Does it Hurt?

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

"I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive.

But the Skin Horse only smiled.

(The Velveteen Rabbit)

Rebel Youth.

Mum & Dad

You Looked ok With Others, You Looked Great by Yourself

My Great Aunt, Grandmother, Uncle & Second Cousin.

My Mother.

My Grandfather & Grandmother.

My Uncle, Mother, second Cousin & Aunt.

The Summer Season Was Cheap.

Kanye West by Olivier Zahm

Where Did You Get That Painter in Your Pocket?

Yulia Gorondinski

Raw

Kate Moss

(Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott)

(AnOther Magazine Video)

(unknown)

(Glen Luchford)

Hello Mystery, Don't Bother to Explain.

Glass Photography, Walter Hugo.

He built a giant room sized camera to capture his sitters through an antique brass lens using ancient photography techniques. Each unique image is constructed on a silver nitrate glass plate which acts as a giant positive by reflecting bright lights.

Walter Hugo Interview (AnOther Magazine)

Why did you decide to do this project?I've always been fascinated with the original techniques of photography, and have collected ambrotypes and old cameras for years. The combination of the scientific complexities and the potential to explore something new with what is generally regarded as an ancient process is incredibly alluring.

What were your reasons for photographing this particular group of people?Probably a combination of things: on one hand, I wanted to capture a cross section of creatives at this particular time and place. Also those faces that are more familiar highlight the style and process much more. We’re so used to looking at images that are re-touched and heavily worked on, that I think it has affected the way we regard beauty. With just one moment, one chance, to capture someone, and with the intensity that is drawn out of every subject, partially due to the process they go through when sitting for the glass plates (bright lights glaring in their eyes and having to hold still), the images really draw something else out.

Considering the contemporary nature of the subjects and the historic techniques used, are you looking forward or are you looking back? Well obviously there is a respectful nod to the history of the photographic process, but the piece is definitely looking forward. I'm a big fan of the complex and the scientific sides of things, I love to investigate how things work and then take those processes further to make things that we can relate to now. With the advent of the digital age which gives anyone the ability to take photographs, and instantly replicate techniques which previously would have taken years to master, there seems to be a trend of people throughout the creative fields of fashion and art that are working more to master their crafts. This often means utilising and researching older techniques, and thinking laterally to develop new techniques. In my mind, this is a definite positive step to the future.

Will you be developing this further?Yes, I'm planning to do 50 portraits in total. I'd also love to develop the project to do some even larger glass plate pieces – a full, life-size one would be amazing. As far as I know, it would be a first historically (I think there was one done of a landscape in Paris, in the 1890's, that was 5ft by 3ft). It'd be such a massive project just building the camera, the developing trays, making lots of the equipment myself...