FRESH PHOTO | Mad Men Photo Booth

If you're planning on donating your time to a fundraising event, I suggest becoming a professional photographer and setting up a vintage-styled living room scene. It really is the best! I had so much fun at the Mad Men event last weekend simply standing behind the camera and posing people for maximum hamminess. The funniest part? The way all of these adults thought candy cigarettes were the coolest thing ever. If their kids only knew.

furniture provided by Adam of Main St. Modern
photos by me for my photography business, Fresh Photo

Inspired By: Linda McCartney

In the 1960's, Linda Eastman See was working her way through a crumbling marriage and a tedious desk job at Town & Country magazine. After catching a break on board a yacht for a promotion party for the Rolling Stones, Linda started her photography career as she was the only unofficial photographer on board. A popular groupie, and suddenly a professional photographer, Linda often mixed with the likes of Janis Joplin and the Beatles.

In 1969, Paul McCartney and Linda were married, starting a romantic life together that ended with Linda's death in the '90s. Throughout the years of their marriage, Linda continued to work as a professional photographer and activist, all the while capturing intimate moments and home and with friends.

Looking through Linda's photographs, it's really easy to imagine sipping smoothies with the McCartney's, playing with their dogs in the country, and listening to the band practice. Such beautiful moments- I'm sure their family cherishes them even more than the rest of the world.

first photo by  Alain DeJean | other photos by Linda McCartney | images via every day I show

Well I'll be! You were absolutely right.

Remember when I posted these photos and you astutely pointed out how much this friend looks like James Dean on the bongos? The next time I saw my friends, they totally, emphatically agreed. And when I stumbled on this photo of James Dean. With bongos. (You know, just during one of those afternoons when I'm perusing the internet for James Dean photos.... heh). My jaw dropped. By golly, you were right!

Inspired By: Robert Frank

It was 1958 when Swiss photographer Robert Frank published his photobook, The Americans. His style was fresh and his photos blatant in their character. The success and artistic acceptance of his book forever changed the future of photography. However, it had an rather embarrassing effect on a lot of self-respecting Americans of the '50s. Children running about in dirty clothes, threadbare and patched American flags hanging haphazardly, and social segregation seeming altogether too common.

Through the eras of art, especially in the past 200 years, there has been a friction between realism and other styles, such as impressionism or surrealism. Normal Rockwell often gets a bad rap for his realistic painting style that features romanticised content so typical of the early twentieth century. His style of painting seemed no longer socially relevant in the post war era of social change. Similarly to Rockwell, Robert Frank's content is very Americana, but as an outsider, his photographs captured things they way they actually were, without posing models or arranging props. It was the realism Americans were ready for, without any of the smoke and mirrors.

photos via The Art Site UCSC & The Motart