ACME Oct/Nov

Oct./Nov. 2010 IssueACME

Letters from the Editors As a junior in high school, the thoughts of life after graduation are constantly lingering in my mind. I know what I want in life and the place I want to spend the rest of my life in is the world of fashion and the arts. As an artist myself, I love meeting new artists and expanding my knowledge of new generations of individuals. The idea of starting an online magazine consisting of aspiring artists eventually came to life when I met Nicholas Le, an aspiring fashion photographer himself and one of my very good friends. He is now the Creative Director of ACME as well as an Editor alongside with yours truly. I am very happy to say that these past two months has been an amazing experience as I got to know many up and coming individuals who are so unique and inspiring. Nick and I worked very hard to bring you the very first issue of ACME and this is only the beginning. This magazine is filled with nothing but love and amazing people who deserve the exposure, so I hope you enjoy and maybe even become an avid reader of ACME in the future.

L-o-v-e, Natalie Liao

When Natalie Liao and I first met, one of the things she expressed interest in was creating an online magazine to feature artists and photographers. I instantly jumped on the idea because it sounded like another great outlet to express my creativity and love of the arts. I also felt that creating the online magazine would expose me to new artists and photographers and give me the opportunity to share their work with others. Natalie’s journalistic experience and my art and design background resulted in ACME. The title means “the highest point,” which we were drawn to because we felt the word was unique and described the collection of artists we featured. Unfortunately, this is the first and last issue that I will be a part of. I am proud of what we put together so far, but due to my busy schedule, I will be stepping down and someone else will replace my position here at ACME. Natalie and I both worked hard and had a lot of fun learning more about artists we admired and hope you become as inspired as we have.

Sincerely,Nicholas Le

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OCTOBERNOVEMBERACME

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Katrin Braga

Bryant Eslava

Cat Lane

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Bryant Eslava

Jonny Finch

Chr

is G

arla

ndAmel Kerkeni

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isti

an P

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Ian Stanton

A: Introduce yourself.

KB: My Name is Katrin Braga and I‘m a 18 year old photographer from Reykjavík/Iceland.

A: What do you shoot with?

KB: I shoot with Konica FT-1, Kodak point-and-shoot camera, disposable cameras and Canon 550D.

A: How and when did you get started in photography?

KB: It started when I found my father’s film camera one summer and I haven‘t stopped shooting since.

A: Have you had any kind of formal training?

KB: No, I‘m a self learner. But I‘m going abroad to

Katrin B

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A: What is your process when taking photographs?

KB: There is never the same process. But the main thing is to get to know the people you‘re working with so they feel comfortable in front of the camera.

A: Who or what inspires you?

KB: Many things. Friends, nature, fashion, music, blogs etc. Music is the food for your soul. It can change your mood instantly and it lets you feel things you maybe never felt before. So that is one of my biggest

school when I graduate here in Iceland.

A: Why do you shoot?

KB: I shoot because it‘s my passion. I love this natural high you get when you know you got something good.

inspiration.

A: Tell us the story behind one of your favorite photographs.

[On page 12]

1. I was acting in this short movie and Brynja (the girl in the photo) was the leading

actress. In this moment I was lying in the grass, Brynja was freezing to death and I told her to look down.

2. I love the story behind that picture. I dared her to go into the ice cold water for me (thank god it was sunny outside) and she was just

making her hair wet in that exact moment. No posing involved. I love capturing moments like that.

3. I was at this amazing concert when all of a sudden all the lights went out. In that moment everything is dark and all the people are

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wondering what the hell happened.

A: Who/what do you shoot for?

KB: I shoot for myself and all the people who are involved. Designers, models, bands, makeup artist and all sorts of people.

A: Where do you want to be in five years?

KB: I want to live abroad. Doing all the things I love.

flickr.com/katrinbragad

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BE: Name: Bryant Eslava // Project Name: Etiam Vita. I’m living in Mexico City, but I was born and raised in Orange County/Los Angeles, California.


BE: I have more than 8 cameras, and I’m always buying more when I have money. Canon for digital, and other brands for Film cameras.


BE: It all started a few years back, when I had the choice to receive either a Camera or a Macbook laptop for a present... of course I thought right away, ‘Well I could sit in front of a computer but not create

Bryant E

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BE: I have no idea why I shoot sometimes, but I just find everything else to be boring that doesn’t involve art. I can’t draw, and I can’t design clothing, but taking photographs really interests me.


BE: Process? Well I usually

work with agency girls for the most part, so It involves having a team. Basically creating a concept and choosing a model off the agency board and contacting mua/hair/wardrobe people I know.


BE: No one really inspires me, music does the job. It’s mostly Ambient music and chillwave. You’re probably

anything, and with a camera I can. So I chose the camera and that’s where It all began.


BE: Not at all, I’ve learned photography all by myself. But of course It’s all happened through inspiration of music and spending tons of hours on the internet.

thinking...’what the hell is chillwave?’ but you should def look it up, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.


BE: Well one of my favorite photographs is the one with Lauren [on page 23], she’s on my website. But the fun part about that photo is, I was walking down the train tracks and I came across this

giant rock and immediately thought of having her lay on the rocks while her head rested on the giant one. The sun was really hot that day and she was covering her eyes, and I told her to hold it. It was completely random but It became my favorite photograph.


BE: At first when I started shooting It was basically to

start building a portfolio on modelmayhem without having any idea where It would go. It was just close friends, who aren’t models at all and just basically wanted clear photos. And then the years went on and it all changed. I’m currently working for Nylon Mexico, and some of the photographs I’m shooting for them will be in the November issue of 2010.

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BE: In five years, well hopefully in a nice big studio with a few friends who are in the fashion industry and are creating art non stop.

A: What inspired you to coin your project name?

BE: Etiam Vita means still life, and the way I started my project was to show everyone what life around us is like.

etiamvita.net

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JF: My name is Jonny Finch, I am 24 years old and live in London


JF: I really only shoot film, I use an old 35mm SLR because it’s what I learned on years ago and I know it inside out, also there is a quality that you can only achieve by using film.


JF: It started when I was really young, I would ask my parents if I could take the photos when we went on holiday. Then I went round Europe and when I got back a friend of mine saw my photos and thought were Jo

nny

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really good and said I should do something about it.


JF: I took up an evening darkroom course, strictly black and white film photography, I think this was the best thing I could have done as it taught me roots of photography and it makes you consider each and every shot you take. This is something I don’t think I would have learned if I had done a digital based course. Once that had finished I decided to do a degree course in photography at the Leeds College of Art which I have just completed this year. This was an amazing experience as I was able to feed of other creative people and it enabled me to create

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and define my own style.


JF: I take photos because I want to share my talent with people, I want people to see the world how I see it. I also just genuinely enjoy taking photos.


JF: It depends on what I’m doing, sometimes I’ll have an idea for a project before

I go out and I’ll see where it takes me. It often goes off on a bit of a tangent which is actually the most interesting part. Other times I’ll just go out with a camera and see what catches my eye, you can get some really good shots that way actually. In terms of technical process I never use lighting equipment, I always use available light because I feel using flashes and so on instantly makes a photo look staged, which is something I’m not interested in. Once I’ve finished shooting I’ll

get the films processed then scan them in and edit them myself.


JF: Lots of things inspire me, music, film, art, fashion etc, but mainly it’s people and places. I think the most interesting thing you can photo is a person, I could look at a photo of a person a lot more times than I could look at a photo of say, a building. If someone inspires me I instantly want

to find a good location to photograph them, if you get the right person in the right location then that’s what I feel makes a really good image.


JF: There’s a photo I took of a girl sitting on top of a washing machine in nothing but a men’s shirt which I really like. We went to the local laundromat to take some photos for a fashion

shoot I’d wanted to do for a while and the model was walking round pretty much half naked and there’s these two guys doing there washing. I don’t know there washing routine but i”m pretty sure they took a lot longer making sure all their clothes were perfectly folded and extra dry that day.Then when I uploaded it onto my flickr I seemed to be getting a lot of interest in it and it was appearing on a lot blogs and tumblr’s etc and I couldn’t figure out

why. So I looked at it again and realised it’s actually quite dirty photo, I didn’t even think about it as a girl getting her kicks from sitting on top of a washing machine, I think that’s why a lot of people like it!


JF: At the moment I don’t really shoot for anyone, I do the occasional shoot for a band I now and I may do the odd fashion shoot for someone but apart from that 29

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I pretty much shoot for me. I’m hoping this will change pretty soon though as I really want to start working for people and making a career out of it. It would be pretty good to make money out of what I love doing.


JF: In 5 years time I want to be doing editorial work in some big fashion/art/culture magazines. I also want to have had my own solo show in a gallery in London showcasing my personal work. I don’t think that’s too much to ask really!

jonnyfinch.carbonmade.com

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Chris Garland


CG: Hey, I’m Chris Garland, I am a sixteen year old boy, I’m very ticklish and flinch really easily.


CG: For digitial photos I use a Nikon D60 and for film photos I use a Canon ae-1 or any disposable camera yah


CG: Uhm well I got my first digital point and shoot camera when I just entered highschool pretty much, but I was really lame with it. And like a year or something after that, a friend of mine and her sister were telling me that I should check out flickr and so I did and ...yah then seeing photography that was actually good made me want to improve.


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CG: None at all. I bought a book but never ended up reading it...I’m not that into reading.


CG: I don’t really have like any profound reason to take photos or anything really. I just like taking photos of what’s going on in my life or how I feel about what’s going on in my life so i have tangible copies of memories.


CG: If I am doing self portaits I usually have a really broad idea of what I want to do or a location that I want to go to. But other pictures are most of the time just spontaneous.

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CG: Just seeing great art, whether it be like photography, paintings, sculpture whatever. Especially when it’s done by like younger people because it just shows that even now you can do amazing things.That and just the little ordinary things that you forget about.


CG: I was in Jamaica for a mission trip with some kids at my highschool, and after helping out in this little village place we went to a river to cool off. I almost fell down like twenty times and everyone started to have a splash fight.


CG: I shoot for myself. I just find taking and sharing photos fun.


CG: I honestly hate thinking about my future because I don’t have a clue about what I want. It might involve photography who the hell knows.

flickr.com/chrisgarland

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Amel KerkeniA: Introduce yourself.

AK: Well, my name is Amel Kerkeni, I was born in 1989, and I come from North of France. This year I get a Theater Degree at Lille.


AK: I work with one Canon EOS 7D and one lens, 30mm F13.54


AK: I naturally turned to the theater from my youngest age… By practicing and by studying the theater, it is the aesthetics of the direction and its symbolic strength that my brought towards the photography. Few have little; I wanted to congeal on paper my ideas, and my images… It was during my very first black course in

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chamber, that I had a shock. We had to each bring one old film has to develop. When I saw my grandfather, died, to appear in the revelation, the photography did not leave me anymore, I was 14 years old.


AK: No, I am completely self-taught.


AK: My approach is essentially symbolic and meaning. The creation of an atmosphere is my main motivation. The treated theme will be in touch with what I saw, what marks me, what touches me, what obsesses me.


AK: Above all, I reflected about a theme, I look for the styling and for the make-up, and then, the alchemy

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products during the shoot... A: Who or what inspires you?

AK: To me, everything can be inspiration. A book, a person, a place, a light, a movie, a poem, a situation, a feeling, a direction …


AK: At the moment, one of the photos that I realized and that I prefer is this the one [on the left]. This shot was important for me, Jin Sun the model, never stroke pose in her life. She was stunning and did not hesitate to dive in the water!


AK: I can shoot for everything and everybody (Professional, magazine, families, friends, models...) but especially, I shoot for me!


CG: I hope that I could live on my passion!

amelkerkeni.com

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Cat Lane


CL: Hello, my name is Cat Lane and I am a freelance fashion and portrait photographer, recently graduated from the London College of Communication. Nice to meet you! :)


CL: Up until recently, all my work has been shot with a Canon 400D, 17-85mm and 50mm 1.4. I’ve just purchased a 5D Mark II and 24-70mm though and I can’t wait to get out and use it more!


CL: I can never seem to pinpoint exactly when I started taking pictures, but I’m pretty sure it was around 2006/7 time, and I started to take it a bit more seriously in 2008. I started to play around with photography whilst stuck indoors on days off school (I was quite ill

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back then and wasn’t able to go into school much), and it just went from there I guess!

A: Have you had any kind of formal training?CL: In October 2009, I started a year-long photography course at the London College of Communication, but aside from that I am completely self-taught. I think being self-taught is important but I think it gets to the point where it can be really useful

to have access to equipment you wouldn’t have had the chance to use, and to be taught things that you may not have otherwise learnt. Having the opportunity to meet others who are equally enthusiastic about photography is great too!


CL: I could probably list hundreds of reasons, but I mainly just love the entire creative process from

planning, to shooting, to retouching, and I love the feeling of going home at the end of the day with cards full of pictures that I’m happy with and can’t wait to finish!


CL: I don’t think I really have a particular process - some shoots are planned, whereas others are more improvised!


CL: I suppose all work is shot for my own enjoyment of the creative process and, if I upload it online and show anybody, for anybody else who might get some enjoyment out of viewing the photos I suppose! And of course if it’s client work, it’s for the benefit of whoever has commissioned me and the creative team working with me on the day.


CL: I believe anything can inspire - I don’t feel I take my inspiration from one or two main sources, but from anything I see, hear or experience. It probably sounds corny but anything that helps to create an idea or makes me want to shoot is inspiring to me.


CL: I think one of my all-time favourites is [the shot above] I took about two years ago called “Thursday”. It’s probably nothing special to anybody else but this shot just reminds me how good it is to be alive and to enjoy the simple things in life, like lazy days spent listening to my favourite records with the sun shining through the window and little things like that. The shot wasn’t planned at all, I just wanted to capture how that day felt. 59

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CL: It’s weird but I don’t ever really look that far into the future, I’m more about concentrating about what I’m doing at the moment really. Having said that, now that I think about it, ideally I would like to be shooting regular editorials for submission to fashion publications and shooting commissioned portraiture work.

dismantlerepair.co.uk

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CP: My name’s Christian Pitschl. I was born and raised in Bolzano, Italy, moved out when I was 19 and have been living in Vienna, Austria for 8 years now. I studied audio engineering, but work as a graphic designer.


CP: Various cameras. Mostly with the Contax T3 and Olympus Mju II.


CP: My father gave me his Pentax Super A as I moved out, because he didn’t really take pictures anymore. I didn’t shoot a lot until I found out about Lomo cameras. I joined Flickr at some point, because I wanted to see how photos of other cameras looked. I started to buy other cameras and it all started from there, three years ago.


CP: Nope.


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actors, bands, films and magazines.

A: Describe your photo aesthetic.CP: That’s tough. I think I’m trying to find something special in normal situations. It’s pretty hard to capture the magic of a moment, but I still have the urge to do that. I’m crazy about unique light, too. The aesthetic of course also results from the camera and film you use and since I’m mostly shooting with compacts there’s usually a point and shoot feel to it.

A: What interests do you have outside of photography?

CP: I love music. I’m the singer in Chris And The

CP: I’m not sure. One reason is probably, because I love art and especially photography. I don’t really know how to paint either so I started taking pictures. The second reason is that I have a hard time remembering stuff and my photographic diary brings memories back really quickly and intensely.

A: What is your usual process for taking photographs?

CP: Hmmm, there is none. I have a camera on me at all times and love to capture stuff that is going on my life. Then I also do a lot of different jobs where I have to take pictures as requested, which is cool also (most of the time)

A: Who/what inspires you?

CP: Everything that surrounds me, many amazing photographers on Flickr…


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two days there and Chris brought me to Verona where I took the train to Bolzano (my hometown) so that I could make a new ID. After I did that I took the train back to Milan in order to be able to go back to Vienna the day after. I spent quite some time on Italian trains some years ago and it was terrific doing that again after such

friend Christoph Cirillo in Milan and already had a ticket for the flight from Vienna when I lost my ID. I went to the embassy who gave me a document with which I could enter Italy, but they couldn’t hand me out one that made it possible to get back to Austria as I’m an Italian citizen. So I tookthe flight to Milan, spend

Other Girls and I’m starting to record a new album soon, which is kinda exciting for me. Besides that I love art, work as a graphic designer, which I like, too, love to travel...


CP: I wanted to visit my

a long time. That’s when I took [the photo on the left].


I don’t know. My life’s pretty great so I think I’d be happy, if it just went on like this. It would be great, if I had enough great jobs not to be forced to do the few crappy ones, too.

christianpitschl.com

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IS: My name is Ian, 20 years old, living in Los Angeles, California.


IS: I shoot with several cameras, however, my most frequently used are my Leica M7, Yashica T4 and a Mamiya 645.


I started taking photographs around March 2009, right around the time my father passed away. I used his cameras and it helped me cope with the loss. Since then, I have changed my area of study in college to Fine Arts, allowing me to hone my eye and technique.Ia

n S

tant

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IS: My process when taking photographs usually takes one of two routes, being either to go out, seeing everything as if I had pristine eyes, or to work within a predetermined conceptual series.


IS: Everything inspires me.A: Tell us the story behind one

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of your favorite photographs.

IS: [The photo on the left] was on one of the first rolls of film I took on my Leica M7. Before this roll, I had gotten accustomed to staging my photographs... always. This candid yet poised aesthetic quickly became a style I became comfortable with.


IS: I shoot for myself.


IS: I’d like to be in an MFA program.

ianstanton.com

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EDITORSNatalie Liao and Nicholas Le

CREATIVE DIRECTORNicholas Le

ACME

CONTACTacmemag.tumblr.om

[email protected]

Submissions are welcomed and will be published if approved.

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ACME Oct/Nov

Documents

new artists

aspiring artists

collection of artists

online magazine

issue of acme

natalie liao

thoughts of life

aspiring fashion photographer