Posted by Elizabeth Stacy | Posted in Foto Care Interviews
Posted on November 28, 2010

We have been touched by Bruce Byers’ mission work for children in need.  We had a chance to ask Bruce to share his experiences in hopes to touch your lives as much as he has touched the lives of children around the world.

Bruce Byers, New York City based photographer, began his mission work in 2006 when he decided he wanted to give back to the community using his photography. Following his father’s ministry missions he has photographed children and their families all over the world.  Documenting many children with medical issues, concentrating on cleft lips and palate as well as dental problems, he has brought their story to the rest of the world in hopes to change their lives for the better.

In 2006 he connected with Healing the Children on a medical mission to Cambodia and Vietnam.   As they traveled through the country they found people were happy to see them.  During this first mission they were able to help over 700 children with dental problems, children who otherwise never would have seen a dentist.   Bruce was hooked; he knew this is what he wanted to do with his talents.  So began his long traveling career all over the world.

Over the next 5 years Bruce traveled China, Bangladesh, Israel, and back home to St. Baldrick’s in New York City, discovering children in need as well as exploring the world.  These missions are ones never to be forgotten, he says, no matter how many more photographs he takes every life touched are held near his heart.  He was welcomed into communities and homes that most of the world has given up on but he will always be there to tell their stories.

“I have had the privilege of documenting medical missions throughout five Asian countries over the years.  My work captures moments time of simple lives that have limited resources but a very large heart.  I was profoundly affected by the fact that the people I photographed were creative, hard working for their families and at peace with their lives” – Bruce Byers

To see more of Bruce’s mission work or support the cause go to www.brucebyers.com

Posted by Elizabeth Stacy | Posted in Photography Workshops & Lectures
Posted on October 13, 2010

Join Mary Ellen Mark during Halloween weekend for shooting, sharing and learning.  All details about the workshop and registration are below.

This workshop is a combination of lecture, shooting, portfolio review and critique.  Class size is limited to 15 students.  Mary Ellen will review students’ portfolios and offer guidance on ongoing projects.  She will discuss the basics of how her library is organized and other aspects of photography as a business.  She will also give a slide lecture and show some films that she has produced with her husband, Martin Bell.  Students will go out independently on Sunday to shoot at the Village Halloween Parade or other events around the city.  After the class, students will be able to send contact sheets from their Halloween shooting to Mary Ellen, which she will edit with comments and return to you.

This class is for experienced photographers.  Attendees should bring their portfolio to the class for review (prints, no slides).  Students should also come prepared to shoot on Sunday.

(Registration Extended)

Halloween Weekend Workshop
37 Greene Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10013

October 30th -October 31st
10:00AM – 6:00PM
RSVP

Posted by Foto Care | Posted in Foto Care Interviews
Posted on October 8, 2010

Foto Care presents an exclusive interview with documentary photographer Thomas Holton. A 2005 graduate from of the School of Visual Arts, his work has been exhibited widely, including the New York Public Library, The Houston Center of Photography and the Griffin Museum of Photography. In 2005 Holton was one of 24 photographers selected for the Art + Commerce Festival for Emerging Photographers and in 2006 was one of American Photo Magazine’s Ten Best Young Photographers. In 2007 and 2008, “The Lams of Ludlow Street” was part of the New York Public Library’s “Eminent Domain: Contemporary Photography and the City” group show as well as featured in The New York Times and Aperture. Holton currently teaches photography at The International Center of Photography and The Trinity School and is represented by The Sasha Wolf Gallery in New York City.

So tell me about your childhood and family life.

I grew up in a very creative household with mixed cultures. My father was American and my mother is from China so I had a wonderfully mixed family on both sides. My father’s mother was an artist and a free spirit so creativity was always present and encouraged. Our home was decorated with many photographs from far away places as well as objects collected from all over the globe. When i was young, my mother and I traveled extensively with my father on his shoots so traveling and exploration has been in my blood since day one.

When did you decide to become a photographer and what inspired that decision?

I have been involved with photography since around 15 years old but it wasn’t until I graduated college that I wanted to pursue a life in photography. I had taken some summer classes as well as college courses for the basics and then started freelance assisting after I came home to NYC from school.

Your father George Holton was also a photographer. Has his work influenced your work in any way?

I was inspired by my father’s work and the idea of exploring the world and discovering myself along the way. This desire moved me to start shooting and hopefully start traveling like my father. After assisting for many years I started to take annual trips to places I wanted to explore, mostly focusing on southeast Asia (India, Thailand and Laos). Having assisted for so many years, I wanted to get away from the commercial world of photography and all its gear and literally get lost by myself with one small camera bag.  I would return and assist again for 9 months then disappear for 3…I did this for four years before I went to graduate school at the School of Visual Arts to get my MFA in 2002. So my father’s work definitely inspired me to not only get involved with photography but to start traveling and experiencing new places and things in life.

Your work seems to cross the line between art and commerce. Do you favor one more than the other?

Assisting and graduate school lead to many contacts and new associates, so when I did do some editorial jobs here and there, it was mostly through friends I had made along the way. While I did shoot for a few magazines before and after SVA, I do not do commercial work anymore. But I am not naive enough to believe I can survive not doing commercial work so I teach to “make my living”. After I got my MFA in 2005, I wanted to focus on my personal work and see where I could take it and to not pursue commercial work exclusively. I currently teach digital and analog photography at the Trinity School and the ICP. I still make my own work and I follow my own ideas and interests and hopefully get it out there to be seen.

How did you break into shooting commercial assignments?

I am represented by the Sasha Wolf Gallery and am currently shooting a commission for Aperture which will be published in Aperture and exhibited (location TBD) in the spring of 2011.

Currently what equipment are you using to produce your work?

I use a Mamiya 645 that I bought in 1994 and is my workhorse. While I have a Nikon digital SLR (which I got from FotoCare), I exclusively use the Mamiya and film for my personal work. Old habits die hard!

What equipment would you most like to own but don’t yet have?

I would love to get a medium format digital camera like the Hasseblad but I don’t have $40,000 lying around. Since I don’t do commercial work anymore, the need to go digital is not as great for me; but that’s a sweet looking camera!

Now that video is working its way into our market, do you see yourself stepping into the Hybrid Video market in the near future?

Since I don’t do commercial work, I haven’t explored these new digital video/photo cameras but I have seen some photographer’s video work and I can see where the industry is going.

Where is your work heading next?

As for now, I am shooting the Aperture commission and have recently started to photograph the Lams again. I first finished “The Lams of Ludlow Street” in 2005 but have always remained in touch, visiting regularly. I was visiting them recently and felt the need to make new work and capture where they are now. I will continue with this for a long time and see this body of work as a long term project. As for world travel, I have been going to Varanasi, India for the past two years (with another trip sometime soon) to photograph the main train station there. It meets my wanderlust needs! But mostly I stay in NYC now teaching and shooting locally.

I also want to create a website and blog for my father, where I post images from his travels in the hope that it gets seen and his work get some recognition.

How did you hear about Foto Care?

When I assisted I was in FotoCare all the time, so that’s how I know Jeff and the gang over there.

Lastly, do you have any words of wisdom for up and coming photographers?

I would simply say, in order to fully discover who you are and what you want to say with photographs,  keep making as much work as possible. Fully study historic and contemporary photographers. Photography is ultimately about ideas and everybody has something to say; discovering this and developing your own voice is truly what it means to be a photographer.

Stay tuned for the next FotoCare post when Thomas shares the life and work of his father, photographer George  Holton.

Posted by Elizabeth Stacy | Posted in Foto Care Workshops, Photography Workshops & Lectures
Posted on July 22, 2010

Foto Care is pleased to announce an exciting evening with New York photographer Daymion Mardel, as he shares his fascinating journey of becoming a photographer with his fortunate start as an intern for photo legend Richard Avedon, and his  path to establishing himself as a succesful, in-demand photographer today.

Daymion Mardel Lecture

Foto Care Retail
Tuesday, July 27th
6:00PM – 8:00PM

RSVP to reserve a seat

Below we have shared an interview with Daymion first published by Bron Imaging (via the bronimagingblog).

When did I know I was going to be a photographer? I guess the better question would be, when did I know I wanted to be an artist?

You frequently hear the old cliché, “It’s in the blood,” but for me, I really think it is.  My Mum and siblings are all artists of various forms.  All of us make a living doing what we love best.

I was born in England in 1973.  When I was almost 9 years old, my Mum and Dad pulled my brother, sister, and I out of school.  I know that may sound crazy to anyone else, but it was a decision that helped shape the rest of my life. Along with two of my siblings, we set off in a Volkswagon bus to tour Western Europe for almost a year (my older brother, already in college, joined us throughout various legs of the trip when he could).   We had lessons on the bus, and Mum required that we keep a journal of our experiences, along with scrapbooking ticket stubs, postcards, and our own sketches.

That was my introduction to the classics.  Moving from campground to rest area to campground, we hopped from museum to gallery to monument, learning about European art and architecture, and meeting several interesting characters along the way (probably why I see the NY subway as more of a social gathering place to make friends, rather than a claustrophobic nightmare of strangers).  Although I’m not sure I fully appreciated seeing my first Botticelli at such a young age, I can see now how it defined even my earliest notions of beauty, and has remained with me ever since.

After a year in a bus, we relocated to Boston, Massachusetts, where I was enrolled in public school.  Though we were initially the odd kids who talked funny and called rain boots “Wellies” and ate wobbly tarts for breakfast, I quickly found my niche in a tightly-knit group of friends who have remained some of my dearest ever since.  I may have dual citizenship and was born across the pond, but you can take one look at my collection of hats and know that I call Beantown my home.

After graduating from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a degree in family studies, I enrolled at the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara.

Following my third year at Brooks, I was accepted for a three-month internship in New York City with Richard Avedon.  Within the first week of the internship, Avedon asked if I would take a full-time position in his studio.  Without finishing at Brooks, I moved to New York with literally nothing to my name.  My suitcases were lost in the flight, and so my brother had to ship hand-me-downs to the cramped east village apartment I shared with eight other roommates, who’d been willing to squeeze me in to cut down the rent.

Within a few years, I became both first assistant and studio manager for Richard Avedon, an experience that could fill volumes and volumes of my own memoir.  Needless to say, it was an apprenticeship that impacted me in profound measures I cannot even yet fully assess.  Having lost my own father several years back, it was very much like losing a second father.  More than just an American icon to me, he was my mentor, and a very dear friend.  I was in San Antonio assisting him on the Democracy project for the New Yorker on October 1, 2004. Words still fail to express what a loss to the world was taken that day.

Though I was eager to help establish the Avedon Foundation in any way that I could to help maintain his legacy, I knew that it was time for me take the wealth of knowledge and inspiration with which I have been so graciously blessed, and begin to find my own voice in the world of photography.  After a brief freelance assisting job with the great acclaimed photographer, Henry Leutwyler, I transitioned into a full time freelance photographer.  I credit Leutwyler for a lot of things, but especially giving me the confidence to leave the assisting world and inspiring me to own my own broncolor lighting equipment.

The past five years as a photographer have been thrilling, sometimes terrifying, but continually affirming that I absolutely love doing what I do.  I may not yet own my own studio, and with freelancing there are few contracts to secure my income is guaranteed tomorrow.  But with editorial credits like American Vogue, and Advertising clients that include J.Crew, Coach, and Ann Taylor, etc. I certainly can’t complain.  In between my hectic schedule, I am continuing to pursue my own self assigned personal projects. I’ve been blessed to make a living doing what I love more than anything, and to do it with the most incredible lighting in the world; broncolor.

Posted by Elizabeth Stacy | Posted in Announcements
Posted on June 25, 2010

We would like to congratulate New York based photographer John Kesl, winner of the Apple iPad drawing we had at last week’s LeBook Productions event.  Fred Blake and Richard Andres presented John with his prize this week in our rental department.

It was great to meet John and everyone at the event last week.  We hope John enjoys his iPad and make sure to keep in touch with us for future events (and drawings).

Make sure to take a look at John’s work at www.johnkesl.com.

Posted by Foto Care | Posted in Photo Exhibits in NYC
Posted on June 4, 2010

Another NY historic building is about to be demolished and photographer Hiroki Kobayashi preserves its memory with a moving exhibit at the Fivemyls Gallery.

The Slave Theater on Fulton Street in Brooklyn may be demolished to make room for residential development. A movie house in the 1960s and 70s, the theater was an important home for black activism in the 1980s and 90s.

The Japanese artist Hiroki Kobayashi has taken photographs of the theater’s decaying interior for the past year in an effort to preserve what remains before the building is torn down. Kobayashi’s large images showcase the hauntingly beautiful murals and paintings on the walls of icons and heroes of African American history. The images will be on display at Fivemyls Gallery in Brooklyn, NY.

The Slave Theater
June 6, 2010 through June 20, 2010

Opening Reception
June 6, 2010, 4PM to 7PM

Fivemyles Gallery
588 St. Johns Place
Brooklyn, NY 11238
T. 718-783-4438

Posted by Foto Care | Posted in Photography Contests / Events
Posted on March 19, 2010

Part two of our four part series about the HassyNYC photo contest where photo fans are coming together for a chance to win the new H4D camera system. Here we take a look at the extraordinary world of Victoria Field one of the three NY photographers participating in they HassyNYC challenge.

Step inside Victoria’s not so secret world, where things are a bit out the ordinary. Though the modern portrait is her specialty, she also has an eye for both the mainstream and the peculiar in fashion and arts.

Victoria Will resides in Manhattan but hails from the Nation’s capital. She adores French bull dogs, electronic gadgets, a good sense of humor, country music, meeting new people and beautiful things.  That is why she became a photographer and there are few things she enjoys more than her work.

Her work frequently appears in US and Foreign magazines including TV Guide, Vogue Nippon, People Style Watch, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar and Blackbook. She is a graduate of Princeton University.

Clients include Time Warner, Guess, Warner Music, Closet Couture, Warner Bros. and Sigerson Morrison to name a few.

Posted by Foto Care | Posted in Photography Contests / Events
Posted on March 18, 2010

Part three of our four part series covering the HassyNYC challenge where photo fans are participating to win the new H4D camera system.  Here we step into the world of Robert Manella  one of the three NY photographers taking the  HassyNYC challenge.  Take a look at his work below, a mix of images from his portfolio as well as some from the Hassy challenge.

Few have the acute sense of beauty and real world photography like veteran Robert Manella. For more than twenty years, Robert has spent a fair share of his working hours in hot, remote and exotic places, delivering lush images for the fashion and lifestyle industry. Robert is currently Director of Photography at Ocean Style Magazine, but through the years Robert’s work has been printed in a wide range of fashion and travel magazines. Although he loves the Caribbean and is a frequent flyer, Robert Manella also lives and works in NYC.