THE AI CORNER | The "Marilyn Monroe" Polaroids

 

The MidJourney prompt is: "Create a realistic polaroid photograph of a pretty Asian woman, wearing a red dress with blonde hair styled in curls, black accessories, and red lipstick, blowing a kiss. --ar 1:1 --stylize 0" 

The Four Latest Street Fashion Portraits

 

THE AI CORNER | 4 "Polaroids"

 

The MidJourney prompt is "35mm haute couture photography, female Asian model with a dramatic headpiece, exaggerated sculptural elements, Avant Garde designs, subtle makeup, large earrings, Polaroid style".

PRIDE 2024

Despite the cloudy, humid day and threats of thunderstorms, thousands of people carrying or wrapped in Pride flags celebrated the New York City Pride March on Sunday June 30.

The march commemorates the 1969 Stonewall uprising, the spark that lit the rights movement. The New York march is the largest of its kind in the United States, with around 25,000 marchers and around two and a half million spectators expected to celebrate. There were a large number of pro-Palestinian marchers/demonstrators as well.

THE AI CORNER | The Four Colors

It's blistering hot in NYC these days, so I've rejigged a MidJourney prompt to generate four "portraits" of women sweltering in the heat...wearing different colored shirts.

[Nostalgic photography, catalog pose full body front view, black haired Afro Asian woman wearing yellow shirt leaning back in chair over her head, tattoo on neck, sitting against dark plain wall, --ar 16:9]

Orchard Street | NYC

 

Scouting for new locations for upcoming urban fashion shoots on the Lower East Side, I walked on Orchard Street and discovered new spots, including murals and old style adverts painted on building facades.

Wikipedia tells us that "Orchard Street is often considered the center of the Lower East Side and is lined end to end almost entirely with low-rise tenement buildings with the iconic brick face and fire escapes. First part of Little Germany and later a Jewish enclave, the neighborhood has been home to immigrants from the mid-19th century to the present day. The street's past as the heart of the immigrant experience is captured at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum's centerpiece, the restored 97 Orchard Street tenement."

The photographs above are of the facade of 130 Orchard Street which is home to Perrotin Gallery and Beckenstein Fabrics. 

Perrotin is a famous international art gallery which opened in April of 2017 in that location with 25,000 sq. ft. space, and includes a bookshop featuring unique editions and books published by the gallery.

Beckenstein Fabrics's history is a long one; from a push cart, Samuel Beckenstein laid its groundwork in 1919, on the same Lower East Side’s historic Orchard Street location, and would ultimately develop into one of the world’s most renowned fabric enterprises, Beckenstein Men’s Fabric, Inc. Nearly a century and four generations later, Beckenstein’s grandsons, Neal Boyarsky, President and CEO of the firm and his son Jonathan, have expanded and transformed the once modest, one room store, into a well known fabric enterprise, servicing the entertainment industry, celebrities, athletes and government officials worldwide.

It's remarkable and commendable that both enterprises retained the old style lettering and aesthetic on their joint facade, ignoring the temptation to modernize it.

The Beauty In Black & White

 

It is said that Nobuyoshi Araki (荒木 経惟) once exclaimed that photographers who don't photograph women aren't real photographers or at best, are third rate photographers. 

Knowing he's primarily famous for photography that blends eroticism and bondage in a fine art context, I take that statement with a grain of salt...but I certainly agree that photographing women does add many layers to the aesthetic sensitivities of photographers.

Barcelona's Street Art

Most large cities have street art, but Barcelona is one of these cities that perhaps welcomes it with open arms (or perhaps allow it). It's incorrect to conflate street art with graffiti, as street art is usually painted with permission or commissioned. Graffiti is word-based and its ‘writers’ are mostly self-taught and under most laws, this art-form is considered vandalism, while others appreciate it as a form of art.

Barcelona has the vibrancy of the famous artists who lived within the boundaries of its old quarter such as Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró and Antonio Gaudi.

The history of the street art scene in Barcelona begins in the 1970’s with the end of the Franco dictatorship. During the 1980’s it was inspired by the booming street art scene in Paris. Up to around 2002 the laws were relatively lax allowing for street art to flourish in Barcelona.

As per Barcelona Navigator, here are some of the jargon words:

Throw up: A throw-up (throwie) is made up of easy-to-paint bubble style letters.

Tag: A graffiti writer’s tag is his or her unique signature, normally done in one color.

Bombing: To bomb is to paint many surfaces in a city area within a short time.

Installation: A work that is often 3D or sculptural that may combine several techniques.

Wildstyle: A graffiti style using complex lettering which intertwines within itself and often other shapes and lines making it hard to read for the untrained eye.

For larger sized photographs, click this:

Barcelona by Tewfic El-Sawy on Exposure