Category — javier lovera

Javier’s collaboration with Filler Magazine continues with the recent launch of the fashion film VERSUS for their men’s issue. Below the film and some ‘behind the scenes’ shots and a little bit about the video from Javier’s perspective.

Directed by: Javier Lovera
Creative Director: Ryan Johnson
DOP: Henry Sansom
Styling: Alicia Simpson @ Plutino
Make up and grooming: Sheri Stroh @ Plutino
Models: Paul Mason @ Spot 6 + Brendan @ Elmer Olsen
Editing: Cory Vanderploeg + Javier Lovera
Digital Colourist: Scott McIntyre
Music: Metamorphoses  I & II by Philip Glass

The VERSUS shoot was a really exciting one. Initially we had planned for it to be in October, but the location manager surprised us at the last minute and we had to cancel the shoot with only 1/2 day to production day (we did however ended up shooting another men’s story for FILLER. You can read more about that here).

After regrouping we developed the concept further, had 1 more storyboarding meeting, and really took the opportunity to solidify the thematic. This is one of the things (among many others) that’s exciting about working with Ryan and Henry: we are always striving to make the best possible end product. We take pre-production very seriously, and have a great collaboration. Everyone’s ideas are equally valid, but only the best ones move forward, which is the same approach I carry on to editing and colouring. I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to work with them, and I thank all of the people involved in making this such a fun and successful shoot. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did making it!

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Here are some Behind the Scenes photos (© cory vanderploeg).

On location at  5:30 am for setup and were happy with what we saw:

The rest of the team showed up at around 6:30am to start shooting. Here you see our fashion editor Alicia, and our makeup artist Sheri. Both amazing at what they do and pleasure to work with.

Below is Henry setting up for the first shot. I’ve been working with Henry for a while now. His aesthetic is amazing and he is an all-around super nice guy.

Our models Brendan @ Elmer Olsen and Paul @ Spot 6 Management were great to work with. Very professional and hard working, jokers, and incredibly talented.

Reviewing one of the shots with the whole crew.

Giving some direction while Alicia takes care of wardrobe details.

AND, that’s a wrap!

Hermann & Audrey has been getting some love from Heather Morton, Art Buyer on her blog lately, and we thank her.

Last week Heather posted about Carty and his new promotional piece, Positives, a 150-page soft cover leave behind. Along with a few candid images of the book is a brief interview with Carty where he discusses his motivation behind the soft cover version of his first book, where he’s at and where he’s hoping to go.

(Images by Heather Morton)

Carty and the family are really pleased with how the book turned out, and so, it seems, was Heather. Check out what she had to say about it.

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Feb 8th’s post was a lot more Hermann & Audrey specific – the freelance art buyer named us among the new reps in town worth knowing about:

“Subtitled “a family affair” these people are tight knit in a good way I think. Joining Steve on the roster are Javier Lovera and Jalani Morgan.”

Javier recently returned from three weeks of travel in his home country: Colombia. Here are a few of his images and thoughts about his experience.

Medellin. A city of contrasts, dramatic ones. Like a lot of Latin American cities, this city follows the structure of affluent city centers surrounded by belts of misery (favelas or slums). Once one of the most dangerous cities in the world and home to infamous drug lords like Pablo Escobar, Medellin now has a burgeoning economy and a plethora of social developments like libraries, cultural centers, and a beautiful botanical garden among others.

A little history: in the 90’s the drug cartels had generated an economy of war, where sicarios (hired assassins) ruled the streets and controlled the slums. After Escobar’s death and the dismantlement of the Medellin cartel, the sicarios, who were for the most part young kids, had no boss, and were armed to the teeth. Violence escalated, with sicario gangs fighting for control of the city and the drug business. Access to the slums was very limited. Not even the police would dare go into them.

I find the developments that have been created in this city very interesting. Being a Bogota native (another city with huge slums surrounding it), I’ve always been very aware of my boundaries. I grew up in a state of fear – and going into the slums was unimaginable, unless you had a VERY good reason for it.

This time around, I found myself in Medellin, heading right into the middle of Comuna 3 (one of its biggest slums) by way of cable car to see the celebrated Parque Biblioteca Espana, designed by Giancarlo Mazzanti , a library that had won the Vienna Biennal.

One of the most interesting things about the cable car trip was that you could actually see the whole slum while climbing the height of the cable – its people, streets, and rhythm. Already many questions and curiosities were being answered by this ride. The mirage that the media had created had been slightly shattered shedding some light into my dark perceptions; there were no dead bodies, no one getting mugged, no guns or drug transactions in sight. What was clearly visible was the disheartening level of poverty. Roofs being held in place by bricks, houses on top of houses, on top of houses, all poorly built.

Then you arrive to the final stop atop the hill. And its not like in North American cities where the main attraction is conveniently located steps away from the subway station. Here you have to walk a few blocks to get to the library, and on the way, from a pedestrian viewpoint, interact with the locals. And you realize that these people are for the most part nice people too, just like you, that unfortunately happen to have a much less privileged way of life, but that also laugh, walk their streets, and smoke cigarettes in the corner while having a cup of coffee.

Keep an eye out for the next post in Javier’s Colombia series.

On January 25 – 26th , Hermann & Audrey was invited to create a photography exhibit that tied seamlessly into the five&dime booking games, Ontario’s premier action sport and street culture trade show, hosted at the Sound Academy.

“Keeping the convenience alive, five&dime [brought] the fashion industry together with like-minded culture based vendors in a two-day, one-night meet and greet.”

The collab is thanks in part to Mike Poole and Jason Eano (A Typical Collective), our close friends and partners. Thanks to their great relationship with the crew over at five&dime, we were able to reach a section of the community we normally wouldn’t have access to.

Excerpt and post images by Cory Vanderploeg

Javier recently returned from three weeks of travel in his home country: Colombia. Here are a few of his images and thoughts about his experience.

Colombia is an interesting place. So much is said about it in the news, and yet so little. After almost 7 years of absolute absence, I was finally able to see it in a new light. My love/hate relationship with my home country had started to shift towards the side of love. Now I feel an urge to go there and explore its rhythms and culture. Expose not only the country’s problems, but celebrate its uniqueness and humor. Amidst an incredibly complicated political situation, a daily life full of violence and despair, Colombians have figured out a way to smile, and smile lots.

Some of the things I find most interesting are people’s occupations. In Colombia everything is a business, and I mean EVERYTHING. Here are a few examples.

1. Typewriters: Near government buildings or plazas, you can find gentlemen that would typewrite for their customers anything ranging from love letters to official documents. All they need is a handwritten note, or a dictation, and they whip up a perfectly typed letter for you.

2. Cellphone Minutes: At any streetlight, busy intersection, or park (basically anywhere), you can find a person that would sell cellphone minutes. Since not everybody has access to cellphones, these individuals buy the cheapest plan from each of the different carriers so that they can provide you with as many options as possible. They tie their cellphones to their belts, and go around recruiting happy customers that are in need of making a last minute call. Cost per minute: $200 pesos (or 10¢).

3. Mangoes: Mango is delicious. But green mango (with a higher level of acidity) with a little bit of salt, pepper, and lime juice, is a delicacy. You can usually find a mango seller with their little carts or trays in parks. They cut them fresh (although they don’t wash them very well and I once found myself a little sick after indulging), and spice them up. The perfect afternoon snack.

4. Portable Convenience Store: You can buy cigarettes by the unit, a pack of chips, gum, sometimes even boiled eggs. Like this gentleman, there is a plethora of street vendors that carry a wide selection of snacks. Not everybody has the great system of placing all their merchandise in a grocery cart, which allows for easy displacement and transportation.

5. Last but not least: The Hat Man. I found this gentleman in the city of Medellin. In this region hats are a very traditional accessory, especially this type of handwoven hat. This gentleman’s business was to walk around the Parque de Antioquia selling them to passers-by (e.g. tourists, city officials, and distressed traditional men). He was a sweet man, and that little kid decided it was a great idea to help him rearrange his inventory.

Keep an eye out for the next post in Javier’s Colombia series.

Javier’s normally organized and thorough exploration of the thematic and approach of a photoshoot was thrown a curve ball when the unexpected occurred: He and Ryan (Creative Director for Filler Magazine) had three hours to concept and produce a shoot scheduled for nine a.m the following day.

The styling was inspired by what was going on in international runways – a structured life in monochrome. For the shots Jav wanted to contrast and compliment the tonal differences and structure of the pieces with the natural elements found on the location (found on a field trip at midnight).

“David (Elmer Olsen) had this very strong persona in front of the camera – a lot of presence – which was enhanced by the strong choices Tricia Campbell (Ford Artists) made for wardrobe,” Javier said. “We decided on a whim with Ryan to go with this powerful, iconic imagery.”

“There’s this sort of Citizen Kane feel with some military influence. He’s lonely but in full control of his surroundings – the only person there, the last man standing.”

Love creative risk (especially when it’s successful like this).

To see the complete story visit Filler

Javier brought this to our attention yesterday. A brilliant example of great art and raw creativity by japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka for Hermès.

A natural progression from photography is the evolution into motion – bringing still images to life.

Like his partners at Hermann & Audrey, Javier shares a deep passion for film, and increasingly has been expanding his creativity in this arena. In February of this year Javier worked alongside Lawrence Williams on a “high profile documentation” called Choleric, the artistic brain child of sculpstist and installation artist Richard Stipl. “Stipl wanted to have a video that served as an art piece and as a showcase of the installation at the same time. It was up to Lawrence and I to come up with a visual solution for him” says Javier.

“It’s supposed to be creepy,” Javier explained. “A lot of the thematics Richard works with feel like the result of a nuclear fallout.” The awe-inspiring post-apocalyptic set, according to Javier, takes up a four and half by ten foot space. It’s an original installation by Stipl which features wax sculptures (hyenas and self portraits), and a painting that acted as the background for the piece.

Although the film has a distinct “stop-motion” quality, the final effect acheived is more fluid – a liquid in and of itself.

“We were treating the still camera as though it were a cinematic motion camera,” Lawrence explained. “Jav walked around shooting bursts of stills and I ‘hand-stitched’ them together.”

An unanticipated result, the filming technique has a choppy, disjointed effect, as though the viewer is “sniffing around” its surroundings.

The idea behind the technique, Lawrence continued, was to create something that looked as though they’d been using either really sophisticated digital equipment or really old school optical equipment; to maintain the dynamic range and ensure the finished product looked “kinda creepy”.

Mark Stuart, a sound engineer working in film and television, provided clips for the soundtrack, which Williams manipulated to fit with the aesthetic of the timeline: “He was the composer, and I did the mix”.

The mysterious nature of this stop motion inspired technique combined with Mark’s haunting track illustrate Javier’s and William’s vision to mirror the dark, shadowy drama and complex emotion evoked by Richard’s work. In Javier’s own words, “The whole thing is weird.”

Visit Lawrence’s website to see what he is currently up to.

The public’s fascination with learning the intimate details of the lives of others has lately, from a humble observer, been edging toward a greater emphasis and attention to satisfy society’s need to understand what inspires and captivates creative minds.

Audiences have developed this insatiable desire to see and understand what makes creative people…well… creative.

We aspire to dissect these individuals, deconstruct them into easily digestible pieces, to mould this insight to fit our own lives.

It is an innate curiosity, to uncover the process that makes up a “creative’s” talent – what are they listening to, inspired by, who are they wearing, socializing with, living amongst.

During what can almost be considered a cultural renaissance emerges a new breed of celebrity – one who acts as curator, collector and critic. They base their cultural relevancy on their almost prized ability to expose the minute esoterica of creative people. The likes of the Satorialist (http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/), the many incarnations of ‘Street Style’, Tommy Ton (http://jakandjil.com/), the Selby (www.theselby.com) and on. We look to their keen eye to lead our interpretations of what is authentically cool and illustrate to us how creative people are integrating those elements into their lives.

The ‘fashionation’ with deconstructing the elements that create genius has been around for ages. Many works have uncovered the mysteries behind the talent of such minds as Andy Warhol, Coco Chanel, and Diane Arbus – those works in turn offering inspiration to the people striving to unleash their own creative endeavours. Great art always inspires new art.

However, this preoccupation has taken a deeper hold of the public’s attention in a way far different than it once did.

As the creative pool stretches further, deeper, and broader, we require guidance to filter and assess what is genuinely innovative/unique/fashionable, the very service that these popular critics offer.

In our quest for unabridged individualism and uniqueness, we look at the creative leaders and innately creative people through the lens of these cultural guides. Hmm… disconnect?

And with their power to sufficiently dissect each creative brain into something far more digestible and attainable to the average consumer, brands are increasingly latching onto this societal curiosity, engaging said guides in their endeavours to reach an even wider audience – i.e. The Satorialist for Burberry (http://artofthetrench.com/), and the Selby for Nike (http://www.nike.com/nikeos/p/nke6/en_US/apparel#/Michel-Bourez).

The below: ION the Street, ION magazine #57, by Javier Lovera.

For those who don’t know, Javier’s series From Russia with Love, was among the few chosen as winner for the 2009 Applied Arts Award for Photography/Illustration.

“This shoot was done using original and vintage Russian military apparel. The idea was to rid them from all their political baggage, and instead allow them to be just objects, used in a humorous, light, and beautiful way. Ugly pretty things from Russia with Love.” – Lovera

Along with his fellow recipients work, check out the award winning series at the Applied Arts Winners Exhibition on November 6^th, 10 to 3, at Studio 1 (9 Davies Avenue, Suite 201).

Here are some more images from the series. To see the entire edit visit http://jlyphoto.com or visit our website