Hi Lincoln! It’s been a while since we checked in with you. Tell us what you’ve been up to.

Well, I’m happy to report that I survived the Great Recession and actually had a slightly above average year in 2010. It was a little scary there for a while, but things seem to be on the ups. If it weren’t for my local client base, I would have totally gone out of business. So, I’m really grateful I’ve built that core group of clients and I treat them like gold.

Now that things are picking up, I’m focusing my career towards my three favorite subjects: Food, Home/Interiors, and Lifestyle. There’s an inherent connection between them in that life at home often revolves around cooking tasty meals. It’s my trifecta for a happy times. I feel my style and approach to photography is really suited for this kind of work. I’m a very easy going person, love creature comforts, but I’m also a camera nerd. I shoot as natural as possible, but I’m also very technical when I’m behind the camera. I mix available light with Profoto strobes, Arri hot lights, Photoflex LiteDiscs, foam core, etc.. And when I shoot, I create conditions that allow for real life moments to happen and capture them as they do.

Also my biggest 2011 resolution was to be more diligent on my marketing. I’ve been blogging since 2007 and I’m on Facebook and Twitter, but the email/print promos I’ve always done sporadically. This year I have a plan: email blast once a month, follow up with a hand addressed print piece to buyers who clicked through, follow that up with a personal email, and then do a big mass print mailer twice a year. I’m going to then set up portfolio trips to NYC, LA, San Francisco, and Chicago throughout the year. I’m advertising on Wonderful Machine, FoundFolios, Dripbook, and Google. I also have portfolios on ASMP, EP, and APA. It’s a lot to manage and I would say about half my time is dedicated to it.

I hear you’re starting to shoot some food photography… tell me how you got interested in that, and what the process/learning curve has been.

Two years ago, the then Creative Director of Portland Monthly (Hector Sanchez) gave me a feature assignment to shoot the Best Breakfast of Portland. He had a philosophy to give photographers assignments that were outside their comfort zones. I had never shot food seriously, but I’ve shot a lot of architecture and landscapes. I basically took the same approach to the assignment and ended up creating images I was really in love with. It was like seeing what I like about photography for the first time in my own voice. It was exciting and I wanted to do more of it. The problem is I had no clients in need of food photography. So, for the past two years I’ve been slowly building up a solid food portfolio and now that it’s ready, I’m pushing it really hard.

What was your favorite shot from last year?

This one. I shot it for Willamette Week’s 2010 Restaurant Guide to Portland. Art Directed by Carolyn Richardson, she saw my food and lifestyle work and had a vision for this shot. It was a really small budget shoot, but all the elements came together. Cool people, beautiful food, a great environment. If there’s one shot that describes what I am as a photographer, this is it.

How awesome is this??

Can you share with us the process of making a photo? Perhaps choose an interesting shot and walk us through its inception to the final product.

The process is a little different for every shoot and very different if I’m shooting food, interiors, or lifestyle. So, I’ll run you through a general scenario. First step is to define what I’m shooting and how I’m going to shoot it. Is it on location or studio? Are there people in the shot? What kind of approach are we going to take and how many shots can we do in the time we have? After the details are squared away, it’s time for the shoot.

On an average sized production, I’ll bring all my gear which includes Canon 5D Mark II with primes, tilt-shifts, macros, and a pair of zooms; a pair of tripods; 4 Profoto Compact 600 Monolights, 4 Arri 650 Watt Tungsten Lights, 6 Arri 150 Watt Tungsten Lights, a dozen oval Photoflex LightDisc in either Translucent, White/Silver, or White/Soft Gold, a big case of grip, and about 20 light stands. I also bring a MacBook Pro and shoot tethered whenever possible.

When we arrive to set/location, my assistant will unload and set up the camera, laptop, and a couple lights to get us started. I compose the shot in my head first, then I’ll get the camera and put it on tripod to find the shot I saw in my head. I then do Live View to show the client where we’re at. After refining the shot, I start to light it. I see what we have working for us available light and then start adding strobes for fill and/or to create shape. My go to technique to bounce a strobe into a wall or reflector that is between 45° and 90° from the camera. I taught a class on architecture last year and have a PDF about some of these techniques here.

While we shoot, the client will sign off on the shots he/she sees on the laptop. At the end of the day we do a quick review and make sure everyone’s happy. Then we pack up neatly and restore the location to what it was before we showed up. When I get back to my office, I download and process everything in Lightroom. I then show proofs and deliver finals through my Photoshelter account. It’s hella fast.

Which other photographers are making work you’re excited about right now?

I’m part of collective of photographers called PhotoForce and I’m really excited by the work everyone in the group does. Besides me, it’s Daniel Root, Brian Lee, Steven Scardina, and Stuart Mullenberg. We all have our specialties and we collaborate on pro bono and for-profit projects throughout the year. On our site right now is a project we all shot for the Oregon Food Bank. We just finished up a project for Big Brothers / Big Sisters and will get more images up there soon. PhotoForce is still in its infancy, but I’m really excited to be a part of it. All the photographers are incredibly talented and by committing to working together, reviewing each others’ work, we create a great support network that all pushes us forward and upwards. I highly recommend it for anyone struggling on their own.

photo by Daniel Root

See more from Lincoln Barbour!

One very clever thing Lindsey often does is make behind-the-scenes videos of his productions. Check it out:

Fort Myers-Sanibel Island Tourism Branding Campaign Photoshoot from Jason Lindsey.

I asked Jason to tell us some more about the shoot, and here’s what he said:

“We shot a version of this campaign two years before and it was very successful. We were very excited to hear they wanted to shoot an extension of the campaign. We have worked with BVK and the creative team on this for four or five years so we are invited to participate in the ideas at a very early stage which is always a great opportunity. We helped fine tune the shot ideas and locations based on previous experience and knowledge of the locations. Connie Casdia, one of the Art Directors, is very familiar with locations and did the initial scouting and additional scouting when we ask for more. That kind of local knowledge is invaluable. Scott Krahn, the other creative director, is a photographer himself so we collaborate a lot by showing each other images and feeding off each others’ ideas. The entire process is extremely collaborative. We worked from before sunset to after sunrise for a week. We charted boats to take us to a great remote island location, kayaked through mangroves, and hiked many miles in the sand with the gear.

It was four days of shooting and two scouting days. I have been shooting for them for four or five years now. The Agency is BVK and I worked with two Art Directors from the agency. Connie Casdia in their Fort Myers Florida office and Scott Krahn from their Milwaukee office. I used Hensel Porty Lithium 1200 lights and California Sunbounce reflectors and silks. I use Canon 1ds Mark III camera and a ton of canon Lenses from 16mm – 300 2.8. I relied mostly on my Canon 35mm 1.4, 50mm 1.2, and 85mm 1.2.”

Final images:

"This image was shot on a dim overcast day. We set up a Hensel Porty Lithium 1200 strobe to create this light. We took the stand out in post."

Aaand my favorite part: outtakes!

Photo Assistant Pedro Castellano having some fun with the wardrobe and props at Cayo Costa State Park, Bokeelia, Florida.

Scott Krahn, Art Director at BVK enjoying the boat ride back to Pineland, Florida after a day of shooting on Cabbage Key.

Scott Krahn, Art Director at BVK and Artist Leoma Lovegrove having some fun at Leoma's Art Gallery named Lovegrove Gallery & Gardens in Matlacha, Florida.

The Crew having fun on Halloween after a day of shooting at Lovers Key State Park, Fort Myers, FL. In order from Left to Right: Pedro Castellano - Photo Assistant, Shellee Wells - Producer, Talia Watkins - Photo Assistant, Connie Casdia - Art Director at BVK, and Jason Lindsey - Photographer

Scott Krahn, Art Director at BVK, trying to reach for a Bud Light on a shoot day at Cabbage Key, Pine Island Sound, Florida. (We needed it moved for a photo but it looked like he was desperate for a beer.)

See more from Jason Lindsey on his website and on his blog.

We chatted with Chris about his process and background:

So the assignment was pretty straightforward – we knew a bunch of the incoming congressmen were going to be attending a conference at Harvard’s Kennedy School on Nov 30th and Dec 1st, and we hoped to shoot as many single portraits of them as possible. For inspiration, I loosely looked to Avedon’s Portraits of Power and Nadav Kandar’s Obama’s People. The plan was pretty loose – set up in one location and grab folks to shoot as they had coffee breaks between sessions. The members were all told on Nov 30th that we’d be there shooting the next day, but otherwise we had no idea what to expect (didn’t know if people would be into having their photo shot or not – we half expected to come away with nothing).

What we got was pretty amazing. Since the conference was fairly casual we got a good variety of looks from each of the subjects (not just blue suits and red ties). And as a result of the whole tea-party situation, many of the congressmen had no previous political experience, and thus were not guarded or at all concerned about their appearance. Most of the folks we shot had never had a proper portrait made of them. The result, at least in my completely biased opinion, was that we were able to get some pretty candid, honest moments out of folks who will, if their careers continue, become increasingly difficult to access in that manner.

As for technical stuff, I wanted a pretty even light that would work on a number of different types of clothing and skin color. I ended up using just one light – a Profoto head/7A into that huge Elinchrome octabank. I had the light coming straight on at the subject, basically a little above eye level. I shot the whole thing on a Canon 5DII, using the 50mm 1.2 and the 24-70 2.8. That’s basically it – I’m into super simple set ups.

As for me, I’ve been on staff here at Washingtonian for 2+ years now. This job was a total career change for me – before here, I was working at the State Department doing really boring/confusing/classified things. However, my father is a photographer, so I grew up shooting and surrounded by photography and kept it up through college. 3 or 4 years ago I got my first digital camera and learned how to make a digital photograph. My wife is a writer at Washingtonian and clued me on to their photography internship, so I quit the State Department and have been here ever since. And since, I’ve felt like the luckiest person in the world. Being on staff is great, because you have a constant stream of work and all types of different work – its been a great way for me to learn how to be a photographer. One minute I’m shooting food for the website, the next I’m stumbling my way through a fashion story, and then I’m in Boston shooting congressmen. It really has been a great way for me to gain experience in super fast forward.

Here are some favorites:

Terri Sewell, 46, Alabama Democrat

Rob Woodall, 40, Georgia Republican

Lou Barletta, 54, Pennsylvania Republican

Frank Guinta, 40, New Hampshire Republican

Chuck Fleischmann, 48, Tennessee Republican (ED. NOTE: WE LOVE CHUCK THE MOST)

Blake Farenthold, 49, Texas Republican

Billy Long, 55, Missouri Republican

Tie your shoe, Billy Long!

Ann Marie Burkle, 59, New York Republican

Dan Benishek, 58, Michigan Republican

See more from the shoot, here.

See more from Chris Leaman.

See more of the Washingtonian.

PS: right??

It doesn’t hurt that Sharma is just plain fun to be around. I asked her some questions about her recent whirlwind ride, and she happily obliged me. Enjoy!

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Tell me a bit about your Water work (that combines two series) on show at Kopeikin. What has drawn you to water as a subject, and how did these two projects take shape?

The Water Series, which is a project with the large open waterscapes that took shape in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil was made on an inspired evening when I was looking onto a private beach from the 17th floor.

The Shower Series was unknowingly a social study of sorts. A study of what water and intimacy can bring one to become. I’ve always been interested in the human mind and coming from the city I do, (Mumbai) there’s always one more person to talk to, one more question ask and one more thing to learn.

So while the two projects had water in common, they felt quite unrelated to me and happened at different times of the year. At first the whole “Water” themed year felt quite coincidental.

In retrospect however the one place in the world where where I feel reflective and sincerely alone with my thoughts is in the shower. Also as someone who cannot swim, looking at other people’s relationship to a large, ominous and overwhelming body of water is in a way an expression of my own awe. What I’m saying is,  with both these projects I learned more than ever that, your most successful images will ultimately be really honest self portraits. That statement gets truer for me every time I make an image I’m happy with.

You’ve had quite a breakout year! Many folks struggle to promote themselves, even when they have strong projects– how have you worked to spread the word about your work?

Honestly I put the projects out there in the world with no expectations. I think sharing your work with the right sources though is just as important as making the work. I do think I have arrived at a formula that works with my personality. When I’m making the work it’s best for me to stay focused on creating the images, getting lost in your concept and just shooting. When I surface from shooting I concentrate on stepping away from it, getting critiques, respected opinions and editing. Once I feel ready to share it I contact the channels I feel would be the best fit/ platform for the work. I think that has worked well for me for the last couple of projects since thinking about promoting it clutters your thought process often, it’s best to exclusively create and not think about anything else but what you what to shoot.

The last year though, has been a gracious one. I know that and am very thankful for it. Apart from working hard which there is no excuse for, I attribute that to luck and well wishers too. Having a fantastic family and a supportive better half doesn’t hurt either, but there’s miles to go before I sleep.

What is the new work you are starting now? Can you share a favorite image or two?

I am shooting a project in India I would rather keep a secret at this point but I also just completed a new series I have shared on my website called Anastasia.

The project in a nutshell is about the queer friendship between glamor and solitude.

How did you get started as an artist– did you go the MFA route, or follow your own path? What would be some advice you’d give to someone just starting out?

I have a double bachelors, one in visual communications and a BFA in photo. But I really don’t think there is a method to the best approach madness. My advice would be shoot, shoot shoot! Nothing can teach us more than our own images.

Do you also shoot commercial and editorial work? Can you share some tears?

I do. I have an upcoming shoot for Vogue in India here in a couple of days that I am quite excited about. Also here are a few recent tears.

Railroad Earth album cover:

I just got commissioned by a label in New York to create album art for the band Railroad Earth. Railroad Earth has some sweet tunes & the musicians were a complete riot to work with. The production for this shoot came together last minute and was nothing short of complete camaraderie. All I can say is the Hasselblad H4d40, three assistants, a fog machine, a few lights and 10 people in the Delaware gave rise to this image. A shout out to Jonathan Chang my client in nyc and Brian Ross in LA for for being so hands on with everything.

Penguin Books cover:

I recently photographed for Penguin Books young readers division. They had a great story about a courageous girl who grows up in the projects fighting a rough upbringing and overcomes challenges in spite of what life has handed her. We used a brilliant location that fed our layout needs after a painful scout!

Thanks, Manjari! See more of Manjari’s work, here. And check out the Kopeikin show!

MANJARI SHARMA – WATER
January 8 – February 12, 2011
Kopeikin Gallery

Closing reception, February 12th.

Kopeikin Gallery
2766 La Cienega Blvd (just north of Washington)
Los Angeles, California 90034
Our hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00 – 5:00
310-559-0800
www.kopeikingallery.com

Enjoy!

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Tell me a little about your background. How did you start shooting?

My background has nothing to do with photography. I have a degree in biology, and was in a competitive graduate program for computational biology. I would only put in about 40% of my full abilities into the program, and realized that if I ever wanted to become successful I would have to apply myself to something I’m passionate about. Film and Photography are two of those things. They consume every waking minute of mine.

My father was a mathematician in Armenia (where I was born and raised), and in the ’80s he had opened up one of the first color film
developing studios. When my family immigrated to New York in the 90s his work moved completely away from photography, but his passion remained. Although he passed away before he ever saw me develop as a photographer he was a huge influence on my decision. While my father influenced my technical development, my mother (a classically trained concert pianist) influenced my creative development.

I owe a great deal to my parents. They made huge sacrifices for my younger brother and me by leaving a country whose post communist regime made it impossible for its citizens to progress as individuals.

What’s your favorite/strongest body of work (or the work you feel most defines you)?

My work is constantly progressing, and I haven’t yet produced a piece that in its entirety is a definition of my style. My first year working as a commercial photographer I’m grateful to have worked with some incredible companies: Ports 1961, Halston, and Sosume are some of those.

Ports 1961 was the company that started it all for me, and I’m extremely grateful for Tony Alcindor’s help. He has been a mentor and instrumental in my progression both as a photographer and as a person.

Share one photo of yours that you particularly love.

Irina Shayk. Shot with film on the Nikon F3.

Share one photo of someone else’s that you are particularly excited about.

Anything by Tony Kelly… he’s incredible, the images are raw, at times tasteless, but he nails the story, the look and feel every time.

What’s next for you, in 2011 and beyond?

The last year has been spent working on short films, and film production in general. By January 2011, my new website will launch highlighting the first batch of work. Make sure to check back then!

See more from Garen Barsegian and his blog.

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Hi Dylan! Tell me about the Oregon Project!

I recently was commissioned by Nike to photograph 15 professional long distance runners. These elite athletes comprise a team dubbed “Oregon Project” with the goal of returning the United States to distance running prominence. They live and train in Oregon, often running over a 100 miles a week in all types of weather, on both trail and track.

For this shoot, like the other, I used Kino Flos, 4×4 banks – they look like long florescent tubes bundled together. They are a constant source light and have a very low output, so the subject needs to hold still to enable as much depth of field as possible. In any event, the depth of field is narrow, generally f4 at 1/60 sec at 100 ISO. I really love the quality of light of the kinos.

I have a shot on my site that shows a similar lighting setup:

How did you get into photographing athletes and various extreme behavior (Pyro!)– are you someone who values adrenaline, or are you an athlete yourself?

I studied design and advertising in college and started my career as an art director. One of the companies I worked for was Adidas and I ended up art directing many of the athlete shoots. I started to formulate opinions on how sports could be photographed differently. Informed by select fashion and portrait photography, I was interested applying it to sports. Beautiful lighting, minimal sets, shorter lens. So I jumped head first into photography. It was a more difficult transition than I anticipated, but looking back I wouldn’t change anything.

I’m athletic, but not an athlete. I grew up playing soccer and basketball. More recently, I’ve taken up surfing and yoga. I follow sports for work, but definitely would rather participate than watch. Having a sports background does though, I think, help me relate to many of the professional athletes I work with as well as have a sense of what types of movement work and don’t work in a still image.

Tell me a bit about your work for the Beijing Olympics. The running portraits are amazing. How were you able to create this effect, was it mostly done in post?

That series of work was shot for Nike throughout Asia. Some of the images are composites, composed in post, others created entirely in camera. Since the featured athletes were usually only available for a short amount of time at a specific place, I photographed them against black. Sometimes this was done in fairly random places, like a conference room as in Melbourne, Australia or a outdoor school playground in Taipei, Taiwan. Then “extra” athletes or competitors were cast and photographed later as well. All the elements were then composited together in post.

I was surprised to see that you live in Brooklyn, I’d assumed you’d be in California, or Maine, since you have so much adventure in your imagery. How do you balance an urban existence with your outsdoorsy interests?

I’m originally from Portland, Oregon and lived in San Francisco and Portland until 5 years ago, when I moved to New York. I really like the energy and culture here, but, I also spend a lot of time outside the city. I grew up playing team sports – basketball and soccer and more recently I’ve taken up surfing.

The balance of urban and rural time is really important to both my work and state of mind.

Thanks, Dylan!

See the whole interview, here.

Question: What is your working process like?

Edward Burtynsky: Well the process I think is unique to the subject.  If you were to look at the body of my work it moves around from one subject to another, so it could be mining itself where we remove the orb from the land or it could be tailings, which is a byproduct of mining.  It could be quarries.  It could be refineries.  It could be a dam in China or now it could be, you know, the cities being built in China and each one of those things I approach first as conceptual, like why that, why that and not that.  You know like “How do I go from a general idea to this specific place in which I’m going to make a photograph of and there is a whole bunch of criteria I might put to it.  Is it visual?  Is it interesting?  Is there a sense of scale within it?  Is there any particular reason?” You know “Why photograph that intersection in LA and not another one?”  Well yes, it’s one of the biggest in the world and it was where the freeway began, so there are other components that I’ll use to determine where my target is that I’m going to go and try and photograph, but then once I understand like for instance when I did the refinery series I had never tried to photograph a refinery, but I went in there with my… first with a hand-held camera and just shot it, just walked through and responded utterly to the thing.  I just whatever caught my attention.  I’m not using four by five.  I’m not slowing down.  I’m walking through.  I’m responding.

Then I’d go back and start working with a 4×5, using those kinds of touch points as a reference and then start to, you know, photograph and then I’d try all kinds of films to see how that subject and the light conditions in which that subject…  you know would it be shiny?  Would it be a cloudy, partly cloudy day?  You know evening or sunrise.  How does that subject react under the different times of day and light?  What films?  Do the colors, the palate of the thing I’m photographing, what film best responds to it?  So I’d shoot all the different films that were available on the market.  I’d make prints.  I’d try different papers with it until I say here is the combination.  Here is the film I’m going to use.  This is my position to the subject.  This is where in that subject I’m going to photograph.  This is the paper I’m going to use to print it on.

Now I’ve established my form.  I’ve established my working approach and then I’d start going back and I’d go back maybe five, six, seven times in that one first refinery then I developed a kind of a language that I felt I was comfortable with and then I said okay, now I’m going to try and find some other refineries that might bring other perspectives to it at different times that they were built, different things that they were refining and then I would add to that body of work until I felt okay, I feel I’ve exhausted this.  I’ve somehow taken this visually as far as I can go.  I don’t have anything else that I feel I need to say about this and then I might close a chapter to that project and go onto the…  And that might take two or three years before I… by the time I get access into it, shoot it and some things like the refineries took about three years and I was pretty much done.  Whereas, quarries I went on and off of quarries at different times over a period of 17 years, other projects, so it depends you know how long I want to do it may be determined by do I feel that there is more to be had.

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Images from Railcuts

Images from Quarries

More.

You ever see a picture in a magazine and think, “wow, now that’s a tricky assignment”. Me too. I had that x 100 when I saw Timothy Devine‘s image for New York Magazine’s “Come Here Often?” column last week.

The wrangling for this thing alone would leave me in tears.

But Mr. Devine didn’t cry. I asked him how he stayed sane and got the shot. Here’s what he said:

“The people in the photo were all actual clubgoers at Lavo — the idea was to get real patrons interacting in a real scene. I showed up before the club opened on a busy Thursday night and spent the time setting up lights so that when the doors opened, I’d be ready to go. I hard lit the booths from the front with five or six grid spots and then used a couple of custom-built pencil lights to light the back alcove. We sectioned off a corner of the place where I set up my camera and equipment and tweaked the lighting using the waitstaff as stand-ins. With the help of the writer and a few interns from the magazine, we wrangled patrons of the club. I staged them and gave them direction within the scene.

The shoot was challenge after challenge. As soon as the doors opened, the club got packed. The management were really tolerant, but they wanted the shoot to happen quickly because they were having celebrities come in later in the evening who wouldn’t want cameras around. The music was deafening and made communicating really hard. My assistant was standing right next to me and couldn’t hear a word I was saying. So I kept having to run back and forth between my camera and the people in the shot to speak with them. It was pretty insane. Thank goodness for alcohol, it definitely helped to lubricate all the subjects.”

___

Thank goodness for alcohol, indeed. I hope you got a nightcap, Tim. Here’s the image with the copy the mag ran.

The Place: The latest Cristal-pouring, Vegas-channeling subterranean ultralounge from the guys behind Marquee and Avenue.
The Time: Thursday, 11:42 p.m.
The Mission: Chat up every reveler in sight.

1. TANYA CAMBURN
32, hairstylist
“I know one of the managers, so he invited me to host a table. Basically, they pay you to bring 30 or 40 people, and you’re just there to make the party look cute. I don’t usually go places like this—it’s a little mainstream, but it’s beautiful.”

2. BENEDICT PEREZ
45, banker
“Fifty-Eighth Street used to be a pretty hoppin’ place, then a grimier crowd came in, so this is good. Barnaby works across the street and said, ‘Let’s have one drink after work.’ But it’s never just one drink.”

3. BARNABY HALL
29, banker
“This is a very impromptu night, and pretty innocuous to begin with. I have a girlfriend, but she’s not here. No flirting—I’m just enjoying the company. I’ve had a couple martinis.”

4. JESSICA CATALANO
25, PR specialist
“There were a lot of people outside, but my friends are friends with some of the managers, who let us in. I’ve been going to Marquee and Avenue for a while, and I usually cut the line because they remember me.”

5. ALLIE MINTZ
22, fashion-sales rep
“I live on the Upper East Side, and instead of spending $20 on a cab home from downtown, you spend $6 from here. It’s pretty early, so I’ll assume the crowd will get better as the night goes on. Right now, it’s a little old for me.”

6. JENNA DRIGGERS
24, marketing manager
“I’m out with like ten of my girlfriends. We had dinner at a friend’s place at the Plaza and were dancing there, and then we kept on dancing here. It’s good exercise, especially in heels—a way to save money on the gym.”

7. ALONA KRUGLAK
“ageless,” entrepreneur
“I’m at the age where I don’t want to be surrounded by 20-year-olds, and this is an age-appropriate, older-money crowd. I’m currently single, and it’s like a candy store of good-looking, successful men.”

8. ANDRÉA EMRICK
38, real-estate project manager
“This crowd is very eclectic, which I like. If I feel like going after a young guy, there’s a young guy; if I feel like going after an older guy, there’s an older guy. It’s always a goal to find one of each.”

9. LEDA BELUCHE
30, talent manager
“Before this, we went to dinner at Tao, and we walked outside and saw all these fashionable people across the street. And we were like, ‘Those are the elite crowd, and we’re the elite crowd, so let’s go join them.’ ”

See the full piece at NYMag. See more of Timothy Devine’s work.

You may notice a bit of a language gap, but I’m guessing we’ll all find it charming.

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Tell me a little about your background. How did you start shooting?

I was a magazine and book editor a few years ago. I liked photos and suddenly realized that I should be a photographer. I’m thinking my roots of photo is my mother.

It’s very simple.

My mother’s always took photos of my brother and sister and me. She put our unique photos on the walls so I had the chance to see many photos in my childhood. Photos are a part of my life.

What’s your favorite/strongest body of work (or the work you feel most defines you)?

I have two main works of photos. One is taking children. I focus on brightness of kids Each kid has his/her own great personality, I mean brightness. I believe that. Photos of kids remind grown-ups of original brightness!

And the other is taking Europe area. This work is kind of hobby.

Share two photos of yours that you particularly love.

Three Girls Dancing

Nico

What’s next for you, in 2011 and beyond?

I’d like to develop the kids fashion photos as a business in a few years. And I’d like to try to take photos of kids in the great nature scene by myself, so that I’m traveling around Tokyo!

AND…. here are some fish pictures because they are lovely. Thanks, Hikida!

See more of Hikida Sayaka‘s work.

Read more about Profoto‘s Assistant Contest.

See more about Profoto’s Pro-8.

See more about Profoto!

As we do every month, we’re going to check in with one of the winners of Profoto‘s Assistant Contest. As you may notice, Profoto helps support this outfit, and we like to check in on what they’re doing. This month’s victim winner is Erica Simone.

Simone is a new-ish photographer in the grand scheme of things. Have a gander at what she’s up to.

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Tell me a little about your background. How did you start shooting?

I moved to NYC at 17 from Paris to attend FIT for Advertising and Marketing Communications. The third year of school, I found myself shooting more and more with a simple point and shoot, and was loving it. I hated being in business, so I pretty much just decided to pick up a camera and become a photographer. I tried to transfer to a photography program the 4th year, but they wouldn’t let me so I decided to learn it on my own… I’ve always been obsessed with photography. My mom is a photo collector and our homes were always adorned with art and photos, I guess that inspired me a lot growing up.

What’s your favorite/strongest body of work (or the work you feel most defines you)?

My work is very diverse and I love to shoot all sorts of subjects, but so far my favorite works are my “Nue York” series, which are a collection of self-portrait public nudes – they are a ton of fun to shoot and they’re just silly and different.

Otherwise, I really like my “Lightworks” series, which are these abstract light-painting images – they’re more artistic and “painting-like” which are super different from the rest of my work, but I love them because they’re so colorful and loud.

Also, i just got back from a month trip in Cambodia where I was shooting little kids – it was a really amazing experience and the photos are very dear to me for personal reasons.

Share one photo of yours that you particularly love.

It’s hard to pick. But over the years, this has been one of my favorites: “Kiss on the River”.

Share one photo of someone else’s that you are particularly excited about.

I’m a HUGE fan of Helmut Newton and David LaChapelle. I’ve attached one of each that I LOVE.

David LaChapelle

Helmut Newton

What’s next for you, in 2011 and beyond?

First, let’s get through 2010. I’m hoping it will be a good year, since last year was a big economic mess. The goal is to travel as much as possible, work as much as possible and just… be happy!

Thanks, Erica!

Read more about Erica and the Profoto contest.

See more about Profoto’s Pro-8.

See more about Profoto!