{ aesthetic interview : yvan the face hunter }

Oh London, how lovely are your transport closures? Well a 23£ taxi ride and a coffee later I was sitting with Yvan the Face Hunter, one of my favorite bloggers and he was essentially interviewing himself:


"I was just in Poland," he said. Its rare when someone has more to say than I do so I was thrilled that he talked for 20 minutes about the situation in Warsaw without prompt. I have to admit that I was pleasantly caught off guard when he did not want to talk about what people were wearing there but how about they have reacted to Westernization; I was flat out shocked at how well versed and articulate he was about their socio-political and economic situation. He explained that the people he encountered were not very self confident and there was a lot of hostility to the kind of creativity he was searching for. He explained football hooligans to me and the way in which they organize violence which startled him deeply. "They scream the word 'WAR' and run at each other," he said with fearful fascination. " After we talked about the communist architecture I had to ask some interview questions to cover my bases:

O: How did you get started?

Y: In the beginning I had no conscious about it, it was a pocket camera, a present.
I took pictures at parties in Paris but there was no blog. Then I shared it and people sent it to each other, making a network. People blogged about it and after 2 months in May 2006 Cool Hunter did an article about the evolution of fashion media. I was Paris in the NY/Paris/Tokyo street style blogs. GQ called and I had my first big job.

O: What were you doing before?

Y: Copy editing, writing about trends, cool hunting. After GQ I quit my other job. what is this for again?

O: Its for my blog, I just wanted to meet you honestly.

Y: I see its was just a pretense then? (the he smiled with some of the most tackful charm i have seen in a while)

O: Ah yes, um, not stalking you fyi. So how do you feel about other bloggers like Mark the Cobra Snake and the Sartorialist?

Y: Why, do you think we do the same thing?

O: Ah...no, I mean no.

Y: Its like this, you go to a party and over there there is a tall red haired girl and over there there is a tiny girl with brown hair and there is no use even comparing. There is something for everyone in a way.

O: So what do you look for when you ask some one to take their picture?

Y: Its about the seduction of the outfit. This guy could be wearing all Commes de Garcons and I could absolutely hate it and this guy could be wearing all H&M. Its the way they put it together. Its the seduction.


So maybe Yvan thought I was stalking him but in truth I decided recently if you want something ask for it. I've always been really uncomfortable with celebrity and all that it entails but I can now reconcile how I feel about it with the advent of internet celebrity. I wanted to meet him so I asked. As he told me "after that first interview in May 2006 I have had an interview everyday," which I have to admit was kind of intimidating. I mean I could have probably googled him and read a few cute little interviews about how he got started and all. Really, who am I to interview this awesome person when I am writing for my blog with a readership of... well lets not put numbers on it shall we? My point is, that's the thing about internet celebrity, he was totally willing to meet with me before he jetted off to Germany. He was just a real person doing things that he loves which I find totally inspiring. He turned a simple and fun hobby into a jammin' job that has rocketed him into the fast lane. Yvan the face hunter, we salute you.

slim aarons (i'm at the BEACH!)

I love his beach and resort photographs, they make me want to wear only navy blue and kelly green. And everything else. MIAMISPRINGBREAK!?! N/S and domino have used and published his stuff (n/s quite a bit) and there's a ton more here. A couple of my picks:


I'm looking at a bunch of "resort" wear, you know... Gucci, Cavalli, I'd totally wear to the beach. In my quest I found one of my favorite Cavalli dresses EVER, which I'll post later.

{ aesthetic profile : jeff barnett-winsby }

Jeffie B. is possibly the single most successful artist I have ever stalked. Wait, I mean met. He is disturbingly honest in the depiction of his subjects which is a quality that is also reflected in his personality. He has successfully grown from just any old stock photo guy to a full blown Phartist (photo artist). He lives and works in New York.

{ the night watch }

{ q + a }
So Jeff, what are you currently working on?

I am finally finishing my super long dragged out prison break project called "Love Notes and Promised Freedoms." I leave tomorrow morning to make the final image in Tennessee at the US marshal's office. [The photo] is of a bird. A parakeet, I think.

This is the project that started as documentation of prisoners rehabilitating dogs and then turned into a wild jail break love story with the dog trainer and a man 15 years her junior? I love that one.

Indeed it is!

How do you think your photos changed over the last year or more, specifically during this project?

I think my understanding of what photography does well has changed. I also think my relationship to being a photographic artist is different now. Working over a period of almost two years on this project has been another really strange aspect of it. And actually it is more like 2 1/2 years since I photographed the dogs. That is a crazy amount of time to stay interested in one subject. I guess my photographs are as varied as ever in style and I am more committed than ever to that and serving the idea above all rather than the aesthetic.

In regards to the time spent, I am more fascinated with it all the time. Daily I have new ideas about what was really happening which sort has made me into an observer of my own work as well as its creator.

{ love notes and promised freedoms }

You told me once that you didn’t want to be a part of that “exclusive art crowd.” Now that you are heating up a little under the lime light do you still feel that way?

I'm really not interested. But all my best friends are artists so it might not seem any different from the outside what I am talking about. I guess I am just drawn to smart, creative, and kind people. My friends are the best and I would say that we were super inclusive. God that sounds mushy.

Its perfect. Speaking of perrrrrfect: what do you think your craigslist project says about you?

It says I am super lonely. But, more than that I think it speaks about how we are changing in regards to socializing. (and I should add that it is not necessarily positive.) I think where people get confused with that work is that I really empathize with these folks I am photographing. Its not that we are just strange and zombie like, it is that we all want to be a part of something or do something interesting. We are just not sure what that is.

Well I think you are doing plenty of interesting things. I am always excited to see what is next on your horizon. So what is next?

My very good friend Peter and I are getting ready to launch a website that will change the way you think about travel...
I think also there are a few other web projects on the horizon as well as possibly another foray into the prison for yours truly. I will be teaching this spring in Rhode Island and am looking forward to that landscape again. So, we will see..

{ love notes and promised freedoms }

Check out more of Jeff's work here.