Joy To The World

Yesterday I was at my shoe doctor and when I walked into his shop I saw this bag hanging from his shelf that read "Joie au monde". Since the colors are so bright and I am learning french it appealed to me. That being so I took out my Canon G11 camera and photographed the bag. I was going to add it to http://themuseumofmessages.com/, however, I can't because I don't have RAW footage of it, only a .jpg. 

Happy New Year Everyone. May 2011 bring you much Joy!

Production of New Holiday Card

So after spending a full day working on the first holiday card design that I posted to my blog last week, I finally decided that a redesign needed to happen. That being so above you will see the new version.

I set up my lights, photographed this wallet closed, then photographed it opened and in post production I merged the two photos in one frame, played around with different tones for the floor and the background, touched up dust marks, enhanced the colors a bit and added copy. I think it turned out nicely. Do you agree?

Happy Holidays From Helena V. Studio

Yesterday I designed a holiday card that I plan to send out to clients and colleagues. I photographed this message in Chelsea last month and I love how I captured the spirit of an individual walking by the words. Inside the card I plan on writing, "May your dreams come true in 2011." You like?

Helena V. Studio - New Logo - Do you like it?

Hi All -

Happy Friday! I designed a new logo for my studio. You can see it at my website or at the top of my blog.

http://www.helenavstudio.com/

Do you like it? Your opinion is very much appreciated.  I look forward to hearing from you.

-Helena V.

Eco-Friendly Holiday Card Sale At Greenerprinter.com

For those who would like to wish their clients, family and friends a happy holiday season http://www.greenerprinter.com/ is having a sale till December 31, 2010. You can design your own card and or use one of their templates. They print on recycled paper and have excellent prices. Check them out.

The Museum of Messages on Kickstarter.com

The Museum of Messages, previously known as Discreet Messages, is a photo project that began in 1999. These photographs are images of messages that people write or design in landscapes, mostly urban, about the environment, love, politics, humor, fear, expression, loyalty and more. As an artist Helena V. thinks it is very important to document these visual voices because people are attempting to publicize their thoughts for others to read, think and learn.

Since these words don't have a very long life span, because city crews clean up these expressions, Helena V. feels that it is her duty to document these words with her camera and, when she thinks it is appropriate, she cleans up the surroundings of the messages she shoots, in Photoshop, so she can exhibit and publish them for others to appreciate.

Helena V. would like to continue to build this photo project but in order to do that she needs time. Time to scout for these visual expressions, photograph them, process the photos, clean them up, publicize them online and to search for exhibition opportunities for the public to see. Time is money and with your help she can move forward with showing others what is important to them and how they feel about the world around them.

If interested, you may contribute at http://bit.ly/9C37GE

Hope For A Healthy World

Hope For A Healthy World Photo Competition - Deadline November 30,2010

For More Information visit http://bdphotocompetition.com/index.shtml

All winners' work will appear in a traveling global health exhibit sponsored by BD debuting at LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph in Charlottesville, VA., June 9-11, 2011, and will be placed in the winners' gallery on PDNonline.com.

New Photo by Helena V. Supporting Our Environment

Last week I lit and photographed the above orange purse in front of one of my photos from The Museum of Messages . 

In post production I added the green to expand the frame, added water coming out of the spout and set the type that says "be ("kind" is in the original photo) to our environment". You can see the original back drop photo (behind the purse) at http://themuseumofmessages.com/

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!!!

If you click on the image above you will experience a really cool interactive experience. I promise! Hope your holiday is a joyous one.

Kickstarter helps people (like you!) fund creative projects.

I was introduced to http://www.kickstarter.com/ through PDN (Photo District News) magazine.

Kickstarter is the largest funding platform for creative projects in the world. Every month, tens of thousands of amazing people pledge millions of dollars to projects from the worlds of music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and other creative fields.

Currently I am working on submitting The Museum of Messages to Kickstarter in order to gain funding so I can continue to share people's written thoughts with the public.

The Museum of Messages + acurator.com Blog

Today I received an email from Julie Grahame, founder of acurator.com, letting me know that she posted a few photos from The Museum of Messages onto her blog. =)

Since I have been designing, photographing and assisting professional photographers I have had little time to work on The Museum of Messages . If you visit that homepage you will get some free hugs.

Photographer's Website of the Week

Today I assisted Kfir Ziv on a sports product shoot. I really like his work and thought to share it with you. Unlike other photographers in NYC he doesn't specialize in one medium. He shoots products, portraits and interiors. Very talented guy!

acurator.com - photo website of the week

Last night I was reading PDN (Photo District News) magazine and I came across an article about a photo website called acurator.com. It is is a full screen magazine featuring photography and art, edited and published by Julie Grahame in New York.

Submissions are welcome. I just emailed some of my work to her. Maybe you or someone you know may be interested in doing the same?

Graphic Designers/Product Photographers

In 2008 I was mostly freelancing as a Graphic Designer or Art Director and selling my photos as fine art. In many of the freelance gigs I was working at I was asked to either photograph products and or events because I have photography on my resume.

This gave me the idea that I needed to improve my lighting skills in photography so I could offer both services to help promote businesses. This is what I have been doing for the last few years as well as assisting pro photographers and marketing multi creative services to others.

Through my efforts many folks have asked me, "so are you a Graphic Designer or a Photographer?" I reply with, "I can do both".

What people don't understand is that photography has become less technical and a little bit easier to create beautiful images. You still need experience and technical knowledge under your belt but it is feasible.

This is why I was very satisfied when I read the Craigslist Graphic Designer/Product Photographer job post below (others are realizing that this concept is possible!) :

Graphic Designer/ Product Photographer (Hollywood, FL)

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Date: 2010-09-21, 10:30AM EDT
Reply to: job-naveu-1965399393@craigslist.org ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}

---

Very successful and growing South Florida Company, requires an experienced Graphic Designer/ Product photographer for immediate start-full time position.

The job will entail designing banners for multiple websites for e-marketing and on site sales, some web-page redesign and updates, logo design, print ads for high end magazines, posters, certificates and instruction manuals plus miscellaneous design jobs. Some HTML knowledge is required, in order to work effectively with the marketing department in producing e-marketing campaigns/ newsletters etc.

Along with design, there will be Photoshop work in assisting the imaging department silhouetting product shots. Someone with additional product photography experience will be highly regarded. Strong Photoshop skills are essential along with entire Adobe Creative Suite Design skills InDesign, Illustrator, etc.

If you do not have the necessary skills outlined above please do not reply to this posting.

If you believe you do have the necessary skills, reply to this post with “Graphic Designer/ Photographer” in the subject line. Please include 3-5 samples of recent design/ photography work and your resume with a contact phone number. Please be ready to interview this week for the position.

Potato Digital - NYC Creative Studio

David Lawrence is a reputable product photographer in NYC that I assisted on a Ralph Lauren product shoot for Forbes magazine a month ago. His work is fabulous! I'd like to suggest viewing it at http://dalphotography.com/.

This afternoon David and I met at 71 Irving coffee shop to talk about collaborating on an idea he has started about offering quality photos at reasonable prices. This concept has turned into http://www.potatodigital.com/.

We were brainstorming about how Potato Digital can be different from the rest. Then thought to not only offer photo services but digital design services as well. For example, designing online and print marketing collateral (e-blasts, e-zines, mailers, brochures, etc) with the photos he shoots to help promote your business. This is possible because he has many years of professional photography experience and I have been a Graphic Designer for 10 years.

With Potato Digital creative services not only will you get quality photography but you also get colorful and creative designs to help bring your business to the next level.

What do you think of this concept?

Guess The Lighting Blog

Do you ever look at a photograph and wonder how the photographer set his or her lights? If you would like to get a better idea of how photo pros light their subjects check out Ted Sabarese's blog. He looks at a photo and with his wacom tablet he draws how the photographer lit his or her subject. I think this is brilliant! Don't you?

Free Hugs in NYC - Photo Of The Week

This summer I was headed to Governor's Island off the tip of Battery Park in NYC to go to a 1920's Jazz Fest. While waiting for a friend in Union Square I saw this dude holding up a sign that said "Free Hugs". I laughed, pulled my camera out and captured this message that made me feel really good because I was having a bad day. I hope it will have the same effect on you. If you'd like to see the photo a bit bigger click on The Museum of Messages link.

35th Anniversary International Women Only Photography Call for Entry

More Info here http://bit.ly/bhtPOb

Application Deadline: September 30, 2010

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 - Wednesday, September 14th, 2011
Reception: June 1, 2011, 6:00 a

Soho Photo
15 White Street
New York NY 10013
212-410-3865

Details: To celebrate our 35th anniversary, PWP invites ALL WOMEN PHOTOGRAPHERS - NON-MEMBERS AND MEMBERS, AMATEUR AND PROFESSIONAL to submit entries. Jurors Elinor Carucci and Stephen Perloff award $3000 in prizes and the Grand Prize image will appear on the cover of IMPRINTS Magazine Fall/Winter issue.

AWARDS:
Winners will be selected from four categories. Submissions may be made to more than one category, and there is no limit to the number of images submitted. The categories are:

People
Places
Nature
Abstract

Selected images will be seen by an international audience of collectors, curators, art consultants and others who appreciate fine art photography. These images, as well as 20 Jurors’ Selections, will be exhibited in a two-week group show at New York’s Soho Photo gallery from June 1 – June 14, 2011 and in on online exhibition on the PWP website for six months, November 15, 2010 – May 15, 2011. An additional 30 images selected for Honorable Mention will also be included in the PWP online Exhibition.
• Grand Prize: One photographer will receive $600 and have their image on the cover of IMPRINTS Magazine 2010 Fall/Winter issue. IMPRINTS Magazine, the official publication of PWP, is published in hard copy and online editions. The image will be in the Soho Photo gallery show and the PWP online exhibition.
• First Prizes: 4 photographers (one in each category) will receive $300 and their selected image will appear in the Fall/Winter issue of IMPRINTS Magazine. Their image will be in the Soho Photo gallery show and PWP online exhibition.
• Second Prizes: 4 photographers (one in each category) will receive $200 and their image will appear in IMPRINTS Fall/Winter issue. Their image will be in the Soho Photo gallery show and PWP online exhibition.
• Third Prizes: 4 photographers (one in each category) will receive $100 and their image will appear in the Fall/Winter issue of IMPRINTS. Their image will be exhibited in the Soho Photo gallery show and PWP online exhibition.
• Jurors’ Selections: 20 additional images will be included in the New York City group exhibition and the PWP online exhibition.
• Honorable Mention: 37 additional images will be included in the PWP online gallery exhibition.

Any questions, email open.calls@pwponline.org

Go Green - Photo Of The Week

As a photographer and environmentalist I found it important to express how I feel about the current environmental crisis in a visual way.

A few weeks ago I was visiting http://www.seekingdesigners.com/ and came across a green roller skate. I tracked the skate in Soho, NYC, walked downtown to pick it up (noticed that it was a sculpture and not a real skate) and photographed it in my studio last week. Then I added the copy and design element in post production.

If you'd like to see some other sculptures that I have photographed you may on my website, under the Sculpture category. Stay cool!

Heartstorming Ideas By Ian Summers

Ian Summers, a creative coach, co-creates an environment where people are safe to bring what they love and what matters to come into being. Recently he wrote about my photo fine art concept The Museum of Messages and I thought to share his post with you. If you would like to have some creative guidance I would recommend chatting with Ian. If interested in contacting him you may find his number and email at this link.

Affection, Photography + Complimentary WIne

PWP (Professional Women Photographers) in NYC presents its latest exhibition, Objects of Affection opening Wednesday, July 28, 2010 from 6-8 pm at Calumet (20 West 22nd Street, 2nd Floor between 5th and 6th Avenues). There will be complimentary wine and food.

The show is a display of images that make us smile, laugh, and celebrate. From people to possessions, from places to passions, Objects of Affection is a gathering of all that brings us joy, and one of our most personal exhibits to date.

One of my photos from The Museum of Messages titled Peace N' Love (the photo is attached) will be a part of this exhibition. I hope you will be able to attend the opening night. If not, feel free to stop by the gallery as the show will be open till August 13, 2010. It will be a great exhibition to attend!

Think About The Future

Last spring I was walking out of my apartment building by Gramercy Park in NYC and came across this message on a post office box. I think this verbal expression is relevant for the times we are currently living in as I hear that many people are going through transitional periods in their lives whether it be in a career, an environment, a relationship, etc. This is a time of change! Do you agree? I have added this image to The Museum of Messages online gallery.

The Museum of Messages Blog

This week I have been working on creating a Photo Blog for the The Museum of Messages which will eventually be connected to Facebook as an application. Once this project is complete folks on FaceBook will be able to post a small version of one of my photos on their friends walls. What do you think. Do you like this idea?

The 911 Memorial Museum + The Museum of Messages

Today I received an email from Meghan Walsh, a public affairs employee at the 911 Memorial Museum in downtown NYC, telling me that she has posted some of the photos I shot at Ground Zero in 2006 on their blog.

You may see that post at this link:

http://blog.national911memorial.org/?p=2609

These photos are part of The Museum of Messages, a photo concept that I am currently building. If you'd like to learn more about this online museum, you may at this link:

http://themuseumofmessages.com/a.statement.html

Dancing Bags By Eenamaria

Have you heard of Eenamaria yet http://www.eenamaria.com/? She makes vegan bags which is great because she is benefiting the environment. Last week I photographed a few of her bags http://www.helenavphoto.com/. The image attached is the final composition. Do you like the dancing bags? I think it makes a fun composition. Wishing you a Happy 4th of July weekend!

Hot Shoes By Dsquared2

Last week I photographed a few pair of shoes for Dsquared2 (http://www.dsquared2.com/), a fashion company in Chelsea , NYC. Seeing how I am creating a Museum of Messages http://themuseumofmessages.com/ I thought to include some words in my commercial photography. Do you like that concept, do you think it is unique? If so, I will shoot more photos for you to see.

Connect WIth Me Via Social Networks

Social Networks seem to be our future in marketing. I have met several creatives and marketing folks on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. This gave me the idea that I would like to connect with more. That is the reason I am including my LinkedIn page on my blog. If you'd like to connect with me please do so at http://www.linkedin.com/in/hvdphotoinc . You may use my email helena@helenavphoto.com to connect.

Additionally, you may connect to me via Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-York-NY/Helena-V-Photo/387863557164 and Twitter http://twitter.com/helenavphoto . I look forward to hearing from you.

Other Artists Photos

As a photo blogger, I want my readers to be happy with what appears in their inbox. I thought that sharing one of my photos on a weekly basis would entertain you guys but then I thought it may be a treat to add some diversity by showing other artists work as well. Do you like that idea? If you'd like to see an array of great photography, you may at PDN's (Photo District News) Photoserve web portal.

The link is as followed: http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/photoserve/index.jsp

Red Watch

Happy Thursday! The weekend is almost upon us and I thought to brighten up your day by showing you a new photo I shot of a red watch. The colors are vibrant, don't you think? As always, your opinion is appreciated.

Create Change

Did I forget to tell you that Discreet Messages is now branded as The Museum of Messages? Helena V's goal is to create an online presence of people's visual thoughts and share them with the world. People write what they are thinking for a reason. They want to be heard. Visit http://themuseumofmessages.com/ to see more. What do you think?

Hope

Thought to send a little hope your way. In order to receive it though you must click on this link http://bit.ly/b2dGGn

Club Monaco Headband

Last week I posted two photos of a bracelet and a clutch designed by Club Monaco. That same week I had a meeting with the VP of Marketing at CM. I am passionate about color, patterns and making products pop. After entering the offices of CM I noticed the EVERYTHING is black and white. That is why I photographed the photo above.

Club Monaco Accessories

Last week I photographed a few accessories from Club Monaco. Picture the gold clutch against a dress with the pattern above. Do you like the above composition?

Blog Press For Helena V.

This morning Helena V. woke up to a very nice email in her inbox. A gentleman by the name of Jason Allen blogged about her photography. You may read his post by clicking on this link http://haft2.com/haft2know/art/. Pretty sweet, right?!?!?

Want A Glass Of Parlay Wine?

Last week I photographed three bottles of Parlay Wine http://www.parlaywine.com/ which is based in Brooklyn NYC. Do you like the photo?

New Photos By Helena V. Photography Inc.

This week Helena V. has updated her website with new product photos http://www.helenavphoto.com/, changed her brand name from Helena V. de Vengoechea Photography Inc. (woo, that is a mouthful!) to Helena V. Photography Inc. and is looking forward to shooting some wine bottles for Parlay Wine http://www.parlaywine.com/ this week. More to come!

Photo Of The Week - Want to Wear These Sunglasses?

This week Michel Tcherevkoff (http://www.tcherevkoff.com/), a well known photographer in NYC and I collaborated on a shoot. Above is one of the images we created. Pretty nice, don't you think?

Facebook Testimonial

A few weeks ago I photographed an event for Compass Box Whisky downtown in Soho, NYC at the Astor Center. They were raising money for Dress For Success, a non-profit that provides nice clothing for women who want to work in a professional setting but don't have the $ to buy the appropriate clothes. A testimonial was written on their Facebook Fan Page about my services. They quoted, "Enormous thanks to our photographer Helena V. de Vengoechea. Great girl, great name, great website www.helenavphoto.com". Cheers! =)

Helena V. Social Network Portals

Since I started my commercial photo business in 2008 I've been thinking of the best way to brand my photo and design services. The reason it has been quite a task is because I have a very long last name.

Last week, I met with a fabulous photographer in NYC, Michel Tcherevkoff http://www.tcherevkoff.com/ , in his studio. He suggested that I market myself as Helena V. I immediately thought, "that is brilliant"!

So now I am Helena V.

I have built a Twitter and Facebook Fan Page for my new brand name.

Please join me on my new adventure. Below are links so you may connect:

Twitter:

http://twitter.com/helenavphoto

Facebook:

http://bit.ly/cCfTNH

Photo Of The Week - A Little Pick Me Up

A few weeks ago I got a call from a woman in Denmark. She was looking for a photographer in NYC to shoot coffee mannerisms for Martin Lindstrom who is a brand futurist (http://www.martinlindstrom.com/). I was pleased because I learned that her photo researcher in Chile found my photo site online. In any case, Martin showed up at my studio and we had a successful photo shoot. Above are a few of the images I took for him.

Art Against All Odds: An Interview with NYC Photographer Helena de Vengoechea

I was interviewed about my photo career by Lorenzo Dominguez, a journalist and photographer at Examiner.com a few weeks ago. He wrote an excellent article that is short and sweet! If interested, you may read it at this link http://bit.ly/dyjsLQ

Photo Of The Week - Bamboo Cloths

Last December I found these bamboo cloths at Crate + Barrel, fell in love with the design and thought that it would be a great idea to photograph them in order to help promote using eco-friendly products to help save our environment. I am very satisfied with the result of the shoot. Do you like the photo above?

Photo Of The Week - Check Out My Photo Style

After a few years of trial and error I have discovered my photo style. If you'd like to check it out, you may by looking at the attached photo or by visiting http://www.hvdphotography.com/. Do you like my work?

Art Benefit Party at Jack Shainman Gallery in NYC

On Thursday January 28th one of my photos titled, Sure Peace will be for sale
at an art benefit in Chelsea that will help raise money for the RHM Foundation.

The benefit will be from 6:30-9 pm at:

Jack Shainman Gallery
513 W. 20th Street @ 10th Avenue
New York, NY

For more information please visit :

http://rhmfoundation.org/

Photo Of The Week - Sculptures by Robin Antar

This photo of a 2 foot Ketchup Bottle was shot for Robin Antar, a sculptor based in Brooklyn, NY. She can make any object out of stone. Her work is fabulous! If you'd like to check it out, you may at http://www.rantar.com/.