:: Welcome to Nuok, Valery! Tell us a little about yourself!

I am a first-generation Italian-American born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. My father and my family on his side are all from the Campania region of Italy and I try to visit as often as possible. I work as a stock, assignment and fine art photographer in New York City. I primarily shoot stock photography for Getty, Corbis and Alamy. I am also presently working on a personal project which is a series on “Brooklyn” with the intention of having it published as my first monograph. Some of the same work was recently in the “Capture Brooklyn” exhibition at the powerhouse Arena in Dumbo Brooklyn and more of the work is to be published this month in a PDN publication “PHOTOBOOK NYC”.

:: Why and when did you start photography?

About 13 years ago, after a career of about the same length of time as a illustrator, art director and textile artist I developed tendinitis in both my arms and could no longer paint . During this time photography was then something I discovered once again and was instantly Drawn in. My grandfather had given me my first camera, a Diana, when I was 14, my mother was a photographer and I had studied photography in college but never realized it would be my life’s path.

:: Where do you get your inspiration from?

I am constantly inspired by films, art, food, everyday life and ordinary people and my surroundings.

:: Do you have any secret spots in Brooklyn?

Secret spots… kind of hard to say what is secret anymore in Brooklyn, everything is changing and spots that used to be secret are either not the same or not so secret anymore. Prospect Park is pretty amazing, not as crowded as Central Park… I love going to Red Hook and the Brooklyn Flea… I love to have a cappuccino at Café Regular du Nord in Park Slope, and sushi at Yamato, the Avenue U Salt Water Marsh is still pretty secret and the Polar Bear Swim at Coney Island every New Years Day is always a must… go before that changes too.

:: If I say Italy, you say…?

Long sigh of everlasting contentment… Amazing!

Link
www.valeryrizzo.com

The Giglio, Williamsburg Brooklyn, New York 2010

:: Welcome to Nuok, Kevin! Tell us a little about yourself! I am a New York based documentary photographer. I moved to Brooklyn from Birmingham 20 years ago to attend Pratt Institute. I initially studied painting and switched to photography as a means of communicating my ideas of the world around me. I’ve fallen in love with Brooklyn. Every time I leave to work on projects outside of Brooklyn, I always have a desire to return. For the past three years, I’ve been teaching a 14-week documentary workshop out of the Coney Island Museum every summer. Recently, the museum has decided to have this year-round. We will be documenting other parts of Brooklyn. This year, I had the great thrill of being invited to be a guest instructor for a workshop taught by Andy Levin. “Coney Island, a different perspective” was the name of the workshop. Andy runs an online photography magazine called “100 Eyes”. I am currently documenting how people are surviving the great recession.

Cholitas, Que paso cholitas?, Coney Island 2010

:: Why and when did you start photography? I started doing photography and painting in elementary school. My vision throughout my youth was influenced by what I saw from the troubles in Northern Ireland and the civil rights movement in the Deep South. I moved to New York and met Louis Stettner, who has been a big influence in my photography. I consider him a mentor.

:: Where do you get your inspiration from? I get my inspiration from Brooklyn. The people, the places, the smells. Everything that is Brooklyn. Yo! Also from friends like Robert Frank, Louis Stettner and other photographers in New York.

A day at the beach, Coney Island, Brooklyn 2010

:: If I say Italy, you say…? Art! Italy, especially Florence has always meant something to my family, dating back to the middle 1700′s, when Italy was a refuge for my family escaping religious persecution.

Link
www.kevincdownsphoto.com

:: Welcome to Nuok, Amy! Tell us a little about yourself!

Thanks! I am a fine art photographer living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I arrange as much of my life as possible around my own personal photography projects, but when I have to step away from them—say to make money to pay my bills (I work as a freelance writer to make money from time to time) or to meet up with friends (my boyfriend is a musician, so I am out a lot listening to his or other friends’ bands)—I don’t feel very separate from them. Photography lurks everywhere, including in my mind when I am free of thinking about photography, so I have learned there is no separation. I can also see that the older I get, the more my personal habits mesh with those of a photographer. That is one of the many reasons New York City suits me so well. It lets me be alone among many, and as a result it’s like I am with everyone. I never get lonely. I feel like I am photographing whether I have my camera or not.

:: Why and when did you start photography?

I started photographing seriously about ten years ago. I had already established a career in publishing, and I had earned a BA in Literature with a studio art minor and an MA in Literature. I started getting promoted through the ranks, working from writer to editor to managing editor when it all seemed crystal clear: office life really sucked the life out of you, and what did I, or anyone else for that matter, care about this big mess anyway? I was working on a series of paintings as a hobby in those days, so I decided I would not work late at the office any more and really get into making these paintings. Three months later, the Twin Towers collapsed. I was living in the West Village home sick from work. It was a gorgeous clear day and everyone was watching television with their windows open. When the live footage aired of the first building actually collapsing, an unforgettable gasp came from a neighbor’s window that is forever etched in my mind. The illness I had was strange—I could not sit up or I would be dizzy—so I laid horizontal for five days straight watching the news, feeling petrified. My little brother had signed a four-year contract with the army the year before, much to the family’s horror, and I was overcome with fear he’d be sent to war (rightfully so, he fought in Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan in October 2001). We lived a few subway stops from the World Trade Center in an area that was blocked off to cars for a week or so after the attack, and once I was better, I walked out into a ghost town—streets eerily empty of cars, everywhere riddled with posters with pictures of dead people and their relatives’ desperate pleas to find them. The fact that I was alive and choosing to give my life away to a company that couldn’t care less about me, and resolving that ridiculousness by concentrating on my “Sunday” projects, was revolting to me. How wasteful I was being, how lucky I would be to find the right way to live this life, let alone get the chance to pursue it. I put aside everything in order to find what it was I should do with my life. I put aside the degrees I had already earned, the resume of jobs I had already accrued, the ideas I had about myself (you change so much in your 20s it’s hard to keep up), any intimidating or negative thoughts, all worries about money, time, and any and all other practical matters. I wanted to get to the heart of things as quickly as possible. There seemed no time to waste. I started to be honest with myself about what it was I really liked, mostly by observing what it was I knew I didn’t like. I didn’t like being in an office. I didn’t like having set hours. I didn’t like being alone (being stranded in a room with a painting was often painful for me). I was physical, I liked realness, tactile objects, and keeping busy, etc. Within a month I came up with photography. I enrolled in a photo I class at the International Center of Photography (where I now am a teacher assistant) with Jeff Mermelstein, the amazing street photographer, and I never looked back. But I never pressed it either. If I were to find photography wasn’t right for me at any point, I wouldn’t be disappointed. I would just try something else until I found it. But it did end up being for me. It was perfect in every way. A few months later I quit my job and segued it into a freelance position from home, and the rest has been a slow and steady and beautiful incline into a life I find worthwhile and that I truly do enjoy every minute of. I do not yearn for anything more now, aside from living more of the same.

The Insiders are portraits of strangers I passed by while walking around New York City. The vulnerability and freedom of being an individual in a sea of other individuals gives New Yorkers a more intimate understanding of fellow man than those living elsewhere. In a population this diverse, community is formed through myriad differences—not as communities ordinarily congeal, through vines of similarities. In New York City, there is no one who doesn’t belong; even the most extreme individual is expected to be here. As a result, friends and foes don’t necessarily wear the expected uniforms, and all individuals hold a potential for connection. It is insider information.

:: Where do you get your inspiration from?

I get my inspiration from people. I very rarely take pictures of an object or a landscape. People fascinate me—they are so fleeting and epic, and they can give so much—it’s hard to let all that pass by without trying to capture it on film so we can have it forever. All of my projects have social themes. I am often walking around the city, and I see a lot of profound and beautiful patterns. I feel it’s an artist’s responsibility to only place creations out in the world that do the world good (which is not to say they can’t be heartbreaking or ugly or even violent), so all the work that I share (and make for that matter) has behind it a message that I find important and beneficial to examine about living on this earth. I think this world is crazy, and we need to help each other.

I am also very inspired by any artist that uses the process of making their art part of their art. For example, the documentary filmmakers Albert and David Maysles, who made one of my favorite films, Grey Gardens, which is about an eccentric mother-daughter pair, as well as Gimme Shelter, the famous film that recorded a murder in the audience at a Rolling Stones concert in 1969, Salesman, a quietly profound and beautiful film about bible salesmen, and many others. The way they infuse themselves into their films—all the while making you feel you are getting a fly-on-the-wall approach—is the very heart of their genius. They became so involved with their subjects that their subjects allowed them to disappear. But because they could recognize that their relationship with their subjects was what made the film unique, they also allowed themselves to be detected behind their equipment when the time was just right. It’s so titillating to me, to think on these terms. Werner Herzog, also a filmmaker, uses his process in his films quite a bit as well, but in a different way. He makes his films about the making of his films—also very beautiful, very alive. As for still photographers, I think Diane Arbus also did this, as do all who go out to photograph in order to have an experience first and make a photo second. All good artists interject themselves, whether that’s on display or not in the work, but some have a stronger focus on the process and I find that a very fruitful and interesting perspective to stay focused on while working.

:: Do you have any secret spots in Brooklyn?

Brooklyn is full of secret spots, you know them when you find them, so they are personal like that. For me, if I had to choose one, I would say the walk from Williamsburg to Greenpoint. It is so lovely and transporting. Greenpoint often feels like another land. I have hit those streets on several occasions just for the sheer pleasantness of it. Also, The World Famous *BOB*, my sweet friend and the subject of my first project, Shoot the Arrow, lives in Greenpoint, so I have very positive associations with the area.

:: If I say Italy, you say…?

Il cibo è molto buona! I seriously said that to waitstaff after every meal I ate when I was in Italy in 2005. I loved speaking Italian (prego!), it has such a song to it, I feel I can speak it even when I can’t. Sadly, il cibo è molto buona and mi dispiace was the only Italian I could speak aside from the basic words. I loved Italy. I loved the people and I loved the food—what everyone says is true. I went to Florence, Rome, and Sicily, but my favorite spot was in Lipari. The volcanic landscape and lemon trees and mini country cars and fish and sauce and pasta and wine and olives and dark soil and steep roads, not to mention the characters who live there, were nothing short of an old Italian movie. I also happen to be in Rome for the public viewing of Pope John Paul II’s body at the Vatican. Unfortunately that meant I couldn’t see the Sistine chapel, but I saw the Pope in St. Peter’s Basilica, and I was privy to a very moving experience among many who surrounded me.

Link
http://amytouchette.com

:: Welcome to Nuok, Jimena! Tell us a little about yourself!

Thanks! I’m originally from Madrid, Spain but I’ve been living in New York for the last two years. I came to NY on holidays a few years ago and loved it! I was a staff photographer for a newspaper in Madrid, owned a house and a dog and just a few months later I was living in a spare apartment in Williamsburg and starting my ongoing photo project about Brooklyn. I’ve become passionate about it, I love its artistic vibe on the streets, vitality, non-conforming and organic lifestyle with no particular rules, schedules or dress code.

:: Why and when did you start photography?

I’m the only daughter of a huge photo enthusiast. My father always had a camera in hand. Whether still or Super 8, I was probably the most photographed kid of the seventies. As I was growing older, it felt very strange to have no one around me taking photographs. I got a small Konika when I turned 13 that I used to carry with me to school and secretly shoot pictures during the class hours. It’s no wonder as a teenager, I rescued my father’s old Nikkormat as I felt compelled to shoot everything and everyone around me at all times. And I grew to love it! It took me about ten years to consider myself an artist, though. In the process, I needed to go to college, start and quit a few careers and leave my country. Bah, no big deal… I ended up going to Photography school where I met some amazing photographers that made me understand the many ways photography can be approached.

:: Where do you get your inspiration from?

Life itself is a never-ending source of inspiration for me. I remember discovering the photographs of Nan Goldin and deeply admiring her courage to use her own life as her main subject. Until then, I had always thought that you needed to find a dramatic subject to work on. After finishing school I spent many years focusing on trying to earn a living as a photographer, somehow forgetting why I used to love it in the first place. So, after a few years of stressful work rhythm in Madrid, I settled down in Brooklyn and realized it was the kind of energy I had been looking for. I stumbled upon a neighborhood whose industrial and seemingly-abandoned aesthetics I found to be charming. As a photographer, I was especially inspired by the cinematic air on the streets and the colors and shadows of night.

:: Do you have any secret spots in Brooklyn?

I’ve been travelling and discovering Brooklyn for the last two years and it’s really hard to pick just a few spots! I love some of the parks and outdoor spaces, like the little park at the end of Grand Ave, where I usually go to see the sunset. I have shot tons of pictures of that magical experience! If I have to pick a bar, I would have to say Zebulon (on Wythe Ave @ Metropolitan Ave) a unique french-style cafe concert with live music every night where I happen to have met my boyfriend! Brunch at Sweetwater (on N 6th between Wythe and Berry), breakfast at Bakeri (on Wythe Ave between N 7th and N 8th), a bike ride to the Brooklyn Flea at Fort Green Saturday mornings, or a game of ping pong at Iona (on Grand Ave @ Bedford Ave) are some of my favorite places to unwind.

:: If I say Italy, you say…?

Mediterranean!! I will always remember the feeling of getting to a Mediterranean country after traveling by train around Northern Europe when I was backpacking as a teenager with my friends. The sun, the food, the colors, the warmth of the people made us feel in a way like home! I’m especially fond of Firenze where a good friend has been living for almost 20 years which has allowed me to visit the city many many times.

Link
www.jimenaroquero.com

Sembra una contraddizione, ma ho sempre pensato che il momento più bello del sonno sia la sveglia. L’attimo in cui apri gli occhi e ti accoccoli tra le lenzuola, sotto al piumone, nell’aria fresca del mattino. Solo in quel momento realizzi quanto hai dormito, quanto hai sonno, quanto sia morbido il letto e quanto sia dura doversi alzare per abbandonarlo.
Adoriamo il letto in standby mentale, vulnerabili, stropicciati e neutri di pensieri che devono ancora scendere dal loro giaciglio e decidere se essere buoni o cattivi.
Cosa ne pensereste se qualcuno decidesse di “rubarvi” quell’attimo e immortalarlo per sempre?
Se qualcuno entrasse in punta di piedi nella vostra camera e, al minimo segnale di risveglio -uno sbadiglio, un movimento, un gemito- accendesse una luce e scattasse una fotografia?
Ecco, vi ho appena spiegato l’idea di Jacob Pritchard che con il suo progetto “Pictures in Bed” ruba i risvegli dei morfeonauti newyorkesi. Come? Assolutamente consenzienti, basta contattarlo via mail all’indirizzo jp@jacobpritchard.net e verrà di persona nella vostra stanza per installare proprio sopra il letto, una luce e una macchina fotografica con cavo per lo scatto a distanza. L’attrezzatura rimarrà in casa vostra per due o tre giorni cosicchè al risveglio potrete scattare un autoritratto nell’attimo che preferite.

Per ora il progetto riguarda New York, ma in fututo Pritchard desidera esportarlo in tutto il mondo, come mi ha accennato personalmente in una mail:
“Hi Valentina,
Thanks for getting in touch, and glad you’re digging the project.
I just put you on my list, and I’ll definitely let you know if the project makes it out to Milan.
thanks!
–jake ”

Cappuccino, brioches e New York Times. Lenzuola stropicciate e sconosciuto nell’altrà metà del materasso. Mac abbandonato sul cuscino, gatto accoccolato e caffè.
Facciamo vedere al mondo come si risvegliano gli italiani a New York!

Valentina Locatelli

Valentina Locatelli

Kira Sheker

:: Why and when did you started Labyrinthine Nature? I began Labyrinthine Nature in fall of 2008, while I was working as an English teacher. At the time, I’d been a steady dabbler in photography for two years and had been pretty much living on Flickr. Because my contacts had been growing and had been getting a lot of positive feedback for my photos, I thought I’d try my hand at selling them.  After a while, I began writing a children’s book that I also wanted to illustrate, so my photography took a bit of a back burner while I honed my skills in drawing.  My shop is mostly photography still, but I’ve been putting some other artworks in there as well.

© Kira Sheker

:: Where do you get your inspiration from? I find inspiration in music, books, films, dreams, nature, even a random phrase or bit of conversation that can be found anywhere. I like to write as well and love telling stories, and interestingly, even whether it’s a photo or a drawing, I still tend to want to tell a story. Sometimes I feel a little dry and lackluster when it comes to ideas, so I merely do something else (like clean and redecorate!), but I’ve noticed that searching out other artists really helps if I’m in a dry spot.

© Kira Sheker

:: Who is your ideal buyer? I think this is a trick question; everyone’s an ideal buyer!  However, when I can actually establish a connection with someone, rather than it being a faceless, nameless interaction, it’s especially rewarding.

© Kira Sheker

:: What’s your favorite NYC movie and what your NYC novel? My favorite novel set in New York would be A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.  As for films, there have been so many films to take place in NYC since the earliest with The Thieving Hand back in the early 1900s.  My list runs between Rear Window, Annie Hall, Arsenic and Old Lace, Rosemary’s Baby, The Apartment.. I could actually go on more as there are so many great NYC movies…  I do, however, love the way Woody Allen portrays New York and how he simultaneously romanticizes it and satirizes it.

© Kira Sheker

:: Do you think New York can still be considered the place-to-be for young creatives? I do agree with that, but I also think that New York isn’t alone in this.  However, New York is certainly a place where you can be anyone on any given day.  It opens up possibilities that you perhaps wouldn’t get in a smaller, less forgiving city.  You’re allowed to be crazy in New York!

© Kira Sheker

:: Where do you shop in NYC? I shop everywhere, but I tend to avoid department stores and chains.  I’m more of a musty bookstore, vintage shop and flea market kind of gal, and there’s something to be found in all areas of the city. You actually just have to walk around and let New York work its magic…

© Kira Sheker

:: If I say Italy, you say…? I say bicycle!  (…and art! Shoes! Food!)
I traveled through Europe by bicycle for half a year and spent a little time in Italy.  Unfortunately, we only saw the northern portion and headed to Greece soon after, but next time I’d love to spend more time exploring the country.  I’d love to visit Florence, Rome, and some of the smaller towns for starters. Sicily, too, is on my top priority list of places I want to go soon.

Francesca Masoero

In order to render the subjects unrecognizable, and in an attempt to render them more archetypal, they are taken out of context and displaced from their original habitat.”

La visione urbana di Yasmine Chatila e’ molto romantica. Lei e’ giovane ed americana. Fa l’artista, dipinge, scatta e ruba momenti di vita. I suoi soggetti, semplicemente, vivono la propria quotidianita’ e senza saperlo, diventano opere d’arte.

Stolen Moments raccoglie momenti instimi, strani, comici, a volte (spesso) piccanti. La mostra e’ ospitata da Edelman Arts, una galleria d’arte dell’Upper East Side che espone anche lavori degli italianissimi Fontana e Giacometti. Non siete a New York? Nessun problema, potete visitare la mostra online qui.

Una poetica comédie humaine urbana.

(a.a.)

Andrea Malizia vive tra Roma e New York. Dopo aver completato la sua formazione all’Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma, lavora come assistente di Alison Jacques per l’archivio fotografico dell’Accademia Britannica di Roma. Nel 1997 vince il primo premio per la fotografia al concorso della manifestazione “Enzimi 97”, organizzata dal Comune di Roma. Partecipa a “In uso” (Museo Michetti di Francavilla al Mare, 1999). Nel 2001 realizza la sua prima personale alla Galleria Magazzino d’Arte Moderna di Roma, a cui nel 2002 segue “Via satellite”, primo festival internazionale della fotografia, ospitata dai Mercati Traianei di Roma.
Tra i suoi ultimi progetti fotografici “Portraits of Poets” presentato alla John Cabot University di Roma nel 2006, e “Saturno Contro”, foto di scena dal film di Ferzan Ozpetek, esposte alla Galleria V.M.21 di Roma nel 2007.

E’ morto a 92 anni nella sua casa di New York. Famoso per le eleganti immagini di moda e per i ritratti in bianco e neroe soprattutto per le nature morte, ha definito un nuovo ”visual style”: più si sottrae da un’immagine più essa può risaltare efficace e suggestiva.

I suoi soggetti sono sempre sistemati dentro spazi chiusi, stretti, a volte angoli di pareti costruite per l’occasione. Mai in esterni. Ne risulta un senso di calma concentrazione, e di claustrofobia. Il personaggio è come fisicamente limitato, ma i limiti spaziali per contrasto rendono palpabile la sua energia. I soggetti raffigurati nelle nature morte vanno dagli oggetti della pubblicità (come la serie ”minimalista” dedicata ai prodotti cosmetici realizzata per Clinique tra gli anni Sessanta e Settanta), ai cibi (reinventati per i servizi redazionali di ”Vogue”), agli animali morti ai quali il consumo impone nuove forme, ai materiali trovati per la strada (noti i suoi mozziconi di sigarette degli anni Settanta). A nature morte ”miserabiliste” che utilizzano scarti di materiali in decomposizione, avanzi, metalli, fino alle nature morte di costruzione più complessa che si rifanno al classico tema della vanitas, con ossa e teschi di uomini e animali, insieme a frutti, fiori ed altri elementi compositivi.