Lucy: "Lo sai cos'è l'amore?"

Schroeder: "Amore, s.m. sentimento di affetto vivo, trasporto dell'animo verso una persona o una cosa; profonda tenerezza; devozione."

Lucy: "SULLA CARTA E' BRAVISSIMO..."

"Il tempo che passa mentre la vita sembra da troppo tempo ferma lì, in una specie di limbo. In cui non stai male, anzi, sei tranquilla. Ma è proprio quello il problema, che la tranquillità annoia. E’ quando la tua vita si è assestata su ben oliati binari che brami qualcosa che la faccia deragliare, almeno un pochino. Non c’è peggiore inquietudine di quella che non ha nulla su cui focalizzarsi. E’ solo quella inspiegabile voglia di cambiare qualcosa che non sai neanche tu cos’è, di inventarti una nuova avventura per rendere meno uguali i giorni che si susseguono. Il bisogno di sentire che la vita scorre, perché la vita non può stagnare."

Sospesa.

oggi è una di quelle giornate. quelle giornate in cui devo chiudere gli occhi e pensare di essere seduta su una panchina nei giardini del Lussemburgo a Parigi, in un pomeriggio di inverno gentile e soleggiato come quello che c’era oggi a Milano, con un libro tra le mani, dopo aver passeggiato tra i boulevard de la citè.

ORGOGLIO E PREGIUDIZIO

Se i vostri sentimenti sono gli stessi di Aprile ditelo ora. Il mio affetto ed i miei desideri sono immutati. Ma una Vostra parola mi farà tacere per sempre. Se invece i Vostri sentimenti fossero cambiati devo dirvelo… Mi avete stregato anima e corpo e Via amo, Vi amo, Vi amo e d'ora in poi non voglio più separarmi da voi.

"La guardò. Vide il sorriso più triste del mondo e, al di sopra, gli occhi mossi come un mare." (L. Cossè)

dottoressa! graduated! diplômés! 大学院生!

“At least you’ll never be a vegetable … even artichokes have hearts.”

Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain (2001)

Jeremy: È come per le torte, alla fine di ogni serata, del cheesecake e della torta di mele non rimane assolutamente nulla, della mousse di pesche e della torta di cioccolato ne rimangono delle fette, mentre la meravigliosa torta di mirtilli rimane intatta.

Liz: Cos’ha che non va la torta di mirtilli??

Jeremy: Non ha nulla che non va la torta di mirtilli, è solo che la gente fa altre scelte. La torta di mirtilli non ha colpe, solo che… nessuno la vuole.

Liz: Aspetta! Io ne voglio una fetta…

- MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS -

Mi sembra di sentire un biscotto al cioccolato che mi chiama...

A Life Revealed

Her eyes have captivated the world since she appeared on our cover in 1985. Now we can tell her story.

By Cathy Newman

Photograph by Steve McCurry

She remembers the moment. The photographer took her picture. She remembers her anger. The man was a stranger. She had never been photographed before. Until they met again 17 years later, she had not been photographed since.

The photographer remembers the moment too. The light was soft. The refugee camp in Pakistan was a sea of tents. Inside the school tent he noticed her first. Sensing her shyness, he approached her last. She told him he could take her picture. "I didn't think the photograph of the girl would be different from anything else I shot that day," he recalls of that morning in 1984 spent documenting the ordeal of Afghanistan's refugees.

The portrait by Steve McCurry turned out to be one of those images that sears the heart, and in June 1985 it ran on the cover of this magazine. Her eyes are sea green. They are haunted and haunting, and in them you can read the tragedy of a land drained by war. She became known around National Geographic as the "Afghan girl," and for 17 years no one knew her name.

In January a team from National Geographic Television & Film's EXPLORER brought McCurry to Pakistan to search for the girl with green eyes. They showed her picture around Nasir Bagh, the still standing refugee camp near Peshawar where the photograph had been made. A teacher from the school claimed to know her name. A young woman named Alam Bibi was located in a village nearby, but McCurry decided it wasn't her.

No, said a man who got wind of the search. He knew the girl in the picture. They had lived at the camp together as children. She had returned to Afghanistan years ago, he said, and now lived in the mountains near Tora Bora. He would go get her.

It took three days for her to arrive. Her village is a six-hour drive and three-hour hike across a border that swallows lives. When McCurry saw her walk into the room, he thought to himself: This is her.

Names have power, so let us speak of hers. Her name is Sharbat Gula, and she is Pashtun, that most warlike of Afghan tribes. It is said of the Pashtun that they are only at peace when they are at war, and her eyes—then and now—burn with ferocity. She is 28, perhaps 29, or even 30. No one, not even she, knows for sure. Stories shift like sand in a place where no records exist.

Time and hardship have erased her youth. Her skin looks like leather. The geometry of her jaw has softened. The eyes still glare; that has not softened. "She's had a hard life," said McCurry. "So many here share her story." Consider the numbers. Twenty-three years of war, 1.5 million killed, 3.5 million refugees: This is the story of Afghanistan in the past quarter century.

Now, consider this photograph of a young girl with sea green eyes. Her eyes challenge ours. Most of all, they disturb. We cannot turn away.

"There is not one family that has not eaten the bitterness of war," a young Afghan merchant said in the 1985 National Geographic story that appeared with Sharbat's photograph on the cover. She was a child when her country was caught in the jaws of the Soviet invasion. A carpet of destruction smothered countless villages like hers. She was perhaps six when Soviet bombing killed her parents. By day the sky bled terror. At night the dead were buried. And always, the sound of planes, stabbing her with dread.

"We left Afghanistan because of the fighting," said her brother, Kashar Khan, filling in the narrative of her life. He is a straight line of a man with a raptor face and piercing eyes. "The Russians were everywhere. They were killing people. We had no choice."

Shepherded by their grandmother, he and his four sisters walked to Pakistan. For a week they moved through mountains covered in snow, begging for blankets to keep warm.

"You never knew when the planes would come," he recalled. "We hid in caves."

The journey that began with the loss of their parents and a trek across mountains by foot ended in a refugee camp tent living with strangers.

"Rural people like Sharbat find it difficult to live in the cramped surroundings of a refugee camp," explained Rahimullah Yusufzai, a respected Pakistani journalist who acted as interpreter for McCurry and the television crew. "There is no privacy. You live at the mercy of other people." More than that, you live at the mercy of the politics of other countries. "The Russian invasion destroyed our lives," her brother said.

It is the ongoing tragedy of Afghanistan. Invasion. Resistance. Invasion. Will it ever end? "Each change of government brings hope," said Yusufzai. "Each time, the Afghan people have found themselves betrayed by their leaders and by outsiders professing to be their friends and saviors."

In the mid-1990s, during a lull in the fighting, Sharbat Gula went home to her village in the foothills of mountains veiled by snow. To live in this earthen-colored village at the end of a thread of path means to scratch out an existence, nothing more. There are terraces planted with corn, wheat, and rice, some walnut trees, a stream that spills down the mountain (except in times of drought), but no school, clinic, roads, or running water.

Here is the bare outline of her day. She rises before sunrise and prays. She fetches water from the stream. She cooks, cleans, does laundry. She cares for her children; they are the center of her life. Robina is 13. Zahida is three. Alia, the baby, is one. A fourth daughter died in infancy. Sharbat has never known a happy day, her brother says, except perhaps the day of her marriage.

Her husband, Rahmat Gul, is slight in build, with a smile like the gleam of a lantern at dusk. She remembers being married at 13. No, he says, she was 16. The match was arranged.

He lives in Peshawar (there are few jobs in Afghanistan) and works in a bakery. He bears the burden of medical bills; the dollar a day he earns vanishes like smoke. Her asthma, which cannot tolerate the heat and pollution of Peshawar in summer, limits her time in the city and with her husband to the winter. The rest of the year she lives in the mountains.

At the age of 13, Yusufzai, the journalist, explained, she would have gone into purdah, the secluded existence followed by many Islamic women once they reach puberty.

"Women vanish from the public eye," he said. In the street she wears a plum-colored burka, which walls her off from the world and from the eyes of any man other than her husband. "It is a beautiful thing to wear, not a curse," she says.

Faced by questions, she retreats into the black shawl wrapped around her face, as if by doing so she might will herself to evaporate. The eyes flash anger. It is not her custom to subject herself to the questions of strangers.

Had she ever felt safe?

"No. But life under the Taliban was better. At least there was peace and order."

Had she ever seen the photograph of herself as a girl?

"No."

She can write her name, but cannot read. She harbors the hope of education for her children. "I want my daughters to have skills," she said. "I wanted to finish school but could not. I was sorry when I had to leave."

Education, it is said, is the light in the eye. There is no such light for her. It is possibly too late for her 13-year-old daughter as well, Sharbat Gula said. The two younger daughters still have a chance.

The reunion between the woman with green eyes and the photographer was quiet. On the subject of married women, cultural tradition is strict. She must not look—and certainly must not smile—at a man who is not her husband. She did not smile at McCurry. Her expression, he said, was flat. She cannot understand how her picture has touched so many. She does not know the power of those eyes.

Such knife-thin odds. That she would be alive. That she could be found. That she could endure such loss. Surely, in the face of such bitterness the spirit could atrophy. How, she was asked, had she survived?

The answer came wrapped in unshakable certitude.

"It was," said Sharbat Gula, "the will of God."

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2002/04/afghan-girl/index-text/1

“18 principi di vita” by Dalai Lama

1) Tieni sempre conto del fatto che un grande amore e dei grandi risultati comportano un grande rischio.
2) Quando perdi, non perdere la lezione.
3) Segui sempre le 3 “R”: Rispetto per te stesso, Rispetto per gli altri, Responsabilità per le tue azioni.
4) Ricorda che non ottenere quel che si vuole può essere talvolta un meraviglioso colpo di fortuna.
5) Impara le regole, affinché tu possa infrangerle in modo appropriato.
6) Non permettere che una piccola disputa danneggi una grande amicizia.
7) Quando ti accorgi di aver commesso un errore, fai immediatamente qualcosa per correggerlo.
8) Trascorri un po’ di tempo da solo ogni giorno.
9) Apri le braccia al cambiamento, ma non lasciar andare i tuoi valori.
10) Ricorda che talvolta il silenzio è la migliore risposta.
11) Vivi una buona, onorevole vita, di modo che, quando ci ripenserai da vecchio, potrai godertela una seconda volta.
12) Un’atmosfera amorevole nella tua casa dev’essere il fondamento della tua vita.
13) Quando ti trovi in disaccordo con le persone a te care, affronta soltanto il problema attuale, senza tirare in ballo il passato.
14) Condividi la tua conoscenza. E’ un modo di raggiungere l’immortalità.
15) Sii gentile con la Terra.
16) Almeno una volta l’anno, vai in un posto dove non sei mai stato prima.
17) Ricorda che il miglior rapporto è quello in cui ci si ama di più di quanto si abbia bisogno l’uno dell’altro.
18) Giudica il tuo successo in relazione a ciò a cui hai dovuto rinunciare per ottenerlo.

Leighton Meester by Christophe Meimoon for Marie Claire UK December 2010

"E tu, vai via o resti qui? Io resto qui. Anche se alle volte vorrei andare via."

#vieniviaconme

Richard Avedon

Una sera un mio amico che si diletta di fotografia, invitato a cena, mostrò alcune foto che aveva portato con sé.

La padrona di casa, guardandole, esclamò: “Bellissime, deve avere una macchina fotografica eccellente!”.

Al momento di andare via, il mio amico rivolto alla padrona, disse: “Ottima cena: lei deve avere pentole di buona qualità!”.

image from http://wqheartbeats.deviantart.com/

"dimmi che ci sono io per te in questa vita che nessuna certezza ci da."

"… e le persone troppo intelligenti e troppo sensibili soffrono di più delle persone poco intelligenti e poco sensibili e tendenzialmente si suicidano (questo lo sostengono gli psichiatri e le statistiche). Se le persone scarsamente sensibili e intelligenti tendono a far del male agli altri, le persone troppo sensibili e troppo intelligenti tendono a far del male a se stesse: chi è troppo sensibile e intelligente conosce i rischi che comporta la complessità di ciò che la vita sceglie per noi o ci consente di scegliere, è consapevole della pluralità di cui siamo fatti, non solo con una natura doppia, ma tripla, quadrupla, con le mille ipotesi dell’esistenza. Questo è il grande problema di coloro che sentono troppo e capiscono troppo: che potremmo essere tante cose, ma la vita è una sola e ci obbliga a essere solo una cosa, quella che gli altri pensano che noi siamo."

“La polvere della farfalla” di A. Tabucchi introduzione a “MARILYN MONROE FRAGMENTS. Poesie, appunti, lettere.”

"Molti la trovavano caparbia, ma Elizabeth aveva spesso la sensazione che la sua volontà non fosse del tutto sua. Era una persona che appariva arrogante e irremovibile non perché prendeva una decisione e poi la rispettava, ma perché trovava difficilissimo prendere qualsiasi tipo di decisione. Elizabeth aspettava, aspettava e aspettava, sperando di trovare lo spunto in grado di convincerla fino in fondo.
A volte davanti a lei non si parava nessuna alternativa, ed Elizabeth si lanciava a precipizio giù da un sentiero come se venisse trascinata dalla forza di gravità. Questo dava l’impressione che fosse ambiziosa ed energica. Ma sono passiva, non vedete? È il motivo per cui studiavo tanto a scuola: ero troppo pigra per non farlo."

Cathleen Shine, Sono come lei

"Stavo pregando di farmi diventare più paziente e comprensiva, ma ho smesso... Ho paura di venire esudita!"

Lucy Van Pelt

"Non c’è niente che faccia andare più una donna in brodo di giuggiole di un uomo che si ricordi le più piccole inezie, i più stupidi particolari che solo la sua best friend terrebbe a mente. Che ne so. Che lei adora il doccia schiuma alla magnolia. Noi donne parliamo a sproposito. Siamo capaci di andare avanti ore a comporre frasi di senso compiuto senza alla fine aver detto niente. E se tu al momento giusto riesci a propinarle un particolare che lei ha dichiarato in precedenza la lascerai di stucco. Perché fondamentalmente siamo abituate a dei caproni che non ascoltano. E siamo convinte che ricordarsi che ci piace il gelato alla stracciatella e non quello alla nocciola sia sintomo di grande intelligenza e comprensione da parte del maschio. In più noi spesso dimentichiamo quello che raccontiamo, specie dopo qualche aperitivo di troppo."

CORSO RAPIDO PER DIVENTARE UNO STRONZO DA RIMORCHIO - parte 2 - L’abbordaggio

image from http://bbangelfashion.tumblr.com/post/1394944174/diana-dondo-tyson-ballou-by-will-davidson-for

«Alla fine sono passati due anni, ma ancora la cerco e ci penso. Cosa mi manca di lei? Mi manca soprattutto il futuro. Nel senso che mi mancano tutte le cose che ancora non so e che vorrei scoprire con lei. Mi manca tutto ciò che avremmo potuto vivere insieme.»

Fabio Volo

ISPIRARE

ispirare
[i-spi-rà-re]
lett. → inspirare
(ispìro)

A v. tr.

1 Suscitare una sensazione o una passione: i. fiducia, simpatia, disgusto; i. amore, odio, rabbia
‖ SIN. destare, infondere

Ci sono così tante cose che mi ispirano e che mi tengono vicine ai miei sogni; forse dovrei avere un muro dell'ispirazione, un costante riferimento che mi ricordi ciò che vorrei raggiungere... Tutti dovrebbero avere un muro dell'ispirazione: quando i tuoi sogni ti stanno davanti tutti i giorni, non puoi nasconderti da loro! Perchè tutti abbiamo qualcuno o qualcosa che ci dà l'ispirazione; può essere qualcuno che si ammira fin da quando si è piccini, qualcuno di veramente bravo in quello che vorresti fare o persone normali, che fanno uno sforzo in più per non smettere di sorridere, avere una parola carina per tutti e dare una mano.

Forse dovrei fare davvero quel muro, anche se non credo basterebbe quello di camera mia!

So You Want To Be A Wire Service Photographer?

Being a full-time photographer is a dream of many. However, there are easier ways to make a living with a camera than by shooting for a wire service such as WireImage, Getty, Associated Press, or Retna. There are, however, few positions where you will find yourself working behind the scenes at a fashion show at 8am, doing a celebrity portrait session at 1pm, snapping Hillary Clinton at 5pm, covering a red carpet premiere at 8pm, then coaxing celebrities to pose for photos inside the hottest club at 1am. Then the next day, waking up and doing it all again.

The downsides to this fascinating job are many. The main one is that you will most often not be compensated for your time.

Yes, you heard that right. Most wire service positions are for "stringers," or freelance shooters. They operate on a commission-based structure, usually 50/50. That is, IF you sell a picture, you get half. Sounds pretty fair right? Sure, why not. But, due to monthly magazine publishing schedules, the picture you took in December (which was purchased later that month) will not get published till February. The magazine pays your agency only upon publication, and they typically have at least 30 to 60 days to cut the check, which meaning you most likely won't see anything until May or June. And, after all of that waiting, it might only be $100, which nets you $50. After the taxes you will owe as a freelancer, it ends up being even less. Still interested? It only gets better.

It typically takes at least 3-6 months after you start stringing to see any money at all from the agency. Being a newbie among veteran staffers and stringers means typically you will not be getting the A- list gigs. You might not even make the C-list, which means your pictures will not be in demand. That means even less money.

Let's say, though, that you stick it out. You prove yourself early, are available at a moments notice, get some good gigs, and shoot every day as often as possible. As time passes, you build up your archive, contacts, and exclusive tips and requests from PR firms, editors, and the like. Then what? After about a year, you might see some decent money; and after two years, you may be able to survive on your monthly commission check. After five years, your archive should be generating some decent coin--if you last.

Most wire service photographers in NYC have been shooting for years. They know the rules, both the local laws and the self-imposed; and they follow them to the letter. It's very hard to break into this tight-knit group. Most photographers do not even bother to learn the name of "the new guy" for at least several months. That's because most newbies don't last that long. When they have to get a certain shot every day just to be able to pay their rent, tensions can run high. For most newcomers, it's just not worth the hassle, making their old comfy desk job look better than it really was. But for those who can get past the initial hump, the job is fascinating and offers a look into many intriguing and exciting areas of life that others can only imagine by looking at the pictures in a magazine.

The actual workings of a wire service are pretty standard. The wire service or agency has a roster of photographers. Typically, they have staff or salaried photographers and stringers. Staff photographers are generally shooters who have come up through the ranks and have proven themselves by successfully covering thousands of assignments over the years. They have connections with celebrities, PR firms, managers, sports venues, concert venues, and political figures, and, they have a reputation for excellence. They are provided cameras, lenses, a laptop, and other gear. However, in exchange for a salary and sometimes a small (10%) commission, they give up their copyright to the agency. Effectively, staffers do not own any of their work.

Stringers own the copyright when they shoot on assignment; the exception being a work-for-hire contract for a specific event, where the photos are owned by the agency. They are then paid a buyout fee for the event or a half-day or full-day rate. What's the big deal about owning your copyright? If the you leave the agency to go somewhere else, you can take your valuable archive with you (after a certain period of time) or possibly even sell it to another agency. If you keep it put, you will receive a commission from sales over the life of the agency--in essence a pension of sorts. Your archive is your bread and butter and your retirement. Treat it carefully.

Often you will see "Exclusive" next to a photo in a magazine. Well, what does that really mean? Exclusive can have several different but similar meanings. If you are the only photographer at an event, you have an exclusive for the whole event. Some agencies actually pay promoters to have an exclusive for certain events. They then recover this fee through higher image sale prices. If a magazine wants the pictures, they'll have to go through the agency and pay the premium to get them. Exclusive can also be applied to a single shot from an event. This can often happen because the photographer has a relationship with the actor, musician, publicist, or manager, and can pull them aside for a shot backstage which no other shooter out front can get. The photographer might also be able to arrange group shots which are exclusive, including interesting couplings (such as President Bill Clinton with Sheryl Crow) which are sure to sell. Getting shots like this is a way to stand out among many photographers, but it takes considerable time, effort, networking, and patience. Many shooters are satisfied with what is given to them. Exclusive shots, as a general rule, command about double that of a non-exclusive shot, but it really depends on the subject matter. In entertainment photography, some exclusives of celebrities can bring many times the going rate, such as the first public shot of a celebrity couple together, a celebrity baby, etc. There are entire agencies devoted to paparrazzi pictures, and they operate similar to the other wire services covered in this article.

Photographers at traditional agencies have to be able to cover almost anything at any time and have to be able to shoot each genre just as well as someone who specializes in it. Most shooters fall into one of three categories—Entertainment, News, or Sports. There is some crossover, but usually each subject is covered by a different department at the agency, with each having their own pool of shooters. This makes it easier to get everything covered on a daily basis.

I specialize as an entertainment shooter in NYC--quite a fascinating job. Through the course of a year I can expect to shoot concerts, fashion shows, awards shows, red carpets, film festivals, candids, portraits, corporate functions, and many other events. This requires a quick eye, fast mind, great technical understanding of photography, the right gear, and knowledge of what sells. "Artistic" photos are great for maintaining your creative soul, and you should always try to develop that side, but they don't usually pay for your groceries. These are what I call "The Mechanics" of the job, the nitty-gritty, deep down and dirty knowledge that will help you get the access you need, the shot you want, and the paycheck you deserve. Now, we'll go out and see what an actual day is like for a wire service photographer in New York City.

I am a top stringer at Wireimage's NYC office. I work every day, usually shooting at least one to three gigs for Wireimage, which end up on their website, Wireimage.com. In addition, I often shoot something else for one of my personal clients.

Model, Benjamin Cho show, February 2007. This interesting designer always gives you something fun to shoot. I'll often shoot in black and white for some of the backstage. It rarely sells, but you have to keep your artistic side fulfilled as much as possible at each and every gig you shoot. This is one way to keep from getting burned out. Canon EOS 1D Mark II, 50mm F1.4 @ F2.2

"So, what's in your bag?" This is a question I get asked a lot. We photographers talk about gear all the time while we wait around for a gig to start. So, in the interest of disclosure, here is what I have in my bag every day. A Canon 1D Mark III as my main camera,with either a Canon 5D or a Canon 1D Mark II as my second body, 24-105, 70-200, 580EXII, Newton flash bracket, Quantum Turbo battery for flash, 3 sets of 2800mah AAs, about 16 gigs of CF cards, a firewire CF card reader, my press pass, and some gum. In addition, depending on the gig, I have a 28mm F1.8, a 50mm F1.4, a 17-40, a 16mm F2.8 Zenitar manual focus fisheye (great on the 5D), and a 580EX flash. A folding stool or ladder is also required for big premieres when you have to shoot over another photographer. I also have some MF cameras--my Yashicamat is my favorite. Sometimes I bring it out for some personal work during these gigs. You have to keep pushing it and learning and growing, and I find the Mat does just that.

Photographers also must have the processing power to push sometimes 2,000-5,000 shots a week through their computer. A laptop is not a must-have, but everyone I know who does this work has one. Between gigs you can edit and transmit your images from Starbucks—many times the first one with the pictures posted makes the sale. Processing on-site means you have less work to do at the end of the day. And isn't that what we are all aiming for? I carry a Macbook Air with an SD drive wherever I go, and I find that it is enough to process most jobs with on-the-fly. I also have a Macbook Pro with 4gb RAM and an additional 26" monitor I hook it up to in my ofstudio, and about a 2 terabyte of firewire HD's. Seeing images on the big screen makes editing faster when you are going through 300 shots of Brad and Angelina. At a typical big premiere, I will shoot 600-1,200 frames and edit them down to 80 for upload. And, I shoot lite compared to some, as I usually average about one shot uploaded per 10 taken.

Well. Ready to ditch the office key card? Tempting, isn't it? I'll just say this.

Being a wire service photographer saved my life. Who knows, it might save yours too.

I wasn't always a photographer. My previous career goals were not being met and my confidence was at an all-time low. I had been doing photography as a serious hobby for about 4 years and I had done some celebrity photography work on my own. I cold emailed Wireimage, showed them my book, and they signed me on the spot. I slowly clawed my way up, worked every single gig they offered, with 18 hour days seven days a week as the norm. I endured the income drought by shooting headshots and everything else I could find. Now, I can occasionally take a day off. I'm DOING it though. And I dig it. It has brought me much joy, taken me to places I would have never gone, introduced me to people I would have never met, and also shown me things that I really don't care to see again. But I saw all of it with my own eyes, which is important. And I saw them through my lens, which is even better, because I have the pictures to prove it!

Working for an agency is unbelievably difficult. The money is slow in coming; the hours are impossible at times, and you have to continually produce top-notch work while dealing with impossible circumstances and difficult people. Oh, and you have to carry that amazingly heavy bag. But the rewards are there.

So...how do you start? The MINIMUM equipment in my opinion that you own must include: a Digital SLR of at least six megapixels (pretty cheap these days) and an 18-55 lens (or something like that), a professional flash with Guide Number of at least 120, external battery pack and bracket for flash, two CF cards of at least 1gb each, and card reader. Buy your equipment used if you have to, but these items you have to have. Rent what you can't afford from a local rental house or borrow from friends or family. Stores in NYC like Alkit and Adorama ship rental gear anywhere. I started with a Canon 10D, 28-105 lens and 420EX flash, although I quickly upgraded. You can, too. You'll also need a computer with high-speed internet and Photoshop. Keep in mind this is the bare minimum you need. The key is not your equipment, but in how you master it. You need to know your camera and flash inside out. You should be shooting every day—on the way to work, on the way home, on the weekends, at parties, on the street, portraits, concerts, everything you can find. Try to get at least 1,000 frames a week. You should be able to change your settings without looking at the camera, and I am not talking about just the shutter and aperture. White balance, iso, focus points, AF tracking, and the rest must be embedded in your mind so you can shoot without thinking. Practice it in the dark. Then shoot, shoot, shoot. Use Craigslist to find gigs that pay a little bit and practice on them. Place a free ad for your services. Try not to work for free though-always get something out of it, even if it is just lunch. Always insist on being credited for your work if published, even if it's in the church bulletin.

After you know your camera backwards and forwards and you have at least 20 great (I mean GREAT, not "well it's a little soft and the color is off, but otherwise it is a great shot of Obama") shots, get some high-quality prints, put them in a complimentary order, get a personal website (also a must-have) and start shopping them around looking for work. Email the wire services and ask if they need someone where you live (it helps if you live in or near a large city). You can always shoot concerts or politicians when they come rolling through, and the agency can credential you. This is a good way to start.

So what are you waiting for? Fire up that Rebel and get shootin'!

Brian Ach

http://www.brianach.com

http://www.wireimage.com

http://jpgmag.com/people/achman

http://www.thebettershot.blogspot.com

from here: http://jpgmag.com/stories/3748/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter10052010

"Vuoi sapere qual è la verità sul tuo conto? Sei una fifona, non hai un briciolo di coraggio, neanche quello semplice e istintivo di riconoscere che a questo mondo ci si innamora, che si deve appartenere a qualcuno, perché questa è la sola maniera di poter essere felici."

Paul a Holly - COLAZIONE DA TIFFANY

Happy birthday Charlie Brown! 60 years of Peanuts

Il 2 ottobre 1950 debuttano negli Usa le strisce di Charles M. Schulz e subito il mondo si innamora di quei personaggi così dolci e così disincantati.

I PEANUTS compiono sessant'anni. Sono sopravvissuti felicemente al loro autore, come capita solo ai classici, e circolano per il mondo in mille forme.

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Il vero mistero dei Peanuts (e il vero capolavoro di Schulz, volontario o preterintenzionale che sia) è la prodigiosa elasticità di lettura. Un poster di Charlie Brown figura con la stessa dignità sopra la scrivania dell'intellettuale, accanto ai manifesti del Bauhaus, e nella cameretta del teenager, di fianco al poster di Vasco o degli eroi del wrestling. Una lettura multistrato, immediata e "divertente" quanto basta a raggiungere il pubblico di massa, strutturata e allusiva quanto serve per toccare altre corde.

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Dentro quelle strisce minute scoprivamo il riverbero della malinconia giovanile del Salinger del Giovane Holden e del Philip Roth del Lamento di Portnoy. C'era la parodia della psicanalisi ("cinque cents, prego", chiedeva Lucy dopo i suoi consulti inconsulti), l'incombenza soporifera della televisione (mai inquadrata da Schulz, che preferiva ritrarre lo svacco inerte dei ragazzini davanti al video sempre fuori campo), c'era la caduta dell'autorità degli adulti, c'era l'inutilità del benessere, c'era l'incomprensibilità della scuola. Il mondo piccolo dei Peanuts riassumeva tutti o quasi i tratti di uno spaesamento adolescenziale che in quegli anni, i Sessanta e i Settanta, spesso assumeva le forme della ribellione, dell'asprezza politica.

Ma in Schulz, che non fu mai un autore "politico", quella stessa irrequietezza rimaneva implosa, gentile e riflessiva, ironica e pudica. Se "niente andava bene" - anche nei Peanuts, e specie per il loro eroe Charlie Brown - tutto però doveva rimanere gestibile, raccontabile, entro i confini incruenti del gioco e del sogno. Pur di tutelare questo infinito garbo (nei Peanuts non compare mai una parolaccia, una frase violenta), Schulz è ricorso a una specie di "trucco" anagrafico: i suoi ragazzini pensano e parlano già come adolescenti, ma vengono disegnati come bambini. Del bambino hanno la piccolezza, l'impaccio, la fragilità, l'immensa libertà di fantasticare e giocare e inventare. Ma l'introspezione, la "serietà", e anche le sconfitte, sono già materiale semi-adulto.

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Ma una delle più evidenti qualità dei Peanuts - l'idea vincente - è stata consegnare a un gruppo di bambini il carico di dubbi, fatiche, smarrimento di una middle-class inquieta (più tardi si sarebbe detto: ceti medi riflessivi) che cominciava a maneggiare il benessere con qualche impaccio, e chiedersi se davvero era felice, in quelle casette linde e tra quelle staccionate bianche. Nelle mani dei bambini, questa materia in fin dei conti dura, che altrove divampava e feriva, si trasformò in gioco e in sogno, in umorismo e poesia. Chiunque abbia frequentato i Peanuts, a qualunque età li abbia letti o li legga, ne coglie la malinconia (non fanno "ridere", fanno sorridere, pensare, intenerire) ma è soprattutto ammirato dall'infinita, rara leggerezza.

Quei bambini-filosofi, nella loro piccola enciclopedia del pensiero imberbe, parlano senza dubbio di noi, ma tenendosi bene a distanza dagli sbocchi distruttivi o autodistruttivi dell'età adulta. Si chiedono chi sono, e cosa ci fanno lì, e quali possibilità rimangono, a chi vuole sognare, di sognare davvero. Ma si guardano bene dal confondersi con la fretta, l'ansia, l'ambizione, il fracasso del mondo già compiuto, quello dei grandi. Sono incompiuti (beati loro). E nell'incompiutezza pensano (giustamente) che tutto sia ancora possibile, che la ragazzina dai capelli rossi ricambi prima o poi un amore neppure mai pronunciato, che il Sopwith Camel di Snoopy possa infine levarsi in volo e mitragliare il Barone Rosso, che il pallone da football, un giorno o l'altro, possa essere calciato con vigore e precisione, che l'aquilone non si attorcigli al suo filo e non vada a morire sull'unico albero in mezzo al campo.

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Può darsi che questa "eternità" dei Peanuts consoli soprattutto chi li ha incontrati a dodici anni, molto molto tempo fa, ed è felice di ritrovare intatti, non in cocci, almeno alcuni dei segni dell'infanzia. Ma può darsi, anche, che l'eleganza intellettuale, il pudore, l'acuta leggerezza di Schulz parlino anche a chi li legge ora, ed è ragazzo ora, e avendo palloni ancora da calciare, e ragazzine dai capelli rossi da fare innamorare, trova nei Peanuts non una consolazione, ma un'istigazione alla libertà di vivere.

http://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli-e-cultura/2010/09/26/news/charlie_brown_serra-7434565/

My photo mosaic

1. Fleur de Strasbourg, 2. Perchè t'amo?, 3. Rainbow, 4. Little present, 5. It's been a long time since I rock and rolled.2, 6. Love at iPhone time, 7. Biennale Venezia 08, 8. White solitude, 9. Clip, 10. Stellar, 11. Agapanthus.1, 12. Le faboleux monde de Ada, 13. Lady Bug, 14. Chairs, 15. Bitte Nicht Beruhren, 16. Mushroom, 17. Thorn in the side, 18. Words don't come easily, 19. Imperfection is Beauty, 20. Scene from a wedding, 21. There's so much beauty in the world, 22. Love in Hamburg, 23. Cat's secret, 24. Spring is coming . 2, 25. Snail in tne Rain

What's in your kitbag? Lara Jade

With youth and talent on her side, it would appear that Lara Jade has the world at her fingertips. The 21-year-old fashion protégée works with a host of blue-chip companies, designers and magazines and happily plies her trade at London Fashion Week or mingles with the glitterati in New York and Milan. Despite her world being populated by the young and the beautiful, her own age can work against her. Lara Jade’s youthful exuberance has a telling impact on her wistful shots, yet despite the fantasy, her kit is far from fancy as Mark Alexander finds out.

“I’ve failed to get jobs because of my age,” Lara admits candidly. “Because fashion photography is high-profile work, some clients don’t want to use someone who’s only 21; who they think won’t have the necessary experience; who will mess up and then they’ll have to spend more money putting it right. They tend to associate age with experience.”

In the high-octane world of fashion photography the influence of youth is everywhere, so you would have thought a fresh approach would be coveted, but apparently this is not always the case. “You can be 30 and still be too young even though you have 10 years’ experience, which is still not enough for some fashion brands,” says London-based photographer Lara Jade. “Photographers get paid a lot of money and to put that responsibility into a young person’s hands is seen as a bit of a risk. It is getting better – I’m sure by the time I’m 25 I’ll be trusted.”

The intransigence of the fashion world makes the achievements of this young photographer all the more remarkable – last year she picked up the Association Of Photographers’ (AOP) Public Choice Award for her portrait, ‘Bernadette’. Yet, despite a growing reputation and a lucrative contract with Milan-based agency Sudest57, her photographic education only began six years ago when she picked up her first camera.

Cameras

“When I first started, my dad had a video camera that took still shots,” says Lara, who was at school studying art at the time. “I was researching a lot of fantasy artists and came across the website deviantart.com - I saw how people were capturing fantasies rather than drawing them. I’d always felt a bit lost with my art and as soon as I picked up the camera and started shooting, I felt this was the way I saw things. It just clicked.”

The teenage Lara quickly moved on to a 'point-and-shoot' Polaroid, then to a Casio, before graduating to her first Canon – an EOS 350D when she was 16. She had just started at Sutton Coldfield College, studying photography. She explains: “It was a perfect time to get a new camera because I had to learn everything from scratch. I was completely lost but the 350D opened a lot of doors. Having full control over the image was quite strange at first. Everything seemed to work and I didn’t have to rely on Photoshop as much.”

Today, Lara’s photographic requirements have moved on, although she still likes to keep her set-up as uncluttered as possible, opting for the subtlety and logical layout of an EOS 5D. “When it’s in my hands, I find it really easy to use,” she says. “Everything is there and I know how to change things quickly. I feel really comfortable with it. When I upgrade, it will definitely be to the Mark II.”

The compact size of the 5D has other advantages. “I don’t like big, bulky cameras because I work a lot on location. The 5D is easy to carry around. For instance, I’ve just got back from New York and on the flight home I carried it on as hand luggage in my handbag. I have a lot of camera bags but I prefer to be fashionable, and there aren’t a lot of fashionable camera bags out there.” With style an issue, the 5D seems to be the perfect 'fashion accessory' – small enough to hide away in a handbag but big enough (in sensor size) to create large-scale poster prints.

Lenses

To complement the EOS 5D’s stylish good looks, Lara opts for lenses that isolate the model for intense and intimate portraits. For this she follows her 'primal' instincts. “I tend to use primes, so I’ve got an EF85mm f/1.8 USM and a EF50mm f/1.4 USM,” reveals Lara. “I love shooting at a distance, especially when on location, and because I use the wide aperture you get that lovely blurred background. I like to emphasise this by shooting far away from the subject and the 85mm helps me achieve this. The 50mm is sometimes too wide on a full-frame camera, especially when I’m shooting fashion, so I tend to use it for full-length shots.”

Lara’s only zoom lens is an EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM that gives her much-needed flexibility in the confines of a studio. “I like it because you can zoom in and out instead of changing lenses, so I tend to use it more in the studio for clients’ shoots, especially where space is restricted and I need to zoom out more. When I’m doing outdoor editorial and fashion stories, I tend to use the primes.”

The simplicity of Lara’s set-up, which more often than not relies on a 5D and an 85mm lens stuffed into her handbag, extends to her lighting kit which, again, has been devised with travel in mind. Indeed, because she relies so heavily on natural light, foldaway reflectors are a staple of her kit: “I take reflectors out a lot because they give you so much versatility with the light. You can reflect the light back up, use two of them, or use the opposite side and get a completely different effect.”

To position the reflectors, Lara calls on an assistant to help out, especially on big shoots where her aide might also be asked to position her Bowens lights. “The kit is heavy, so when I’ve been on location in the past, I’ve used the travel battery and the softbox without the tripod so someone has to hold the light. It works really well but I need to experiment with it more,” admits Lara.

Lara’s work has a classic, retrospective feel that delves into the romantic notions and fantasy worlds she so desperately wanted to capture when she picked up her father’s video camera. Yet despite clear references to these often surreal genres, her approach to photography remains pragmatic and ‘earthed’.

“I’m more creative than technically-minded,” Lara concludes. “I know a bit, but I’m not one of those people who knows everything there is to know about the camera. I think people can be one or the other – they can know everything about film, the camera and lighting, but they’re not that good at photography, and then you get the other side which concentrates on creativity. I tend to pride myself on knowing about the creative side and experimenting.”

Technical

Lara Jade's equipment:

Cameras:
EOS 5D

Lenses:
EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM
EF35mm f/2.0
EF50mm f/1.4 USM
EF85mm f/1.8 USM

Accessories:
Bowens flash lighting kits
Bowens reflectors
Lastolite reflectors
Lowepro camera bags

http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/education/technical/whats_in_your_kitbag_lara_jade.do