Projects | DMB Media – Worldwide project and personal career management

Colorama

Diver & Aguilar’s latest fashion story in this months Riders-Moda Magazine Italy. A Celebration & Theatrical display of Colour & Bespoke Mens Style.

Originally the basis of the concept was to intensify the overwhelming richness of colours in the clothing and it seemed an obvious choice to contrast this with African models dark black skin.

Most people would not look at these clothes and think of them as everyday attire. As the production developed we realized there was a much more important reason we had chosen to use African models.Because these Vibrant Italian suits, dare you to be bold. They embrace your confidence to stand out from the crowd. Possibly deeply rooted in their ethnic heritage African people probably feel more comfortable to show this of Style.

So a whole new debate arose around this after we had shot the story .

Have we lost our sense of individuality in this country ?  Is this due to the ease and convenience of buying mass produced clothes these days ? Or do the powers to be continually tell us how we should conform to society rather than express your unique identity ?

There is probably truth in all these arguments and fashion is just one way, in which we can choose to display our creativity .

Recently statistics revealed Whitechapel Road was the most ethnically diverse area in the UK.  Certainly visiting the bustling market can easily give you the sense of being transported somewhere more exotic, even on a cold and grey London day.

To a degree we wanted to play on this game of Deception in respect of our choice of location.  The abstract nature this environment, it could be anywhere a shanty town in Africa or an underground nightclub in Marrakech,but you can look good in this fashion wherever you are.

The illustrative collage style in which we have chosen to display the final images not only focused on the exquisitedetail within the clothing but relives the  exuberant fantasy when we look at these otherwise quite serene pictures of where we might be.

Photographers  : Diver & Aguilar

Fashion & Creative Director : Fillipo La Bruna

Casting Director  : Tom North

Production : David Powell

Read more here: http://dmbmedia.co.uk/artists/diver-aguilar/photography/

read more

The Document session of the current, new issue of AnOther Magazine, Spring Summer 2012  is guest edited by Geoff Dyer with articles written by Fiona Banner, Anne Carson, David Markson and many more.

See more of Melinda’s work here: http://melindagibson.blogspot.com/

Read more here: http://www.anothermag.com/

 

read more

   

   

   

What makes shopping streets and squares in our country so typically Dutch? What do we see around us when we go to get money out of a cash machine in Boskoop? Or when we fetch a supermarket trolley in a car park in Breukelen? What do we see when we meet up with friends in a cafe in Steenwijk, or eat chips with our kids in a snack bar in Enkhuizen?

The Netherlands – Off the shelf is about all the things that are visible around us. A huge amount has been built in recent decades, particularly outside the major cities. In places like Heerhugowaard or Hoofddorp the population has increased almost tenfold. As a result, the country’s appearance has changed dramatically; cities have been slowly pushed into the country.

The centres of many towns are a patchwork of additions that have been made over time. Squares are remodelled by ambitious property developers, entrepreneurs, architects and local councils. This is where regulations, common sense, taste, coincidence and ambition coexist uneasily. The result is a fascinating compromise between different approaches and interests. These places are familiar and at the same time interchangeable.

In The Netherlands – Off the shelf, Hans van der Meer brings together his own photography and his fascination for vernacular photography (he is co-founder of Useful Photography magazine) for the first time. By including catalogue images of street furniture, he casts a different light on the Netherlands. It suddenly becomes clear where the familiarity and interchangeability come from.

Until April 1, 2012, the photographs of Hans van der Meer are on show in the exhibition The Netherlands – Off the shelf in the NAi, Rotterdam. The accompanying publication, the first YdocPublishing release can be ordered here https://shop2.hexspoorwms.nl/EN/ The exhibition is designed by Tom David Architecten, the graphic design by Kummer & Herrman.

Content: 240 pages, 95 photographic plates (fc), 32 pages catalogue NL (product photography).
Binding: Schweizer brochure in cover w flaps
Size: 225 x 297mm
Paper: Arctic Volume + Lessebo Design (inside), Algro Design (cover)
Texts: Hans van der Meer, intro by Ole Bouman
Language: Dutch / English
Design: Kummer & Herrman
Co-published by: Paradox and YdocPublishing
ISBN: 876-90-802655-0-9
Price: € 39.50 (incl. VAT)

Preview at Kummer & Herrman: http://www.kummer-herrman.nl/works/Nederland+-+Uit+voorraad+leverbaar/1
Preview at Issuu: http://issuu.com/xparadox/docs/par11__nl-uit_voorraad_leverbaar_issuu
Order: https://shop2.hexspoorwms.nl/EN/
The exhibition: http://en.nai.nl/content/1152087/the_netherlands_-_off_the_shelf

read more

“Tokyo Tokyo” Special edition by WassinkLundgren is available here:
wassinklundgren.com/bookshop.html

Photography is currently going through a period of change. However, it is not just the digital revolution that is changing the way photos are taken and the technology that is used and broadening possibilities, the global data space itself has become a new resource. Despite all the digitalisation, the method of producing a unique analogue photograph remains an option. Aesthetics and the way photos are ‘staged’ are changing. Migration and globalisation are new themes. The ‘new photographers’ have a different perspective on the history of photography. They have new heroes; heroes that come from history and from other disciplines. They are no longer afraid of the aural and the sublime. And they are open to new forms of presentation, to installations, to a blend of media and materials. Photography, so it would seem, has at last arrived in the free arts.

‘The future does not belong to pure photography, but to the free arts,’ says Andreas Gursky, one of the advisors of the “State of the Art Photography” exhibition. The NRW-Forum Düsseldorf asked for photographers who are tipped to be the movers and the shakers in this field in the coming years. In an attempt to reflect this remit, each of the 40 artists/photographers who feature in this summary exhibition is represented by a collection of images or an installation. The photographers were proposed by Andreas Gursky, Thomas Weski, Klaus Biesenbach, Udo Kittelmann, FC Gundlach, Thomas Seelig, Andrea Holzherr, and Werner Lippert. They hail from America, Europe, and South Africa; other continents and cultural spaces will be addressed at a later date.

A tour of the 40 exhibits makes it clear, for example, that while photography is currently experiencing a renaissance of classical themes such as landscape or portrait photography, the objective and the focus have shifted. The landscape photographs of Alex Grein, for example, seem to continue in the tradition of Caspar David Friedrichs, but are in fact made up of numerous fragments of images that she found on the Internet, sections of pictures from satellite images, from Google Earth.
Notwithstanding their technical creation, they hark back to an art form where it was permissible to submerge oneself in the image and the landscape. At the same time, they point to the fact that perception can be influenced by memories, ideas, and emotions. Although Asger Carlsen, like Alex Grein, draws on the digital in his work, his work merges human bodies to create inhuman forms, an approach that is more sculptural than photographic.

Many approaches could be referred to as ‘academic’ or ‘scientific’, research into the traces of humanity, the biographies of young people, or brain imaging … these photographs are comparable with the results produced by a scientist or a researcher; they are of high documentary value, yet at the same time do not deny their aesthetic dimension. Sanna Kannisto’s work, for example, is based on biological studies; Mikhael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse investigate the high-rise residential building ‘Ponte City’, an icon of the Johannesburg skyline; Olaf Otto Becker focuses on the traces left on the landscape by human overpopulation.

What is striking is that the artists are turning away from emptiness and are allowing the sublime, the aural, to shine through, as is the case with Andreas Mühe’s photographs of Obersalzberg. In other words, photography has not just arrived in art, it has also obviously rediscovered itself.

In a unique co-operation with the NRW-Forum Düsseldorf, the book ‘State of the Art Photography’ has been published by feymedia to coincide with the exhibition. In this book, 6 pages are dedicated to each of the 40 international artists and include biographies, bibliographies, and illustrations of their work. The 200-page book is an independent, multilingual hardcover publication aimed at people who want to know today what is going to be the next big thing in art and photography tomorrow.

For more information:

http://www.nrw-forum.de/state_of_the_art_photography_english

read more

 

 

The current Barcelona team have reached iconic status, their achievements on the field are unprecedented.   However, the mesmerising skill and talent of Messi, Iniesta, Xavi and co are matched by the creativity and ingenuity of the dynamic duo Diver & Aguilar.

The photographer and designer partnership of Englishman, Mike Diver & Spaniard, Pedro Aguilar has garnered much success in creating a unique visual identity for FC Barcelona.

In their latest project for the club, Diver & Aguilar were given a brief to shoot a collection of contemporary images of team which will be reproduced in a series of vintage football cards.

In association with our good friends at www.totalbarca.com, our readers can view some of fantastic art work shot for the campaign and read extracts from the “Exclusive” in-depth interview with Diver & Aguilar.

The duo discuss what it’s like photographing the most revered players in the world and the creative process of capturing a special era in the clubs history.

Tell us about the brief from FC Barcelona for the current marketing and advertising campaign.

I think this year the brief was quiet different from what had been conceived of in the past. For the last few years the work and concepts were much closer to those of typical advertising, the very powerful graphic images of campaigns for Nike etc. There has also been a trend in advertising which has started to explore a more documentary style of approach. This is something you can see in our “In Adoration” project and this year we took this style further using a lot more colour photography. The imagery is less two dimensional and really feels like you have something interactive in front of you, you’re becoming part of the game, it is very filmic.

The slogan of the campaign is “Long Live Barca, Long live entertainment”. Keeping this in mind, what moments were you looking for?

So adopting this style of approach for the campaign we were shooting live match footage from three different camera positions at the stadium. The campaign was to emphasize the style of football that Barcelona play. This is not anti-football, it’s almost like an opera or a beautiful piece of orchestrated classical music. We had to capture moments that really illustrated that unique mastery of this great team. Drama and particularly emotion was what we were looking for.

Is language a barrier for you while working with the players most of whom have little knowledge of English? Or does Mr Aguilar take care of the talking?

I think there is a universal understanding in language when it comes to taking pictures. Yes some of the players do have a good command over English, others we can speak Spanish or Catalan with as there is always someone around to communicate with the players the ideas and concepts. Normally, we also have drawings and illustrations of what we are looking to achieve and as the saying goes “A picture tells a thousand words” and that breaks down any barriers of language or creed.

Tell us about the experience of shooting live as opposed to working in a controlled studio set-up? Do you enjoy the first as much as the latter which clearly is your strength?

It’s a completely different experience. As I mentioned before, luckily it is not our job to cover the match in the same way as a sports photographer has to for a newspaper. When we first started working live at the match, it was certainly a stressful experience but when we realized the same production values could be applied to working in this environment, things became alot easier. We started to work out a shot list, if you like a storyboard. What were the important moments we really wanted to capture ? Where was our focus going to be? So we have really started to build this into more of an art form.

Any plans to put them on sale any time soon?

As this is a “Art” project, it won’t be a mass produced piece of merchandise. We will discuss with FCB the possibility of a limited edition signed box set. Maybe we are going to make one to put into the museum. We recently shot some of the Manchester United players and the images can be seen in the museum at Old Trafford depicting the historical timeline of the evolution of the players club strip.

If you would like to find more about the work of Diver and Aguilar please visit:
http://www.diveraguilar.com/blog/ www.diveraguilar.com
If you are fanatical about FC Barcelona – then check out www.totalbarca.com to keep up to date with team news, transfers and much, much more!
Read the full in-depth interview – http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/interviews/totalbarca-exclusive-diver-aguilar-on-their-new-barca-work/

read more