A view of the moon

From my back porch tonight ...


I'm told this is what is left of the Wolf Moon. I think this is night 3. I wish I had the patience to photograph this properly -- the way Ansel Adams would have photographed it. But capturing it at all, is good enough for me.

~~~ + ~~~
© K.L.Knief

shrouded in mystery

Let's start with one of my all time favorite paintings ...

The Lovers 2, by René Magritte

or The Lovers that preceded it

and then let's look at other shrouded figures ...

(and note that as I introduce them, each introduction means
that credit is being issued PRIOR to the visual, hence,
artist name is being viewed before the visual reference)

by Jan Saudek

Irving Penn

Richard Avedon

Deborah Turbeville

Steven Meisel

Sebastião Salgado's shot of refugees in Ethiopia (1984)

Associated Press photographer, Mohammad abu Ghosh's shot
of a woman in Amman, Jordan


Guy Bourdin

Albert Watson's interpretation of a Gianfranco Ferre Silk Scarf

Barbara Morgan's photographs of Martha Graham

and of Valerie Bettis

Erwin Blumenfeld

Margaret Bourke-White's photograph of Muslim men carrying a refuge

Norman Parkinson's take on fashion

Steven Meisel

Jean Gaumy's photograph of women in Tehran

Herb Ritts

Mary Ellen Mark

David Hamilton

Stephen Ciuccoli

Zoriah's depiction of war

Zoetnet's covering of nuptials

and of course, Annie Leibovitz's Christo.

Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin

You see? Not all museums are boring.







Photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin
Styled by Alex White

From the feature, "Art & Commerce", W Magazine, October 2009

Suggestiveness

I remember being a kid and learning about the risque television commercials that flashed the word "sex" in between frames. And I heard about the accompanying print ads with ice-cubes hiding "sex" in swirly blue letters in hopes that your parents would buy that brand of vodka. It was said that suggestion or suggestiveness was either subliminal and intentionally placed or all in your head.

Pablo Picasso by Robert Doisneau

Elliott Erwitt

Man Ray

Guy Bourdin

Guy Bourdin

My first introduction to Guy Bourdin and probably a notable reference for many photographers is that of his Charles Jourdan shoe campaign of the 1970s. Bourdin's fashion photography defined a style that I think hibernated for awhile and then reemerged to influence perhaps Fiona Apple's "Criminal" music video and maybe even Juergen Teller's current Marc Jacob ads, albeit the Marc Jacob ads seem unrelated and blatantly stark verging on mocking by comparison. But in all, the core is an almost defiant favoring of object and form versus light, and the static versus fluidity.