Artist Spotlight: Alexander Raymond Photography

Meet the man behind the photos, Alexander Raymond.
More commonly referred to as Alex.

Alex and I have been friends since we were like 3 years old; we went to Montessori school together, and middle school...and high school. Over the years, especially since senior year of high school, Alex has really come into his own when it comes to photography and I am proud to call him one of my best friends. His visits to Columbia "to see me" really consist of him getting lost in the streets of Manhattan for hours at a time while I'm either at practice or class. It really works out for me though, considering I don't need to show him around like a tourist anymore; he practically knows this place better than I do.

 His love for New York City always seems to translate into his photography, with photos capturing both cityscapes and strangers on the streets. Personally, I love the photos shoots he has with friends, especially those with Jacinta, as shown in the second and fourth pictures in this post. She's incredibly photogenic and it seems like she makes Alex's job easy, giving him a handful of great pictures to choose from each time they work together. Alex is an extremely versatile and artistic photographer, and not what you would consider a single-style kind of photographer, who only shoots in NYC, or only does artistic photo shoots, or only does portraits. With every portrait, photo shoot, and any visit away from home, there is always a different goal or different inspiration.

Alex's favorite picture taken in New York City

 After asking Alex what that inspiration is when shooting, he explained the constant changing nature of it all. "Well it depends. Everything I shoot in NYC is spontaneous. Nothing planned, nothing wanted. If I see a person or a group of people I find interesting I'll take the shot. I guess it just comes from my state of mind at the time." During his freshman year on, his second visit to New York while I was in college, he describes himself as being introverted and self conscious, with everything and everyone he shot on that visit as a self reflection in a very public setting and "showing signs of revealing the public facade". As his emotions and thoughts about what is going on in his life change, so do his motives and inspirations for shooting in NYC. "The next year I came to visit, I was much more understanding of myself and became more focused on my relationships with other people. I was intrigued by how all of these seemingly confident people were able to have public displays of intimacy with themselves but never with others."

I think the best way to describe Alex's love of photography is that it is a true representation of a very personal side of him that can only be revealed through pictures. 

"I hope you enjoy my work because everything from the subjects to the aesthetics of each piece is 150% me."

 From shooting family head shots, to international landscapes to powerfully artistic photo shoots, Mr. Alexander Raymond really has a way with his camera and I always look forward to his future projects both here in NYC and anywhere else he feels inspired to pick up his Canon.

For more of Alex's pictures or for booking, click here! 

Million Dollar View

I gotta say, my picture-taking skills are getting pretty darn good. I say "picture-taking" rather than "photography" so as not to insult any photographers out there who make this skill their profession. Also, shout out to Daisy for taking such awesome pictures. Couldn't have done it without you.

More importantly, these photos were taken from the window in my dorm room. I absolutely love where I live, and I realize that people in this city pay thousands of dollars to have a view like this.

 I'm know I'm one of the lucky ones.

Amanda Lear in Vogue FR

"The real face of Amanda. Inspiration of Salvador Dali, fiancée of David Bowie, disco-queen of millions of albums, today the muse of Riccardo Tisci, Amanda Lear defends herself from being an icon. Very much in line with "live" successes, the challenge of the present is bright. Then, what a triumph of the theater, meeting with the Queen Lear".

I could translate this quote too, but I'm in the middle of Season 1 of American Horror Story and feeling a weird mixture of pure intrigue and absolute terror and I can't seem to look away.

So update for the world and a brief intro for this post: Brian got me an iPad mini for Christmas. A freaking iPad mini (from which I am posting this). I obviously lost it, practically almost cried, and kept saying "Oh my God, why?!" because I like being dramatic. While I was playing with my iPad literally all night -- ironically, i pulled my first all-nighter all semester -- I went app-crazy and downloaded at least 30 apps, among them being the Vogue France magazine app.

Hence, where I found this sweet article on and interview with Amanda Lear.

 

I'll be honest though, I've never actually heard of Amanda Lear before reading this article (as well as her wiki page), but from this interview I've learned that she's lived quite a life. Fun fact: her "birth name" is A. Trapp. Whatever that means. From being a muse for multiple artists, to collaborating with Givenchy, to authoring a book, Amanda Lear makes her life sound so unbelievably interesting, her interview makes me realize how unbelievably uninteresting my life actually is. The artwork and photography in this article (or how it looks on the iPad app, not really sure) is amazing and totally makes me appreciate this beautiful Christmas gift, and the fact that I can download and read Vogue France whenever I want makes me appreciate the fact that I can read French. So if you can too, grab a copy/download the app and read the article!

Also, the last line intro to the article alludes to Shakespeare's King Lear. As a Shakespeare nerd, it was unfair to any other article in the magazine. I mean come on, French and Shakespeare? Slight bias? Yes.

 

Posted on iPad