July 2, 2009
Just saw the Isabel Toledo show at FIT and it was inspirational, it is the best fashion design exhibit I have ever seen. What was most impressive was that she included drawings of her patterns beside each finished piece — critics have called her style, “Fluid Architecture” and it’s easy to understand why, when I see how her graceful drawings and flowing patterns build up into these magnificent structures… err, dresses. And unlike a lot of other contemporary fashion, I think her stuff is actually wearable. I never appreciated fashion design nearly as much as I do today.
If all you know of Toledo is that she designed Michelle Obama’s outfit for the inauguration, toss your expectations out the window. Michelle Obama’s dress and coat are the low point of the show, demonstrating that even a great designer can crank out some boring crap for politician’s wife. I wish she was better known for her real work and not her compromises. But it got her on the map, so all’s fair… go see this show (Isabel Toledo: Fashion From the Inside Out, The Museum at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology), through September 26).
Alas, no photography allowed. This was nearby. (larger)
I know next to nothing about fashion design, but my impression is that most designers start by sketching and sort of imagine their piece and then have patterns created based on their sketches. But I think that Toledo is starting with the patterns themselves, looking for simple, elegant construction, and letting those concerns drive the outcome and look. Which is subversive, craftsman-like, and very beautiful — and also applicable to other arts, including photography.
June 29, 2009
Off to “the” city for a few. Advance apologies to all my New York friends who I won’t call.
June 28, 2009
The first time I go out photographing with somebody, when I get to this point, then I know that I’ll get more good pictures.
June 27, 2009
From a 1940s vintage Leica with an equally old Elmar lens, using good old Tri-X. It’s hard to get any purer than that.
Not that I care about the damn camera.
But the third photo is from the digital camera, and while I like it for the image itself — and I made my best effort with the post-processing — I think the comparison shows why slow, deliberate use of film is still superior to the quick gratification of digital. It makes me want to get rid of everything else and just shoot 35mm for a while. And I am crazy enough to do just that, even if film is such a pain in the ass.
June 25, 2009
A lot of nights I stay up with my MacBook editing photos and watching TV, usually catching most of Conan (he’s cool) and then droning on into the next show.
June 23, 2009
This photo is not a faked Photoshopped oddity. It is an entirely straight shot showcasing Shannon’s raw talent. (She can move her left and right nostrils independently too.)
June 21, 2009
Grrr… then she stirred my guts with that giant swizzle stick.
June 20, 2009
And converted:
I’m not much into shooting with “traveling naked models for hire” but… Miss Velocity is quite the pro. If you’re into that sort of thing, please hire her on my recommendation. This is an outake from a Zivity set that we did. I’m not much into that sort of thing either, but if you’re going to pose or shoot for a website like that, don’t pussyfoot around — be bold as hell and do it right.
The inexpensive Panasonic G1 digital camera continues to impress me. It has a few quirks but thankfully image quality is not one of them. Now if only they would start selling a few fast prime lenses for it (and less expensive batteries).
I have a lot of photos left to edit and post, so stay tuned. Shooting more for my friend Miss Kramp on Monday too.
June 17, 2009
Ryann, Millefiori Top and Razzleberry Tutu (larger)
June 16, 2009
Buildering in the Zombie Cheerleader Skirt and Skeleton Tank. (larger)
The Tropic of Deco in front of the Niagara Mohawk Building. (larger)
June 12, 2009
I’ve just started working on a Look Book for Shannon’s first collection and these are a few of the test shots we did on Wednesday. Of course Shannon is a great model herself (obviously she’s my favorite), but our next “real” shoots will be a little more elaborate. We’ll be working with a couple of the best models from Rochester and Syracuse, Leah and Ryann.
Uh-oh. Syracuse is the same city that Meagan Sample lives in. Dare I mix these two? Can my heart take it?
Shannon as a sort of zombie cheerleader. (larger)
I hope you like my studio. (larger)
She’s been doing tutus for quite a while — check this out. (larger)
Since she is just starting out, these are one-offs and her stuff keeps evolving, but I think you can see her style emerging — just like any other creative endeavor, she needs milage (quantity = quality). If you’re interested you should check out her Kramp Kouture website and Etsy shop. She really needs to double or triple her prices, but if you spend over $100 I’ll include an 8x10 print of your choice.
Apologies to the dozen or so people waiting on images from the past month or so, but I just got my computer back from repair and there is a lot of catching up to do — paid jobs come first, so the freebies and tests will simply have to wait.
I’ll have a little free time in NYC at the end of the month, if any bona-fide clients or collectors would like to see my work and meet me in person.
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Available for Assignments, photographer Frank Petronio specializes in black-and-white, film-based portraiture.
You can hire Frank to shoot portraits of yourself, your friends and family, and your clients and colleagues. He’s also available to make editorial and advertising photographs, as well as exhibit, consult, lecture, and teach.
See My Portfolio
Your website gave me pause. It’s candid, refreshing, a bit crass & ballsy....
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Download my 79-image portfolio, in the Adobe PDF format (6.5 mb). (Requires the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.)
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Most of my work is model released and available for rights-managed purchases at competitive rates.
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NYC early July
Morning Affirmations
OK, I have just spent, I don’t know — maybe an hour of time I really don’t have reading your website. I just thought, hey, this is interesting, and funny, and honest and human — and then I was in the archive reading everything — and having a fantastic little time... and then it was 11:00....
Hey man, just took a little trip through your site and I detected an evil sense of humor, something that is revealed in your work.
I ended up looking at your new work and I gotta say man, you made a leap in a good direction. There’s a lot I like about what your doing in 4x5, but it’s late and I’ll heap praise another day. Up until today I thought you were an OK pro photographer and now my opinion has changed for the better.... Superlatives to other photographers don’t exactly roll off of my tongue when even I’m rested, truth be told ;-)
I really enjoy how you tell stories with your camera. I love how you incorporate irony and the fact that you still shoot film. Beautiful work.
I’ll keep it simple. I love what you do and the way in which you do it. You make me have hope for the future of art because what you do obviously comes not from greed or lust or anything negative, but from your heart. At least that’s the way it seems.
Looking at your photos and listening to Brian Eno's “Baby’s on Fire” is probably the best....
I came across your site by chance and have been absolutely enchanted by your large format photographies, absolutely impressive and very original, by the way gaining very well the confidence of very pretty and exotic girls from whom you draw all of their photographic potential, because in my opinion you choose very well the most suitable girls for your type of photographs.
The world definitely sucks, but some of the young women you’ve photographed help make it more bearable.
It strikes me that he really lets the narcissism of his
subjects show... it’s kind of fun and campy.
Three hours with Frank passes like 20 minutes with some other guy.
Critic Shirley Dawson of Rochester’s City Newspaper
And they are boring compared to Frank Petronio’s “Cristina, 2006,” the show’s stand-out work. more
Fleshbot
Fine art and editorial portrait photographer Frank Petronio does many things very well, including taking some of the most tender, intimate, playful, and sexy shots of amateur and professional models we’ve seen in a while. more (NSFW)
The Koreans Have Good Taste
And I’ll take it: An article about my work in Korea’s Monthly Photo magazine.
The Artery Magazine
Frank Petronio couldn’t be anything other than a photographer, and he has tried — role of husband, father, teacher, web designer. Almost as if he can’t escape the lure of an irreverent beauty. He’s abrupt, with a dark sense of humor and raw honesty that develops in uninhibited photographs. more
Thanks. I get all warm and tingling after reading these each and every morning. It gets me so pumped up that I go for a run up the Courthouse steps and punch frozen sides of beef.
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Someday, if I am lucky, a good gallery will pick me up and sell dozens of my images for thousands of dollars apiece. Until that time, you can purchase almost any image on this site as a fine-art display print for only $150. They are most often 11x14- or 9x13.5-inch images printed from a Harrington RIP on to 13x19 Harman FB Gloss inkjet paper. The color is a warm neutral without any metamerism but with a slight bronzing when the print is viewed from an low oblique angle. I use an older 7-color Epson 2200 printer but I figure it is fine for greyscale prints compared to the newer printers with more heads (which produce finer color prints). Of course I can make smaller prints but I won’t charge any less as the material costs are minimal and the cost of the print is really based on the content itself. I sign the verso in pencil and include domestic shipping between two sheets of sturdy foamcore. At these prices you should buy several... PayPal is the easiest way to pay me but USPS Money Orders work too.
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