(http://www.flickr.com/photos/mademuaselle/)

Sasha Mademuaselle

4 (Russia)

Girls in Russia

Matthew Tammaro is a talented photographer from Toronto, Canada, who shoots fashion models and musicians, friends and strangers. He can be called “a poet” for his ability to create a poetic story in his works, especially in his sexual and intimate nudes. Vrag talked to Matthew about his university experience and choice of models.

What brought you into photography and what means photography for you?

 I always studied art in school, and it seemed to fit really well with me (or so I thought), and I liked photographs. They’re realness had a more potent impact on me than drawing or painting. So I gave those up, and started photographing in earnest.

You received a BFA in Photography. Tell us about your university experience and how did it help you as a photographer?

My university experience was good and bad. I think I expected more out of the curriculum. We had really old equipment, and most of the professors were out of the loop when it came to contemporary work. That said, there were maybe three or four professors that were so brilliant, and as a group we sort of propelled ourselves more – so than if we were to be in that “ideal” situation. So if anything, school was an immediate connection between you and others and their ideas.

What equipment do you usually use for shooting?

 Hmm, I go through moods. Sometimes you know what a photo needs, and others the camera directs how the shoot will turn out. I have a contax 139 quartz…a nice little 35mm. A hasselblad. A fuji GW670III. A Nagaoka field 4×5, and a polaroid land camera.

What should a person have to attract your attention, to make you shoot him/her?

That’s a good question, and hard to answer! I think I’m attracted to beauty first and foremost…that being said, everyone really is beautiful in one way or another. Some evoke certain emotions and moods, and so you’ll want them for those specific traits. A lot of my personal work are people I’m close with, and whether I ask to photograph them or they are part of a moment already is all part of the creating of the photograph.

I would like to direct more of my work towards fashion and start shooting that seriously. Also my personal work was waning a bit throughout the summer, but it’s given me a bit more of a steady vision for how I’d like to treat colours, so a bit of a change of aesthetic in my new work.

Kristina Voytovich

Matthew Tammaro

AN INTERVIEW WITH Matthew Tammaro

Beata Wilczek

Hair

Photography: Kit Shyrixina and Alexandra Gordienko

Alexandra Gordienko

Kit Shyrixina

9 (Reproduction)

Zero Photoshop

Some lovely outtakes from our last issue COFFEE TABLE!

Masha Mel

Tess Yopp

i am weird!

 Andrei Amado (fashion designer and illustrator)

Andrei Amado

Fuzzy Face

Nicole Maria Winkler isa freelance photographer based in London and Vienna. She received a BA in Fashion Photography at London College of Fahion only last year but already contributed to various magazines such as Dossier Journal, JUKE Magazine and ELLE GIRL (Korea). Vrag talked to Nicole about her works, experience and understanding of beauty.

How and when did you become a photographer?


I graduated from University last year – so technically I have been officially working freelance since then. I did do various shoots and jobs during Uni as well though.

Which qualities does a photographer need?


I think you need to be patient, persistent and just generally driven by a need to create pictures.

What is the craziest project you’ve ever done?


I don’t really do “crazy” shoots in “crazy” locations. Although I do remember when I was in Paris I had organised to photograph this girl. We met in her friend’s flat and there I found out that she had shaved all her hair off the day before. The flat owner also had lots of rats and one literally jumped in my water glass. They were lovely but it was a strange day.

With every shoot I complete – I immediately want to do the next one – a better one. So for me my work is just a creative flow. I don’t think about big and small achievements.

It’s so subjective. I love when someone is really not fussed and has an awesome personality that comes through in the pictures. I like when models really give their all to contribute to the project. The typical standards of beauty and which models are in demand change every season.

This and that. Most of the shoots I do always come in very last minute. So you kind of have to be prepared for everything. I still do a lot of fashion but I am also starting to do more personal landscape photography.

Nicole Maria Winkler

AN INTERVIEW WITH NICOLE MARIA WINKLER

Nataša Adžić

Let’s Pretend None Of This Ever Happened

Maya Fuhr’s photos exude vibrant colours and lavish atmospheric tones. She is known for using a 35mm film camera and shooting her subjects in their most natural states; capturing the essential moments of truth. Her images combine a cinematic style with a fresh new take on the world of fashion, music and art.Maya Fuhr has exhibited her work in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto & Montreal and her images have been features in numerous magazines.

To me, coffee tables make or break a room. Whether it’s manicured and ordered with flowers and books, or disheveled with beer cans and seeping nail polish, it tells a story. Being the centre of the room, it draws all eyes and all feet. I find myself placing random objects in the centre of my coffee tables because I feel like it creates good energy. Exotic fruit, bowls of trinkets, candies, stacks of mismatched papers . Objects that are like the piece of art within the frames that are your living room walls. No matter what, it’s essential to have a coffee table because if you don’t, you’ll find that irritating guest that stands in the middle of the room like they are the centre of attention (just to fill the space.)

Maya Fuhr

12 (Coffee Table)

SHAVE

First of all, wash your little chicken wings.

Prepare a marinade: thai sweet chilli sause, soya souse and a bit of pepper. Mix it and leave it for 3o min.

Put little wings on the grill for 20 min. Don’t forget to turn over, so it will not burn.

Cooking with Vrag # 4

Ulian Goldman

Space Jam

Two years ago, Sophie Ebrard left a successful career in advertising and turned into a passionate photographer renowned for her touching portraits and peaceful landscapes with clean geometrical lines. Vrag talks to Sophie about her emotions during the photoshoots, a current project on porno sets and how her advertising past influences her photography present.

 As far as I remember, I’ve been always taking pictures. My dad is keen on photography, so I always had an access to a camera in my childhood. After graduating the university, I got straight into advertising. It felt like the right thing to do for me at the time. It took me almost a decade to realize that in fact my childhood passion for photography was what I wanted to do for a living. So, two years ago, I left my well-paid job in advertising and started a new career. It’s been a great journey so far.

 When you are a photographer this is what who are – from the moment you wake up till you go to bed. It’s not a nine-to-five job. It’s constantly with you.

 Digital cameras never suited me. Getting an instant result takes me out of the experience. I love shooting on film because I like the surprise-factor and the whole process involved. It just feels right – the texture, the colors…There is a certain magic in it.

We have a feeling that you always try to tell a story through your works. How do you see your works

I believe I have a good eye for reality, an instinct for finding beauty in supremely ordinary things. Plus, I’ve a very graphical eye, so I am fascinated by well-worked lines and angles. I like to make normal things appear special with unobvious framings, and want my pictures to show the things people might not see. My photographs are observationally honest and sensitive with an emphasis on storytelling. After a decade in advertising, I think, storytelling got drilled into my brain! There is also something in my work that I would call “tenderness with the subject”, and, as a woman, I add a nurturing and caring eye to my pictures.

 Most of your shots were taken outside the studio, in the street. Do you prefer working outside?


Light is very important in my life and in my work. So, I prefer shooting outside rather than inside a studio. When I’m abroad, I usually do personal shootings. I like being in another country because it makes me look at things differently and pay more attention to simple details than I would do in my day-to-day life. I try to use natural lighting as much as possible because the sun is the most beautiful source of light you can ever find. I love playing with flair, contrasts, light and shadows. When I light a set, I always try and replicate the effect the sun produces and make it as natural as possible.

How does it feel to be a photographer in London?


Ever since I moved to London 6 years ago, it feels like home to me. I love the pace of the city, the excitement and the energy that comes with it. London really inspires me and has a huge effect on the nature of the projects I work on, and on my style of photography. The downside is probably the lack of light! But hey – you can fly anywhere in the world from London in search for the perfect light!

Is it difficult for you to find the balance between what you want to get from the shooting and what your clients want?


 The most difficult thing when you take on commercial work is to embrace the values of the brand you are working on without losing your own personal style and vision. I guess having insider knowledge – thanks to my past career in advertising – helps me understand and anticipate everyone’s needs – creative, clients, ad agencies – and not be intimidated by the entire process. I have managed to work on really inspiring brands so far producing great images for them – Stella Artois, Vodafone, Match.com, Roksanda Ilincic.

What inspires you? What photographers inspire you?


It’s a difficult question because there are so many talented people who I admire and who have inspired me throughout the journey, and continue to do it! These are not only the photographers – from Stephen Shore to William Eggleston, Sally Mann, Diane Arbus, Henri Cartier Bresson and Irvin Penn – but also the painters (Frida Kahlo), the film directors (Jean Luc Godard), the poets (Charles Baudelaire). I’m also lucky to be surrounded by very talented people who really inspire me everyday.

 What was the last thing that made you smile or cry, or just made you feel something?


 It feels like an obvious thing to say, but emotion is one thing on the top of my list while shooting. Most of my photographs are not too staged or set up, so emotion is a key factor in them. When I press the shutter, it’s because I feel something happening in front of my lens. So, I guess the last time I felt something was the last time I pressed the shutter of my Mamiya 7II.

I think photographers are like hunters. They operate on adrenaline. They like being on the front line. It’s hard to slow them down, stop shooting for a moment and look at their work, edit it. I get really excited and I have this craving for taking shots when I go somewhere new and I feel the light or the moment is special. I love that feeling. That’s what keeps me going.

 I am currently working on a personal project that got me across the Atlantic – in LA – to take pictures on porn sets. It’s a long-term project that will hopefully lead to an exhibition and a book. When I talked about finding beauty everywhere, even in tough and bleak places, that’s one of the key aspect of this series! It was not always easy to make beautiful images with what I was seeing in front of my camera! But so far I’m very happy with the result. It’s been an inspiring project and it’s fascinating to get to know an industry that is so closed. There is a lot to talk about!

Sophie Ebrard

Sophie EBRARD


Styling – Dasha Lagenberg
Model – Nadia Shapoval
Post – Anton Schnaider
Make-up & hair – Linda Polyektova, Slava Chaika

Anton Schnaider

Cate Underwood

Dasha Legenberg

Linda Polyektova

Slava Chaika

Nadia

Calendar

Alessandro Di Giampietro

Mask

Cameron Alexander is a young London-based photographer with a special talent for shooting people. He started by photographing his friends and family portraits, then his passion turned into his occupation. Vrag talked to Cameron about his first steps, his experiences as a photographer and some of his ongoing projects.

 What brought you into photography and what is photography to you?


 My mum brought me here mostly, she isn’t a ‘photographer’ as such, in case that is what you were wondering. However, she took a photo once, that really hit me hard. It was then that I realised how incredible images were, and it made me rethink what the hell I was doing with myself at 15 years old. Buck my ideas up and really love something. And here I am.

 What do you try to say through your works?


 I try to say both a little and a lot. I don’t like to try and be conceptual or false with my work, I just want it to be real and of the moment. Let it be what it needs to be, and let people get from it what they get. So, I think I try to say, be real? I dunno, that sounds cheesy. I don’t know.

 What is like to be a photographer in London?


 It’s quite easy really, there are a shit load of nice things in this city that makes it easy to capture something ‘beautiful’ but, then again, that depends on what you find beautiful. People-wise its easy. But the downside: London is expensive, and there are far too many pretentious people around. SO its best just to keep my head down and love my work. I think I am lucky to be a photographer here, it’s a good city for it.

 Why are you interested in taking photos of people?


 At the moment, working hard on the portrait side of my portfolio, shooting a lot of them for editorials and stuff. I am in the end stages of finishing my second feature length documentary. I’ve just signed with an agency in the US so I am getting ready for travelling about with them for a while, Tokyo and road trip through America hopefully. AND I am just in the stages of signing with management over here. I am working more on the personal projects as well, shooting a lot more of my family again, which I hadn’t done since I was 17.

 Which two things should we know about you?


 I am addicted to Dr Pepper and I really love my mum, she is like, SUPERWOMAN!

Cameron Alexander

An Interview with Cameron Alexander

Joseph Race

Scottish Winter

Floral prints and appliques, pastel silk and bejewelled rubber-soled pool shoes!

CHRISTOPHER KANE SS12

High tea of Highgate is a cute cafe located on the hill in Highgate Village. The cafe offers a large selection of interesting and unique teas: from almond tea to lavender with rosemary. Also on the menu, one can find a selection of freshly baked cakes and scones. The interior has that classic country kitchen style, and is filled with interesting items for sale including beautiful cups, colorful warm woolen throws and birthday candles.

 50 Highgate High St,
Highgate Village
London, N6 5HX,
020 8348 3162

High Tea of Highgate

11 (The Body)

Medusa

Valeriia and Claudia wear silk dresses by 

Valeriia and Claudia wear coats and pants all by 

Valeriia wears coat, shirt, belt- all by 

Valeriia wears knit sweater and dress by 

Pace Chen

6 (Community)

Sisters

I’m 22 year old girl from an Oregon forest jungle living in san francisco, california. I am weary of my mortality, which is why I take so many photos of my life. I like to think its how I cheat death and live forever. #d r a m a t I c

Describe your dream coffee table as you don’t have one:

My dream coffeetable is painted pale yellow and has a goldfish swimming in a jar, a cedar tree candle burning in the middle, red berries in a bowl, an issue of Mirage mag and a travel book on Berlin ( stick a plane ticket in there, too) stacked together next to my laptop which plays an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Ha!


Hana Haley

Hana’s diary

Christina Smith is a London-based fashion photographer who also does portraits and artistic photographs. She has contributed to various magazines such as i-D, Oyster, WARD and Vrag. Her works transport viewers into a mystical but at the same time realistic beautiful reverie. Vrag talked to Christina about the advantages and disadvantages of being a photographer and her future plans.

: I was pushed into photography near the end of my foundation course a few years ago at saint martins. I had a meeting with a teacher to talk about what specialism I should do (as I didn’t have a clue), she said that i seem to take a lot of photo’s so why don’t I do photography. I spent the rest of the year walking around taking pictures of dilapidated buildings. I always loved photography but had never thought I could do it as a career. I remember being amazed by an Annie Leibovitz exhibition my aunt took me to when I was a child. I was so excited Leibovitz had shot my favourite musician John Frusciante.

 What do you enjoy most about what you do?


 What I enjoy most is being inspired to take a photograph by the landscape or model in front of me. Also working with friends like Paul Joyce, who opens my mind and encourages me. I wouldn’t be shooting fashion photography if it wasn’t for him.

 My hardest project is the one which involves the most editing, that’s the part I enjoy least and has caused the most sleep deprivation!

What do you have coming up that you are excited about?


I am excited about shooting more for i-D, working with new models and stylists and spending some time in the darkroom. Also a project I am collaborating on with an artist in Italy.

 Which other young photographers do you recommend on checking out?


Christina Smith

An Interview with Christina Smith

Isolde Woudstra

Every Forest Has Its Shadow

Theatre cafe Moscow, Neglinaya street 29/14.
This cafe is situated in the theatre. It has two small roomswhere you can eat and get warm.
Really cheap, it has tasty Russian food and cool wine.
It has an arty atmosphere and live music in the evenings (piano and guitar).
The smoking area works after 10 pm.
If you are a lucky person you can meet the actors there!

Places to see: Theatre cafe, Moscow

I want to have these books on my coffee table!

perfect coffee table books

8 (Baroque)

WILD FOOD

Meeting Elly Cheng for the first time was a moment I will never forget. The young designer was visually arresting with her bright green hair, dark clothes and purple-dyed eyebrows to match. As she jogged up the final flight of stairs at the London College of Fashion, her sense of style was completely unique.

Shortly afterwards, I saw her collection, which consisted of bright neon pastels, bright baby pinks and blues on models bearing rainbow-dyed teddy bears. It was easy to see how the designer’s colourful aesthetic informs her creative process. While the pieces seemed infused with influences of Japanese punk-rock subculture, they were in fact coming from a more personal and less generic ground of memories of Cheng’s childhood. Her final collection was an homage almost, to her maternal caretakers.

‘Growing up, my mother and grandmother took care of me and my dad went to work. My grandmother would dress in floral dresses and aprons so I brought that into my collection because it’s the best memory I have in my life.’

Having studied fashion for 6 years, the designer had a lot of ideas when coming up with a theme for her BA graduate collection before settling naturally with childhood memories. While her family still lives in Hong Kong, her grandmother is no longer living. They were unable to attend her graduate show at the college this evening but the designer was nonplussed, certain that its impact would be the same. She was right.

Cheers erupted from the halls as multiple choruses of ‘ooh’s and ‘aah’s surrounded the parade of clothes. Her use of light pastel colours and sharp cutting skills made exceptional showcase during the final countdown for this year’s crop of graduates.

When asked about her reasons for studying fashion, the young designer funnily says she never thought of becoming one initially. All she knew was that she liked creating stuff.

‘I’ve been studying fashion for 6 years now. I started after graduating from secondary school and then I took a pattern-cutting diploma in Hong Kong for 2 years, a year in fashion marketing and afterwards moved to London for my design degree.’

While the designer looks up to Christopher Kane and J.W. Anderson, Cheng says she focuses on doing her own thing more than trying to emulate styles. Cheng also said that she would love to set up her own label one day. At the moment, she is concentrating on getting more experience.

‘I want to stay in London for a few years to do more experiments, stuff like that, hopefully I can get a job – no masters for me.’

When she started out with her final collection, Cheng did a lot of research and experiments before coming up with the final designs. She loves experimenting with textures and techniques. While the whole process of designing and creating took about a year, she took 2 months to make everything.

Her final year collection includes a series of studded silicone backpacks and bespangled platform trainers, triggering memories of Velcro trainers with flashing lights from one’s childhood days. Single-strap aprons worn sideways and long-sleeved sheepskin tops and dresses crafted of her bespoke hand-dyed technique bore magnificent brights of neon. Together with leather-strap bondage belts and teddy bear accessories, the collection was a combination of mature femininity with a lighter touch of insouciance. It expressed the struggle of growing up.

It was not only the concept that thoroughly invorigated Cheng but the technicality of the making process too. Her attention to detail and strong conscientiousness for perfection is remarkable for a designer of her age where the degree of expertise Cheng holds and the level of dedication to her craft are seen as as true tokens of talent one can find these days.

‘I like to experiment with textures and techniques and walked through all of London trying to find light-coloured sheepskin because it’s quite hard to get them nowadays. I dyed them with hair dye because that gives the sharpest colour, glow – everything,’ she enthuses.

Whether this talented designer would like to go back to Hong Kong and work remains of secondary importance to her. Cheng’s dreams of being a designer remain constant and so one finds a source of inspiration in Cheng’s never-ending love for fashion design.

‘I want to focus on my stuff, to be creating stuff I like… I still enjoy it even though it’s tiring because at the end of the day, it’s the thing I like to do more than anything else.’

Li Yin Soh

Bright Young Things: Elly Cheng

5 (Landscape)

Adventures through Scotland

Tess decided to do a little project and snap me in these beautiful shoes, as a result we got The Shoe Salad!

The Shoe Salad

Painter girl

Johnny and Kate

James Whineray

13 (Trip)

Journey

Typical Russian market. Grandmothers love it.

This is how we do it – down the slope during winter.

Monster on the left and someone crazy on the right.

Liza Mamonova

Liza’s Diary

Our next issue will be a Baroque one. Lets get inspired by queens and kings! Beautiful diamond jewellery, pink and white lace and Laduree. Dreams come true.

Next issue will be Baroque ♥

Carlos Monleon Gendall

Sasa Stucin

Pan y Lirios

FREEZE


Styling assistant: Jacopo Noorbergen
Make up: Joanna Banach 

Big thank you to the Sick and Vintage Basement stores for providing all the clothes for the shoot.
Vintage Basement (Cheshire st, London)
Sick! (Redchurch St, London)

Alena Jascanka

Joanna Banach

LILJA 4-EVER

CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS –  AW12 MA FASHION SHOW

My name is Carlos Cancela Pinto. I´m a self-taught photographer from Portugal, and I shoot photos with analogue cameras. Film is for me the best medium.

I always seek beautiful natural light, and I try to make the best fit with the surround nature (in a most pure state as possible) and people in order to capture a good photo. The interaction between nature, light and man is my recurring theme.

Carlos Cancela Pinto

Diary

We have started working on our next issue The BODY. Here are some inspirations of the day. Get inspired and send us your work.