Letter From Los Angeles by Catherine Cyran

Arriving early morning at Paramount Pictures Studios in Los Angeles. Cover picture and photograph above by Norman Buckley

Screenwriter and film director Catherine Cyran reflects on quotidian life in LA after a tumultuous Trump presidential victory. Her own career trajectory is the epitome of the American Dream, from growing up in New York's Brooklyn (before its transformation into a wealthy hipster enclave), the daughter of a Polish dockworker, to classical violinist and Harvard University graduate to today's Hollywood writer and director. But in a divided USA, where the forces of globalisation and rich man's politics are disenfranchising a generation, the American Dream seems a mirage. But the sushi is still good in LA, the surfers are out and emigrating to Vancouver could still be an option. Photographs of Los Angeles by American director Norman Buckley



Catherine Cyran shooting on location

LA is an early town. Maybe it’s the surfers who set the clock for us, rising at dawn to catch the best waves. Or maybe it’s because all the restaurants close by 9pm or 9:30pm at night, which means that there’s less occasion to stay out late, so why not get some sleep and try to accomplish something in the morning? In any case, I too am often up before the sun is, and sometimes I go for a walk in the dark, heartened by the lights of our local Starbucks, which opens at 5:30am. Try getting a cappuccino in Rome or Barcelona at 5:30am. On the other hand, if you’d like to dine or meet for drinks at midnight in those towns, you’re in luck. Anyhow, as soon as the first rays of the unflagging LA sun make their presence known, the streets start filling with other early-birds, running, blading, and biking, probably in part to look as good as they feel they should and in part to gird themselves for the frustration they soon will be experiencing, as they submit to the shocking rush-hour traffic in order to get to work.


 Hopperesque: Starbucks before dawn

If they have jobs, that is. A lot of people in LA don’t. Let me qualify that: a lot of people in “the industry” don’t have jobs, at least not regular ones. By “the industry,” I mean Hollywood: the movie business, which is my world. Here, you’ve got actors trying to schedule auditions that don’t pay off 99% of the time, ditto for directors prepping for “pitch” meetings, and countless writers who “work” from home penning screenplays they have about as much a chance of selling as gamblers in Vegas have of striking it rich.

Of course, in other spheres LA has a lot of folks who have real jobs, doing real things: saving lives, patching roads, collecting garbage, watching other people’s children, tending other people’s yards. Painting other people’s houses, selling other people crap they don’t need. It can be a very lonely place. To get anywhere, you have to get in your car. This is because we all treasure our privacy so much that we need our big yards, our single-family homes, where we don’t have to interact with anyone other than the aforementioned nannies, gardeners, etc...

Early morning, Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles 

This makes LA a very spread-out place: a “suburban” city with no real centre, or perhaps a city with many, many small centres, with everyone living in his own little “bubble.” (More on living in bubbles later.) The result of all this is, we live apart from everyone else, then we get in our cars and drive apart from everyone else. And that’s only if we must go somewhere, because in LA if you don’t absolutely have to go somewhere, how much better is it to avoid the choked roads and freeways and just stay in your house? LA is a great place to live in many ways. It has beautiful, endless beaches, towering canyons and mountain ranges, overflowing farmers’ markets, and a blessed climate – a place where, as it’s said, you can ski in the morning and go swimming in the afternoon. It also has an abundance of museums, cultural venues, and restaurants, as befits any large city.

Up as the sun rises, Lionsgate Bridge, Vancouver

By comparison, I love Vancouver, which is right up the coast from LA (a mere twenty-one hours by car). I may well live there soon – I am applying for Canadian residency even as we speak, not least of all because Vancouver, or “Hollywood North” as it is known, has a thriving film industry – but after having spent a month there recently, during which I was supremely happy, waking to the cries of seagulls and honks of geese outside my downtown loft, despoiling the oyster beds of The Lobster Man’s Granville Island shop, and circumnavigating glorious Stanley Park, I returned to LA only to realise, to my chagrin, that you could throw a rock and hit a better sushi restaurant in Los Angeles, for the price, than you could find in Vancouver after two hours trawling Trip Advisor.

Why is that? For one thing, LA has a very diverse population – We have more Vietnamese people than any other country outside of Vietnam, more Iranian people than any other country outside of Iran, more Thai people than any other country outside of Asia – but Vancouver also has a very diverse population. So why is our sushi so much better than Vancouver’s (just to use sushi as an example)? LA is also a big city. Far bigger than Vancouver, with a bigger talent pool to draw on, and a richer populace to boot. But is money the salient factor? Are people in LA just willing (and able) to spend more money to get good sushi? I don’t think so. You can get good sushi cheap in LA, certainly as cheap as you can get it in Vancouver (even considering that, at this writing, the Canadian dollar is worth about a third less than the American dollar).

Places close early in LA: Zuma Beach, Malibu

No, I think the real reason is that people in LA are more demanding and more worldly wise in their tastes. They have high standards; they know what good is. And I like this about LA. I love Rome, but in Rome, every sushi place is an “all-you-can-eat” place. Not that sushi is bad in Rome, if you can find it, but can you imagine an “all-you-can-eat” pasta place in the Eternal City? Ha. Ironically, only American tourists would go there. It’s complicated. Another thought: Recently, I went to downtown LA – There is a “downtown” in LA, a very urban place, and, yes, it has a lot of great museums and performance centres, but really, if you live on the West Side, closer to the ocean, in Beverly Hills, say, and have to drive an hour to get there, then compete for parking and resign yourself to paying $20-$30 for four hours in order to see a show that finally got here from New York a year after its debut and costs $150 per ticket, before plunking down $200 for dinner, then drive an hour back to Beverly Hills, is it really worth it? On a regular basis?

If you want to drive, LA has the world's food available

Anyhow, I braved this trek with my boyfriend for his birthday, and we went to The Broad, a new contemporary art museum that is both beautifully designed and richly endowed, then went to one of the new, hot restaurants that touts a new slant on “fusion” cuisine, which, as it turns out, is a cross between Southern European, Asian, and Middle Eastern palettes – and I thought: Is that necessary? Are we that bored that we have to eat three types of food at once? Must I have Abkhazian spiced avocado with my hamachi crudo? I also found myself contemplating the cost of an appetiser ($23), which, nutrition-wise, was roughly equivalent to the amount I might taste of something I was cooking in order to determine whether the seasoning was right, and I thought again: In some countries, I could feed a family of four for a month on what I am about to spend for one appetiser that probably contains fewer calories than would sustain a single person for more than a couple of hours. How wrong is that? Not that I’m a bleeding heart. Well, maybe I am.

Waiting to vote in Poinsietta Avenue, during the election

Look, the strong prevail, the weak are left by the side of the road. Nowhere is this more true than in America, and at no time has this been more true than in the wake of an election that made Donald Trump the President-elect of America. After eight years of President Barack Obama, no less. Eight proud, somewhat relieved years of showing both our own people and the peoples of the world that we actually believe in our Constitution, that we believe in guaranteeing individual freedoms, tolerating diversity in all its forms, and rejecting racism, sexism, and religion-ism; that we believe in the words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” The “golden door.” Right. In August, I was in Bergen, Norway, where I noticed a Mexican restaurant that wittily advertised, “Food so authentic Donald Trump would build a wall around it!” Touché.

My compatriots on the right – and I use the word “compatriots” loosely ~ claim that people like me, people in LA, in Hollywood, are living in a “bubble.” A bubble in which liberal, other-oriented, educated people seek to protect the climate, provide health care for the poor, and guarantee the rights of women and people who might be different from them: Mexican immigrants, disenfranchised African-Americans, LGBTQ, Muslims, etc.. Apparently, this is bad. And the right is now rejoicing that all of this will soon be a thing of the past, as they prepare to dismantle Medicare (health care for the old), Obama-care (health care for the poor), and abortion rights for women, while gearing up to bring back the coal industry and build more pipelines so that we can continue to do our best to destroy the environment. It is an utterly divided country. Look at the map. No, wait, I’ll save you the bother. On the “left” coast, you’ve got California, Oregon, and Washington – a “blue” swath of country that abuts both Canada and Mexico, which Trump lost handily and whose huge population generates a huge proportion of the national GDP (California alone is the fourth biggest economy in the world.) Then on the east coast, you’ve got New England, New York, and on down roughly to the Mason-Dixon line (a line that more or less delineated the northern states from the slave-holding southern states during the Civil War). These states also voted against Trump.

California sunset, Griffith Park

Then... you’ve got the vast “middle.” The “red” states, most of which are far less populous (and productive) than the coastal ones, but which were guaranteed by our founders to have a more-than-equal voice in electing our president via the electoral college. Without troubling the reader with the details, what this means in present-day America is that, as a Californian, my vote counts for two-thirds less than the vote of someone living in Wyoming, say. This was, and remains, a constitutionally mandated system intended to protect small states from the tyranny of large ones (but which also had the effect, perhaps not inadvertently, of protecting the large landowners of yesteryear from the unwashed masses in the cities). What isn’t constitutionally mandated, however, is a furthering of the electoral system adopted by all but three of our fifty states to employ a “winner-take-all” method of reckoning up their electoral votes, so that, in short: to the victor goes the spoils and to hell with the “minority.” Never mind that in the case of our recent election the “minority” was actually the majority; Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, and without “winner-take-all” she would have won the electoral vote too. This is the system by which Donald Trump became our President-elect. And this is what we, in LA, will have to live through for the next four years, if not eight.

Welcome to Hollywood: Bob Hope Health Centre 

This is why I am despondent. This is why most of my friends are despondent. It puts a whole new spin on living in LA: to know that our votes count for “less than,” to live with the prospect of being ruled by a man who in no way represents us and vandalises our belief systems every day. How meaningless it feels to be trying to get a silly job making a silly movie that only people made truly desperate by the paucity of their own lives would take the time to check out, when the future of our nation appears so dire. Not that all movies are silly. Movies, like books and other art forms, at their best serve to shed light on the human condition, often evincing efforts by their creators to reach out to others, to say: “I am alone. Are you? Maybe we can be alone together.” So I understand. I need to go to Netflix once in a while too, to stem the flood of despair.

And I’m not disparaging my counterparts in middle America, or not entirely. I can’t, because I am them. My only sibling, my brother, whom I love dearly, lives in the “middle.” For his entire working life, he slaved in factories, often on midnight shifts, to provide for his family. And provide he did. Was he under-employed? He was. Was he underpaid? No doubt. But he believed in America, he believed that the fact that he had to tear his body apart in order to provide food, shelter, computers, the occasional hockey game tickets, and the latest software for his kids and grandkids was worth the price. In so many ways, he is my hero. And he voted for Trump. I tell myself: He’s in his own bubble too. I’m in my bubble; he’s in his. But it’s heart-wrenching that I cannot bring myself to talk to him. Not now.

Reflections from a car: a lone palm tree & traffic lights

And I hate what this election has done to me, to us, and to our country. I hate that I am embarrassed to be American. I hate that I have to hang my head in shame. I hate that we have to fight these fights all over again. I hate that it is the poor who will suffer most under Trump’s regime, since the rich already have their health care, can fly their daughters to other countries to terminate their unwanted pregnancies, and can pay for eldercare and childcare and whatever else they need. Most of all, I hate that I hate so much. I am tired of it all. In LA, we live apart, now more than ever. We always have been outliers, literally on the edge of the country, but now it feels as if the middle of America might well rejoice if, in what they would likely see as an act of divine retribution, the San Andreas fault finally imploded and dropped California in the Pacific ocean. Humans are communal animals, and presently there is no community in the United States. Nor, I think, will there be for the foreseeable future.

Santa Monica, California, December 16, 2016

Read Catherine Cyran's brilliant new children's novel "Island of The Last Great Auk": https://www.amazon.com/Island-Last-Great-Catherine-Cyran/dp/069244033X

Fine Art and Fashion: Designers Drawn to Paris

A fluid and shimmering gown in deep blue and green was a highlight of Pascal Millet's ready-to-wear collection during Paris Fashion Week SS17. Cover picture of Marimekko in Paris and all photographs by Elli Ioannou. 

We look at some of the most artistic fashion designers showing in Europe today, the story behind their careers and their recent ready-to-wear shows at Paris Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2017. These designers, often with fine art backgrounds, showed collections that are influential in the worlds of both fashion and design, Elli Ioannou reports from Paris

Veronique Branquinho: Edwardian romance

BELGIAN designer Veronique Branquinho is another successful graduate from Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts. She has an interesting background that goes beyond fashion design. Branquinho has worked as a magazine editor, she is an exhibiting artist with shows held in Tokyo, Shanghai and Moscow and a fashion professor in Vienna. She designed ranges of womenswear and menswear plus shoes and bags before relaunching her brand in 2012, in partnership with Onward luxury group. An industrial warehouse space was the designer's choice for her SS17 season at Paris fashion week.

Plunging pleats, lace and faded floral prints

The Edwardian aesthetic of the collection was enhanced with a predominantly nude colour palette mixed with 1920s style lips of plum red. There were nightdress styled pieces with frilled and lacy bib-fronts, plunging pleated backs, faded floral prints ~ a combination of fine, antique detail and modern lines. Patent ankle boots with all in one beige trompe l'oeil socks inspired by early 20th Century fashions. Visually the show had a strong design look with its overall presentation and the choice of a single classic colour to work with. The show had both a uniformity and a sense of both poetry and romance.

Fashion designer Pascal Millet in Paris

Pascal Millet's design career has been shaped by his experience of working at Balenciaga, Givenchy, Alexander McQueen and as head designer at Maison Carven. His clients include aristocrats and members of the royal family from the Middle East and Europe and stretch as far afield as Japan & Australia. His spring/summer 2017 ready-to-wear collection's inspiration was Princess Caroline of Monaco. In fact, very specifically a lacy white gown she wore at a 1976 Red cross ball. This embodied the beauty, sportiness and glamour he wanted to include in his new collection. Indeed the guests at the show held at the at the Foundation Mona Bismarck Gallery, included his aristocratic and royal clients, among the colourful fashion media and personalities.


Inspiration: Princess Caroline of Monaco

The start of the runway resembled a luxurious room fit for a chic royal. The zig-zag catwalk was spread out over three vast rooms. Each guest had an intimate, up close experience of the collection.The opening music with the silky voice of Sade set the scene. Models wearing satin suits referred to the Princess Caroline look with slick hair and a long, classic pony tail. The collection covered a wide gamut of styles. Highlights included jumpsuits, both long and short in a variety of fabrics; navy blue and green floral Seventies stye dresses with bohemian overtones; white flowing pants and shirts. The colour palette of oyster shell pink, white, khaki and royal blue was in evidence at other designers' collections including Valentin Yudashkin and Moon Young Hee. The overwhelming applause at the end of the Pascal Millet show is indicative of the designer’s strong following with loyal clients attending a reception afterwards.

Sculpted, metallic corsets

Valentin Yudashkin has been showing at Paris Fashion Week since 1999 at both the pret-a-porter and haute couture weeks. He is one of the only Russian designers to be accepted into the Fédération Française de la Mode. He has his designs represented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre Museum and the Californian Fashion Museum. Yudashkin is also one of the main figures behind Moscow Fashion week, helping to grow the fashion industry in Russia, as well as nurturing emerging young designers. The designer presented his SS17 ready-to-wear collection at the Westin Vendome hotel's opulent salon where the fashion media and clients rubbed shoulders in the front row. A pre-show live satellite by the designer addressing the audience felt very regal. The new artistic director of the brand is Galina Yudashkina, the designer's 25 year old daughter.

A symphony of metallic & neutrals at Valentin Yudashkin

A metallic, mirrored runway added an artistic edge to the show, as the models were reflected as abstract shapes as they moved swiftly along the catwalk. The collection had overtones of glam meets Seventies chic with a predominantly white, pink oyster shell, bronze and royal blue colour palette. The fabrics and shapes ranged from silk shorts to white suits. This spring summer 2017 collection had more of a fresh look, with pale safari style suits, accented with white Oxford shoes. The collection had a range styles inspired by men's fashion. This included a black sleeveless jumpsuit with tuxedo lapels. Signature gowns included metallic corsets resembling armour. The collection's new direction was influenced by the new artistic vision Galina Yudashkina. She took a closing bow with her newborn son, on behalf of her father, to a standing ovation from the audience.

Designer Christian Wijnants backstage in Paris 

Belgian designer Christian Wijnants is also a graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Based in Antwerp he has already achieved many accolades. His graduate collection won the Dries Van Noten Award for Best Collection (he later worked at the design house). Wijnants also won the Grand Prix at the Festival d’Hyeres, the Woolmark Prize and was nominated for Swarovski Collective Prize for Innovation and opened a flagship store in 2015. His ready-to-wear collection in Paris, held at the Galerie de minéralagie et de Géologie, was inspired by aerodynamics and influenced by the artist Christo’s recent installation The Floating Piers at Italy’s Lake Iseo.

Brilliant floral prints & fluid forms at Christian Wijnants

The collection included floral prints, polka dots and monochrome kaftans in burnt orange and Royal Blue parachute jumpsuits. Softly tailored blouses and nylon coats were padded and ribbed while the washed and crushed silks created extra tactility.
 Wijnants new trousers are straight, wide and extra long, giving an easy elegance to every look. Knitted pleats featured in ensembles with jacquard florals and raffia finishings popping out of delicate knitwear. Harness tops with a nylon armature alternated with blouses with kimono sleeves and ballooning backs. The 
thick black Japanese wooden platform sandals give a sturdy basis to the lightweight garments.

Creative contrasts at Moon Young Hee 

The Paris-based Korean designer Moon Young Hee's aesthetic can be partly attributed to her cultural background as well as having studied French literature rather than fashion design. Her new collection for Paris ready-to-wear was presented at the historical halls of the University of Medicine in the district of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in the French capital. As it was the final day of Paris fashion week, there was a serene atmosphere among both the journalists, photographer and guests.

Detail of a silken blue skirt and jacket

The high ceilinged hall, lined with windows on one side and statues on the other, felt somewhat medieval in tone yet inviting. The SS17 collection included wide trousers, long skirts, light raincoats, extra large coats, amorphous jackets, men's style shirts and translucent blouses. There was a mixture of materials ranging from nylon to silk with models of diverse cultural backgrounds. Today, Moon Young Hee has a flagship store on the banks of the Seine opposite the Louvre.

Abstract & artistic contrasts at Anne Sofie Madsen

Anne Sofie Madsen is a graduate of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. She trained under John Galliano in Paris, before moving across to work for Alexander McQueen as a junior designer. In 2014, Anne Sofie Madsen presented her first fashion show at Paris ready-to-wear fashion week. For the SS17 season, the brand is part of the Swarovski collective. The collection was presented with a backdrop of columns of audio-visual digital floral art. Models with Seventies style high-school mistress spectacles and pinned curly hair presented a collection showing the strong imprint of her early mentors at John Galliano and Alexander McQueen: more art than fashion.

Anne Sofie Madsen’s designs are built on contrasts and ambivalence where fashion is replaced by something more abstract.
“I find inspiration in the contrasts and borders between the primitive and civilized, the exotic and classic, the barbaric and elegant, the futuristic and historical,” the designer says. “I am fascinated by the point where fashion replaces the body with something abstract ~ an idea or ideal rather than an organism. I want to capture a couture finish and an attention to detail within ready-to-wear. I aim to reinterpret the traditions of handwork and the use of techniques within couture into contemporary materials and silhouettes.”

Bold colours and sharp shapes at Alon Livne 

Alon Livne is a young Israeli designer who began his career working at Alexander McQueen in London and Roberto Cavalli in Florence. Winning the Israeli version of Project Runway gave him a lot of media coverage. Livne's style is elaborate and sculptural fused with couture detailing. First showing at MBFW in New York, won him celebrity clients including Naomi Campbell and Lady Gaga. The singer Beyoncé even commissioned him to design the costumes for the Mrs Carter tour.

Sculptural forms & couture details

Showing for the first time at Paris Fashion Week for the ready-to-wear season, the designer presented a show melding live theatre and art installation at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers. Alon Livne was inspired by Sixties Japanese pattern maker and graphic designer Kazumasa Nagai. The models were like live sculptures, rotating after long periods of time, with a backdrop of a flowing liquid pink fountain. Presentations like Alon Liven's are a great way for young designers to enter the prestigious world of fashion week and often offer a visual respite from the classic runway, allowing for raw creativity and experimentation.

Strong prints at Marimekko

The Marimekko presentaton was done in a manner more like early fashion shows of the Fifties and Sixties. It was shown in an intimate space at the Ambassade de Finlande in Paris. There were intervals of runway shows then models mingled, posed and lingered among the guests who had an up close and personal experience of the brand's new SS17 ready to wear range. The collection reintroduced five key Marimekko garments from the sixties and seventies, selected from the archives by creative director Anna Teurnell. The Monrepos, Linjaviita, Liidokki and Korppi dresses and the Kentauri skirt are among the more recognizable ready-to-wear pieces in Marimekko’s archives. The new collection paid homage to the brand's playful use of print and silhouette which is it's signature.

10 Question Column: American Photographer Tammy Ruggles

Cover picture Tawny Light and Train (above) photographed by Tammy Ruggles.

Tammy Ruggles is a legally blind photographer who lives in Northern Kentucky. While most people struggle to take a decent looking artistic photograph, Tammy manages to capture the world beautifully with almost total loss of her eyesight, Paul McDonnell reports

Tammy was born with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) which results in a slow, permanent loss of her eyesight. Based in Northern Kentucky, Tammy dedicates her time to photography while she still can. We thought her story was inspiring and we'd like to share it with our readers.

Photographer Tammy Ruggles

1. Where did you grow up and does this place still influence your photography?
I spent my early childhood (kindergarten, first and second grades, in Cleveland Ohio), and the rest in Northern Kentucky, and both places seem to influence me, but more often it is the rural scenery that I relate to most. Yes, both places very much influence the kind and style of photography I lean toward today. I like a little "urban" along with the outdoor, nature images.


2. Why did you choose photography as your artistic métier?
I chose it because it allows me to express my creativity. I'm a writer too, but a photo can say as much if not more than a poem or story. Photography sometimes expresses things and emotions that words cannot.

Sunrise captures the green landscape of Kentucky

3. At the beginning of your career, how did you break into the photography world?
This was in 2013. Once I had a few photos that I liked, I queried publications or websites to ask if they would be interested in considering them for publication. I was accustomed to this because of my writing career, so I decided to propose my photography in the same way.

4. What aspect of photography gives you the most happiness?
Finding an image that represents my idea of art, or an emotion, or something that I think the viewer may like to see. Finding an image that makes me say, "I'm proud that I captured that. It says something to me, and hopefully to others."

New Life represents the photographer's journey

5. How would you describe working as a photographer in America today?
My way of working has become a pleasant routine, and a little on the solitary side, which is the way I like to work, even as a writer. I'm not an introvert by any means, but I do like my quiet times, and find ways to be an artist. I also think that photographers in America today face a lot of "competition" to find work that is compensated, but I like photography whether I'm compensated or not. Obviously, it is good to be paid for your work, however, but it isn't the most important thing to me.

6. Can you describe the experience, person or training that has had the greatest impact on you?
It isn't just one person or thing, but several. In my early years, even before I became a professional, fine art photographer, it was the study of art and literature that influenced me. My high school art teacher Dan McCane, and my college art instructor Jeanette Blakefield taught me the basics. And throughout the years I learnt from my heroes Ansel Adams and Alfred Stieglitz. I've never had formal photography training, but I use my former art education, self study, and experience as an artist. In 2013, when I really became a serious photographer, I learnt a lot from The Art of Photography's Ted Forbes. He really helped me make the connection between art and photography.



Sun Wash has an abstract play of light among leaves

7. Describe what your studio is like and whether you have a set schedule of working everyday? Or is the process more fluid?
I don't have a studio, just a little corner of a room where my computer and oversize computer monitor sit. Once I've captured my images, I'm excited to connect the camera to the PC to see what I've captured, then begin to delete or save the images. Then I may do a little post production on the ones I like, like converting them to black and white, adding saturation, cropping, or whatever I think the image needs to be complete and "artistic" enough for me.

8. Do you find your creative process is more rational or instinctive?
It's a little of both. I do rely on my former art education and the elements of photography, but some of it is most definitely instinctive ~ sometimes I'm not even sure what I've captured until I can enlarge it on my 47-inch monitor. This is where the artistic part of photography begins for me.

A striking image against wintry trees, Limbs

9. How has today’s technology effected your work as a photographer?
It would be impossible for me to be a practising photographer without today's technology, given my visual impairment. Before digital cameras, large monitors, and computers, I couldn't read cameras or see in darkrooms (due to night blindness, which is a feature of RP, the retinal disease that I was born with), so digital cameras opened the door of photography to me, and so did my large monitor, which enables me to get a better view of what my camera has captured.

I literally point and shoot the blurry scenery around me, but can sometimes make out subjects that are closer to me, say, within a foot or so. That's why I didn't become a photographer until 2013. I didn't realise that I could.



Blue and Green in A New Purpose

10. What do you find the most challenging aspect of your work as a legally blind person?
The most challenging is not being able to see all that is out there in the world to capture. If you can imagine seeing everything in bokeh fashion, this is how I see. Nothing is clear or detailed, but instead, blurry shapes of colours. But the large monitor, and zooming in on my images helps me to see what I have on my camera, and I begin my artistic adventure. It's very thrilling to me.

Another challenging aspect is, of course, my continuous vision loss. RP doesn't stop happening. So I know I won't be able to practise photography this way forever. It will come to an end, and it's getting closer and closer, because my vision worsens with time. I'm pushing myself this year, 2016, to take photos. This may be my last year. But then, I said that last year too.

It's just so hard to let go of photography, but I know I will. I'm not sure if I'll use my camera in 2017. Whatever happens, I'm so proud and happy to have had the chance to be the fine art photographer I always was inside.

The beautiful tones and colours of the photographer's Tawny Light

What's in a Name: Bill Gaytten's Maison John Galliano

Diaphanous and romantic, Bill Gaytten's SS17 collection has his own imprimatur. Cover picture & photography by Elli Ioannou

Bill Gaytten's new collection for Maison John Galliano showed an engaging femininity and sense of romance. The designer has developed his own signature at the fashion house in the past five years, with a light and fluid aesthetic. Our Paris correspondent, Elli Ioannou, takes a look back at the highlights of the Spring/Summer 2017 ready-to-wear collection, shown earlier this month in the French capital

The show's runway at Lycee Carnot in Paris

WALKING into the rather dilapidated yet storybook Lyceé Carnot school in Paris’ 17th arrondissement, guests at the new John Galliano runway show were seated on high school wooden benches. The show's attendees were clearly still part of the original John Galliano club, wearing bold outfits captured by the photographers at the event along with the runway show. Bill Gaytten has emerged from the shadows of couturier John Galliano in the past five years and presented an appealing and low-key SS17 ready-to-wear range which should pique the interest of a new generation.

The collection's play on fluidity & transparency 

Originally trained as an architect, and working behind the scenes with Galliano for 23 years, Gaytten was pushed into the spotlight when he was made the creative director of the house after the designer's controversial dismissal in 2011. A rebranding of the label was officially launched with a change of logo and new campaign last year. The latest spring/summer 2017 collection reflects a classic design direction more in line with the brand's owner, the LMVH group, than the more over-the-top and avant-garde style of its former designer.



Pastel hues added to the sense of romance 

Young models, almost sprinted around the rectangular runway at the Lyceé Carnot wearing soft romantic hues, with looks inspired by the 1930s. The official theme of the collection was inspired by “dress-ups” viewed through a young girl’s naïve imagination when she discovers trunks of pre-loved clothes from another era. Dark, transparent dresses and boxy jackets were a counterpoint to the floaty, white long gowns. 


Milliner Stephen Jones' mask

Papier Mache animal masks were specially created by milliner Stephen Jones for the show. At first glance the looks offered an innocent-looking vision of youth with sheer silk chiffon, lace and tulle dresses. However on closer inspection, the details reveal the subtle but ingrained signature of John Galliano in their form: bias ruffled tiers and draped decolletes, black, open-waisted Thirties cut pants, with v-shaped cropped bolero jackets and signature blue and white sailor stripes in a bold vertical pattern.

Sheer and flowing dresses were mixed with mens’ jackets in upholstery stripes, further distressed and re-embroidered, while trousers were intentionally over sized and shaped by layers of vintage-look leather belts and Art Deco style costume jewellery.

Bold stripes added a strong contrast 

Transparent looks revealed undergarments that seemed more innocent than seductive. The romantic looks were juxtaposed with the post-punk Nineties soundtrack, including the finale echoing with Kurt Cobain's angst and sense of rebellious youth. The key accessory to be launched this collection was the Chain bag exclusive to Maison John Galliano SS17. Stiletto sandals with leaf detailing, completed the transformation from childlike daydream to a modern vision of femininity.

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Maison John Galliano's new accessory the Chain bag launched in Paris

Delicately gathered pink chiffon sleeves and fine darts on the bodice created a romantic summer dress

The white dresses had a sense of freedom and innocence contrasted by the transparency of the fabric

Leather belts added a note of robust detail to the flowing dresses 

One of the key trends in Paris for SS17 was underwear as outerwear and this was a strong theme in Bill Gaytten's collection

This diaphanous dress with its rows of undulating frills was a highlight of the collection

A Thirties style jacket in cream linen is tucked into broad, low-waisted trousers

Modern Grecian goddess in white chiffon

A glimmer of sparkle added a sense of evening drama to this sheer gown

Blue and black with unexpected contrasts of transparency and opaqueness made this a highlight of the show

The new Chain bag worn with pink and white underwear as outerwear

New Parisian warrior with feather and comfortable double-breasted jacket

Black lace transparency

 The new trouser designs added avant-garde element to the show

Stephen Jones' masks added a slightly surreal, story book quality to the collection

 Pattern and bold stripes made a jaunty counterpoint to the diaphanous white dresses

The models strode out in the finale in Paris 

One of the guests at the John Galliano show in Paris earlier this month 

An asymmetrical suit in blue and red check with a quirky hat made this guest part of the John Galliano ethos