See more photos & read the full feature on LIVE FAST MAG.
Model: Giavonna Brascia | Makeup: Giavonna Brascia | Styling: Van Van Alonso
Category Archives: Portrait Sessions
Ever since my camera became an additional limb to my being, I fantasized of having a muse and harbored amusing resentment to my male photographer friends for their opportunity of having a muse when involved in a romantic relationship. In my experience, most men are not so fond of having a camera pointed in their direction. I was starting to come to terms with the fact that my clear sexual orientation meant I would never have a girlfriend and therefore never have a personal 24/7 access muse to photograph, until about a year ago. My great friend and fellow photographer Joe, met sweet and lovely Aja. Of course I was ecstatic for him to have found such a beautiful and amazing woman, but as soon as I saw her impossibly bright blue eyes for the first time, it was love at first sight for me as well. Aja has not only become a dear friend, she is as close to a muse as I will ever have, and I am thankful for both! She recently asked me to do a session to create some “special” photographs for Joe, and these are some from that day.
This is exactly how I want my clients to feel when they are doing a boudoir shoot with me: as if they asked a good friend (who conveniently knows how to handle a camera amazingly well) to take some sexy photos for their man, and feel comfortable and beautiful and just have fun!
BRIEF HISTORY
Alexis and I met serendipitously in 2008 while I was living in New York. At the time, he was as close to a mad scientist as one could get, working into the night as a PhD student in the labs of Rockefeller University, tending faithfully to his fruit flies housed in hundreds of test tubes. He observed their worlds delicately under a microscope for years in contribution to biology and genetic research. You could say this was the beginning of a love affair with the Drosophila melanogaster (latin for fruit fly), whose magical world has inevitably extended into Alexis’ realm as a filmmaker and science film advocate. Around the same time, Alexis −with his skittish and animated demeanor− was preparing to launch Imagine Science Films, and the Imagine Science Film Festival; the first of it’s kind in New York City.
I’ve had the honor of participating as the organization’s head graphic and web designer from its inception, as well as the pride in seeing this organization evolve and expand over the last four years!
PHOTOGRAPHY
Towards the end of 2010, during a brief NYC visit to attend the ever-so-elegant Lucie Awards for Photography, I had the opportunity to get my camera in front of Alexis (and his black cat Ringo) at his brownstone home in Brooklyn… and on the roof of said brownstone, which I hesitantly climbed to via a flimsy fire escape ladder three floors from the frightening asphalt below. Ahhh, the things we do for a photograph.
Alas, I hope you’ve enjoyed meeting this magnificently multi-talented Doctor, Director, Founder, Student, and Professor (yes, as if ISF weren’t enough to keep him busy, Alexis is currently attending New York University Tisch School of the Arts’ Graduate Film Program while working as an adjunct science faculty member at New York University College of Arts and Science! Gasp!)
To check out ISF go to imaginesciencefilms.com, to learn more about Alexis’ personal film endeavors, visit alexisgambis.com
You know when you hear a song for the first time and try to remember a phrase from the chorus, so you can type it in Google, find it, buy it, and listen to it with glorious satisfaction… I’ll save you the trouble: Eddie Berman.
It was not only a pleasure to go out and take some photos of this humble and humblingly talented musician for The Lab Magazine, but to have a mini live show of my very own, while I quickly set up some lights as he tuned his guitar. I feel it is a rare treat to come across artists who can pull out one instrument and sing with real talent, much less move you with sincere and brilliant lyrics. My two personal favorites from Berman’s EP are “I will Obey” and “Paper Thin”.
As far as describing his music, I’ll leave that to a writer: “With melodic guitar, flailing banjo, and rich harmonica, Eddie Berman’s sound is an aural hot shower to warm your mid-winter frostbitten ears. His storytelling style and vivid imagery transcend time and place. Nostalgic, yet timeless, his upcoming debut EP promises to be a precious Americana gem reminiscent of the folk classics of another generation.” Robie Carins – from the current Issue of THE LAB MAGAZINE. You can listen to Eddie Berman Music here.
On a related topic, THINGS WE LOVE: The Lab Magazine! From the moment your hands feel the thick luxurious paper, to the moment you open it and see its beautiful content laid out gracefully throughout each page – you’ll be in love. The Lab Magazine is a print & online publication dedicated to art, music, film, photography and fashion. It is in one word, amazing. (Notice that I put four hyperlinks to their site in this post!)