The Law and I

I suppose I should actually blog about some of the major projects in publishing--my current field--that I've completed recently, huh? :)

The 2012 installment of The Law and I (Zakon i ia) has just been released. The latter is a charitable undertaking on the part of Russia's well-known lawyer, radio and TV personality, Ruben Markaryan, who also functions as the editor-in-chief of Zakonia.Ru, that country's premiere online legal portal. This doorstopper of a publication is kind of an annual report in the legal field, but with a twist. It is a collection of articles that are sharp, funny, and, at times, snarky, so illustrating them was quite an enjoyable experience for me! 

The book's editor with whom I've worked gave me a lot of creative freedom. Equally important, this project served as a viable lesson in terms of dealing with a client across an ocean (i.e., between western North America and Moscow) on something of this size. I've produced over 50 photo-illustrations--many of which were conceptual--and some of which I've blogged about earlier. Like these:

 

I was also responsible for cover art and graphic design. We've chosen an immediately obvious archetypal Blind-Justice concept. I certainly remember climbing this Classical-throwback statue (outside of a private home and with permission, worry not!) in the dead of winter with a massive snowstorm, to boot, to blindfold and photograph it. 

Next time I might consider wearing gloves! 

The book's presentation took place at a legal forum in Saint Petersburg, which I missed by a day, literally!

Source: personal archive of zakonia.ru's editor-in-chief.

Russian actors Nikolai Serdtsev and  Maria Malinovskaia from Trial by Jury: Final Verdict, a popular daytime television show screened on Russian state channel NTV check out their colleague's new book:

Source: personal archive of zakonia.ru's editor-in-chief.

Source: personal archive of zakonia.ru's editor-in-chief.

Despite the fear of sounding trite, I will say that I've had a wonderful experience, and I'd love to be able to pursue similar projects for the Russian audience in the future.

Dear Future, please come soon! 

Grasping the Beyond

Early-morning birds chirping outside and lilac orchids blooming on the balcony, I'm at a family member's home in Moscow surrounded by hundred+-year-old paintings and icons along with a multitude of old photographs. Somber faces in the latter not only reveal the technical aspects of 19th- and early 20th-century portraiture, but also its aesthetic conventions.

There is a powerful impulse in these images that is oriented toward the Eternal, the Infinite, the Beyond in contrast to contemporary here-and-now artificially smiling counterparts (and it spans past the difficulty of maintaining a smile during slightly longer exposure times in photography from that era). In this sense, today's trend of making pictures "look old" and, therefore, "cool" underscores the simulacral nature of "INSTA(!)gramming" Postmodernity.

The photographs of my ancestors below had been taken throughout the European part of the Russian Empire prior to World War I.  I have refrained from editing out the ink blots and other sings of time, because I think it gives them character as documents in one's personal--unairbrushed--history.

 

Untruth?

I often get asked whether I edit my photographs. If you've ever printed images from 35-mm film in the dark room and swept a book over photo paper back and forth during exposure to dodge or burn, then you've edited yours, too. Or if you've ever tweaked the C, M, Y dial in color photography. Or...you get the idea. 

Of course, I tweak my images, but I try to keep them naturalistic. What goes on in fashion-industry magazines is a Baudrillardian nightmare, but hasn't been of interest to me, and thus, hasn't been an issue.

Until now.

I used a closeup of my own eyes to illustrate an assigned concept that "untruth is not necessarily the falsification of the truth" (here, in reference to female aesthetics and makeup). And then I had to airbrush the image to meet the industry standard (somewhat), i.e., a lot more than I usually would edit a photo of anyone. 

The concept works, but the level of untruth in this image of me surpasses my comfort zone.