Live!

One of the many things I love about this city is that in every corner, every crevice of this town, there is always something amazing being created, some new life form taking shape. So rewind to a couple of weeks ago while I trekked downtown for a Latina Magazine photo shoot. In the lobby of the building, there was some sort of photo exhibit amidst a canvas of white going on. Being naturally chismosa, I had to find out what was going down in the artsy space.

First I noticed some very familiar, and eerily raw celebrity portraits that have graced the glossy pages of some of fashion's popular magazines- Vanity Fair, Harper's Bazaar, and Elle to state a few. The images were killer. Some makeup and hair chairs were set up in the back, and well you know, that gets my attention every time.
So after a couple of minutes of small talk with a colleague from the past, she introduced me to the man behind art, British photographer, Rankin. Down-to-earth and pleasant, Rankin has photographed such famous faces as Britney Spears, the Rolling Stones, The Queen of England, and Madonna. So I was easily impressed off the bat.
After some amicable chit chat with Rankin, I came to learn that he was in New York conducting his project, Rankin Live! The introspective project takes random pedestrians off the streets and transforms them into subjects behind the lens. Quick and basic hair and makeup are done, and voila! You get the chance of a lifetime- a mini photo session with one of the biggest photographers in the world. Not one to let any of my bubbling supermodelo urges to be ignored, I jumped at the opportunity to get my 15 minutes of fame!

A little nerve-wracking and refreshingly entertaining, Rankin was easy going so it helped the nerves. From the 20-30 images snapped, he picks out his two favorites and you walk away with two 8x10 photographs to hang in your boudoir, or if you're me, framed for display in my entrance way bookcase.

To all you photographers out there! There's a starving model on the UES ready, willing, and able to be your muse!

Here's to you. Here's to me.

Kathy.