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In pictures: The thrill and chaos of growing up in New York

By in Photography

In pictures: The thrill and chaos of growing up in New York
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Nolan Zangas’ move towards photography was a natural, “organic” journey. “I started filming skateboarding at a really young age and over time that transitioned into taking pictures,” explains the 25-year-old New Yorker. “I slowly lost interest in skateboarding and started taking photography more seriously, and here I am today.” 

While having made his name as a photographer shooting fashion editorials, his debut monograph, So Far So Good (published by Blurring Books) instead reflects on New York’s streets and the city’s youth culture. The culmination of the past five years, Zangas’ first book is like a time capsule which chronicles the skateboard kids and their unique culture at a very particular moment in time. 

“Photography gave me a real reason to straighten out my life and grow as a person. I think people know my work for documenting celebrities and models and, don’t get me wrong, I love doing that. But that’s not where I come from,“ Zangas tells Dazed in a conversation over email. “I started taking pictures just being a kid running around the city. I wanted to make a book that reflected that and shed light on those less recognised, to take beautiful pictures that make them feel noticed.”

The principle story emerging from Zangas’ pictures is a coming-of-age tale many of us will feel an affinity with. He conveys that heady sensation of the newfound freedom of adolescence and all the precarity and risk it entails. From fireballs in the streets to the bridges of the Hudson River at dusk and friends fucking about with flames, skateboards, cigarettes and aerosols, Zangas’ portraits evoke the febrile quality of NYC nights and the sense of feeling reckless and part of a crew. One topless figure brandishes a knife, a masked kid gazes out defiantly through the eye holes of a balaclava, a young couple kiss against the backdrop of a gathering crowd, a pair of cyclists wheelie daringly toward the camera. A sense of fevered danger permeates the pictures. 

“I was definitely a bit of a troublemaker growing up,” he admits. Yet, despite the riotous undercurrent, there’s also an overriding sense of hopefulness in the pages of So Far So Good. Even the name of the book is tentatively positive. “The theme is optimistic but also questions, ‘What’s next?’” he explains. “I always think about how far you can push something until you hit breaking point. It’s a question I’ve often asked myself when I felt things were going too far in a negative way. I wanted the book to question that a bit as well, and I think the title is very fitting in that sense.”

As well as being an ode to his friends and the skateboard community that embraced him, So Far So Good is also a love story with New York itself. “New York is very chaotic and there is always something happening,” he says. “The streets are filled with excitement. It makes me always want to carry a camera because I never know what I’ll see. I think New York gives me a constant sense of attention and curiosity.”

The book preserves a sense of Zangas’ own transition from adolescence to adulthood but also immortalises his wider community during this seminal five-year period. In a city that moves so quickly, even his relatively recent pictures are already artefacts of the past. “Looking back at these images, everything looks so different now… the clothes people wear, the buildings, the cars, the streets. New York is constantly changing and people are too… I don’t really know what’s going to happen, but I think one day it will be cool to look back and interesting to see the directions everyone’s life took.”

Nolan Zangas’ So Far So Good is published by Blurring Books and is available here now. 

Encompassing Euphoria: JK Wong shakes up the world of photography

By in Photography

Encompassing Euphoria: JK Wong shakes up the world of photography
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JK Wong is shaking up the world of photography. The Chinese-born, LA-based fashion photographer is not one who shies away from being bold or adding dramatic flair to her work.

Using photography to celebrate the female form and fashion, Wong loves exaggerated poses, euphoric expressions and saturated colors. She finds inspiration in models who feel elevated in garb that show women as playful, desirable and powerful.

Wong moved to the Pasadena area three years ago and works as a freelance photographer throughout California.

“I told my parents about eight years ago that I was going to move to America to pursue photography,” Wong said. “Well, I actually first knew I wanted to have something to do with fashion design, but then my mom encouraged me to look into pursuing media.”

After gathering some model friends for photos, Wong built her portfolio in hopes of becoming a professional photographer.

“Back then, I fell in love with this guy I had met through friends, and I wanted to capture moments of his life,” Wong said. “But if you look at my website now, with all the photos I’ve taken in my career, they’re all of women — I found them more interesting to photograph, down to the way they move their bodies in photos, to their fashion.”

One of Wong’s most prominent attributes to her photography is color. Back when she was studying at university about eight years ago, someone had given her the advice to purchase a reflector to add more color to a session. The one she ended up buying for $4 is something she still uses in almost every photoshoot.

“It’s so much easier than transporting around heavy, expensive lighting equipment that seems to break so easily,” Wong said. “I first dreamed of moving out to New York, but when I visited, the sky was so dark and gray. When I landed in Los Angeles, though, it was at sunset and I just knew how perfectly the light would complement my photos. I knew my future was here.”

To keep each photoshoot fresh, Wong typically doesn’t use the same model more than twice. In most of the stories she has depicted, Wong’s models are dressed as fairy tale characters like Alice or the Queen of Hearts from “Alice in Wonderland,” Barbie, Ex Machina, fairies, circus clowns and many more.

When reflecting on some of her most memorable shoots, JK shared the story behind “Alien Pilot,” where her first model, who was bald, was disrespecting a makeup artist and stylist on the set. After hearing this, Wong canceled the shoot but still wanted to use the idea she had prepared. After calling an agent, another model Wong had wanted was able to work on the idea for “Alien Pilot,” but with one problem.

“She had so much hair, I had no idea what to do,” Wong said. “Everything was so last minute, I asked the makeup artist if she was able to get a bald cap, and she did! Looking back at the photos, it’s one of my favorite photoshoots I’ve done.”

Before her photoshoot titled “Euphoria,” Wong felt it was a word that resonated most with the way she felt taking photos.

“I want to create and show a euphoric experience — it’s my favorite word and it’s the way I think about my art. It’s what I want to show the world,” Wong said.

Her whimsical and surreal imagery can also be seen in her featured publications like Vogue, covers of Harper’s Bazaar, L’Officiel, Playboy, Grazia, Glamour and many more.

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Kate Winslet stars in war photographer Lee Miller biopic

By in Photography

Kate Winslet stars in war photographer Lee Miller biopic

Kate Winslet plays highly respected World War II photographer Lee Miller in the trailer for the biopic Lee, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The film was directed by Ellen Kuras and will be released by Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment in cinemas Sept. 27. Winslet stars as Miller, who began her career as a model before she became a photographer for Vogue, documenting World War II.

The Academy Award-winning actress is joined by Josh O’Connor (Antony Penrose, Miller’s son), Marion Cotillard, Andrea Riseborough (British Vogue editor Audrey Withers), Andy Samberg (Life photographer David E. Scherman), Noémie Merlant (French performer Nusch Éluard) and Alexander Skarsgård (Roland Penrose, Miller’s husband).

Kate Winslet as Lee Miller: model turned war correspondent

Kate Winslet, Kate Winslet in Lee

In the trailer, O’Connor as Antony asks a much older Lee (Winslet), “Do you want the world to know about you?”

She answers, “You think I went to war so people would know my name?”

Later in the video, Lee says, “Even when I wanted to look away, I knew I couldn’t.”

The movie is Kuras’ feature directorial debut. She previously directed television projects such as last year’s Extrapolations and episodes of The Terminal List and Inventing Anna. Kuras also served as the cinematographer for films such as 2004’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and 2008’s The Betrayal.

Liz Hannah, John Collee and Marion Hume served as scriptwriters using Antony Penrose’s 1988 book The Lives of Lee Miller. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last September.

In September 2022, Winslet injured her back when she fell on set in Croatia, prompting her to take a break from filming. The actress was last seen in the HBO series The Regime as the autocratic chancellor Elena Vernham.

Lee Miller in World War II

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Miller became Vogue’s official war photographer at the outbreak of World War II when she and Roland Penrose were living in London as the bombings began. From December 1942, she was accredited as a war correspondent with the U.S. Army.

The photographer’s first article for British Vogue about the nurses at an Oxford army base. She proceeded to take portraits of nurses across Europe, including the ones on the front lines and prisoners of war.

Her collaboration with Life correspondent and photographer David E. Scherman resulted in the iconic photograph of Miller in the bathtub of Adolf Hitler’s Munich apartment. In the photograph, Miller had the shower hose lopped in the center behind her head with the dust of Dachau on her boots sullying Hitler’s bathroom. The photograph was taken on April 30, 1945, coincidentally on the same day as Hitler’s suicide.

After the war, Miller continued her work as a wartime photojournalist. She sent telegrams to British Vogue editor Audrey Withers, and urged her to publish the photographs she took of the Nazi concentration camps Dachau and Buchenwald. Miller did this after Edward R. Murrow’s CBS broadcast from Buchenwald and Richard Dimbleby’s BBC broadcast from inside Bergen-Belsen.

Miller’s photographs and the CBS and BBC broadcasts were due to people’s disbelief at the atrocities committed by the Nazis. Several other broadcasters used her photographs to show the public the things they saw during and immediately after the war. During World War II her work was shown to given an eyewitness account of the war’s casualties.

Digital Photographer’s Shot Of The Month: “Minimalistic Slow Exposure”

By in Photography

Digital Photographer’s Shot Of The Month: “Minimalistic Slow Exposure”

“This stretch of coastline in Suffolk, UK, offers a variety of interesting objects, such as battered and well-worn sea defences that stick up out of the water when the tides are low, and these can make for some truly unique compositions. 

I set up my Nikon D850 with a 16-35mm F4 VR lens for the slow exposure shot – I wanted to get that smooth and shiny look on the water with the reflections and highlights from the sea defences and bring out the sky and clouds. 

I exposed the scene for about four minutes and worked with a 3-stop Soft Grad ND filter and a 10-stop ND from K&F Concept.”

Get featured

Every issue, Digital Photographer magazine shares the best image from its Instagram community. Showcase your best shot and stand a chance to be featured as the next winner. Don’t forget to tag us: @dphotographermag

“I started photography around 13 years ago as a wildlife photographer and have since developed a passion for photographing barn owls. 

Wildlife is unpredictable, so I wanted to discover another aspect of photography. Landscape photography combined with long-exposure techniques gives me the enthusiasm to go out there, capture images, and share them with the world.”

Shot of the month
James Allen

James is a wildlife photographer who is particularly fond of capturing owls. He enjoys exploring the medium of photography and experimenting with various techniques.

Tech details

Nikon 16-35mm F4 VR

(Image credit: Nikon)

Camera: Nikon D850

Lens: Nikon 16-35mm F4 VR

Accessories: 

– K&F Concept ND & ND grad filters 

– Nikon shutter release remote

– Manfrotto tripod

Aperture: f/13

Shutter speed: 120 sec

ISO: 100

Intro to photography class at NICC

By in Photography

Intro to photography class at NICC

Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) will offer Introduction to Photography: Capturing the Light on May 14, 15, 21, 23 from 5 – 8 p.m. at the Oelwein RAMS Center, 1400 Technology Dr.

Participants will learn all aspects of basic camera operations, and tools for artistic composition. This 4-session course, led by experienced photographer Alan Barnett, will focus on how to capture the light through elements of exposure.

For more information, or to register for Introduction to Photography: Capturing the Light (#95972), visit www.nicc.edu/rams or call the RAMS/Oelwein Center at (844) 642-2338, ext. 5700. The deadline to sign up is Tuesday, May 7.

The Oelwein RAMS Center is a collaboration between the city of Oelwein and NICC. The focus of this center is to make quality education accessible to the Oelwein community and surrounding area. The center helps students achieve their educational goals and works with local businesses to retain and grow their workforce.

As Frieze New York opens, city’s art market enters the spotlight

By in Art World News

As Frieze New York opens, city’s art market enters the spotlight

May in New York is one of the biggest peaks in the art-world calendar, but this year’s wave of fairs and auctions comes as economic forecasts worsen in the US, and Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza continues to spark protests at university campuses in Manhattan and beyond. As interest rates have risen, lending on art has slowed as collectors play it safe. Meanwhile, speculation has dried up in the art market, particularly for the ultra-contemporary figurative artists who were so prevalent just two years ago.

“There are very few artists whose identity politics or whose personal story is worth multiple reads,” says one prominent US dealer who prefers to remain anonymous. As for addressing current political tensions, “the risk reward is extremely limited”, he adds.

Two’s company: David Zwirner (below) is showing works by Nate Lowman alongside furniture designed by Franz West Steven Molina Contreras

The chasm between the real world and the art world is perhaps wider than ever, and at Frieze New York, abstraction, neo-Pop and contemporary takes on Minimalism dominate the stands—safer bets in turbulent times. Gagosian is showing four monumental abstract paintings by Sterling Ruby priced at $550,000 each, as well as smaller collages priced in the tens of thousands of dollars. Two paintings sold as the fair opened on 1 May; VIPs in attendance included the CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, the pop star Kesha, the philanthropist Chelsea Clinton, Sharjah Art Foundation president Hoor Al Qasimi and Nicholas Cullinan, the new British Museum director.

Stands dedicated to two artists are also proving popular among dealers who are perhaps more interested in making a splash than racking up multiple sales. At David Zwirner, paintings by Nate Lowman that mine mass-produced imagery such as the Apple logo have been paired with furniture designed by Franz West. At Pace, spare pieces by the contemporary Minimalist Robert Mangold (priced at $350,000 to $450,000) are hung alongside sculptures by the American artist Arlene Shechet, whose work has grown in size and stature in recent years. By the end of the opening day, all of Shechet’s works had sold (prices ranged from $90,000 to $120,000).

Artists who have found critical acclaim later in life are prominent on the stand of the New York dealer David Lewis, who is showing pieces by Peter Schlesinger—who was David Hockney’s partner and muse—and the self-taught artist Thornton Dial (1928-2016). Both have occupied peripheral roles in traditional narratives of art history. “In a way it’s like showing emerging art, because it’s about sharing new stories,” Lewis says. “Emerging art and historical revisions have always gone together for me.” Schlesinger’s ceramic vase is priced at $50,000, while Dial’s Abstract relief is available for $400,000.

Lewis thinks the art market has been “slow these past couple of months”. He adds: “It’s been productive, but where that goes, we don’t know yet. New York is still the powerhouse, and Frieze New York has always been a great fair. Fairs accomplish things that gallery shows do not; the audience is prepped to receive information, and people’s minds are focused on making decisions.”

US collectors, particularly New Yorkers, remain a formidable force in the art market, though advisers are often sent to fairs in their stead, as was the case at Art Basel in Miami Beach in December and Frieze Los Angeles in February. “A lot of buying is being done by proxy,” says the anonymous US art dealer. By contrast, many high-profile collectors were spotted in the aisles at Frieze New York during Wednesday’s preview, including Helen Schwab, Dennis Scholl, and Carole Server and her husband Oliver Frankel.

New buyers are still entering the scene. The New York curator and adviser Amanda Schmitt brought her client, the San Francisco-based digital-art collector Andrew Jiang, to Frieze New York for the first time. Though Jiang didn’t purchase anything on his maiden art-fair voyage—the New York event is not well known for its digital offerings—Schmitt observes how her clients who have made millions in crypto are increasingly interested in acquiring physical art, particularly at the blue-chip level.

Museum exposure

Some of the most blue-chip works at Frieze New York can be seen on the booth of the Austrian dealer Thaddaeus Ropac, where prices rise to around $2m for works by Robert Rauschenberg. The majority of works hover around the $500,000 mark, however. Ropac is one of a number of galleries to capitalise on artists with current or upcoming exhibitions in museums and biennials, including Alex Katz and Martha Jungwirth, who have shows in Venice in parallel with the Biennale.

David Lewis is offering work by Peter Schlesinger (bottom) Steven Molina Contreras

Though the dealer thinks the market has softened compared with 2022, which was “a little bit out of the ordinary”, Ropac says that turnover at the fair is “still solid”. This is in large part down to New York collectors. “It’s astonishing,” he says. “On the whole, Europeans are not here; they are arriving next week [for The European Fine Art Fair]. But New Yorkers alone can support Frieze. I’m increasingly in favour of fairs that cater to their regions.”

Various sub-markets are reacting differently to the economic and political headwinds. As Alex Fitzgerald, a director at Andrew Kreps Gallery, puts it: “The art market isn’t just one monolith; there are different factions, and at times some of those do better than others. It’s often a balancing act.” Along with other artists, the gallery is showing works by Eileen Agar, the late British painter associated with the Surrealist movement who has not had a great deal of exposure in the US until now, and the New York painter Ricci Albenda, whose tongue-in-cheek text piece, Money is No Object (2021), is available for $40,000.

Many dealers are now eyeing up the New York auctions later this month as the next major bellwether of the overall health of the market. While the primary market—with its more accessible price points—remains relatively resilient, the secondary market is said to be more sluggish. Scarcity of material is another major factor, with cautious sellers holding on to their wares.

“If you look at the quality of what’s coming up in May, it’s pretty spotty,” says the anonymous US dealer. “No one died, no one got divorced. The auction houses are going to have real difficulty achieving yesterday’s prices in this marketplace.”

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