Sting like a bee

Manipulating Glen Luchford's boxing kate image this Dec.26th:

"The man who has no imagination has no wings" Muhammad Ali

Observe. Slow Down. Shoot. Submit.

www.ishotkatemoss.com

From 58 images to 100 posts

To mark our 100th blog post we thought we would revisit the 58 selected images that launched the ishotkatemoss collage.

Zev Jonas' 58 images installed in his studio

These images were captured on film as in-camera montages of layered media we are surrounded by in public spaces.

"I am interested in how we exhibit, view and mass-produce images of each other and how these often carbon copied representations become individualized - by the effects of time and location - and interpreted. Looking towards the decay of a romantic portrayal of ourselves, I find a fascination with the distinct lack of control we have over what happens to images over time. As the human visage is constantly repeated, systemized and codified I believe that our perception is altered.

My vision regarding the presentation of these photographs was in a moving, changing and ever-growing collage – allowing for constant movement and change based on the speed of our interaction. I believe that if we slow down, particularly in today's fast-paced world of constant bombardment, we will experience and see the image, the change and the impact on ourselves so much more clearly. We experience one face in so many different forms and shapes that we become desensitized. As a result we stop seeing the transformation to who we are, beyond the superficial layers.

Some of Mr.Phomer's contributions

It was deemed that kate moss was the perfect subject to explore this theme given that her image is one of the most reproduced representations, used to market and commercialize the idea of beauty and now ‘art’, in modern history.

After being bombarded by the deteriorating wheat-paste posters and learning of the Christie’s auction I felt haunted and stalked by kate’s image. It became overbearing and I couldn’t stop seeing her ever-changing face. As I explored sources to express myself, I felt a frustration that there was not a coherent forum in which to discuss such a dialogue on the array of topics I believed relevant.

I felt that my own art was not, unto itself, a satisfactory outlet in which to address these issues as I wanted to, and feel as though I am being successful, in creating a conversation amongst and between the artist, the consumer and the viewer in all of us.

Am I a pretty girl? SpongeBob

The impact of societal expectations regarding celebrity, privacy, sexuality and commercialization I hope makes this blog’s dialogue relevant to all. Such a discussion is readily available given kate is the most recognizable model on the planet. The fact that she has been turned into an object of/for ‘art’ allows us to turn the conversation towards appropriation, copyright and artistic interpretation – thereby allowing art photography to respond to commercial photography. We are therefore writing about, while fostering, the practice of image making and the visual impact of the pictures on all of us." Zev Jonas

Observe. Slow Down. Shoot. Submit.

www.ishotkatemoss.com

Moisturize

A found crinkle kate:

Observe. Slow Down. Shoot. Submit.

www.ishotkatemoss.com

A supreme cult of personality

How hard do you need to try to get a submission into ishotkatemoss? We count more than 500 photos being taken in less than a minute:

Please note that the person in this video is not kate but someone apparently of great importance i.e. a celebrity who is, according to the providers of our news, a pal of kate and who "regularly parties in the same circles in London".

To be clear, it is our belief that all of the people were clamoring over themselves to get an image included in the iskm collage ... so without any further ado, and after all of that effort, here is the selected submission:

Congratulations paparazzi #3 for being chosen for your artistic efforts!

Of course paparazzi's want to Shoot.

Now, if we could just get them to SLOW DOWN and Observe something of relevance before Submitting.

www.ishotkatemoss.com

Obstinate, like a moss

Sent to iskm yesterday - originally from Phomer via The Poularde:

A brilliant intake and outtake from "habitual masticatory exercises"!

Observe. Slow down. Shoot. Submit.

www.ishotkatemoss.com

Thin

During an interview with a fashion magazine in 2009 when answering the question: "Do you have any mottos?" kate answered “Nothing tastes as good skinny feels”. Her response - quite rightly - spawned a slew of complaints from body image campaigners, who claimed that such a statement encouraged eating disorders.

While walking through the streets of NY last night, observing just protestors, something out-of-place was observed in a trash can.

Walking towards the trash can ...

At first it was the red mask that caught our attention. Then something else ...

Upon closer inspection it appeared to be a student’s art project that had been abandoned. 

This is probably iskm’s most disheartening submission to the project. Not only have we always been offended by the idea of kate and her language promoting negative body image, but given that 5 years on her words still resonate is so problematic.

The fact that this student decided to give up on such an effort is disconcerting. iskm’s hope is that this artist not only has the opportunity to have a forum through this project to explore more deeply this topic but also that they have the strength of conviction to find their voice.

We are going to see if we can find the creator of this work given the trash can's proximity to a nearby college … in the meantime, all iskm can do is point you towards Thin, a powerful project by Lauren Greenfield.

Observe. Slow Down. Shoot. Submit.

www.ishotkatemoss.com

Buy Buy

A wonderful submission received today, apparently taken in a physical store (don't you know it is Cyber Monday and you are supposed to be shopping from your computers people!?!)

Observe. Slow Down. Shoot. Submit.

www.ishotkatemoss.com

insta-kate

Finally, for your viewing pleasure on instagram: 

#ishotkatemoss

Follow. Observe. Slow Down. Shoot. Submit.

www.ishotkatemoss.com

Photographer Series #13: greggshotkatemoss

Gregg LeFevre has used text and images to create over 200 site-specific public art works that provide insight about the nature and character of particular places. His cast bronze insets can be found underfoot, set in the paving of all types of pedestrian spaces in numerous American cities including NYC, Miami, Chicago, Boston, Las Vegas, Seattle and LA.

LeFevre's Edison inset, Trenton, NJ

Having worked “in the streets” as a sculptor, it was natural for LeFevre to begin a parallel career as a street photographer in the early 1990’s. His most important photographic series deals with the role of figurative advertising in the urban landscape. He is especially drawn to documenting what happens when “the photographic fantasies of the advertising world meet the reality of street life in urban centers” … a perfect fit for ishotkatemoss!

iskm: Do you identify yourself as a "street photographer"?

Gregg LeFevre (GLF): I would identify myself as a photographer with a street photography habit. I try to shoot what I see as a dialogue between the advertisers and the city itself: it’s people, it’s artists, it’s installers, it’s construction companies, it’s public works departments, it’s insane people, it’s animal life, then the wind, weather and other random occurrences.

iskm: How/why do you select the source images you choose to photograph?

GLF: I always travel through the city with my camera. Part of what I do is encyclopedic in that I often shoot different examples of the same thing. For example, balloons, homeless people’s carts, spilled paint, chains, pictures of celebrities etc. But outdoor advertisements are for me the richest subject as there are so many levels of interaction, and mediation and transformation of meaning.

LeFevre’s photographic representations document another layer of the sculptural elements within the urban landscape. When asked about kate specifically, he forwarded more than 20 recent images - which are now included in the iskm collage - so it was fascinating for iskm to consider his use of her ever-present visage.

Untitled, Gregg LeFevre's Kate Moss

iskm: Why did you shoot the kate moss images?

GLF: I have shot series of many celebrity and model ads: Kate Moss, Lady Gaga, Mike Tyson, J.Lo, etc. I am drawn to all the myriad things that can happen to an outdoor ad, and because I always carry a camera, I shoot every ad that I see of a particular personality, then later I sort them into categories, and choose my favorites in each.

iskm: Some of your favored kate images have been doctored by others. Why are you particularly attracted to the way other people/artists have changed what we would have seen? 

GLF: I do see a dialogue between the advertisers and the city, including the citizens of the city. People respond to ads in very different ways, and when they choose to interact by way of altering an ad, these differences create all sorts of interesting scenarios and elaborations. And of course ads do the same - over and over I have shot ads that contain imagery drawn from the graffiti and street art world. For example there are ads that feature torn away sections, as if they were savaged by someone, or ads that have printed graffiti as part of the ad. One type of situation that I shoot, I call blockheads, where a sticker artist has pasted a sticker, often rectangular over the face featured in an ad. Recently I found an ad campaign on the street doing exactly the same thing, only what appeared to be the sticker art, was actually a sticker printed within the original advertisement.

Untitled, Gregg LeFevre's Kate Moss

iskm: By you 'capturing' it do you feel it is a formal acknowledgement of other's work, which is passing? Do you see this as another form of appropriation?

GLF: I don’t consciously acknowledge their work, but looking at the dialogue they create does highlight their creative participation. And I am definitely appropriating their work. I also have a series of graffiti shots where I have cropped sections of graffiti and street art that reference or look like different established artist’s works. I call it the “Homage Series” and I’ve found various passages in street work that look just like Picasso, Basquiat, Guston, Cristo, Franz Kline and many, many others.

iskm: You title your web site "Unmanipulated" and the portfolio which includes kate "Aberrant Imagery". Can you explain why you use this language?

GLF: “Unmanipulated” is the title of my site because I want to stress that these are documentary images, and not images that have been created by using Photoshop, or other image manipulation programs. “Aberrant Imagery” is just that, because of what the actions of various actors in the urban landscape have visited upon advertising images.

Untitled, Gregg LeFevre's Kate Moss

iskm: How do you feel your approach to photography/art making affected your kate work? Do you see her all the time as a subject?

GLF: Kate Moss seems to have had several resurgences as a presence in the street advertising world. She’s reinvented herself so many times that she’s right back from where she started.

iskm: Do you see your work photographing altered advertisements as a natural progression in the lineage of "street photography"?

GLF: While I am aware of past street photography, I have not in any conscious way tried to extend or align my work with that of past photographers. I am not trying to represent today’s culture, but rather the dialogue, which has existed as long as advertising has been around. Yet by doing so, I am using ads, that when looked at in the future, will be seen to reflect the culture of today.

iskm: Which photographer/s would you most want to most see involved in ishotkatemoss?

GLF: Edward Burtynsky, Gursky, Struth, Brassai, Atget - are all photographers that I admire who made social comments, sometimes very subtle, with their photography. Burtynsky, for example shot an amazing series on the destruction of derelict super tankers, cut apart on the beaches of Bangladesh by boys and young men wearing no protective clothing or headgear. While some of the shots are breathtakingly beautiful, they are also social criticism on several levels: how wasteful and ill fated the world's oil industry is, and how little it values human life. I think Burtynsky would turn a keen eye toward the world of consumer advertising, and its super models.

More of Gregg’s work, including the arresting portfolio Aberrant Imagery, can be seen at gregglefevre.com and while walking the streets of NY; his images are currently in the entryway to the Four Seasons restaurant and the windows of the Gourmet Garage plus his sculptures are intertwined in this fair city's sidewalks.

So keep your eyes peeled and as you walk past those distorted advertisements, just like Gregg:

Untitled, Gregg LeFevre's Kate Moss

Observe. Slow Down. Shoot. Submit.

www.ishotkatemoss.com

Photographer Series #12: meghannshotkatemoss

Meghann Riepenhoff recently visited New York from her home in San Francisco in order to attend an opening of her own exhibition, Littoral Drift, at Foley Gallery. This body of work was selected, by curator Charlotte Cotton, as the winning portfolio for the Camera Club of New York’s 2014 Annual Juried Exhibition.

Littoral Drift #05, Two Waves

Littoral Drift is a series of camera-less cyanotypes made in the landscape via submerging paper in bodies of water, burying it in sand and exposing in sunlight. These stunning pieces are examples of the way in which Meghann engages a breadth of photographic technologies, transforming “mundane detritus and alter processes to recall telescopic and microscopic views”. In doing so she considers the relationship between the insignificant and the immense, the sublime, impermanence, and the role photography plays in mediating the human experience.

Meghann’s work has been widely exhibited and published. After learning of ishotkatemoss, she quickly expressed an interest in exploring and collaborating with the project. This was intriguing as her work is ethereal, she has created celestial landscapes and spectacular galaxies. In many respects, we were trying to disassociate and dismiss the view of kate, and the ideas of model perfection, as ‘celestial bodies’. Why was she so fascinated by what iskm was doing?

Meghann Riepenhoff  (MR): I'm interested in manipulating processes and materials in fairly simple, yet often previously unconsidered ways. In reconsidering the prescribed ways we relate to media and tools, there is often a revelation around potential, what is/was unseen, and how large of a mystery in which we exist. iskm does this from a completely different, yet relatable, perspective.

iskm: How do you approach a subject such as kate?

MR: A friend and I were talking about Kate Moss and she described her as 'shape shifty' because the photographic representation of her is so varied and even disparate. I thought about the ways identities exist in layers, and how we attempt to articulate or impose them via media. I also thought about the Buddhist 'no-self' theory, where conditioning shapes beliefs we have about self, perception, existence, etc. Images are perhaps the most powerful tools we have for shaping perception, and so I wanted to use leading image technology to play with a picture of Kate I extracted from Aperture's most recent magazine.

Untitled (ishotkatemoss); video still

iskm: Why did you utilize the image that Aperture highlighted in its “Fashion” edition?

MR: My choice was not necessarily about specific content from the “Fashion” edition, but more generally about the mediating nature of context. A publication like Aperture can position an image in a way that is different than any other magazine, and yet the nature of weighting (intentionally or inadvertently) an image is not unique. Stephen Shore described the photographic print as "an object" with "its own life in the world” and explored the implications of a print winding up "in a shoebox or in a museum". So there’s this understanding that a photograph has a life, and changes meaning given context, time, viewership, etc. … and that the experience of a photograph is collaborative, with what it encounters contributing to defining its existence. Also there is the nature of photography itself, which is a constantly evolving medium that regularly redefines itself with technologies and new applications of ideas. 

iskm: What did you to your chosen Kate Moss images and why?

MR: I like to have a certain irreverence toward materials and tools in my practice, to use them in ways not prescribed, in hopes of generating new kinds of results. I also have a love for DIY, low-fi, and residue of process. For iskm, I used a really basic Photoshop tool and simply played with layer opacity. Then I recorded a video of this shifting image with my phone, which I’d propped on my computer with a stack of Post-its before capturing a video still for the iskm collage. When I first learned about iskm, I loved that it teetered on the line of serious and playful, rigorous and casual. In my practice and with this piece, I want the tools I use to be relevant to the subject matter and tone. So for Kate, Photoshop and a Post-it tripod were obvious choices.

Here is Meghann's Untitled (ishotkatemoss) video:

iskm: Have you worked with video before?

MR: I have and actually made a video that, very much like the Kate piece, slowly oscillated between two similar images. It was called 'Athens 4am' and depicted a view looking out of a window onto moonlit, bare wintery trees. The focus shifted from the distant trees to the pane of the window, where condensation had collected on the glass. The change was almost imperceptible, but there was never a stasis moment, where change wasn’t happening. Applying a similar approach to Kate seemed in line with the ideas driving this piece.

iskm: How do you feel your approach to photography/art making affected your kate moss work?
MR: I love scientific imagery for the reason that I believe science is constantly revealing just how little we know. Each new image of the cosmos or nano particles reveals that what we previously saw, and therefore believed, is in a state of constant unknown. With Kate, I applied this same curiosity around both the tools and the idea of identity of a thing that is in flux, illusory, and perhaps a disappearing concept all together. 

iskm: Which photographer/s would you most want to most see involved in iskm?

MR: Walead Beshty because I love his banal process that creates literal traces, and yet the image quality transcends that. The crumpled cyanotypes and photograms feel like exquisite representations of some intricate system or place however they're just crumpled paper and light. There's something really smart about his work in how simple the treatment is. 

Also I’m part of this really kickass group called Library Candy and I’d love to see each of those artists (Eric William Carroll, McNair Evans, Lucas Foglia, Jason Fulford, Katy Grannan, Chris McCaw, Richard Misrach, Nigel Poor) respond to ishotkatemoss.

iskm: Thanks so much Meghann.

MR: This was fun.

More of Meghann’s stunning work can be seen at www.meghannriepenhoff.com. Over to you Library Candy!

Observe. Slow Down. Shoot. Submit. 

www.ishotkatemoss.com

ishotkatemoss turns 1!

iskm was launched on November 2nd, 2013

One year later:

Over 300 images in the collage 

+ 80 blog posts

+ 11 Photographer Series features

= Almost 20,000 views 

from more than 60 countries ...

  Anybody got a match?

Can't wait for our terrible twos!

Observe. Slow Down. Shoot. Submit.

www.ishotkatemoss.com

How many ways ...

... are we all seeing the same thing over and over again? 

Observe. Slow Down. Shoot. Submit.

www.ishotkatemoss.com

Tranformative "Fashion"

Right on the stilettoed heels of NY Fashion week, the Fall 2014 issue of Aperture Magazine was recently released. The issue is of particular note as it cast an eye onto, and attempts to critically explore, the art of fashion photography.

Interestingly the title of Aperture #216 is “Fashion” - with quotations included. The editors stated that: ‘Though this issue’s title appears in quotation marks, the intention is not to be ironic, or to suggest skepticism. Rather, the quotes allude to image quotation and reference, which are part and parcel of any creative act but are essential to the world of fashion.’ Of course, this is of great interest to ishotkatemoss for a variety of reasons.

A collage from pop artist Richard Hamilton’s Fashion-plate series – a 1969-70 pre-cursor to the ishotkatemoss collage - appears on the issue’s cover. iskm asked Paula Kupfer, Managing Editor of the magazine, why this particular image was utilized specifically in this context?

Paula Kupfer (PK): We chose the Richard Hamilton work for the cover because it deconstructs the apparatus of a fashion shoot through techniques of photography and collage, pointing towards the artifice, illusion, and transformation involved in fashion image making. Although it is part of a series, in a single image the work does something similar as the ishotkatemoss collage/animation, which reveals the model's myriad guises and thus points to the ways in which the different elements of a fashion shoot are arranged and combined to yield vastly different results, underscoring the artificiality and wondrous aspects of this sort of production. 

The magazine is guest edited by the famous “fashion” (that’s iskm quotations) photographers, Dutch couple Inez van Lamsweerde and & Vinoodh Matadin - most commonly referred to by the moniker: ‘Inez & Vinoodh’.

Inez & Vinoodh have collaborated for more than twenty-five

An Inez & Vinoodh image featured in #216

years, "creating an uncommon range of distinctive fashion imagery". Aperture states that their work is “marked by restlessness and curiosity about photography, a tension `between illusion and reality, the beautiful and the grotesque, and a desire to explore the medium’s generous flexibility”. Critic, Donatien Grau, continues this theme later in the issue: “They intervene heavily in the making of them [their pictures]: they very obviously use postproduction to manipulate the shape of bodies, the acuteness of light, the intensity of colors.”

Through pages of glossy and striking images, plenty of rhapsodic text and of course a fill of advertisements (including notably for Inez & Vinoodh's latest big gallery show) the comment iskm found most notable defined the pair's need to markedly construct and cite - from Inez & Vinoodh themselves: "... in today’s professional climate, in which clients want to see their campaign images before they are even shot, you’re only as good as your references”.

Aperture’s editors argue that ‘Referencing is delicate, requiring thoughtful handling to avoid crossing the line into copying’, while curator Charlotte Cotton remarks in her contribution to the magazine that ‘fashion photography’s often transparent use of references may be one reason why the genre is criticized from other corners’.
iskm thinks that fashion photography, particularly since kate hit the scene, is rebelled against for far greater reasons than that (Questions as to body image? Image manipulation? Increased commercialization and consumerism? What about objectification, sexual identity or any other raft of criticisms?). Referencing just doesn’t seem like such a big deal in that context but of course, from an artistic stand point, it is something we attempt to address through the project. We here at iskm clearly embrace the references and furthermore promote appropriation, in a purely artistic sense. Reference (more subtly) and appropriation (directly), by our definition, need to transform – whether in actuality or through the dialogue with the idea.

Aperture states that 'transformation, in a broader sense, is a hallmark of Inez & Vinoodh’s work'. It was therefore of great interest, and certainly notable to iskm, that in introducing Inez & Vinoodh, a large, full page image of kate was placed side by side with the title (The Art of Transformation) page.

iskm: Was there a specific reason that an image - and one that could be argued is not confrontational, experimental or transformational - of kate moss was placed so prominently next to the title page for Inez & Vinoodh? Was the title of the piece in any way referential to their subjects, including and particularly kate?

PK: The title refers to the work of Inez & Vinoodh in general. They have worked extensively with Kate Moss, thus she’s been the subject of many such transformations. The placement of the image was a design and editorial decision - it’s a stunning photograph of someone whose visage has become iconic, in its chameleonic incarnations - a great way to open the cornerstone piece in the issue.

An Inez & Vinoodh image featured in #216

iskm found this comment particularly interesting as the vast majority, if not all, of Inez & Vinoodh's images of kate are straight shots without much apparent ‘transformation’ (google: "Inez & Vinoodh, kate moss" if you want to see further examples), particularly relative to the exoticness and eccentricity of much of their other work and certainly compared to the way in which the vast majority of other photographers turn her into something far from everyday reality.

The magazine articulates that ‘in the end what matters is how a reference is used: when adequately transformed, you may sense a quotation but won't recognize its course.’

This is important as such a view only begins to cut to the heart of what iskm is doing and why. Yes, what matters is how the reference is used. We wholeheartedly agree. When 'transformed', sensing a quotation while not recognizing the course is however not nearly enough. By its definition, it must be transformational. It must not only alter the creative process and creation itself but ultimately it does so in order to change the viewer’s perception and understanding. Most importantly, we believe it must reshape the course of one’s thoughts and hopefully behavior (is that not the purpose of the 'art'?), and no, not by simply incentivizing you to go and purchase something.

iskm: Is it ‘art’ when the photographer has to work to satisfy commercial interests? Do the artists need to compromise due to an economic necessity?

PK: Everything depends on the type of client and commission, their vision for their product, the photographers. At best it will be a creative collaboration between everyone involved. While I can't speak for Inez & Vinoodh, their comments suggested that sometimes situations do arise where every aspect of a shoot or campaign is prescribed from the outset. On the other hand, other clients give photographers free range.

overseeing kate at an Aperture talk

Free range photography. Organic art. No undue influence. That is what we ask of the iskm collaborators, and that is the standard that we should expect from those that, in theory, independently critique.

In another piece in the magazine, fashion photographer Emmanuelle Alt, in response to the question "Wouldn't a client say "Oh Emmanuelle, remember that amazing shot you did of Kate [Moss] in the water with the bikini? Can we have that again?", stated: "Yeah, and sometimes I'd say, "Great, we haven't done that character in a long time; let's do it!" and other times, I'd be like, "I've done that too many times, and this girl's got nothing to do with that one - she's going to look stupid in this outfit."

Of course, iskm is not held to commercial pressures - from advertisers, funders and budgets - and the need to self-reinforce facets of industry, from creation to critic to collector.

iskm would certainly have found the analysis more legitimate without the paid fashion and perfume ads that mark the issue while also we question the validity of articles discussing the “extraordinary visual culture” associated with an international skin-care firm, with that firm's name smeared throughout.

While, we are not here to alienate those generating the conversation, we certainly attempt to push the boundary of the dialogue and the expression. So, we recommend that you check out the issue for yourself and make your own judgment.

And one last thing, Aperture's editors state that Inez & Vinoodh are "fashion's most iconic and imitated photographers" therefore, we believe, making them a wonderful reference point for an iskm submission. Maybe someone out there can specifically investigate and react to the lead image of kate and think about these ideas of transformation? If you do so, we promise that you will not hear from a single advertiser or get a commercial gig out of it!

Better yet, maybe we can get Inez & Vinoodh to 'appropriate' one of their own images and transform it for the iskm collage?

Dear Inez & Vinoodh: Observe. Slow Down. Shoot. Submit.

www.ishotkatemoss.com

In Heat

This may be the greatest ishotkatemoss submission yet … and given that this was identified and sent to us by a general member of the public, it may in fact be the moment that iskm has officially entered into our society’s psyche.

It was with the utmost surprise that, post a recent screening of Michael Mann’s movie Heat (the modern-crime classic in which he brought together Al Pacino and Robert De Niro), an iskm follower emailed and told us to look it over and watch carefully during the pivotal bank robbery/gun battle scene on the streets of L.A. …

iskm founder Zev Jonas recently recalled: “I remember learning of Heat during its production due to De Niro and Pacino being paired. I went to a morning showing on the film’s opening day and it impacted me greatly. The lighting, the emotion, the violence and the constant tinge of blue painted a modern America that was harsh, striking and unparalleled.”

Just in case you are unaware, from Wikipedia: Michael Kenneth Mann (born February 5, 1943) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. For his work, he has received nominations from international organizations and juries, including those at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Cannes and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. His major films include Heat, The Insider, Collateral, Ali and The Last of the Mohicans.

Mann's films contain fast-paced, artful, ingenious scenes … where often two opposing sides intermix, such as undercover policework and undercover drug trafficking, so that it is hard to distinguish between the two … Mann's films mix artistry (via music, stylishness and emotional intensity) with sexuality, strong violence, humorless noir-like stoicism, and complex plot twists.

Mann also produced Miami Vice in the 1980s and was the first to bring Hannibal Lector to the screen in Manhunter. All in addition to writing, producing and directing Heat, the remake of his own 1989 made-for-TV movie L.A. Takedown.

So watch a portion of the aforementioned scene from Heat below and keep an eye for a particular sequence (starting at approximately 1.30 minutes) when the character Michael Cheritto, played by Tom Sizemore, is separated from his crime partners (De Niro and Val Kilmer). Pay extra close attention at the 1.33 minute mark as he turns to flee, still with a stolen bag of money slung over his shoulder.

People! Did you see it!?! We watched it over and over again, carefully. And for those who need to reaffirm, we processed some movie stills:

MICHAELMANNSHOTKATEMOSS!!! And he did it almost 20 years before us!

Here again, zoomed in, is the money shot:

Now was this accidental? We think not. Michael Mann is renowned for caring about every detail and component within his movies.

So, as an ode to Michael, and all of his collaborators, we have submitted – on his behalf – the close-up images of this greatest of moments to the www.ishotkatemoss.com collage.

And “if you feel the heat around the corner” you know what to do …

Observe:

 

Slow Down:

Shoot:

Submit!!!

www.ishotkatemoss.com

She's dead ... oops, just kidding

According to a web site that simply creates and spreads rumors in order to increase internet traffic to its own site and therefore make more money from advertisers (ah, what a wonderful way to use this unlimited boundless technology to increase the knowledge of the human race), late last week kate died!

After fessing up, the headline on the site became:

"Kate Moss dead: 2014": Model killed by internet death hoax  

The report read as follows: "News of model Kate Moss' death spread quickly earlier this week causing concern among fans across the world. However the September 2014 report has now been confirmed as a complete hoax and just the latest in a string of fake celebrity death reports. Thankfully, the 40-year-old model is alive and well."

The piece continued on: "Rumors of the model’s alleged demise gained traction on Thursday after a ‘R.I.P. Kate Moss’ Facebook page attracted nearly one million ‘likes’. Those who read the ‘About’ page were given a believable account of 'our beloved model's passing at about 11 a.m. ET on Thursday (September 25, 2014)'. Hundreds of fans immediately started writing their messages of condolence on the Facebook page, expressing their sadness that the talented 40-year-old model was dead. And as usual, Twittersphere was frenzied over the death hoax." 

According to the site: "A recent poll conducted shows that a large majority (75%) of respondents think those Kate Moss death rumors are not funny anymore."

On September 26th the model's reps officially confirmed that Kate Moss is not dead: 'She joins the long list of celebrities who have been victimized by this hoax. She's still alive and well, stop believing what you see on the Internet' they said.

Just as kate's recent neon purchase led us to Wataru Komachi's work, so this hoax leads us to another interesting artistic frame of reference ... after writing obituaries for the Daily Telegraph in London, British-born, NY-based artist Adam McEwen began producing obituaries for living and breathing celebrities (including Bill Clinton, Rod Stewart, Jeff Koons and, of course, Kate Moss) thus highlighting the blurred line between history and fiction:

McEwen's Untitled (Kate), 2007

McEwen is concerned with pop and consumer culture and his work resides somewhere between the celebratory and funereal. He approaches this landscape with a directness that is disarming yet full of dark, dead-pan humor. In addition to newspapers, his work appropriates the familiar formats of cell phone display screens, shop signage and credit cards. McEwen has also created machined graphite sculptures of such everyday objects as a water cooler or an air conditioner. According to his NY gallery (Gagosian), his repurposing of the over-familiar creates "momentary ruptures". 

Adam McEwen: I'm not really interested in celebrities so much - the works are more homages. But the person must be famous so the reader knows that the person is still alive. I'm interested in that brief second when you aren't sure ... I only need that moment in order to disorient enough to sneak through to some other part of the brain - to achieve that split second of turning the world upside down.

McEwen's graphite air conditioner

I don’t know what it is, but I know for me, an obituary of Kate Moss is the same thing as an air conditioner made of graphite. There is a part of me that doesn’t really want to put into words what that thread is, but it always starts from the same place. It’s the same thread that ties together a credit card made of graphite, a photograph of a Jumbo 747 jet or hardware signs that read, ‘Sorry, We’re Dead’ or ‘Sorry, We’re Sorry.’

Life has now mirrored the art and we don't need the fake obituaries anymore ... we have facebook, twitter and social media giving us a constant barrage of uncertainty and supposed clarification.

Yet death, McEwen says, is “like a perfect rule: It’s going to happen, though emotionally, I don’t want it to”.

Yes, but fake death? According to the internet survey 25% of responders still think it is funny.

Don't worry internet viewers ... ishotkatemoss lives on!
Sorry, Observe. Slow Down. Shoot. Submit.
www.ishotkatemoss.com