the camera’s manufacturers abandoning Polaroid film, which has been deemed obsolete after the rise of digital photography.

Pricing and availability of the PIC-1000 are yet to be announced. 

-Elli Stuhler

A Decade in 100 Photographs

Image from pictures.reuters.com

Reuters has just released their 100 photographs of the decade.

Never before has the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” rung so true. The photos come from all areas of the world and display images of everything from Michael Jackson dangling a baby over a balcony to the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in Bam, Iran.

There is not much we can say to describe the experience of going through the photographs; it seems too personal. We can however strongly recommend you do so.

Click here to go to the site.

- Alexa P Gray

Meet Hermes and Leica’s Love Child

 

Image from yatzer.com

 

Calling all photographers, especially those with a penchant for the finer things. This December Leica is releasing a very special edition of its classic 35mm rangefinder system camera, the LEICA M7 Edition ‘Hermes’. 

The camera is done up in silver chrome and fine Hermes calfskin leather trim, available in two colour choices, orange or étoupe. With only 100 of each colour being made, this camera is as exclusive as it is beautifully practical. The fact that the camera comes in a linen covered silk-lined box only sweetens the deal.

The camera will be available from authorized Leica dealers for a suggested retail price of £8,550 ($14,216 USD).

 

We’re hoping someone feels extra generous towards us this holiday season.

 

- Alexa P Gray

 

Image from yatzer.com

 

 

Addicted to Oil

Edward Burtynsky: Oil Refineries #34 Houston, Texas, USA, 2004

Highways, chunky suburban houses, manufacturing plants and desolate oil refineries make-up the new Edward Burtynsky exhibit on display at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

For over a decade, the Canadian photographer traveled the world documenting how far humans will go to comprise the urban and rural landscapes for fuel. Oil is a collection of 55 colour landscape photographs that pose the question, “What will happen to us when it’s gone?”

Edward Burtynsky: SOCAR Oil Fields #10 Baku, Azerbaijan, 2006

The massive-scale, detailed photographs seem to answer that question with their eerily futuristic appearance. There are no human faces in these vast landscapes of excess, staying true to Burtynsky’s style. Here the light reflects on the cyclical process of oil production and distribution: the mechanics, waste, urban sprawl and motorways involved.

Edward Burtynsky: Nanpu Bridge Interchange Shanghai, China, 2004

Oil continues to change and control our world, and there appears to be no antidote to our oil addiction.

So before you run out of fuel, check out the exhibit, on display until December 13^th.

-Otiena Ellwand

Edward Burtynsky: Oil Refineries #22 St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, 1999

Imagine no Air

Imagine a world without oxygen. Vogue Italia explores that idea through fashion with Steven Meisel in the November issue. The  amazing imagery  gives variations of science and allure with men dressed in white masks and models such as, Rianne ten Haken draped in glamorous gowns. True to form, Meisel’s photography leaves much to the imagination, showing the true mastery of his art.

This is not the first time Meisel has teamed up with the legendary magazine, he also shot the October 2009 cover, featuring Rainne ten Hken and Kalie Koss in bold designs.

Miesel has shot campaigns for Prada, Calvin Klein and Louis Vuitton.

Madonna Named the New Face of D&G

Image from marieclaire.co.uk

Dolce & Gabanna’s new collection is full of corsetry, sheer lace fabrics and structured tailoring. It is just the type of stylish sexuality Madonna is known for, so it’s  no surprise that D&G has secured the Material Girl as the new face of its S/S 2010 campaign. The campaign was recently shot in Brooklyn on the November 7, 2009 weekend by Steven Klein. Klein also collaborated with Madge in the X-STaTIC PRO=CeSS exhibit installation, in 2003. With a hard hitting team like these guys, we are sure D&G’s campaign will be full of noteworthy shots and possibly a little controversy, just how our leading lady likes it. 

From Louis Vuitton to D&G, all we can say is we would kill to walk a mile in any of Madonna’s too-beautiful-to-be-true designer shoes.

- Alexa P Gray

Francisco Garcia Enters the Blogosphere

CHEEK Magazine. Image from franciscogarcia.com

Canadian photographer Francisco Garcia has recently opened up his artistic endeavors to fashion photography enthusiasts and fans of his work everywhere with a new blog. He has garnered a reputation for his raw and edgy photos that ooze with sex appeal and allure. Garcia has  graced the pages of various Canadian fashion magazines such as CHEEK, Flare, Style Monte Carlo, NEO2, and Contra. He has also shot creative series for Canadian retailers Aritzia and Holt Renfrew among his many impressive endeavors.

Garcia’s blog combines behind-the-scenes footage with some of his most well-loved shoots. He has also begun to detail his recent experiences in Paris along with some photographs taken on the road of his travels.

Garcia was raised in Chile, and the producers of the Hot Lights panel discussion at LG Fashion Week described Garcia as “The bad boy of Canadian fashion photography, portraying a raw sexiness in his images reminiscent of his South American roots.” Garcia gives the advice that breaking the rules in the name of style is “such a subtle thing but it’s almost the most important thing in whatever you do.”

We can’t wait to see what’s in the cards for this talented young photographer. Keep checking his blog at www.franciscogarcia.ca/blog.html for creative output and new work. Garcia will also have some editorials in the upcoming holiday issue of CHEEKMagazine.com, so keep your eyes peeled for his work.

-Cora Nijhawan

Contra Magazine. Image from franciscogarcia.com

Flare Magazine. Image from franciscogarcia.com

Talula for Aritzia. Image from franciscogarcia.com

TNA for Aritzia. Image from franciscogarcia.com

Tribute to a Legend: Irving Penn, 1917-2009

'Ballet Theatre', 1947. Image from balletphotography.wordpress.com

Last week saw the passing of a dynamic creative mind and an artistic legend. Irving Penn died in his Manhattan home on October 6, 2009, at the age of 92. Penn’s story was truly extraordinary; the iconic photographer spent the last half century changing the face of fashion, advertising and visual art through his dazzling work.

Penn rose to fame after WWII, when print advertising was coming to a crux and the world of fashion was once again in the spotlight after a decade-long hiatus. A frequent contributor to publications like Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, Penn was a master of taking unusual, everyday objects and transforming them into treasures. His portraiture subjects included Georgia O’Keeffe, Miles Davis, W.H. Auden and Pablo Picasso and he became well known as a celebrity photographer for using natural window light in his work to create dramatic effects. Traveling to New Guinea and Africa to take photographs of indigenous peoples, Penn was also a noted travel photographer who found beauty in the unexpected and glamorized the gritty.

Among his most famous photographs is Theater Accident (1947) which depicts a purse with a watch, an earring, a bobby pin, and a cigarette among other odds and ends spilling out of it. Making commonplace still life subjects come alive through the lens was one of Penn’s many talents.

Please take a moment to remember this creative maverick and then check out some of his finest work here.

-Cora Nijhawan

Theater Accident, 1947. Image from gbrulotte.com

Image from photography-now.net

Image from photography-now.net

Image from photography-now.net

Image from photography-now.net

Image from photography-now.net