Fashion Editorial – Elegance in Waiting

Photographer & Creative Director: Luca Giorgio @immortalmask
Model: Jessica Witkowski @jesswitkowski – Fenton Models
Wardrobe: Dress – Delpozo
Bathing suit – Shan
White top – Ann Demeulemeester

About Luca Giorgio
Canadian artist Luca Giorgio was drawn to the world of photography not by a fascination with cameras but by the intoxicating lifestyle of high-end fashion and the ability to produce art through movement and people. After attaining a business degree with a focus in Marketing, Luca traveled to Beverly Hills and Europe. He was intrigued by the brief connection he was able to make with every single model he worked with. Truth be told, every female model he worked with almost felt as if he was having a deep connection with the model as if the model would lower their guard and show their true self.

Jessica Fenton by Luca Giorgio

“I started taking pictures of the best models possible, even well before I connected with World Class agencies; I circled the globe to cities such as New York, Miami, & Los Angeles photographing Beautiful Women and for a living.
Luca soon developed a style all his own. “ I always look for a confident subject, with something unique and striking in their eyes, someone who enjoys the artistic process as much as I do so the powerful determination from us both helps create the masterpiece.”

Something he does that is not so common for photographers is working with extreme color pallets. “ Most artists are afraid to manipulate color, black and white are boring to me, it’s too amateur, and to common. Working as a digital artist, the basic steps we take is to grayscale everything – but you are only a master when you can work in the dimension of color. Color truly moves the eyes, and using it in the right away can make a subject pop like you have never seen before. After all, our job is to be unique and engaging with viewers.”

Luca Prepares meticulously for his shoots but only uses mood boards as a minor guide. He likes to vibe with the energy of the subject to better the original concept and stay in the moment sculpting better imagery. ”Once I’m on set, my eyes are open, I’m at the moment and the adventure begins.”

Story
The story and inspiration behind the looks were to capture the essence of an elegant female waiting for her man, but at the same time acting as if she really was disinterested because she needed to wait so long. This is something that happens quite often in the real world but rarely do I ever hear women openly talk about it. Usually the male or female of a relationship is either poor with time management, a social butterfly or a people pleaser. This often keeps their significant loved one waiting around at some public event. I took the scenario of a formal event and had my model act accordingly to simulate the situation.

Difficulties of this Project
Challenges for the full-length dress is obvious, anytime a model is wearing heels and trying to comfortably sit on a soft surface such as a couch, it proves to be thought-provoking with how to keep the model comfortable and not awkward. I wanted this image to have a clean and simple backdrop so keeping the use of the brown couch and giant wall clock played a big role. I used them to push the red color of the dress forward to the viewer and have the facial expressions be more noticed.

Working with Lush bath bombs turned out to be a huge flop as the concentration of the contents did not create a silky water once the tub was full. Our solution was using a thick coffee creamer mixed with warm water. I know what you are thinking, a girl in watery coffee creamer? It works though!

The challenge for the bathtub scene was to have enough contrast between the water and the body to create an elegant soft silhouette while making sure the model did not look amputated or irregular while keeping the same visual feeling of the other 2 outfits. Getting the right angle when working in a bathroom can be a nightmare. There’s little space, so I was balanced on a tall chair while being held by a friend of mine and ensuring the camera was totally parallel to the model from the aerial view.

LUCA GIORGIO – THE PARAGON

Article Published by F-stop Fm.

Say hello to Luca :

What’s your favorite place in the world?

Every place has its ups and downs – I truly believe that the grass isn’t greener on the other side as my father always said. I love each place for different reasons, and I dislike each place for others. London, England has highly sophisticated people and is rich with architectural beauty, in contrast to the beautiful landscapes that come from Thunder Bay, which has the cleanest air to breathe. I leave a piece of me everywhere I go so I can’t play favorites.

What’s on your “bucket list” of ideas to create?

Most of my ideas come based on situations, so I never keep a bucket list to keep my mind thinking outside of the box. My ideas tend to be jumbled in my mind at all times, not knowing a completed concept until I sculpt the final piece. I use the word sculpt because that is my process. I take ideas and mold them into better iterations, whether it be using my camera or a ball of clay. A color concept or clothing piece can change gradually towards the finished product. Ideas are forever changing, but they land in interesting places using both structured art direction mixed with creative intuition.

How do you find your inspiration?

I enjoy working with personalities and outfits that can bring out something unique from that person. I relate to the subject and really get to know them rather than just shoot a professional standing object.

What response do you hope to evoke from viewers of your work?

Professionalism and first class talent branding.

Your artistic talents aren’t limited to photography – tell us about your other mediums of artistic expression.

My other mediums are sculpting and painting – both traditional and digital, music (drumming and percussion), illustration and graphic design, makeup FX and custom prosthetics, and airbrushing. I aim to combine these skills whenever possible.

Tell us about your career. How did you get into it?

I have always been an artist at heart – it just took time and exploration before I decided to continue a cinematographic approach to my business ventures. Studying at VanArts helped me explore other art mediums, but when I was mentored in Calabasas, California, I already felt that I had the skills all along and needed to up my hustle.

What types of photography do you do?

I enjoy fashion photography and working with people because I can actually improve the shots based on my creative direction, whereas you can’t really improve a car shot unless the car is already awesome. Building model portfolios from scratch is ideal for me – finding a unique beauty on the streets and showing them that they have a side they might not have even known about.

What is the strangest situation you’ve ever faced as a photographer?

My camera stopped focusing one day after a while during the shoot. A tiny bug crawled across my lens from the inside – I still to this day have no idea how it would have gotten inside as I keep a close eye on my equipment.

What has been your biggest setback as a photographer?

I expand on this elsewhere, but essentially, the small demand for photo professionals in my hometown made it difficult to choose this as a potential career over the many hobbyists.

Photography is competitive. How do you stand out?

I worry about my own vision and I do not directly copy others. I use a combination of makeup FX and airbrushing to design on people as my canvas. I have a certain intuition and aura that is unique to me and helps my models receive a vibe that most cannot offer.

What is the best thing a model can do to make the most of a photoshoot?

1. Be pre, pre, pre, prepared – I say pre so many times to stress how important every inch of your preparation is with the photographer.
2. Ensure a variety of unique outfits.
3. Be relaxed and vibe well with the photographer.
4. Detail yourself including nails, ironed clothing, and a fresh cut.

What’s your philosophy when it comes to being a great photographer?

A photographer is you – the person, personality, the energy. Not the camera.

What’s a deal breaker for you when deciding to do a shoot?

Too much ego that they think they are good enough to shoot with only big-name photographers – worst attitude any model can have.

How do you bring out your model’s personality in a shoot?

I am a natural leader, model coach and people person who is true to myself and true to the people I interact with. I am extremely blunt and honest. Most respect that and what is on my mind. This is how I differ from the fake, drama queen, and wannabe photographers.

What do you think is the biggest thing holding you back in your photography?

How other photographers and businesses try to hold secrets or instead of working together to increase the demand for art-related services. The decline in demand for professional photographers in smaller cities hurts because of the politics surrounding them. Everyone thinks a mobile phone camera is their answer to photo taking, when I believe there is a time and experience received when hiring the right person for the job. The cost factor hurts people as well, but it is based on their psychological perspective. Someone may put the price of a tattoo as priority in their mind over a good photographer who will do much more for them than just take photos.

How do you express yourself through your photography?

Most of my art is an expression of myself, but I find when working with people, it is more about their feelings and expression that I care about and aim at.

What’s the most inspiring photo you’ve ever seen?

The photos taken where a model is on top of a mountain with a long swaying dress, almost like she is about to fall off the mountain, but is managing to hold the perfect pose.

What are 3 tips you have for aspiring models?

1. Know your potential. Don’t listen to everyone on this, listen to the right people and be true to yourself.
2. Play your strengths, don’t focus on all your weaknesses.
3. Choose a commercial or editorial path and know your looks and which area you will succeed in.

What kind of gear do you have?

Gear is irrelevant to the success of your individuality as a photographer.

What’s one lighting tip you’d like to share with other photographers?

Practice everything to know the results.

What’s one post-processing tip you’d like to share with other photographers?

The best digital retouching techniques are not found on Youtube or through tutorials, they are found by working on digital art projects and creatively finding new solutions over many different art projects. So put the time in and you’ll figure out your own secrets. You can always start off with other people’s processes, but I think it’s ideal to have your own.

Do you have any projects you’d like to show off?

The projects I like to show off usually involve my makeup FX since I can really combine my art skills with my photo-taking abilities. It also makes me very unique to the industry.

What is your most life-changing event?

I truly believe there are many life changing events that correspond to big changes – however, I would say choosing to leave my small hometown in Canada and going all into a private art school (Vancouver School of Media Arts) on the other side of the country was the best thing to push my outside-of-the-box thinking as well as my independence from family and friends. It is one of the first times I took a leap of faith, not knowing what a huge sacrifice could bring me if I just followed my heart.  

Stephan Pearce was one of the educators at VanArts who got me to be in touch with myself enough to figure out that I was able to define which art medium helped me produce my visions. That was Sculpting or the process of consistent iterations using shape and form.

Many of the people from my hometown are “tradesmen” and would call the artistry field something that would make you broke, which turned out to not be true at all.

What has photography done for you as a person? How has it changed you?

Photography allows me to use both soft skills and interpersonal skills, while also apply my fine-tuned creative and art skills both behind the camera and in post-production on a computer. For me, that is life balance, and being able to maximize your potential happiness and strengths is important.

What’s something no one knows about you that you’d like to share?

I am extremely skilled with competitive video gaming. Every year, I place the top 50 in the world for the Playstation  NHL online ranked competition. It is ironic since people of my hometown of Thunder bay are all hockey fanatics and brew some of the top hockey players in the world like Eric Staal, Marc Staal, Taylor Pyatt, Patrick Sharp andMatthew Murray.

What’s one of your biggest fears?

Not living the life I wanted, but living as others wanted for me.

EMPATHY: ONE OF THE KEYS TO BUSINESS SUCCESS

Article by Gary V.

Empathy. It’s one of the biggest things to which I attribute my success. It’s the reason I believe that I am one of the great salespeople out there. What a lot of people don’t understand about empathy is that it’s not just about being caring, but it’s also the ability to understand people on a higher level. It has allowed me to easily create mutually beneficial relationships in both business and my personal life.

Sometimes being empathetic can be confusing. You might ask yourself, “Am I being empathetic because I care or am I being empathetic because I know being understanding will give me leverage in the situation? The answer is both. Being good is always the best option. But I’m not gonna lie either: giving a shit is a real thing and gives you the chance to make your relationships mutually beneficial.

Being empathetic has led me to the two pillars that I believe have allowed me to build multi-million dollar businesses: (1) sales and (2) being a HR-driven CEO.

USING EMPATHY TO MAKE THE SALE

Whether you’re a salesperson, an operator, or a businessperson, if you can understand what the other person is thinking and what their goals are, you can reverse engineer those aims and map it back to your goals too. That knowledge sets you up to win. You’ll both win.

The best salespeople are the ones who realize the incredible power of empathy and can understand the other party without them explicitly stating it. For instance, the majority of my clients’ representatives (in corporate America) won’t say what they really want in a meeting. Empathy allows me to figure out what they are actually trying to accomplish. I know that when a client’s brand manager says they want “more likes on Facebook,” not only does that mean they want to blow their competition out of the water on a corporate level, but they are also looking to advance their own career via my successful strategies.

My understanding of this allows me to not only help their brand reach their KPIs and helps VaynerMedia maintain a happy client, but also sets the brand manager I worked with for a promotion. If you can understand the client or consumer, you can use that knowledge to provide the most value possible to both sides.

BE EMPATHETIC TO YOUR CONSUMERS

B2C companies can utilize empathy just as successfully as a B2B company. In order to sell a product, don’t you also have to be understanding of your consumers’ needs? For example, when designing a digital product, user experience (UX) designers should be empathetic to their end user in creating responsive and mobile friendly designs. Whether that means allowing users to customize their experiences within an app or moving a button to an easier to reach location, the best products take the consumers’ needs into account.

Not only is empathy important during the business’ inception and product creation process, but it continues to be essential throughout the lifecycle of the business. If you’re empathetic to why somebody doesn’t want to buy your product, and there are enough people expressing the same issue, you will understand how you need to adjust to boost sales. Customer service is also completely based on empathizing with the customer. There’s nothing that turns a consumer off more than a poor customer service experience and nothing that keeps customers coming back like excellent customer service. Businesses love to say that the customer is always right, but their actions need to reciprocate that statement.

Businesses love to say that the customer is always right, but their actions need to reciprocate that statement.

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INCLUDE EMPATHY IN YOUR HR STRATEGY

Empathy is also the key to leading VaynerMedia’s successful growth, while also maintaining a corporate culture that people want to be a part of. When you go from 40 to 600+ employees in the past few years like VaynerMedia has, it’s the EQ that helps that culture survive. It’s not a “2-week vacation policy” or office perks. It’s the human part of it. It’s the reason I consider myself a HR-driven CEO.

To be a great leader, you have to be a great listener. If there’s an issue, you need to be able to figure out what the problem actually is in order to solve it, even if an employee doesn’t communicate it directly. You have to be able to empathize with them. Not only have I relied on this trait for the success and retention in both of my businesses, but I also hire for it because I know empathy is what makes a great manager.

Empathy is also what allows me to motivate each of my employees. I don’t manage any single one of them the same way. You need to be able to figure out what actually drives them. Are they here for the money? Is work-life balance more important? Do they care about job titles? Are they happy in their vertical?

To be a great leader, you have to be a great listener.

Empathy has allowed me to turn potential clients into actual clients and almost anyone into a friend. But, I’ll be honest, the tactics behind being more empathic is something I can’t really teach step by step. It’s just part of my DNA and something that has always come naturally to me. But, I like to think that everyone has it at some level. I can tell you tactically how to buy Snapchat filters for brand equity or who to target with Facebook ads, but it’s harder to describe how to become self-aware or more empathetic. (Well, at least I haven’t figured it out yet.)

The best advice I have for you is this: LISTEN. Pay attention to everyone you interact with and be an active consumer of humans. Try to surround yourself with people who are massively empathetic and put it into practical use. Don’t talk, just listen.

I’ll wrap up this article by deploying some more empathy. I’m very aware that 99% of you reading this think that I’m a “mouth,” but I promise you, that I’m an ear disguised as a mouth.

Mobile Apps Evolution, A Blast from the Past

Have you ever wondered how some of the most widely used apps started out?

Or what they looked like in those early stages?

Here are some phase prototypes.

 

Snapchat 2012

This was a much simpler version of Snapchat, where the only thing you could do is send timed snaps and draw on them.

 

In the early days they were calling it Pictaboo - explains why the logo is a ghost.

Pictaboo launched in July 2011. By the summer it only had 127 users.

In fall of 2011, the name was changed to snap chat while a founder was kicked out of the company due to equity concerns. During the coming school year, the App users spiked to 1000 people. They learned that high school kids enjoyed the app because of past experiences with photos that landed on the internet and caused them grief. Currently, Snapchat is the third most popular social media app.

 

 

Instagram 2011:

Originally, a distinctive feature was that it confined photos to a square shape, similar to Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid images, in contrast to the 4:3 aspect ratio typically used by mobile device cameras. In August 2015, version 7.5 was released, allowing users to post photos captured in any aspect ratio.

From the very beginning, Instagram was set to be a success story. In fact, it had 1 million users just 2 months after its launch and it kept on growing ever since. Instagram knew how to continually improve itself adding new features and new photo effects. Instagram may have made a place for itself that will last for many years to come.

 

 

Shazam 2010

This music discovery software was one of the first to listen to music and tell you what song you are hearing.

Shazam launched in 2002, four years before Apple's iPhone invented the app economy. Unlike most companies that pioneer a concept before users adapt, Shazam survived. A decade ago, its U.K. only service relied on text messaging to send back song identifications. The company stayed small and lean for its first few years -- then took off when smartphones hit the scene.

 

 

WhatsApp 2011

WhatsApp is a versatile messaging platform that allows for calls, videos, photos and and easy way to find your contacts by your contact list -  all via a data or wifi connection.

Creators Acton and Koum made WhatsApp to be a company that doesn't care about advertising and making money off of your personal information. They made money from WhatsApp in two ways before selling the APP to Facebook late 2013. They charge iPhone users a one-time $.99 fee upon installation. They charge Android users $.99 every year after the first year. Lots of people have paid Acton and Koum $.99. 250 million people use WhatsApp every month because it is a simple and effective way of communicating.

 

Tinder: 2011-2013

Little did you know... Tinder started as a publication platform and failed to launch in 2012? Later in 2013, Tinder released their early dating app.

The app was founded by Sean Rad and Justin Mateen, a pair of 27-year-old entrepreneurs who “seeded” it in the University of Southern California with just 300 people. By the end of the week it had 1000 users and a new craze was born.

 

eBay 2008:

eBay sellers could now re-list or receive their eBay listing on the go, with this early version of the eBay Mobile App.

eBay was founded in Pierre Omidyar's San Jose living room back in September 1995. It was from the start meant to be a marketplace for the sale of goods and services for individuals.

With some of these versions looking rough around the edges, I am sure we will be shocked with current applications we are using now as we see them evolve over time.

10 Google Chrome Extensions That Will Change the Way You Surf the Internet

Since it started in 2008, Google Chrome has quickly risen to be the most popular web browser in the world, beating out Firefox and Internet Explorer.

But that doesn't mean you can't make it better.

There are many extensions and programs that innovative developers have built to make using Chrome more productive and more fun.

Honey

Honey Will Hunt Your Coupon Codes for you!         Install it Here!

When you’re shopping online you can almost always score a couple discount codes for a small percentage off a sale or free shipping. The problem is that you usually have to find those codes down and paste them in at checkout and deal with annoying pop ups. Honey removes that requirement, and automatically applies discount codes at the checkout for you so you don’t even have to think about it.

Chrome Remote Desktop

Chrome Remote Desktop allows users to remotely access another computer through Chrome browser or a Chromebook. Computers can be made available on an short-term basis  or on a more long-term basis for remote access to your applications and files. All connections are fully secured.

Noisli

Ambient sounds can help you stay focused when working at a computer. Noisli is a web app that allows you to create your own background noise. The extension no longer requires you to take up an extra tab to use anymore. Noisli lets you create your own combination of sounds and will let you set up a timer as a way to track your work.

 

LastPass

Lastpass is a favorite password managers because it’s free and easy to set up. With it, you’ll never have to remember a password again, and all your passwords will be synced up across your various devices. The nice thing is that you can do all kinds of cool things with Lastpass, so you’ll never get bored of it.

HTTPS Everywhere

HTTPS is a simple way to make internet browsing very secure, and HTTPS Everywhere is an extension that makes it so you don’t even have to think about it. With it, you’ll always visit the encrypted, secure version of a site whenever you type in the URL.

AdBlock Plus

AdBlock Plus is usually just seen as a tool to block annoying ads on web sites, but it’s a lot more than that. It’ll also protect your privacy from the internet, block other sections you want to hide such as Youtube comments, and even black malware.

Disconnect

Disconnect’s main purpose is simple: it blocks third-party tracking cookies. This means Disconnect blocks advertisers and social networks from tracking your browsing habits and viewing personal information. Security is a huge topic these days considering most online companies profit from peoples personal information. On top of that, Disconnect has all kinds of tricks up its sleeves, including the ability to tell if a site’s is legitimate.

 

Flix Plus

Flix Plus is an extension for tweaking Netflix.com. You can filter recommendations, remove spoilers for movies and TV shows, use keyboard shortcuts, view ratings from Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB, and a ton more. It also keeps Netflix rolls out updates of their own, so you can always have best possible movie-watching experience in a browser.

The Great Suspender

Having a bunch of tabs open in your browser is a resource slug, and if you’re not careful you can slow your system to crawl. The Great Suspender takes care of this problem by automatically suspending tabs you’re not using so they don’t use up CPU. This isn't the only tab cleaning option, but it’s one of the most useful.

Hover Hound

Computer hardware is always changing in price, so you always want to ensure you’re buying at the best deal you can find. The Hover Hound extension compares prices with companies such as Newegg, Tigerdirect and Amazon with just a hover of your mouse cursor. You can also view price history and see when prices were at their highest and lowest at each location.

To conclude it should be mentioned that these extensions are absolutely free so go try them out and leave us some feedback below.