Faces of Addiction

Faces of Addiction by Chris Arnade is a personal photography project of such raw honesty and integrity that the portraits literally speak for themselves. The fact that Arnade is an ‘amateur’ only adds emphasis to my belief that great photographers are not pre-determined by their commercial markets so much as driven by their passion to produce arresting images no matter what
As Arnade says, these are “the stories of addicts in New York City – as they tell them to me. I am not a journalist,
I don’t verify, I just listen….Its very easy to ignore others. By not looking, by not talking to them, we can often fall into constructing our own narrative that affirms our limited world view. What I am hoping to do, by allowing my subjects to share their dreams and burdens and by photographing them with respect, is to show that everyone, regardless of their station in life, is as valid as anyone else”

Halloween 2012

Skateboarder

I don’t take as many stills as I want to now I’m more involved in film making but when I saw this skateboarder kid on a street near me I just had to snap his picture….The light wasn’t great and I could have easily talked myself out of the shot but sometimes instinct just compels me to push that shutter button..

Directing the Light Fantastic with Conrad Mess of Me.S.S. FilmMakers

Following on from an introduction at The Smalls Film Festival 2012, I’m excited to be working with the legendary Conrad Mess of Me.S.S. Film Makers on a new film project provisionally called ‘Dead End’ about lives tragically caught up in a ‘no win’, ‘dead end’ situation.
Conrad Mess is a prolific writer, international award winning director and short film maker who has just returned from filming Russian Roulette in Hollywood and is about to release his latest short The Asking Room.
What’s most interesting for me about Conrad (aka Luis Mieses) is that he has no formal training in film or photography but more important than any written qualification is his ability to see, feel and capture dramatic images with a cinematic vision that instinctively knows how to tell a great visual story…..I can’t wait to start shooting my friend!!!