Kyle Makrauer and I recently collaborated on an online feature for Papercut Magazine that delved deeper into Molly Hoeltke’s reclaimed fashion concept label Once Vintage - a design label I have shot with before. I very rarely find myself collaborating with another photographer in such a direct way as I did on this shoot, but Kyle and I wanted to try it as an experiment.

Below is a small gallery of my contribution to the project, you can see the rest of the images including those shot by Kyle on Papercut’s web feature.

RIT Photography student Tom Newton visited the set of a production at Victory Studios in Buffalo a few weeks ago to check out how one of my shoots flows. Naturally he was pressed into service as a stand in for this test shot that I ended up really liking. You should totally visit Tom’s portfolio site – he creates some really wonderful images.

It has been an extremely busy week spent out of the office working on numerous sets and productions, but over the weekend I had the singular and relaxing pleasure of getting to see a great deal of my extended family during a trip to Canada. Here is a small selection of mobile images from that day.

(Above: My Uncle Jim)

My Mother and her Jays Cap.

My cousins new baby, Billy.

Another in my infrequent portrait series of Western New York creative types. This week I bring you a new image of my friend Erin Habes. Erin is a fashion writer, educator, one of the most forward thinking minds on the topic of style in Western NY, And the producer of Buffalo’s two major fashion events, Mass Appeal, and the upcoming Runway 4.0.

My friends Beth (from dungareedolly.com) and Jason (from the Royal Crowns) had their amazing engagement party over the weekend and I got a chance to take this über adorable engagement photograph of them as an engagement gift that really shows off this wonderful couple’s unique style. Congratulations you two!

A new addition to my infrequent but ongoing series of portraits capturing creative types in WNY - Zach Rose is a photographer and writer from Buffalo, NY that I have known for some time, in fact, Zach was even my assistant for a brief period. Zach is one of the major contributors to Auxiliary Magazine, a publication that I frequently collaborate with.

What started out as a small project photographing some of my closest friends who are also artists is quickly becoming a larger goal of documenting the Western New York creative community and some of its more notable figures. Nathan Peracciny is a Buffalo based film maker and street photographer who meshes the raw and unfiltered quality of his still images with immaculate story telling style of his film and video work. His enthusiasm for not just his work but the creative community in Buffalo is infectious and he has a exhibition coming up soon to fund a documentary trip to the Dominican Republic to record the exploits of a charitable medical group. Over the weekend I got to photograph him in the raw unfinished space that is being renovated up for his début show.

A late night update, but I had a blogging itch that had to be scratched. I got to hang out with one of my favorite photographic co-conspirators today when sports and adventure photographer Aaron Ingrao dropped by today to talk shop and have me take some new portraits for his newly updated and revamped website.

The good people over at Auxiliary Magazine have a free online preview of their magazine this month, which features my latest beauty editorial for them. Auxiliary is a great magazine that puts an alternative spin on current fashions and styles and this months issue is no exception. It features my editorial, An interview with Michael Swaim from Cracked.com, and tons of music and fashion.

Nubby Twiglet is also hosting the latest version of Quick Questions with Smart People on her blog. With quite a few of my new images to boot!

If you have a minute drop by and check out her version. leave a comment, and help get the discussion going.

Pittsburgh photographer Joe Berhosky was on hand helping us out on an editorial shoot that will be out in early June. We managed to get Joe in front of the camera for some light tests while he was here.

More work can be seen at lukecopping.com

Last week I got to attend the latest incarnation of Runway 3.0, an annual fashion event put on by the Buffalo State College fashion and textile technology program created to highlight the designs of their students as well as more established designers working in or connected to the Western New York area. In this odd circumstance, I was not there to work as a photographer, but rather as a writer for a regional fashion publication who wanted me to document the show from a photographer’s point of view. I was however able to grab some quick iPhone images of the event to share, even in low quality, some of the stunning designs that were created by the students and designers involved.  The amount of production put into the show by Erin Habes, the coordinator of the Runway 3.0 program, is astonishing. This was no typical school event, all the elements of a major market fashion show were in place; a collection of wearable fiber art in a private VIP exhibition, catering and drinks to shame the most opulent parties, an amazing venue, professional stage production and lighting to present the garments in the best possible light, and the participation and support of major designers like Adam Lippes.

There was nothing about the show that was not impressive, well produced, and visually stunning. There was a definite sense of the future and innovation in the show, especially in the work of standout designer Tess Hinterbichler whose forward thinking designs combined a sense of simplicity with a modern aesthetic and chameleonic mutability. also represented was Morgen Love, a more established designer who I have had the pleasure of working with many times. Morgen unveiled several new pieces from her latest collection, a combination of classic aesthetics mixed with a modern primitive influence. For a long time, Buffalo has sat between the circle of influences of Toronto and NYC, especially in terms of fashion and the arts. People often ignore that Buffalo is a style conscious and fashion forward city because it is not a major fashion market itself. Impressive events like Runway 3.0 are beginning to prove that Buffalo is a viable venue for fashion education and consumption.

Some behind the scenes images of my styling team in action

Shianne Valletta – Makeup

Kristin Draudt – Hair Stylist

Just posted this up at light-test.com and I wanted to share it here. A little test shot of my friend Aaron looking somewhat sinister.

My friends over at Auxiliary Magazine just celebrated their one year anniversary with the release of their December issue. For the last year this growing publication has developed its unique take on counterculture fashion and style and this is the finest issue that this small independent publication has released. I was honored to photograph the anchor editorial, WET, for the beauty section as well as the cover of this important edition. WET features a modern take on mass produced plastic jewelry from great independent designers and artists like Plastique, Isette, and CBST’s Closet.

As part of my daily habits I was perusing Chase Jarvis‘ excellent photography blog yesterday when I came across an interesting article about what to do when you start to feel stale and burnt out. Quite a few of these ideas stuck in my mind, number two especially…

2. Travel. This can take many forms depending on your budget and timeline, but the gist is to shake up your routine. I can be lots of long weekends regionally, or the other side of the globe. Don’t rely on your standard morning cereal to inspire you. Have fish soup for breakfast in Japan, baked beans in London, or a tuna fish sandwich on Route 66. Sleep in tent or a hostel, or a castle. Travel by train, foot, bike or rickshaw. Mix it up. Meet people.

it seemed especially important because I just photographed two of my friends to help promote the journey they are about to embark on, an interesting project to help them break of the monotony of the day to day.  Twelvehoursinacity.com is the brainchild of my friends Clark Dever and Joe Dinardo, a photographer/web developer and a financial services marketing director respectively. The scope of the project is based on three simple steps:

1. Purchase the month long, all you can fly passes that JetBlue recently sold out of, and fly to as many cities within the US and Caribbean as you can in the 31 days available.

2. You cannot spend more than 12 hours on the ground or in in any one city without traveling.

3. Document every leg of the trip, who you meet, where you go, what you do.

Simple idea right? any one of us could have had it, but these two are actually doing something about it and garnering quite a bit of media attention, including some recent coverage by Time Magazine. All creatives, not just photographers, can benefit from these ideas and if you don’t have the budget to quit your job and fly all over the country for a month straight you can help yourself in smaller ways. Chase Jarvis has some great ideas and any of them can be scaled up or down to help you feel fresh again.

And don’t forget to drop by twelvehoursinacity.com to keep up with the travels of these two.

Joe

Clark