Favorite Pic of the Day for January 22nd

Above:

Oliviero by Michael Puff

-See More Below-

Happy Birthday today January 22nd to:

Christopher Masterson turns 31 today.


The pics below from the short film "Ecce Pirate" directed by Matthew Modine. Special thanks to The Shea-Man who provided the info a cap a posted last year. Check out his Christopher Masterson site HERE:




Balthazar Getty turns 36 today.




Gabriel Macht turns 39 today.




Above: Gabriel in 'Sex And The City'.


John Wesley Shipp turns 55 today.

Oliviero by Michael Puff

Oliviero

23 year old Oliviero is an Italian dancer and model who lives and works in London. Oliviero studied ballet in London where he graduated in 2008. Since then, he has been working and studying Business & Marketing at the London Metropolitan University, with the ultimate goal to blend business and the arts. Due to a leg injury, Oliviero does not dance full time, but returns to the barre when he can.

Though an exchange program, Oliviero recently ended up in the bay area. Although he has shot in Barcelona and London, Oliviero was excited to do something interesting and exciting while in San Francisco. Oliviero and Michael Puff met through Model Mayhem and got together at Bill McClaren's Oakland studio for a series of shoots.

'The way that Michael approaches the shoot is really relaxed in the way that he gives complete freedom to the model. It looks like he is "scared" of disrupting the creativeness of the model. In a way, Michael tends to be no more than a witness of the art that is happening in a shoot.

Of course when he sees something he likes he makes me repeat it, but he keeps the feeling of letting it be natural. I love shooting with him, and I'm happy that my girlfriend had her first professional photo shoot with him as he gives you time in the shooting.'
Oliviero

I love that Oliviero described Michael as a witness. I have written before that I think one of the reasons I love his work so much his ability to capture moments. Michael's photos always look like he discovered a moment, not created it.

Michael is a master at capturing movement. His work with dancers in particular shows immense respect for both the model as well as the art of dance. Michael shoots the body both as a whole and at the same time, each body part, face, legs, arms, torso, neck, feet and Oliviero's sparkling eyes are presented in a way which highlight the importance of their role in the movement or position being shot.

Michael first shoot with Oliviero was themed 'after dance rehearsal' and the shots below are with his girlfriend who was visiting San Francisco from Barcelona last month.

'It great fun to listen to them rattle off choreography in Italian and then execute it'

Oliviero on ModelMayhem
Michael Puff Official Site:

At The Barre:

In the photo series below, Michael Puff says that he prefers each of his images to stand on their own. Although At The Barre is a series in which the moments immediately following a dance rehearsal unfold, to me, each individual shot of dancer Oliviero tells it's own unique story. Usually when choosing shots for a profile there are some I love more than others. When going through Michael's shots for this series it was nearly impossible for me to edit any images out. Thanks to Michael Puff for again sharing his extraordinary images with FH!

At The Barre: by Michael Puff

'For several months I had the idea percolating in the back of my mind to do a series, "at the barre", where the visual elements were limited to a dancer and a dance barre.'

'I've never really done a series before where a story unfolds over multiple images, I prefer that each image image stand on its own. However, I didn't think that I could encompass both the arduous and demanding physical training that classical dance requires and the personal emotional joy a dancer can experience in a single image. Hence, a series.'

'I had worked with Oliviero on a previous shoot and thought he would be perfect for the "at the barre" series. He has both a classic beauty and the dance training that I thought was required.'

'The day of the shoot arrived and I explained what I wanted to accomplish with the series to Oliviero. He simply said something along the lines of "oh, yes", there were no questions, he understood completely. Instead of words, true to the heart of movement and dance, Oliviero spoke most eloquently with his body.'