May, 2009

photography / self-portrait — No Comments
29
May 09

Groom with cold feet Ted

He’s getting married in minutes. But he’s having second thoughts. And he never did get that prenup. Hmm. If he jilts her, her father will kill him. But he could hide in Mexico. His Spanish is mediocre but might be considered conversational. Oh, but the swine flu…

photography / self-portrait — No Comments
28
May 09

Wedding Singer Ted

Rocking out to a righteous rendition of My Sharona. Trying to look as (un)cool as Flight of the Conchords.

award / hasselblad / photography — No Comments
26
May 09

2009 Hasselblad Masters Competition

I just found out I’m one of 10 finalists in the “Fine Art” Category. Hasselblad will announce the winners New Year’s Day 2010. Last year Julia Fullerton-Batten won. Way cool.

photography / self-portrait — No Comments
26
May 09

Janitor Ted

Back to my self-portrait series. Is the janitor disgruntled? Content? Murderous? Camera-shy? Constipated? So many questions…

award / photography — No Comments
25
May 09

2009 Color Awards: Photography Masters Cup

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERS CUP HONORS PHOTOGRAPHER TED SABARESE FROM USA


LONDON (5/24/09) – Professional photographer Ted Sabarese of the United States was presented with the 3rd Annual Photography Masters Cup Nominee Award in the categories of Advertising and Fashion at a prestigious live online Winners and Nomination Ceremony presented by International Color Awards to recognize excellence in color photography.

Thousands of images were received from ninety-two countries. The nominated photographers were selected by a who’s who Judging Panel from the international photography community, including Christie’s (New York), National Geographic (Washington) and Fox Broadcasting Company (Los Angeles). The Panel reviewed the images online over an eight week period and Ted Sabarese’s “Hasbro Girl,” an exceptional image entered in the Advertising category, received a high percentage of votes overall. As did “Creature Couture #1″ in the Fashion Category.

“The Masters Cup celebrates photographers who operate at the highest levels of their craft,” said the awards Creative Director, Basil O’Brien. “Ted Sabarese’s work represents color photography at its finest and we’re pleased to present him with the title of Nominee.”

You can view the 3rd Annual Winners Gallery online at www.photomasterscup.com.

INTERNATIONAL COLOR AWARDS, PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERS CUP is the leading international award honoring excellence in color photography. This celebrated event shines a spotlight on the best professional and non-professional photographers worldwide and honors the finest images with the highest achievements in color photography.






photography / sabarese / self-portrait / shoot — No Comments
21
May 09

This is not Cindy Sherman

Could be I’m “borrowing” from one of my photography idols, but I decided today to start shooting myself daily, dressed as another persona. I have the lights set up in a corner of my studio. I just have to remember to bring a different getup every day. This is my “sad cowboy.”

Maybe his horse Jasper was just rustled by the some insidious gang of thieves. Or maybe his girl, Charlotte, ran off with the rodeo clown. Or maybe his favorite tobaccy company filed chapter 11.

They won’t all be sad. Wait until I do my “ghost.”

art book / create / Gestalten — No Comments
16
May 09

Page 134, Archive Vol 2, 2009

I was flipping through the most recent Archive when I came across my cover to crEATe, published by Gestalten. My pic aside, it really is a unique art book. Please excuse the crappy iphone pic. God do I love my iphone, but its camera blows.

advertising / guns / photo / rifle / verizon — 1 Comment
14
May 09

A picture for Donald Bullach

The back story: Mr. and Mrs. Kim are not actors or models. Their English is just okay. They’re a sweet couple that agreed to play the roles of stranded, hurricane victims for my Verizon Wireless shoot. And they’re the least likely people you’d ever imagine to be in the pic below.

After shooting the Kims for the actual Search & Rescue image where they were drenched, sullen and happy to be safely out of the water, we began our little scheme. The wardrobe stylist took Donald (CD from White & Partners) off the set to approve looks for the next shot. We busted out an assault rifle and pistol and handed them off to the Kims, who hopped right back in the boat and posed for this gift to Donald. They were hysterical. We actually had to pry the rifle out of Mrs. Kim’s hands. She didn’t want to give it back.


annual / PDN / photography — No Comments
12
May 09

PDN 2009 Photo Annual

Okay. Every photographer waits for the PDN annual for one reason or another. To get inspiration from amazing work (to get off your ass and shoot more, better stuff). To keep tabs on the industry. To see who beat you out for a spot in the issue. For me, it’s all of the above. Early May is one of the few times a year I check my mailbox daily.

So after so many years of this ritual, I have noticed a PDN pattern that gets under my skin for a week or two (though no longer than four). Every year I am blown away by some amazing images that make me really really jealous. And every year I am dumbfounded by some work that makes me wonder WTF? How did this EVER make it into this Annual that I bow to? Let’s take this year, for example. In the “Advertising” section–the opening section–there is an ad for the Microsoft Windows “I am a PC” campaign. A young woman is standing outside, wind blowing her hair. Now, I mean absolutely no disrespect to Harlan Erskine, the photographer who shot this image. Or to the campaign. Or to Crispin Porter Bogusky who developed it. I just don’t honestly get how this is one of only 19 images/campaigns to be awarded. The shot is fine enough and technically good. But it’s just a pic of a girl smiling. A snapshot hundreds (I won’t say thousands) of guys have probably taken of their girlfriends at Washington Square Park.
Somehow the 24 judges deemed this exceptional. Maybe I’m missing something. Maybe this is part of a bigger campaign that PDN chose to edit down to a single image. I don’t know. I do know there’s at least one a year like this that boggles my frontal lobe.
Or maybe I’m just jealous that I’m not in the book. Maybe that’s it.

Uncategorized — 1 Comment
8
May 09

Kohta and the blank sign

I hadn’t thought about Kohta in a long time. He’s a funny, fascinating and multi-layered human. And a young director, photographer, editor, writer and a 3-D graphics dude (I’m not sure what order he prefers nowadays). I was asked a while back by his production company to take some shots for their website and promo materials. When I asked “what kind of shots,” they were a bit hesitant to say. They told me he’s funny, but shy, adventurous, but sometimes reserved. They told me I should probably talk to Kohta and see what he wants to do.

When Kohta and I chatted on the phone I had already thought of a few ideas which he was very open to. In fact, he didn’t say “no” to anything. The day of the shoot he brought a few different outfits, an old super 8 camera and a few Shoot Magazines. It was a surprising experience for me. During the first few moments of shooting, I thought “oh shit, this is going to suck.” Kohta was incredibly shy. But on the fourth moment, he came alive, shattering the shy facade i couldn’t break through only a minute before. I don’t know whether the drugs kicked in or if he just needed to get comfortable in his surroundings. He started cracking jokes. Throwing out ideas (good ones). And was willing to cat call strangers on the street as convincingly as any construction worker on a lunch break. He loved the idea of holding a blank sign we could fill in later.

I’m not sure what he’s up to right now, but looking back at some of our pics makes me giggle. I hope he’s freakin’ famous.