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Street Art and Fashion Photography

By on March 19, 2012 in Everyday Outfits, Fashion, OOTD, Springtime

My husband found this vacant lot in East Hollywood and pointed it out to me.  Some local artists had placed painted doors and other objects covered in graffiti amidst the waist-high weeds and broken beer bottles. Because this sort of impromptu art gallery is often short-lived we pulled over and took some photos that afternoon.

Aren’t the photos spectacular? You might be surprised to hear that when my husband first showed them to me I asked if we could go back and take them over.  The late afternoon light was harsh and I was critical of how I looked in the photos. Hugo reassured me that he would take care of everything on the computer. He has not let me down yet so I decided to trust his judgement and see what he could make of them.

I’ve noticed a number of people discussing photo retouching and the use of post editing computer software to alter images used in personal style blogs. Many people say they do not use these tools.  They want their images to be a true recreation of who they are.  Maybe I’m just artsy, but I love what my husband does to his photos of me after he’s taken them.  He believes that images are a kind of language, a language that’s now available to everyone with access to a computer and the freedom of the web. He wants to create memorable images and feels strongly that the kind of alterations he does enhances and sometimes creates a whole feeling to the photos that is not evident in real life.  Would you ever know from these photos that just a few yards away were four lanes of rush hour traffic and that there were another group of people taking photos in the same spot?  It’s the work my husband did to the images after the fact that gives them their saturated colors and creepy, twilight vibe.

I’m wearing my favorite denim jacket over a purple jersey blouse and teal jeans. On my feet are the most unsuitable, impractical shoes I own: purple suede peep-toe platform heels decorated with strips of navy blue suede. It was love at first sight but I still struggle to find ways to wear them. The new black clutch that I’m currently wearing with everything is showing off its removable silver chain shoulder strap.

  • Denim Jacket – Tommy Hilfiger
  • Blouse – Veronica M
  • Necklace – Elizabeth Cole via Gilt.com
  • Clutch – purchased at Nordstrom
  • Jeans – Mother
  • Shoes – Nine West

How do you feel about photo retouching and image enhancement in personal style blogs?

 

 

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A Fabulous Fall Skirt

By on September 19, 2011 in Autumn, Denim, Everyday Outfits, OOTD

Should I talk about the photos?  I think I should.

I started modeling when I was young.  My grandfather was a semi-professional photographer and I loved pretending I was a model. I was always happy to pose for the camera.  In my teens I started modeling professionally, but at some point I became not thin enough, and stopped. When my husband and I first met in our early 20′s, he had a Pentax that used FILM (remember that stuff?) and took lots of wonderful, romantic photos of me. As the years went by we started our family, and all the photos had new stars (The kids!). Cameras too, were changing.  The first digital cameras were clunky and didn’t have much memory.  I think the experience of owning one, and dealing with its deficincies, left my husband a bit jaded, and we graduated to a little point-and-shoot that seemed to be fine for the birthday parties and outings that we recorded.

When I started this blog I knew I wanted it to be mostly outfit posts.  In order to do this I asked my husband, Hugo, to take the photos of me in my ensembles. At first he just used our little point-and-shoot but it became clear early on that if he wanted the photos to look the way he wanted them to look he would need a better camera.  He invested in a wonderful new DSLR camera, and has spent the last few months watching tutorials on lighting and reading countless lens reviews. So if the photos are suddenly looking amazing it’s all because of him! I think if anything great has come out of this blog, it’s my husband’s newfound interest in an art form he loved in high-school and dabbled with in college.

These photos were taken around Labor Day overlooking my parent’s back yard in the Hollywood Hills.  The evening sky was filled with dramatic clouds, which my husband captured in these photos.  Later on there was a double rainbow, a lightning storm, and rain. He was able to capture both the color of the skies and my outfit with the use of small, radio operated, flashes.

Now about the outfit – this skirt is one of my favorite early Fall pieces.  It’s made of a rather heavy weight cotton blend Jacquard. The greens, reds and blues in the textile feel very much at home in this transitional time of year and it looks wonderful with a denim jacket, which is just the right weight for that too-warm-for-a-sweater-not-cold-enough-for-a-coat kind of weather. Personally I think we should all have an unusual skirt for those occasions that require something a little interesting.

  • Jacket – Tommy Hillfiger
  • T-shirt – Target
  • Necklace – Forever 21
  • Belt – Target
  • Skirt – Anthropologie
  • Clutch – Hobo
  • Shoes – Nine West
  • Drink – Skinny Girl Margarita!
  • All photos taken by my husband, Hugo Fonseca

What’s your favorite late Summer/early Fall piece?

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Fashion as Art

By on April 3, 2011 in Fashion

Living in a big city can be a drag.  The traffic is terrible, everything is expensive and sometime you have to pay to park at the grocery store.  I’m lucky to live in a tiny house on a postage stamp-size piece of land.  I keep trying to remind myself that if my house was an apartment in Manhattan it would be HUGE, but here in Southern California it’s just darn small. There are perks however…

…like being able to walk to gallery openings!  Above is one of Mary Jo Matsumoto’s couture dresses inspired by the artwork being exhibited as part of the show “Artist’s Edition: Works on Couture” at the Stephen Cohen Gallery here in Los Angeles.  I spent a few wonderful minutes wandering through the gallery for the opening on Saint Patrick’s Day.  I’m not sure what I liked more, the artwork on the walls or the people watching.

I like the way this woman’s “Santa Fe” style contrasts with her bright blue nail polish.

The art wasn’t just hanging on the walls.  This girl had some on her body. Was it inspired by Mondrian do you think? I’ve seen a lot of tattoos, but I’ve never seen anything quite like this.  When I saw her the refrain from Grace Jones’ song “Art Groupie” (from the album Nightclubbing, 1981) filled my mind.

“I’ll never write my memoirs,
There’s nothing in my book,
The only way you see me an Art Groupie,
I’m hooked.”

To tell the truth I find gallery openings really intimidating.  If it hadn’t been for Mary Jo I would never have had the courage to enter.  She is one of the only Los Angeles fashion bloggers who responded to any of my comments on her blog.  In my experience L.A. fashion bloggers aren’t very interested in interaction with fellow bloggers. It’s sad to say, but having lived here most of my life, I don’t find it all that surprising.  Most of my blogging friends live elsewhere in the world, so meeting in person isn’t all that easy.  But here was Mary Jo showing her designs in a gallery not too far from my house, how could I not go?  So I plucked up my courage, got dressed in my coolest black plus black plus more black outfit, and headed out. Even though I took a few photos, somehow I missed getting one of myself and Mary Jo, so if you’d like to see some more photos of the event and the very beautiful, chic Mary Jo herself, please check out her blog, “Trust Your Style“.

Though I’m fond of the skirt and matching wrap above, I think I like the hot pink mini and tiny purse even better. Oh, the photography on display was wonderful as well.  Below is one of my favorites.

Do you like gallery openings?

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