My 4 year old Photographer

My son, AJ, is 4 years old. He loves photography. Both sides of the camera. He is very careful about composition and lighting and even has an interest in auto retratos. Seriously. I will post some of his work soon.

In the meantime, this is my little guy:

If he looks familiar that's because he's also my favorite model. Check out more of him on my website.

http://dechavezphotography.com/

Favorite Photographers

My favorite photographers usually are portraitists in one sense or another. They are, in no particular order:

• Francesco Scavullo, specifically the portraits from the book Scavullo Women (of which I own 2 copies)


• Sally Mann
• Marilyn Minter-supersaturated color, pretty+dirty
• Nick Brandt, but the portraits are lions
• Gian Paolo Barbieri (Tahitian Tattoos 1999)


• Michael Thompson


• Terry Richardson!) Juergen Teller started it, but Richardson finished it, and Yes, it's true, you can't buy talent in a camera store


• Chuck Close-true, they are paintings that look like photos that look like paintings that look like photos, and now, tapestries that look like photos, 12ft giants!

Re: Terry Richardson

You know, when I first started taking pictures, the only camera I had I borrowed from my mother. It was a point and shoot film camera. And I was shooting assignments with it (gasp). Some of my favorite, and I feel, best pictures I ever took were with that camera. Here is a self-portrait from that time:

Snappies let you do things you could never do with an SLR. With a P&S, it's just you, the camera and the subject, so your whole mind is on is this going to make a good/interesting/pretty/image. Pinhole "purists" may scoff at the AF, but for me it is still getting back to basics. Film +lack of control=less chances to get it right=better pictures. Try it as an exercise; I am this week and will post the pictures by week's end.

Yes, I was very thin here, size 2.

My Fashion Magazine

So I've had the idea to create an online fashion magazine for awhile. I'm finding this to be a greater undertaking than I first imagined. A fashion blog-well, that's very different from a magazine; a simpler format that can be updated daily, with images and content used from other sources, so long as these sources are credited. A magazine, however, must meet a deadline, have a significant amount of content to engage the reader, original content-words and pictures, and if one wants to stay viable, advertisers. The concept also involves hiring models, make-up/hair stylists and borrowing clothes, shoes, accessories, etc.

So even if I can pull this off, just how good could it be in a sea of publications with monster budgets? I've since considered a different kind of e-zine that will require more from me personally, but that I feel will stand out from the others. It is set to launch February 1, 2010, and will be linked from both my website and this blog. No hints, but a sneak peek is coming soon. Look for it!