Flip Dujardin's Impossible Architecture

Belgian photographer Flip Duhardin exhibits his latest photo series, "Architectures Imaginaires" in San Franciscos's Highlight Gallery, March 19th. Originally a standard architectural photographer he became bored with the all too ordinary, all too-real structures. I've looked into Duhardin's work because similarly to mine (coming soon) he distorts architecture and plays with the audience. Sometimes the manipulation is hard to decipher, sometimes it is blatantly obvious.
'Adding shadows, that's the main trick,' Dujardin told ELLE Decor. 'The building becomes real if the shadows are well done.'
Below are a few images from the project.

Pencil Skirts

I recently bought a bargain leather midi dress in the River Island sale, I can throw jumpers and tops over it to create a pencil skirt and make it more causal, however I am dying to get my hands on an actual pencil skirt, especially a leather one. Here are a few pencil skirts and a few ways of wearing them.

Asos £90

Asos £32

Alexa Chung

I adore this outfit, found on google images.

Topshop Tumblr, Topshop skirt.

Zara

I recently brought these studded moccasin beauties from Zara! Worn with Zara leather trousers, 

Zara T-shirt and Vintage denim jacket. 

Ok so I went a bit Zara overboard.

Denis Darzacq – La Chute

Denis Darzacq – La Chute 2005 – 2006 French photographer Denis Darzacq wanted to respond to the ignored youth in suburban housing after the 2005 riots in France. In 2006 he dreamt up ‘La Chute,’ meaning The Fall, being partly inspired by the 9/11 falling people. Darzacq visited hip-hop, dance and break dance shows around Paris to find his subjects, asking them to collaborate with him and recreate a move he had photographed them doing in the show, in a different location for his project. His images were very successful, the audience didn’t know how these people were in these positions, this was the photographers intention, he wanted his work to be open to interpretation. Taken in an urban area not specific of any arrondissement in Paris, location in France nor of any other country, Darzacq wanted his images to be relatable to everyone. The ground floor windows, doors and blinds are boarded up and closed, the artist responded by saying that crime exits in Paris, no one on a ground floor flat in the capital had an open window, everyone is scared of each other. (The Guardian March24th 2007). This significance of closed blinds and doors also had meaning to Darzacq, he questioned; who would see these people fall? A child fall? Will anyone notice them and care? There are references to the French film La Haine, watching it you learn the character Hubert repeatedly saying ‘Heard about the guy who fell off a skyscraper? On his way down past each floor, he kept saying to reassure himself: So far so good... so far so good... so far so good. How you fall doesn't matter. It's how you land!’ Shot a moment before landing Darzacq’s technique created tension, putting the forgotten youth back in the viewers minds. 

Barbican Estate

The Barbican Arts Centre hosts architectural tours for itself and the estate, I went on a tour just before Christmas hoping to broaden my knowledge of the incredible area and understand further the subject of Brutalism. The Barbican estate was built post-war, on 35-acres of bombed land. Chamberlin, Powell and Bon were architects known for their huge ambitions and often got carried away re-designing towns instead of just a few buildings - hence why the Barbican Estate is such a large landmark, and not just for residents, its walkways are predominantly public. Contrary to belief, the estate can go un-noticed. Just before emerging out of the Barbican underground there are stairs which lead you up onto one of its many walkways – for it is built above street level. Walking around the estate you notice you are always looking inwards at it, this is one of the key elements of design built for privacy and to evoke a community feel. Walkways are mostly concealed by the outside wall except for the fortress like arrow slit windows, the other wall left completely as a balcony to keep yours looking in. Fortress and Castle references feature throughout the estate, the tops of the towers have a fortress outline and shape to them. I could get carried away talking about this place, but I wont. The tour was thoroughly enjoyable and I would 100% recommend it! 

Karen Inderbitzen Editorial

In this editorial Karen Inderbitzen shoots Rag Simons s/s 2013 menswear collection, for Black Magazine. I loved reading the credits to find a female wearing menswear. The poses aren’t too stretched or far-fetched for a fashion shoot which is what I prefer, they mirror surroundings and engage in the environment and buildings, even just standing straight creates a line which runs parallel to elements within the image. The clothes are very structured, with sharp lines and mostly block colours, this helps them to stand out against the concrete environment. 

Shadows. An Urban Fashion Story.

MINI SHOOT. I wanted to have a play at shooting an architectural inspired story, a test shoot to help narrow down my ideas for my final project at uni. My model PARRIS and I styled the shoot together keeping mainly to one outfit and just alternating the layers underneath. Keeping the styling quite similar for the shoot helped to create and keep a narrative throughout the different locations. 

I was really interested in having my model engage with the different shapes and lines of the architecture around her, we also played with the light and strong shadows made by the structures to help emphasise their strength. 

http://www.hayleynashphotography.co.uk/