Archive for May, 2012
In honor of the final Total Rewards post in the series, I thought I’d wrap up the way I began; with a dream post. Street-style is all about making fashion accessible and bringing it down to earth. Sometimes, though, you just want to escape into the world where women buy Rodarte dresses at the drop of a hat. The ability to purchase – and wear – exquisite pieces of art is not in and of itself a guarantee of happiness, yet why do so many women (myself included) lust after them? Perhaps its the magic such a garment represents, which is really nothing more than illusion, even for the woman wearing it. One of fashion’s most important powers is to act as a smoke screen, or a philosophers stone, allowing us to conjure up our dreams with something tangible.
Bottom line? In an ideal world, someday I will be lounging around in this incredible dress. Rodarte’s Fall 2008 collection has always been one of my favorites, not least of all because I went through a horror anime phase in high school. Someday, maybe… we can dream, right?
When I first spotted Ewelina, she was briskly walking north on Damen. In a completely out-of-character move for me, I inexplicably chose to wear heels that day to go street-style hunting. I’ve been wearing dresses a lot more lately and obviously, sneakers don’t usually go well with flirty sundresses. Risking a broken ankle in my stiletto-naive state, I dashed down the sidewalk to catch up with her. I had to yell to catch her attention, which I try NEVER to do since the last thing I want is to draw attention to my interactions with subjects. Nothing makes people more uncomfortable during a street-style photoshoot than being stared at like zoo animals.
Ewelina moved, and dressed with such intention, that watching her move was surreal. Suddenly it was as though everything else in my field of vision turned gray. I feel different emotions and experiences when I am out street-style hunting, and so often it is difficult to articulate because words are not really a part of the equation. This is one of the rare instances when I can describe what happens inside when I see someone I want to photograph. So often, especially with the best photos, words aren’t necessary at all. This image is already one of my favorites.
I am so excited to share with you that my photo of Elin Kling was the starting point for a story about Bermuda shorts in the June 2012 issue of Shop Til You Drop, the #1 best selling fashion magazine in Australia. This is a screenshot of page 146. Even though I work primarily in the digital medium there is nothing that compares to seeing my work in print. I’m sure many photographers would agree. As a creative professional based in Chicago, having such a prominent Australian magazine feature my work feels incredible. It just goes to show you what a boundaryless global society we’ve become.
