arts

Yossi Michaeli has long been one of my favorite editorial photographers, and after spending about 5 seconds on his website (link below), it won’t be hard for you to see why. I forget exactly how I was introduced to his work, but it was sometime in 2010, and I was so enthralled and inspired that I felt compelled to reached out to him via Facebook and let him know. When he responded it made my entire week, and he even wished me a happy birthday a year later! (You can’t imagine how much I fangirled…and you probably don’t want to know.) Since I’ve been following his work, one of the distinctive, defining features over the years has been his brilliant use of color and tone. When I first discovered his work there was a definite theme of elegantly muted colors and desaturated skintones. Recently he seems to be embracing a more saturated palette with a ubiquitous use of primary colors. Throughout all of his work he seems to favor denser shadows and really bold contrast, though there is some flexibility to that depending on the project. Here is a small sample of his work to whet your appetite.

Yossi’s work embodies a style of editorial photography that I absolutely love: sensuous color palettes , clean design, impeccable technicality without being forced or starched, engaging subject matter, expert lighting and a really fabulous sense of style.

Yossi hails from Tel Aviv, Israel and currently lives in New York.

Visit Yossi’s Online Portfolio for more fabulous style and color!

I first encountered fashion photographer Signe (prounounced SIG-nee) Vilstrup‘s work in the November issue of Dansk Magazine and was instantly stunned to the point of speechlessness for about ten minutes (here’s the spread that did me in titled Maternal Mirror). When I visited her online portfolio a few days later, my bout of speechlessness returned with a vengeance. The sheer breadth of it aside, every spread, every image, is teeming with a sort of magic that does not come around often..unless, apparently, you’re in Europe, in which case you’d be hard-pressed to find a fashion photographer who doesn’t have it (stay tuned for my next Amazing Artists update, about another European fashion photographer who is positively dripping with that same magic).

What captivated me initially about Signe’s work was her brilliant use of environment, and her story-telling capabilities. I have a real soft spot for fashion editorials that have narratives and characters, and she hit it. Hard. In a field permeated by images that sell, it was refreshing to find in her work images that were meant to tell. Her aesthetic is one that I greatly admire, and the consistently dynamic quality of her body of work is something I deeply aspire to achieve. In an adjective nutshell, Signe’s work is ethereal, cinematic, smart, romantic, and effortless.

According to her mini bio, Signe was born in 1977 and now resides in Copenhagen, Denmark, dividing her time between Paris and Milan.