Image/Design

Alexander Wang | Spring Summer 2016 Full Fashion Show | Exclusive

2015-09-14T12:26:00.001-04:00

Alexander Wang's incredible Spring Summer 2016 show with the finale video montage that truly showcases how a brand ought to cultivate its image today.

Cartier – High Jewelry (Cartier Royal collection)

2015-09-12T14:08:00.002-04:00

The video of this Cartier High Jewelry necklace is as beautiful as the necklace.

Camera+ : One of the best photography apps for iOS.

2015-07-29T08:34:00.002-04:00

Camera+ has been my go-to app on the iPhone for the past couple of years. It keeps getting better with each upgrade. In addition to great image quality and editing tools, it offers automated Copyright information for each photo, simplifying the creation process.

The cars of James Bond in Spectre

2015-07-22T14:05:00.001-04:00

The new James Bond film will be released in November but based on this video it's the new Aston Martin and the special edition Jaguar that might be receiving top billing.

Bird Sounds Visualized

2015-07-17T18:01:00.001-04:00

Bird sounds captured using a digital audio recorder and fed into a computer to activate particle effects.

Leica: Luxury and Technology

2015-06-11T10:34:00.001-04:00

In 2012, years after it had sold its Leica stake, Hermès announced a $50,000 edition of the Leica M7 camera. Clad in Hermès-orange leather, the camera was an instant status symbol that respected Leica’s history in making collectible cameras that appreciated in value over time.

It was not clear why Hermès invested in Leica, other than that the two companies shared a common philosophy in providing top quality luxury products to their customers. Hermès was prescient in that decision, despite its niche appeal, and since then we saw an increasing marriage between high tech companies and high-luxury brands.

Leica also has a history of making limited edition cameras. Last year they created a Moncler edition of their X camera. Moncler invited Fabien Baron, the famed creative director, to create a travelogue using the camera on location in Antarctica.

Recently, they also announced a Lenny Kravitz edition Leica-M, Correspondent’s Edition (!) with signature brassing, giving the camera an instant weathered look. It is one of the coolest cameras around.

For Leica, this has been a policy that has kept the brand in the technology and luxury news, despite the fact there are less than glowing reviews of the cameras. Expectations for these cameras are extremely high considering they sell for several thousands of dollars above comparable cameras by other manufacturers.

A couple of years ago Hasselblad, the other ultra-high-end camera manufacturer, tried to emulate Leica’s model by introducing a repackaged Sony camera. Clad in precious woods, the line was called Lunar and it was priced several thousand dollars above the comparable Sony camera it was based on. Hasselblad was instantly ridiculed and the cameras are now in the sales bins of many camera stores.

Yesterday, Leica introduced their newest luxury camera, the Leica Q. Early reviews show that this camera will be a technological hit for Leica, despite its price tag of $4,250. As an ultra-premium product, the Q is once again aimed at a specialized market of professionals and deep-pocketed amateurs.

From a technological perspective, there is no reasoning in the Q’s price tag since comparable cameras sell for less. Actually, there are several cameras that are even more advanced than the Q and that sell for a lot less.

Leica seems to base its pricing model around its lenses, some of the best reviewed camera lenses in the market. The cost of these lenses reach mortgage territory and they retain their resale value better than any other lens brand.

The Leica bodies are inherently unobtrusive and expertly crafted. The special editions often veer towards creating the opposite impression. Where the regular Leica M is a Birkin bag clad in tan calfskin, the special editions are the purple crocodile Kelly.

Hermès and Leica know how to create impressions and desires that cover both sides of the luxury consumer’s psyche — the quest for extravagance and the need for discrete style. Technology and innovation are present in every luxury product, albeit often hidden in a brand’s tradition. In the case of Leica, it is an undisputed component of their place near the top of that market.

Creating an Instagram Video In Premiere Pro

2015-05-20T11:32:00.001-04:00

Christian Dior | Haute Couture Spring Summer 2015 Full Show | Exclusive

2015-05-05T15:57:00.004-04:00

Spring-Summer 2015 Haute Couture CHANEL Show

2015-05-05T15:10:00.002-04:00

Louis Vuitton Presents The Spirit of Travel

2015-05-05T14:20:00.002-04:00

Time-Lapse 6 Hours of Retouching in 90 Seconds

2015-05-04T10:36:00.003-04:00

The new Fabergé Pearl Egg.

2015-04-09T12:53:00.003-04:00

The only way to celebrate Orthodox Easter.

Bottega Veneta - Emotion of Sound

2015-02-20T13:08:00.003-05:00

For “Emotion of Sound,” Bottega Veneta gave a group of creatives carte blanche to take ambient noise from its atelier and craft a visual story around it. The film is intended to “emotionally engage and indulge the senses” of Bottega Veneta’s audience.

Bottega Veneta keeps art at the forefront of its campaigns, offering different perspectives of its collections through creative partnerships. Each year, for every season of looks, Bottega Veneta offers consumer’s a different perspective with a different guest photographer for the campaign. Starting with the fall/winter 2002-2003 campaign with Robin Broadbent, the brand has collaborated with several photographers over the past 11 years.

Ralph Gibson at Leica

2015-01-21T09:01:00.001-05:00

Ralph Gibson - Live at Leitz Park from Leica Camera on Vimeo.

How to create a compelling presentation.

2015-01-12T09:58:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I sat down with a colleague who is thinking of pitching a new project to a couple of companies. He is in the middle of a career change and the last few months he has been undergoing a soul-searching process that is familiar to those who are between projects or positions. He asked me to look at his deck and propose some ways to polish it.

My first instinct is to always go through the content of a presentation in its present form and see if it captures my interest. My friend’s concept was intriguing but his verbal explanation of it did not match the content that was written for it so we took it apart bit by bit to see how he could reformat it to ensure that its important message was not getting lost.

In the past 15 years I have designed and composed several presentations for clients, from brand identity projects, to investor pitches for startups, to complete outlines for new product launches. Each time, I have discovered that to create effective presentations the writer and designer must follow some important rules.

As it was the case with my colleague, he needed to understand that for his presentation to be memorable and effective, its content had to have a basic content architecture that communicates his concept succinctly and engages the audience.

Here is a list of rules I use for my presentations:

Outline — Just like writing a book or a novel, create an outline and then a chapter list. Feel free to shuffle the chapters until you are satisfied and before you begin writing the main copy.

Know your audience — Write down some key characteristics of the audience: their age composition, possible interests, educational background, even your estimation of their attention span at the time of the presentation. This applies to an audience of one or one hundred. I prefer to think about my audience ahead of time and by the time I am in front of them I know them pretty well.

Tell them who you are — Think of how we interact with strangers at a party. We often say: “Hi, my name is John. I’m a designer.” By beginning with that introduction and giving a brief bio of yourself to your audience allows them to know exactly what you want them to know. If this is a pitch for a project, you want to establish up front why you are making this presentation to the group. Underline your relevance to this project and your past experience and successes.

Contents — Before you go into the details of the content, briefly outline what your presentation will be about. Think of this as a movie’s Coming Soon attraction preview. You want them to be interested as soon as they hear: “In a world…” You might want to think about briefly breaking down your presentation to the areas you will cover for the audience.

The attention span of the average audience is pretty low. A synopsis helps prepare them about the number of sections and areas your presentation will contain.

Graphics — I always believe that the graphics of each presentation should be created after the content of your presentation is finalized. Graphics enhance and clarify the message. They are used as mnemonic devices that help anchor the message to your audience’s minds.

I prefer simple infographics to complex graphs wherever possible. To an audience of non-experts what becomes memorable are simple, bold visuals that resemble billboards. Shapes work very well, but also clever juxtapositions that illustrate a concept with humor and creativity.

There are great resources online for non-professionals who can search through image and graphics libraries that are relatively inexpensive to purchase. I also find that magazine editorials and how certain headlines are illustrated for each article, are valuable resources.

Edit, edit and edit some more — this is the toughest part of the job because you need to be reductive and efficient yet ensure that your message is not compromised. This part takes practice.

We often feel compelled to repeat our message during our presentation. I prefer to vary the delivery of the main message if the presentation is lengthy, and certainly offer a memorable summary at the end.

Learn from others — thanks for the internet we now have access to more knowledge that we know what to do with. Running a simple search on Scribd, Slideshare and TED produces hundreds of examples of presentations on any given subject. Download a few presentations and see how and why they capture your interest. And why they might not.

Tell a story — nothing engages us like a great story or an anecdote. We remember a story better than a graph and we will often share it with our networks as well.

Ask a great question — getting your audience participating in your presentation is a great way to begin a dialog. Make your subject matter relevant by asking a member of the audience about their own experience in confronting the issue.

Keep it simple — I always evaluate each project to see if I have simplified it as much as possible. For a presentation that rule applies beautifully.
Skimlinks Test

Danny Macaskill: The Ridge

2014-12-19T16:58:00.003-05:00

An amazing piece of adventure cinematography and daredevil bicycle riding.
It will leave you breathless.

The mentor, the master - Harry Pearson, 1937-2014

2014-11-14T09:41:00.003-05:00

I'm sitting down to write my thoughts about HP, and this photo of him by Joseph Weiss does not do him justice. Harry, infinitely inquisitive, must have been trying to get to know more about the photographer than reveal of himself. Yet there is still that Pearson sly smile just about to appear.

To think of Harry physically gone seems like a scientific impossibility. Harry inhabited the ether better than anyone I have ever known. He would appear out of nowhere and disappear just as fast.
There was the 4am email with a celestial transit or a link to an article about a new artist about to appear at Carnegie. As his health had deteriorated, his stamina for long phone calls seemed to as well.

My first meeting with Harry was at the Brookville Diner near Sea Cliff on Long Island. It was 1989. He invited me and Phil, my boyfriend at the time, to dinner after he had seen us there every Tuesday for months. Over chicken pot pie, Harry told us all about what he was working on, about The Absolute Sound and The Perfect Vision, his two magazines that were to define High End in Audio and Video.

I consider Harry Pearson the most influential person in my life. Harry, a Saturnian taskmaster if there ever was one, made sure that he not only introduced me to personal high standards, but that I also lived up to them as much as humanly possible. He taught me to speak the truth, fearlessly, because that was a sign of respecting others.

Harry introduced me to my first, beloved and treasured tarot deck by Dali, but he also gave me all the tools that I needed to learn about the science behind it, the symbolism, the metaphysical implications, AND the duty and respect I must have to share my empathic gifts.

I shared Harry's passion for music and film. On our countless hours of phone conversations, he would recommend films I had to watch and would discuss my observations with him late into the night.

I learned about the visual styles and story-telling nuances of Cronenberg, Truffaut, Peter Greenaway, and so many others. But there were also times when we would watch one of his favorite comedies from the '50s and '60s and roll on the floor in laughter. Harry's booming laugh could easily wake up the neighborhood.

HP was undoubtedly the world's most respected audiophile. He had a savant's encyclopedic knowledge of audio and video equipment of all sorts and could remember the details of audio reproduction in a way that had to be experienced to be believed. He talked about sound like others describe the emotional intricacies of familial relationships. He helped a reader understand the concept of sound staging in audio recordings and demonstrated his discoveries to those who were lucky enough to visit the house on Prospect Avenue in Sea Cliff with the world's most delicate turntables. His writing style was that of a novelist rather than of a technology geek. (I think HP would shudder at the mention of him as a geek).

Harry started his career as an environmental reporter, a fact that is missed from his NY Times obituary. He actually prided himself in his environmental interests. He also imparted that interest to me over the years.

We had not spoken much in the last several months and I knew his heart was not well. There were many mornings when he would call me to report of how many miles he had walked that morning, sometimes as early as 4am in the freezing cold of Long Island winters. He must have had to give it up in the last few years. We would email from time and time and I would make sure to send him Eric Francis' weekly astrology column.

I have considered myself the luckiest person to have had Harry Pearson as my friend. I could tell him anything without fear of being judged and I could also count on him telling me to stop being self-indulgent when I was being just that. He was a psychic weather vane unlike any other.

He was a peerless life editor and a person who was, to me, much more than a treasured friend. Harry taught me to understand my senses. I know that he was among us to urge us to educate our senses, which he believed had their own subtle intelligence.

Harry was a most generous mentor and a master who believed that he was always learning; he was always a student. And a good master is also a student forever. Harry has influenced many people who knew him personally in how we approach our life and how we each have a duty to strive for excellence and personal accountability.

Harry must be delighting in the fact that he can finally get his hands on the celestial sound system and tune it to perfection.

AlienSkin Exposure 6 - Review

2014-07-08T12:32:00.002-04:00

Alien Skin introduced Exposure, its film simulation Photoshop plugin a few years ago. It was one of the first - if not the first - plugin that allowed photographers to simulate popular film stocks in Photoshop.

I am a huge fan of Polaroid films and I have used many plugins and actions over the years that tried to simulate those emulsions, some more successfully than others. When I used Exposure 3 (the first version I owned) I instantly fell in love with the way it rendered some of Type55 film emulsions.

Now in its 6th version, Exposure is a very mature mature plugin that has so many tricks up its sleeve that as photographer or designer you can find that all its available tweaking options become a very addictive way to spend the day.

Exposure installs as a Photoshop and a Lightroom plugin and can be used from within each editor. The interface launches over the LR interface with a beautiful big window that has film stocks and presets on the left side and fine-tuning adjustment sliders on the right.

The middle window is reserved for a large preview of the image with the option to view Before/After options under the main image. The main image splits in half in a few different ways, however the split line cannot be moved left/right or up/down like in Nik Color Efex. I preferred to have the final image displayed for the maximum possible preview.

The left column of the interface has literally every possible film emulsion simulation one can think of. I was happy to see my favorite instant film simulations from Polaroid and Fuji. The small previews are very accurate and a simple rollover allows the user to see the simulation applied on the large image in the main window.

On the right side there are several exposure adjustments that enable the user to fine-tune exposure, clarity, saturation, etc. on top of the initial selected preset.

Scroll down to the middle of the column and there are additional editing options such as textures, frames, lens flares, and grain. Within those dialogs there are even more presets that can also be further adjusted. The frame presets are fantastic especially because they offer several very realistic vintage frames and film edges.

The increasingly popular light leaks are also there and they are very well implemented. They can be moved from corner to corner and can also be further edited. I like this implementation much better than on Nik's Analog Efex Pro which once it places the light leak on the image it cannot be moved to another area of the image.

The user can also import frames and light leaks from within the program for an even more customized look. The built-in choices are so plentiful though that it would be hard to imagine needing even more options.

Finally, any combination of presets can be saved as a user preset to use on a number of images.

I went through some images I had shot on my iPhone and decided to use Exposure 6 to

Green poppy pods enhanced in color and texture with a Fujifilm instant film preset and a vintage texture.

Pink peonies look even more dramatic as a blue duotone with a vintage texture and frame.

Snap dragons in Polaroid Polachrome instant preset, a vintage texture and frame. I really like this photo and how the colors and contrast rendered.

There are many film simulation plugins and presets in the market. VSCO has been offering its own simulation presets as does Replichrome (read my review here.) Exposure is different in that it offers not only a vast preset collection of film emulsions but also adds many more options to fine-tune an image beyond the initial edit and for slightly more money than VSCO or Replichrome. ($149 vs. $119)

As usual, AlienSkin offers a free trial of Exposure 6.

Inside Tiffany's private jewelry salon.

2014-06-30T09:06:00.001-04:00

Bloomberg goes inside Tiffany for a rare look of their exclusive private jewelry salon.

Some interesting books

2014-05-23T11:02:00.000-04:00

Six Simple Rules: How to Manage Complexity without Getting Complicated.

Francois Halard

(one of the top interior photographers in the world)

The First Mile: A Launch Manual for Getting Great Ideas into the Market

How to make Instagram better.

2014-04-22T13:17:00.002-04:00

How addicted have we become to Instagram? It has become the cooler sibling to Facebook and one of the preferred hangouts of creatives who use it to share campaigns and inspirations.

Instagram is also quickly becoming a platform where visually-driven brands choose to display not only behind the scenes photos but also more polished campaigns.

I don't know what Facebook has in mind for Instagram and how to improve it as a social media platform. I do know though that it seems to be in need of an overhaul to continue attracting this creative audience and continue evolving.

Here are some suggestions:

For Photographers / Videographers

Metadata: A lot of photographers, myself included, would welcome the addition of metadata and attribution information added automatically to the photos.

More Interaction: We can comment on the photos but it would be great to be able to share them or regram them to other feeds or post them on Facebook.

Filters: Some of the filters are cool. It would be great to include some new ones so we don't have to round-trip to other apps like Camera+ to create more interesting photos.

High Resolution Export: For the times we want to print the images we create.

Sharpening: A logical sharpening slider should be included by now.

Non-square video export: That should be easy to accomplish. I don't know many people who have square video displays.

More robust video editing: Which should probably be on another app altogether even though others exist. There are media outlets who edit their videos in Premiere and export to a square format. OF course that kills the spontaneity of the process but I think it's necessary.

Finally an iPad version of the app.

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For Brands / Small Businesses

Hashtags: Take a look at some brands' Instagram feeds and you'll see the avalanche of hashtags that follow each post. There must be a better way to make these hashtags appear independently of the captioning. Searching through hashtags is also cumbersome since many users invent hashtags with each post. Suggested and trending hashtags a la Twitter might be the way to go.

Geolocation: For events, there should be a way to make the geolocation information automatically capture users and suggest hashtags appropriate to that event. For a fashion show or a party, for example, that would be a very cool feature.

Curated Pages: The scrolling theme of the Instagram timeline is not really conducive to curated brand content. Facebook business pages is better positioned for concentrated information on a brand/business. While hashtags offer a way to collect the information on a certain subject they are still an inefficient way to create a campaign on Instagram. With Instagram advertising about to be happening, an efficient way to make a brand's custom content visible to followers - with sharing options - might be the tool advertisers are waiting for.

Sweet deal from OnOne for owners of Nik and Topaz plugins.

2014-01-30T15:09:00.001-05:00

OnOne are offering a special upgrade to those who own Nik Software
(including Google's NikCollection), Topaz Labs, or any other digital photography
plug-in a $50 savings if they purchase their new Perfect Photo Suite 8 Premium Edition.

From their press release:
"With all of the new photo editing capabilities now included in the Suite
and the question among some photographers on if they should subscribe
to Adobe CC, we thought this was a good way to provide passionate photographers,
such as those who own other plug-ins, another option to get the photo editing tools
they need."

Perfect Photo Suite comprises an incredible collection of editing tools that complement
Photoshop and Lightroom. Their tools for Resizing and Masking are top notch and go
beyond Nik and Topaz in terms of flexibility and power.

Speed Retouching Rolex Daytona Platinum

2014-01-17T14:46:00.001-05:00

In my years working as a creative especially around jewelry and timepieces, I have found it hard to explain to clients all the work that is necessary to make luxury objects appear perfect.

This video of an expert retoucher's job on a Rolex Daytona is the perfect illustrator of how meticulous post-production is essential for optimal results.

JAR exhibit at the MET.

2013-12-04T07:40:00.001-05:00

Nothing can prepare you for the beauty that is JAR.

Beauty needs no explanation.

The Unforgettable Photograph - by George Lange

2013-10-16T17:20:00.000-04:00

When I was starting my design practice 15 years ago I met George Lange, celebrity photographer. George, for those who are lucky enough to know him, is one of the most affable, talented, energetic creatives on the planets. George was the first photographer to entrust me with styling an important photo shoot and over the years he and I worked on many exciting and memorable projects.

George holds a very special place in my heart so, right off the bat, I want to be clear that I'm very biased about reviewing his great new book, The Unforgettable Photograph.

Full of incredible George Lange photos, some of them featuring his adorable family, this book is truly chock full of tips and inspirations for any photographer. You can be an aspiring amateur family photographer, or even a seasoned professional, and still find great tips as to how to shoot your subjects.

The book covers a myriad of ways to photograph people, always the most challenging of subjects, in my opinion. George's way of relating to his subjects comes through in every chapter.

Over the years George has photographed some of the most famous people in entertainment. Having worked in shoots with Mr. Lange, I was always amazed at how quickly he got his subjects to open up to him while always creating legendary captures. George always brings out the most interesting, creative side to whomever he photographs, a skill that is not always present in portrait photographers.

The Unforgettable Photograph is a bargain for all the tips it contains and how beautifully it illustrates them. George is a very generous man and he has filled each page with great info to create photographs that are truly contemporary and modern.

Of all the photography books I own, The Unforgettable Photograph is bound to become a trusted reference. Now if I could only get George to autograph it for me next time I run into him.