ICP's Teen Academy Imagemakers Blog

Mz. Icar is an artistic collective that is made up of women of color. They run anonymously and have their work posted all around New York City. The name "Mz. Icar" stems from the word "racism" but spelled backwards.

Most of their work is rooted in multi-media productions and peices. Their most recent series, that was showcased at Photoville this year, used photographs of black women to uplift and celebrate black bodies. Something not often highlighted enough. They uniquely mesh photography, collaging to create their pieces.

-Arianna 

Link to their work: https://mzicar.com/homeslice/

I have vivid memories of being 8 or 9 and traveling into the city on one hot summer day. Though I wasn’t aware of it at the time, I was headed to one of the most exclusive events taking place in the city that day: a book release party for world renowned photographer Harry Benson. 

These kind of events of course aren’t typical for my family. However, it just so happens that Benson is a second cousin to my Dad and we somehow managed to be invited. Back then, I was not that interested into photography and remember finding the crowded event overwhelming, but looking back today, I wish I could go back in time. 

In short, through his career in photography, Benson has received dozens of photography awards, authored multiple books, appeared in 40 solo gallery exhibitions, been honored by Queen Elizabeth II, and so much more.

Benson is most famously known for his portraits of the Beatles in 1964. However, Benson did much more than Beatles or just celebrity photography for magazine covers. In fact, it’s how much range his photography has that keeps me inspired by him

The Pillow Fight, 1964

In fact, Benson’s photojournalism collection is some of his most impressive work. Spanning over decades, his photographs includes everything from black and white film pictures from the civil rights era all the way to color and digital photos of recent America.

His photography is so diverse that its hard not to be impressed and wondering how one person could possibly have taken all these photos himself. While most photographers find their specific niche in technique and subject, Benson constantly switches it up. 

Although I only met him the one time back in 2012 and our family ties are pretty distant, I feel lucky to say I have any connection to a photographer as talented as him. He reminds me to continue to experiment and step out of what is easy in order to create pictures that are new and exciting. 

--Eliza Barr, Imagemakers 2020

Unos suben y otros bajan, 1940

This past week, while doing research for a class I came across the brilliant, beautiful work of Mexican photographer Lola Alvarez Bravo (1907-1933); she was a prominent figure in the post-revolution Mexican renaissance alongside photographer ex-husband Manuel Alvarez Bravo and painters Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Rufino Tamayo, Maria Izquierdo, etc. 

Frida Kahlo, Ciudad de México, México, 1950

Seeing her work for the first time as a fellow Mexican female photographer, I was left inspired and impacted by what she seemingly achieved in her career. Her work is rich in B&W tones because of her use of natural light and shadows, and her high understanding of composition is heavily seen throughout her work. She often shot portraits of fellow artists and intellectuals as well as among the indigenous and poor, whom she successfully portrayed with a sense of compassion and respect as well as aspects of social criticism.

Niño Bizantino, Acapulco, Guerrero, México, 1950 

Her work will be great to admire and study as I work on determining the narrative I want to tell in each one of my photos and thinking about what I should and shouldn’t include in the frame as I actively shoot.

Photographers, designers, editors, and talent who once zig-zagged across the globe for the perfect image are now mainly landlocked and siloed, working exclusively locally or doing whole shoots digitally (Facetime styling, Zoom and WebX photography, etc). With the new realities of 2020 in mind, Carolina Herrera has created imagery for its FW20 collection that is a tour de force in color and collaboration. German-based photographer and visual artist Elizaveta Porodina, working with Herrera Creative Director Wes Gordon, shot six ballerinas worldwide over Zoom. 

Carolina Herrera’s Wes Gordon and Photographer Elizaveta Porodina Debut a Tour de Force in Color and Collaboration. MORE HERE. 

-Lesly

For the past few weeks, ICP Teen Academy Imagemakers have been working on putting together a photo essay with captions. I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight how the pandemic is affecting the childhood memories for families through the lens of suburban Northern New Jersey. As of Labor Day weekend, Van Saun County Park reopened its infamous carousel and zoological park after closing in March. Families are now required to wear masks at all times and purchase tickets in advance. In the first image is Seda Karayel, a wife and mother of two, who had just returned home after making the decision to spend the summer in Turkey, due to United State’s lack of control over the pandemic. Both of her daughters, Naz (not pictured) and Ada, had been extremely jetlagged after their long flight. As a high school senior, I recognize that my childhood memories will greatly differ from those of children growing up today. What I remember as attending minigolf birthday parties and chubby bunny tag on the playground during lunch will be learning how to multiply and divide virtually.

Dana Trippe has always inspired me with her bold and surreal images. She uses a collaging technique to combine with her photography to create a scrap-book like effect. She plays around with lighting and often manipulates the color in her images; her use of wide lens all combine to result in vivid, captivating portraits. Her photoshop skills are enough to transform simple photographs into works of beautiful mixed media art. Trippe’s expressionism is clearly exhibited through her images and it’s incredibly pleasing to see. There is a very “retro” feel and cinematic aspect to her work, and I love the way she is able to abstract, just the pure technical skill in photoshop is admirable. Her photographs invites curiosity and she has established an idiosyncratic signature with the way she photographs and edits.

She has recently motivated me to try and learn how to collage in photoshop myself, as I want to bring a surreal element into my photographs as well. There are so many aspects of her work to take notes on, prominently her choice in angles. She chooses unconventional angles and poses to photograph her subjects, and utilizes her set design skills to frame them, which brings attention to the surrounding space. Her photographs are able to tell a story just through a singular image, and her creativity is much to idolize. It shows how photography doesn’t have to be limited to just capturing visual reality.

Her IG is @trippydana

-Nadine Zhan - Imagemakers

All images belong to Dana Trippe

On Saturday, I ended up at this art exhibit on St. Marks Place. The artist currently being shown is Yu Honglei, who is a part of a recent installation called “New Directions”, which is a series of solo shows curated by emerging artists from China. This project aims to highlight the complexity and richness of new, emerging art specifically from China. Their video, 15′36′’, consisted of a series of repetitive shorter clips, of people on boats, plants in the wind, or American GIs with camouflage paint smeared across their faces, paired with bright flashing lights that make your eyes hurt. Without the editing and the music, these clips would be seen as just boring videos, but their use of editing and the carefully picked choice of music added a much more tense, ominous, “whats going on?” type of feel to the 15 minute long video. Seeing this exhibit, I thought it was very interesting to see how art today can really be anything- the definition of art has expanded so much over the past couple decades, and is now all about ones self-expression. It really inspired me to not conform to the “rules” of being an artist/photographer, and to produce work that I feel expresses me and what I find important/interesting in new and unconventional ways. 

Letizia Battaglia is an Italian photojournalist, her career in photography started 1969 the same year she started to work as a photojournalist, where she described Real Italian street life, I think she was working in conceptual style. Looking at her work , especially she was taking And describing Italian mafia , but not only mafia , also her Pictures, are in a vivid, black and white, and designed to tell the most.

Brian Karlsson, also known as @voyeur1 on Instagram, is a young street photographer in NYC. His perspective on the world is very unique and resonates with me in a special way, he seems to capture exactly what I feel living in this city. The feeling of being surrounded by people but, really, still being alone and learning how to navigate that. Sometimes it's nice to take a step back and look at what is familiar to you through a different lens. 

Channeling that _________ into Something Useful 

I’m Tyler, an 18 year old Chinese boy living in suburban New Jersey. I’m originally from Chinatown, NYC though. I guess I kind of know what a creative practice is, but that’s not really what I think about when I make my photos. Frankly, I don’t really think about anything technical at all. I just know I want some version of this idea I had to transform into a photo that a person could see on Instagram or something. I only really care about whatever looks cool to me.

They say to go on a walk and cool off, or write down your feelings in a journal when you get those feelings. Those feelings that the world is spinning and you can’t really move or speak. So I’m there standing in the middle of my room with clammy feet. Mad as hell about whatever. But then I remember, these are the exact moments that really define me. I can take this dark moment in my brain and turn it into some type of cool art thing. So right then, I snap out of it and write down what I’m feeling. Now, my brain is not as focused on the family fight I just had, it’s focusing more on making a conceptual image that came from an honest state of mind. I’m in this space of vulnerability, and I’m experiencing the hurt first hand. Perfect! Whether I am going to tell a story from an angered perspective, or a story rooted in me being plain hopeless that my family situation is far from ideal, it’s real and it came from a personal place. That is cool with me, so I’m happy.

-Tyler Chan, Imagemakers

Capturing the environment and human aspect of a firefighter is personal and difficult. I hope to do it in a way that brings these everyday civil servants to life in a respectful way. That is what Lions DE Romeo Okwara did, he made you see the firemen as people and you got to see the side of the job not many see. 

I hope to get as personal and emotional with my images as he was able to. He was able to show society a group of men and women that risk their lives but are not seen. 

Jake Haller 

Recently I attended History Talks, an event hosted by the History Channel that consisted of a variety of people giving presentations, Q&A’s, and panels. One of the speakers was Peter Souza, the white house photographer for Obama and Reagan’s presidential terms. He took us through a selection of his photographs during both terms, elaborating on the context of the photos and adding funny, sad, and fascinating commentary. 

In many of his photos of Obama he captures his emotion and character, sharing a side of him that is not always seen by the public. I strive to create a sense of liveliness and emotion in my photographs similar to many of his photographs, such as this one. 

In this image, I love how Micheal Jackson appears to be apart of the wall paper, and Reagan and his wife seem to believe so too as they having a seemingly intimate conversation. Similar to the photo above, I love how Souza captures the emotion of his three subjects, and truly freezes the event in time. The photo also has a very painterly element to it that I like. 

Robert Mapplethorpe was someone who interested me as he became an American pioneer for modern and erotic photography. He paved a way in the new controversial art form as many of Mapplethorpe’s pictures were seen as obscene and sexually charged. This caused various debates on censorship but also bringing awareness of gay culture in New York. Mapplethorpe revolutionized the art of photography during the 70′s and 80′s as he documented the gay community and culture with the explosion of sexuality during the time. Many of his pictures involved nudity, homoerotic themes, desire, and a sense of identity. Some photos include erotic male and female nudes, still life of flowers, celebrity portraits, and sadomasochistic acts which were mainly taken with Polaroid and Hasselblad medium format camera.

Boris Cortes, ImageMakers (Tuesday Class)

Mayan Toledano is an Israeli born photographer whose work features feminist and lgbtq+ subjects. Toledano mostly shoots beautifully staged portraits, with dreamy, angelic lighting that varies in color. Her experimentation with colors and light drew me to her work during the creation of a color photo-series about the different types of relationships I have with friends. From a single glance at Toledano’s website, her photos seem extremely cohesive, yet all tell different stories and vary in subject. When studying her work, I noticed she had a distinctive color scheme, regardless of if the photos were directly related. Her soft palate of pinks, blues and yellows is consistent throughout her work. I admire personal style, and this stood out as something not every photographer does, or does successfully.

https://mayantoledano.tumblr.com/

My current Personal Vision Project focuses on surveillance in marginalized communities in New York City. Said surveillance done by the NYPD as well as multiple federal agencies patrolling the city. 

When searching for inspiration for my PV, I often turn to music to help guide me in my creative process. While going through my playlist, Jay Z’s “Marcy Me” had popped up reminding me of the visuals (Directed by Ben and Josh Safdie) that came along with the song. 

The music video to Marcy Me displays the surveillance that borders the streets of Marcy Projects, and how residents of the area react to the giant spotlight that shines over their homes. 

As I further my Personal Vision project on surveillance, I will be looking back at this video to help further and inspire ideas. 

Amit Elkayam is an Israeli photographer based in New York City. He joined the Israeli defense forces in 2014 as a photojournalist. He graduated from ICP’s documentary practice and visual journalism program. This particular series titled, “Big Dog in a Big City” was featured on the New Yorker’s Instagram page. The series follows a woman named Kristina Justice who falls in love with a Great Dane and eventually gets one and names the dog Jimi after Jimi Hendrix. In this series, Jimi takes on humanistic qualities, showing the closeness of the relationship between Kristina and her dog. 

This series appeals to me because of the square composition, often placing Jimi and Kristina at the center of the frame. I also think that these images successfully communicate the closeness of their relationship, showing the two in the bath together, and capturing the two of them at a birthday celebration where Jimi bows down to blow out the candles. The contrast is also quite visually appealing in this series, and in addition, the symmetry in the latter picture is successfully used as a vehicle to communicate their relationship. I strive to create images that use these techniques to capture relationships, especially using the square composition. 

--Lucy Kassel, Imagemakers (Tuesday Class)