Street Style & New Identity's

Added on by Scott Kaplan.

Years ago I was doing what I guess could be called street style photography before it began blowing up everywhere around 2009ish ( yes, I know Bill Cunningham was doing it decades before everyone else) but shortly after I did, I moved out of this wonderful second city of fashion to Boulder, CO "one of the worst dressed cities in America". However, since moving back to Chicago and my seeing the diversity of looks going on here... getting back into the practice of roaming the streets taking photos of looks and people that catch my eye is something I've missed greatly and intend to get back into. I look forward to continuing to produce more of this kind of work (and much better). 

​On another yet similar note, I have started to put content (including these photos) on my other online identity memoryoradream.

​This is a place where I post pictures of my own, alongside other artists, photographers, musicians, designers, filmakers (the list goes on) that I appreciate. It tends to bounce between aesthetic beauty, the grotesque, the humorous and the perverse.

I would like to keep this blog (the one you are currently visiting) for more of the "news" of work that I produce and this other blog as more of an intimate view of my continuing creative process. A place where I show pictures that I take (either via my camera collection or via my iphone5) in order to interact with a wider online audience (aka the blogosphere) to see their reach, the gravity these images or other works hold, and to refine and analyse my own craft. Thanks for checking in, and please follow me if you like what you see! 

Working with Ford Models Chicago

Added on by Scott Kaplan.

I had the pleasure to work with Ford Models Chicago this weekend, capturing video of some of the new faces they represent. I had a blast working with their team and I can't wait to share the awesome footage I got of these stunning young people! Here's a sneak peak! 

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Chris Wang [Artist + Curator + Musician]

Added on by Scott Kaplan.

I had the pleasure of working on a vignette of sorts a few months back for a good friend of mine and artist, Chris Wang. He is currently based out of Vancouver, BC but is applying to a music conservatory at NYU for next fall. Chris is one of those people that I felt an instant connection to, a genuinely good natured guy with a passion for the arts, works cool under pressure and has a great sense of humor. Its just too bad we live (basically) on opposite sides of the continent! Check him out! 

Remembering far off lands.

Added on by Scott Kaplan.

Combing through long lost hard drives and negatives in the depths of winter can be a sentimental or forlorn process. Old loves, embarrassing memories, the things we choose to forget... we are startled by those moments, thrown back into a place where our hearts and minds meld into the images we hold and view. 

Often times distance is what it takes to bring things back into focus. I noticed this when I came across my photographs from my travels through India. The intensity of the trip as well as the whirlwind of coming back to the states was one of absolute culture shock. Revisiting these photographs almost 5 years later, I have come to appreciate some of the more subtle aspects of the work I did, as compared with the images that I gravitated towards upon my arrival back home in the states. Funny isn't it; how time can imbue events with new meaning.

Garfield Park Photoshoot

Added on by Scott Kaplan.

On Tuesday a few friends and I headed out to Garfield Park in Chicago (not the safest place) to go explore some locations and for me to try out some of my new (old) gear. I shot mostly on my Bronica Zenza medium format (75mm 2.8) x 100 Velvia Fuji and 35mm Canon EF (50mm 1.4) x T-max 400, but I also brought along my Digital Canon DSLR as well. I quickly learned why one seriously needs assistants for working like this. One can't move freely, shoot, direct and have an eye on all the gear at once; concentration and focus are a photographers best friend. Next time I'm bringing another friend to help lug the equipment and assist with the bounce...Photography like any craft is a constant learning process.

Here are some of the digital examples of the shoot. I'm in the process of sending over 19 rolls of unprocess film from years back, all the way to yesterday- so the negatives might take a while to get back. However, once I do have them I'll be heading over to LATITUDE a new open digital print lab in Chicago to do my first run prints for (crossing my fingers) my first gallery showing this spring/summer (location tbd). Anyhow here's some of what I got.

Recovery

Added on by Scott Kaplan.

So back in October I traveled down to Mississippi and Arkansas to document a blues festival, and unfortunately I lost a great deal of some of the photographs and video I shot (not all of it) due to an external hard drive failure (something I'm determined to avoid in the future). Despite this I have done a work around and managed to pull some frames from the temp files on my lightroom catalogue. Here's a few shots from the lost high res files. To see the full set of pictures head over to my facebook page.  

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ZZK Records

Added on by Scott Kaplan.
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This past week I met up with friend and founder of ZZK Records, Grant C. Dull (aka El G) to check out the kick off of his recent North American tour. We also had the chance to catch up with local Founder & Artistic Director at FMEL a local music festival of electronic music featuring an assortment of different latin (and latin influenced) producers and artists. Here's a snapshot from the interview we shot which will be featured in a forthcoming documentary about the ZZK record label (release date tbd). 

Truthful stories...

Added on by Scott Kaplan.

I was hired by an author to produce a short youtube video for the release of his self published book, "Check Please and Hurry..." the tag line is "Truthful stories of dates gone wrong". It was a fun and humorous experience getting to hear some of their ridiculous and outrageous stories, especially from a generation or two infront of me. All I can say is- I hope I'm not dating in my 50's and experiencing these horror stories! check out the video below.