Author: studiobypines

We’re obsessed with this story behind Milla’s 1994 shoot with Chris Floyd as told by Chris on his blog.
‘This is from a 1994 shoot with Milla Jovovich at her apartment in New York City. I don’t think I’ve looked at the film since I shot it. Seeing it for the first time in 16 years has been a bit of a shock. The thing that immediately came back was the memory of being mugged by a gun and knife wielding duo on the Lower East Side the night before the shoot. My camera was taken from me and I very nearly didn’t get to see the sun come up the next morning when I called the assailants a “bunch of f** c**” as they walked away from me. It was a calculated decision, based on the belief that they were far enough from me to not be bothered about coming back as I uttered the words at them. I was exactly 100% wrong in my calculation. They took it so personally that they decided to try and kill me and the friend I was with by chasing us all the way up Ludlow Street until, at the junction of East Houston we ran into 2 of the NYPD’s coffee slurping, doughnut gobbling finest, hanging out on the bonnet of their blue and white. Saved. The muggers scarpered back the way they came and the Po-Leece were so not arsed about trying to catch them.
The next morning, though, all I had was my other camera – a Contax T2 point & shoot, which you can see Milla holding in some of these pictures. I was so naïve in those days that I don’t think it occurred to me to even try and get hold of a replacement camera from one of New York’s rental houses but, then again, I had no credit card and thus, no means of securing anything I might have wanted. However, David, my fellow muggee from the night before had an old Pentax K1000 and he very kindly let me borrow it.
Looking at the film now, what strikes me is how cavalier I seemed to have been in my methods back then. My choice of film is all over the place. I photographed her on 4 different films: 400 Tri-X, 3200 T-Max, Agfa 1000 E6, Fuji 400 C41. Some of the Agfa I processed as straight E6 and some of it I cross processed in C41, which was all the rage back then. When I look at it now it’s disgusting.

What is absolutely clear, though, is that I was totally experimenting. I had not yet found myself because, at that age, 25, I didn’t know who I was. Nowadays I absolutely know who I am and I’ll shoot in a consistent way throughout so that a portrait session will, in my head, have a clearly defined beginning, middle and end period, because I have learned some craft to go with my art, or if you want to put it this way, I now have some head to balance out my heart. Back then I regarded it all as a bit of a laugh and it’s hard to see why I shouldn’t have. I was photographing people who were the same age as me. We were equals and peers, it felt personal and free, which is just the way it should be.’
More at ChrisFloyd.com

Creative Director Alessandro Michele, Art Director Christopher Simmonds, Directors of Photography Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott

In a world of social distancing we’ve found ourselves fading into nature. Enter 2022, era of the gorpcore chic – a way of dressing that emphasizes utilitarian garments which specifically impart comfort and weatherproofing. Those who belong to the gorpcore chic aesthetic are generally accepting of all things natural and encourage a healthy relationship with the world around them. The color palette is shades of gray, green, black, brown, and blue, relying on inspo from hiking and an appreciation for the outdoors. The key is casual/practical with an Avante Garde approach. While fashion generally lies low on the priority list for ‘serious’ hikers there’s nothing trivial about this trend’s practical physical properties.

‘You know, I can’t really say I’ve had much of a life outside of photography. I mean, I think I lived inside my pictures. And I was very young when I started this when I was 20. It was certainly a lot of fun, you know, to be like, you know, not knowing when to go home, more or less. But I just went from one picture to the next……

I like to combine ambient light with strobe. And I do it a lot, I find that it sort of allows my background to become seamless, in a way, and very, very flat. And the picture itself almost becomes almost one dimensional. By lighting this subject in the foreground, I find that I can pop them, they pop forward, and then I leave the camera open to get the background. In other words, it’s a long exposure. So short exposure on the foreground on your subject, and then the camera stays open for the background.

The way I approached photographing John and Yoko for the cover of Rolling Stone was that they had been together for over 12 years. And that was the story so that I wanted both of them together and in embrace. And that picture was taken the afternoon that he was killed that night. He was shot that night. And John, you know, he didn’t know the idea till I got there in the morning. And he got right into it. He said no problem, you know, and that was John, you know, he was willing to go to extremes, you know, to express his point. And so, he was, he was killed that night, he saw the Polaroids he loved the Polaroids. He thought it really expressed his relationship with Yoko.

So when he was killed that night, I pulled myself together the next morning and went into Rolling Stone and they were already mocking up a cover for just his face on the cover. And I said no way you know, this is John Lennon. This is the way it’s going to be so we ran the shot of him naked I thought it was very brave of Rolling Stone to do that.

I want to continue my portrait work, but I want to start getting away from all the lights and the caring assistants and I plan to do some 35 millimeter work, you know, just out in the field as they say going off for two or three weeks at a time. Possibly some work for geo magazine.

It’s really, it’s a big responsibility when you’re carrying yourself and an assistant and the shooting seems to be turning into big productions. And as much as I try to simplify them, it doesn’t. You think, well, if you have an assistant there and you have like a strobe, you might as well have this and you might as well have that. And that’s true. I mean, the only other way to do it is like not have anything with you except you know, your camera. And, and anyone who takes pictures knows that that’s hard enough to carry around, so I plan to go off and do things you’ve never seen before.’

Annie Leibovitz sometime between 1980-1983