Rise up Take the power back

My friend Jackie just posted this article and last week I saw the video of Tim Gunn posted below, it got me thinking I should write a bit of a post about bullying and share my thoughts on the subject. Since my blog is getting a lot of attention this week for Philadelphia Fashion Week posts it seemed like a good time to mix in something for people to read.




To those kids out there in high-school land being bullied, hang in there. It's tough I know, but in the end it all does come around. You will almost never read a bio about a rockstar, actor/actress, supermodel, fashion designer, artist, film director, that wasn't bullied in high school. The people that shape and mold the very culture we live in today; were 9 times out of 10 bullied in high school. They pick on you for not being the norm, sometimes that comes from just being mean spirited, sometimes it's THEM trying to fit in with their own group of friends, sometimes it's just ignorance, and sometimes, often, it's jealousy. It's people who are expected to be the norm (by friends, family, etc) and feel trapped in the fact that they aren't allowed to be different; lashing out at those who are.

Creative people, gay/strait, non conformists, Goths, Punks, Artsy types, often times models, obviously photographers, tend to strive to be unique; and unique means you're not like everyone else. PRIDE YOURSELF ON THAT! While in a culture of high school it's hard to be different, uniqueness isn't respected or desired, you just have to know in your heart, that you don't want to be like them, you have more to offer the world then that.

I wasn't bullied in High school, but in Middle school I was all the time. 8th Grade was particularly helllacious, and to make matters worse I was pretty much bullied by what was technically my own circle of friends. I remember one day in science class someone stood up for me. I was being picked on and Bill Duff (who is still one of my friends) stepped in and told the kid off, threatened him and he never picked on me again. Bill was my hero that day and has since become a hero to many others; playing in the NFL, acting, and as co-host on the History Channel's show "Human Weapon". I guess if you're going to have someone step in and fight for you, a Human Weapon is the way to go. Highly recommend that.

In high school I wasn't bullied, here's why.... Most of my graduating class were friends with each other, my friends and I were metalhead/musician /rocker types so we naturally gravitated toward the older musician rocker types in our school. We became friends with all the upper classman and they looked out for us. Only time anyone ever picked on me my friend Derrick Matina (huge tough long hair guy you didn't want to fuck with) stepped in and nearly through the kid through a locker. I always had people looking out for me, it always meant a lot. When I got into my sophomore year, etc, I always made friends with the incoming class, passed it along. My circle had grown into their own as future rock-stars and although we weren't "the cool kids", jocks or anything like that, we still had respect and we're friends with all the cool kids despite us not wanting to fit in with them.

Once out of school I found the Goth Scene, and always strived to repeat the same patterns... get to know the old school, raise the new school. Learning the ropes and then passing them along to the next generation. I've always done this and feel like it's one of the reasons I've always been surrounded by friends. If you're in middle or high school right now and feel like there's no one like you, take a look around, every class seems to have some outcasts, gays, lesbians, goths, punks, artsy types; your looking at the worlds future rockstars, directors, supermodels, fashion designers, fashion elite, superstars... go meet them, get to know the people in the grade above you, below you, ban together and unite.

For those of you out there who see bullying in schools, step in. Do something about it if you're one of the cool kids, tough kids, out cast yourself, help out those who need it. You'll never stop kids from being assholes, but you sure can put a stop to that one kid picking on that other one, and that's all that matters.

Uprising - Muse

The paranoia is in bloom, the PR
The transmissions will resume
They'll try to push drugs
Keep us all dumbed down and hope that
We will never see the truth around

(So come on)

Another promise, another scene, another
A package not to keep us trapped in greed
With all the green belts wrapped around our minds
...and endless red tape to keep the truth confined

(So come on)

They will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They will not control us
We will be victorious

Interchanging mind-control come let the
Revolution take its toll if you could
Flick the switch and open your third eye, you'd see that
We should never be afraid to die

(So come on)

Rise up and take the power back, it's time that
The fat cats had a heart attack, you know that
Their time is coming to an end, we have to
Unify and watch our flag ascend

(So come on)

They will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They will not control us
We will be victorious

(So come on)

(Oi) x3
(Oi) x4
(Oi) x4

They will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They will not control us
We will be victorious

(So come on)

Philadelphia Fashion Week (Day 2) -The future

I’ve always felt that Philadelphia Fashion Week, being somewhat new to the scene , has a challenging but exciting opportunity in front of it. New York has always been the place for the world’s eyes to converge when it comes to releasing new collections and promoting this billion dollar Industry. Philadelphia, although a hop skip and jump from NYC, was largely ignored. Over the past few years I’ve as a fashion photographer in Philadelphia my biggest challenge was always finding clients willing to hire outside NYC to shoot things like magazine spreads, look books, web content, catalog, ad campaigns; the bread and butter of a fashion photographers existence just simply didn’t have a huge market in Philly. Most of the larger designers here; Nicole Miller, Sailor Jerry, Urban Outfitters , Anthropologie, etc all tended to shoot in NYC. The magazines tended to use NYC models and getting to be one of the Photographers for Philadelphia magazine or Philly Style just seemed nearly impossible. I’ve often joked that I’ll be published in Italian Vogue before Philly Style returns my email. .. But with Philadelphia Fashion Week 2010 it seems like all that could change, and change quickly.



PFW has an opportunity to showcase up and coming superstars and position themselves (To NYC and the rest of the world) as the place to really find what’s happening before it happens. To make the discovery.



Last year one of the designers that showcased at PFW 2009 was S Love clothing, who later changed their name to just Sally Lapointe. Sally is an NYC designer and she chose PFW for her first debut of her collection; this year she premiered the 2010 collection at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in NYC. She got amazing press coverage, was on NY Mag.com’s 9 designers to watch list, all over youtube, etc. She’s really blowing up. It all started in Philadelphia.



I think as the event grows, the bigger magazines, buyers, showrooms, and design houses will start to realize that Philadelphia is where you go to truly see what’s next. The Collections and talent start here and if you weren’t there to see it, you’re just behind the times, which in fashion is death.



Unlike MBFW, Philadelphia has everyone localized in one place. You aren’t going to miss some hot new line because Zac Posen or Chanel did their show at the same time across town, which is what happens in NYC every year.

Last night’s show was amazing. The models from Wilhelmina ALL were spot on perfect, everyone walk by every model was just great. The makeup, hair, styling all amazing as they owned the runway.



The showcase last night featured designers from all the local fashion schools; Moore College, University of Delaware, Philadelphia University, Drexel University, and Art Institute of Philadelphia. Last spring I shot the senior shows for Drexel and Moore so those collections had some familiar pieces in them for me and some of the models, but for the audience obviously they were new. One after another these colleges provided amazing fashion, innovation, design and skill. My only real complaint was the anonymity of it all. At times it felt like the schools were being showcased more than the actual fashion designers because their names weren’t individually broadcast, which I am not really even sure how they COULD have done that with so many different designers, but it’s something to definitely work on for next year. While having every designer present and credited on the runway would be a logistical nightmare, not having them there just doesn’t seem right either because people that love the outfits don’t exactly know who designed it other than the college they attended. If you are a designer that showed last night and you find my photos on Facebook, PLEASE tag them!



Rather than post all my favorite moments due to not having all the designers names I’ve decided to just mix it up and show you highlight shots. Some of the designers I recognized having shot Moore and Drexel before, so Neel Elsherif, Leah Boston, Riona Faith O'Malley and Joanna Holmes (Whose outfits also appear on my newest flier – Shot of Masha and Alyson) were already credited online. NYC buyers, show rooms, magazines, stylists; if you’re reading this, you have an opportunity here in Philadelphia every year to see what’s next before your competition does, come down and see the Future of Fashion, where innovation, talent and overwhelming passion for this Industry is fresh, alive and setting the runway ablaze!

Philadelphia Fashion Week (Day 1) - Ican'thascheeseburger

The first night of Philadelphia Fashion Week 2010 went really well. I arrived early (2pm) as I am shooting for both Wilhelmina Philadelphia and for the event coordinators as a staff photographer for Philadelphia Fashion Week this year and I wanted to get a lay of the land, take some extra time to get comfortable just floating around the building, etc.

There’s a certain buzz you feel before an exciting event like this too, I love it.

I hung out with my PFW friends and Wilhelmina family, made the chit-chat, talked up the new site a bit (I just redid fashionandadvertising.com, go check it out --- BRAND NEW STUFF!!) and showed off the new postcards I had just picked up from M3Printing (great job guys!)

Smoked a bunch of cigarettes.
Lamented about the apparent lack of Cheeseburger sliders this year.
Then the doors opened and the crowds started to gather.

First up was Delicious Boutique, who I guess I’ve been shooting since 2002 so I was kinda glad I got to warm up with someone I already knew really well. The models looked awesome and as always Delicious collections are impressive. If you haven’t been to their store in Northern Liberties you really should go. While you’re there, also get your hair did by Camille at DNA Salon and some fudge from the candy store, but I am going off topic. The Delicious show concluded with a military style inspired jumpsuit with a bunny ear hoodie. I gotta say, kinda liked it.

Next up was Lolliepop, whose collection was a mix of Denim pieces, jackets, skirts, etc. Generally speaking I hate denim, but some of these were done extremely well and in innovative ways that made me actually like them. The outfit that Kel Taylor was wearing was definitely a standout for me and actually took denim to an editorial fashion feel.

Ban Thor Phan and Kampanart Buahombora were up next with a heavily Middle Eastern/ Indian inspired collection modernized for with a western fashion twist while still holding strong to the inspiration. My favorites here were modeled by Donald Letts and Jordana, who looked like a modern Egyptian Queen in her flowing cream toned dress.

Up next was a Aerial dance performance by the troupe “Junk”, not really my thing but while I was shooting I noticed the shadows on the wall they were creating were amazing so I started shooting them as well and gotta say I loved the results.

I try not to complain too much in these blogs, but yeah I got really bored as the break was a bit too long and the cheeseburger sliders were not in attendance. I smoked a bunch of cigarettes and did have a great time chatting with Anita (Wilhelmina) , her sister (whose name I forgot- DOH!), photographer Jenny, and Lisa Nocera (MUA). I think www.icanhascheeseburger.com should be a sponsor next year. Just saying and maybe those Hot pocket Mini burgers, or get the cheeseburger people from last year back.

After the break it was time for Arcadia & Bus Stop Boutiques, who started out with some rather sexy swimwear and shoes/boots from Bus Stop. More of this would be good. As a boutique the show didn’t have as much consistency of a label or line but all their pieces looked great. I loved some of the Knits and again Kel’s outfit rocked. It was hard to get a good angle to shoot the end looks of the runway due to heads in the front row, so for the shoes shots I mostly got walking stuff and kept the end of runway pose shots as close-ups.

Next up was Carmelita Couture, who was my favorite collection of the night and a great show closer. Modern, Urban, Hip, sleek, sexy and gaga-ish at times, this was a very wearable but impressive collection for those that want to buy some pieces with “oomph” that they’ll actually be able to wear out to places other than other fashion shows. The whole collection felt very Brooklyn meets Milan to me. The piece that didn’t fit too well with the cohesiveness of the collection was actually one of my favorites, the purple top/skirt that Masha wore was just striking and she was styled perfectly from head to toe to match.

Had a great time and can’t wait to see the students of Drexel University, Art Institute, Moore College, University of Delaware, Philadelphia University tomorrow. Remember the show is earlier at 5pm (4:45 doors) so get your tickets now at Philadelphiafashionweek.org and come say yo.

Bring Cheeseburgers for me please. K thx.

To view all the runway photos please visit :

http://www.fashionandadvertising.com/pfw/day1