Erleen Nada at Red Zebra

Last night was second Thursday, and you know that means it's Art Walk. It also means Robert Vargas and his infamous Red Zebra art mush-up on South Main.

This month's edition of Red Zebra spotlighted avant guard vocalists. Here's singer Erleen Nada belting it out for the party-goers.

For this next image, we just used a long exposure and let the floor disco strobe provide the multiple flashes.

Picture details: Nikon D70s w/Nikkor 18-70 f/3.5-4.5G ED. Top image: SB28 Speedlight, ISO 400 1/20 sec @ f/8; Bottom image: 3 sec @ f/11

Sana Smirnoff Portrait

Portrait of interior designer and performance artist Sana Smirnoff at Red Zebra. 

I had been asked by local artist and entrepreneur Robert Vargas to do some publicity shots for his monthly Red Zebra event, which is a kind of modern-day mashup of an artists' ball, dance club and  fashion show. The event used to be held in the basement of the Crocker Club in downtown LA, with a former bank vault as the backdrop. A couple of months ago Robert felt he needed more creative space, so he rented an empty storefront as a pop-up space and invited Sana to do the window dressing.

I had dragged some strobes and gels and whatnot along to try some offbeat lighting techniques of the event , but when I saw Sana doing her thing in the storefront window it was obvious that the natural lighting would be more than perfect.

Sana obliged for a series of poses and the results, I think, came out great.

Shot with available light, ISO 800, Nikon D70s w/Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED,  f/5.6 @ 1/15 sec.

Red Zebra

 

"The capacity to regress, more or less at will, to the games of the underground, without losing contact with the surface, seems to be the essence of the poetic, or any other form of creativity." - Arthur Koestler

 Nikon D1x w/Nikkor 18-70mm f3.5-5.6G ED