Category — javier lovera

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.

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

Check out the latest fashion video editorial directed by Javier Lovera. Published in the Fall issue of Filler Magazine – http://fillermagazine.com/.

The viewer is instantly struck by the dangerous elegance that permeates Javier Lovera’s ‘Celluloid Dolls’;  two women embodying all that is sinister and lovely. The coquettish way in which his subjects scorn the scattered film reminds the viewer that long dead are the days of female derogation—and even though they’re both wearing heels, they will drop-kick your ass if you say otherwise.

Check out the summer issue of Z!NK Canada, or go to http://jlyphoto.com to see more of these  women in action.