Fresh off the press: the story I photographed for legendary French magazine Les Inrockuptibles just came out — it's an 8-page editorial, and we also landed the cover of the magazine.
Bonus: Stoya's interview is even more incendiary than usual, so get your copy for the pictures and the words. (If you read French, that is.)
Makeup & hair: Jessica Padilla.
Retouching: Eye Candy.
The FUCKING NEW YORK Kickstarter campaign has been an incredible ride and a runaway success: with another three days to go, the book is over 200% financed! This means that the book is now definitely going into production, and you can expect to receive your copy of the book sometime in September 2016!
This means that you have only three days left to pre-order your copy of FUCKING NEW YORK. Don't miss out! The book may be available later, but at a signficantly higher price.
The press about the book has been uniformly ecstatic. Keep reading for some of the best quotes!
"It's quite a relationship we have with New York — unhealthy, frustrating, often abusive (especially when rent is due), and yet so irresistible. New York is like that bad boy or a girl you always wanted to make your own, and never quite could, but man, the sex was always amazing," says photographer Nikola Tamindzic. That myth that every New Yorker's greatest relationship is with the city itself inspired his series of photographs, FUCKING NEW YORK, which takes women and their love affairs with the city to their natural, carnal ends. A fashion photographer who got his start shooting nightlife for Gawker, Tamindzic's been working on the project for four years, and has launched a Kickstarter to bring it to final book form.
The series glories in women who have a sexy, borderline pornographic rapport with the five boroughs. They bare it all on city streets, penetrate pipes, and wrap themselves around fire hydrants in ecstatic, orgasmic communion with the city. "It became this expression of reverse voyeurism," Tamindzic explains. "These private moments were happening in public, and all the power of the voyeur was taken away, because clearly, these women couldn't give a fuck whether you see them or not, or what you think of them."
Stoya in FUCKING NEW YORK.
"Most of the participants are writers, artists, magazine editors, entrepreneurs, and political activists," Tamindzic says of his casting, which features a whole host of women, including recognizable New Yorkers like porn star Stoya or writer Rachel Sklar. "There are people from their early twenties to mid-sixties, many different body types, people from all kinds of cultural, ethnic and social backgrounds. A real cross-section of New York, I hope."
There are still some elusive, perfect "fucking New York" shots still out there to be created, though. "The bull on Wall Street, covered in lighter fluid, and set on fire," Tamindzic shared, when asked for one of them. "Since we couldn't really make that happen, my friend Candice rubbed her ass in Trump's face—and that was pretty much perfect."
Read the entire feature on papermag.com. Buy FUCKING NEW YORK on Kickstarter.
There will be 100 deluxe signed and numbered Collector's Edition copies, produced with an alternate cover featuring Stoya, and presented with a original signed 8"x10" art print, in a gorgeous debossed clamshell case featuring the FUCKING NEW YORK logo. Signed and numbered by me personally.
Available worldwide starting tomorrow, May 16, exclusively on Kickstarter and fuckingnewyork.com.
You know you had a great day at the studio when you end up with enough great & diverse photos to make up at least two distinct fashion stories — that's what happens when you work with a model as gifted as Hannah Vandermolen, and a team to match her talents.
Two editorials, you say? It's true — this take on the story is out now, and we've put together a completely different 12-page spread for the upcoming print issue of Beautiful Savage as well.
Last but not least, David Bowie's Love Is Lost was the hidden inspiration for this story — put it on & enjoy.
Photographer: Nikola Tamindzic
Model: Hannah Vandermolen @ Trump Models
Art Director: Lexie Coon
Stylist: Valissa Yoe
Make-up: Kavita Kaul
Hair stylist: Niko Weddle
Fashion assistants: Mia Darrow Tarley & Aarron Ricks
Photo assistant: Monicka Patterson
Retouching: Eye Candy Studio
The brand new second issue of LIAR magazine just came out yesterday — I had the pleasure of shooting rising fashion star Tina Veshaguri for the cover of the new issue, as well as the 12-page fashion editorial inside.
Track this issue down — I'm predicting it's going to be a collectible; I'm naturally very proud of my piece, but the rest of the articles and editorials in the magazine are excellent, and absolutely worth your time & attention.
The cover & the full fashion editorial:
Styling: Sofia Karvela at The Wall Group
Makeup: Alex Almeida
Hair: Tsuyoshi Harada
Post-production: Eye Candy Retouch
Model: Tina Veshaguri
Main fashion story and cover of June 2015 Harper's Bazaar (Serbian edition), featuring supermodel Marina Cooper.
About nine months ago, creative director and founder of LIAR magazine, Christine Be, approached me to make a fashion editorial inspired by my ongoing Fucking New York project. We had a blast doing this shoot on the streets of New York City, and after the kind of delays ambitious magazines often face with their first issues, I'm finally able to share the full editorial with you. You can buy the premiere issue of LIAR at newsstands in NYC, and you can also buy it directly from their website.
Styling: Ray Oliveira
Makeup & hair: Sylvia Dimaki
Model: Clara Settje at Trump Models
Come join me this Tuesday, March 24, at 6pm at the opening of “The Classical Elements: A Photographic Interpretation” exhibit, at Kinfolk Gallery in Williamsburg.
The Foundation for Art In Motion and The Shooting Stars Photography Workshop for Teens at Risk are hosting a photography exhibition honoring the classical elements: Earth, Water, Air and Fire. My 2009 piece “Blindness” will be shown alongside works from Spencer Tunick, Marco Gallotta, Erica Simone, Shae DeTar, Ryan Keeley, and other talented artists. Music by DJ Valissa Yoe. Edible chocolate installation by Culinary Harassment. $10 suggested donation at the door.
Join the event on Facebook. Hope to see you there!
First of all, can I tell you how fantastic, fun, glamourous and bullshit-free supermodel Abby Brothers is? Whatever you dreamt up as a photographer, she’ll simply take it and make it ten times better.
So! Today is the official launch of print edition of LA’s fantastic Live FAST magazine. There’s a photo spread I did with Abby in the print issue, but me & my team thought we’d go one better, so we put together a fashion film as a surprise gift for founder and creative director of Live FAST, Vivianne Lapointe. Have a look at the uncensored version above, and if for some reason you'd prefer a safe-for-work version, YouTube will take care of you.
Superstar supermodel: Abby Brothers. Editing: Vuk Mitrovic. Cinematography: David Fitt. Stylist: Lindsay Nizolek. Makeup: Alexa Gould.
Sometime last year, Chad Saville — the founder & editor-in-chief of Beautiful Savage magazine — approached me with the idea of turning my ongoing Fucking New York art series into a fashion editorial. Chad already had some great things to say about my work in the past, and Beautiful Savage is one of the best art/fashion magazines out there at the moment, so saying no to Chad's offer was never an option.
For those of you still interested in seeing the story in print, you'll find it in the current issue of Beautiful Savage, available at better newsstands in your city, or directly from the magazine.
My excellent team: model India Charmain, fashion stylist Rowshana Jackson, makeup artist Logan Slaughter, assistant Maureen Pitz, and retouching by Eye Candy Studio.
Unretouched previews from a fashion shoot with Marina, styled by Elena Nikolaevna.
Fashion advertising campaign I did in October for Tamara Jaric's new Fall/Winter 2015 collection called Structure, featuring Women Management's Jelena Jankovic. Post-production by Eye Candy.
Abby Brothers in Against the Wall by Nikola Tamindzic
Gotham magazine today featured a "10 Photographers to Know" list by Chad Saville, editor-in-chief of Beautiful Savage, a fantastic art & fashion glossy in New York City, and I am honored to be on this list.
“Nikola Tamindzic’s boundary-pushing aesthetic evokes both desire and restraint, celebrating clean composition with a spirit of rebellion. Much of his portfolio was shot in natural light, in the moment... and in locations that he probably snuck into. Nylon, The New York Times, Gawker, and Maxim are just a few of his clients. He’s also featured in the Fall 2014 issue of Beautiful Savage magazine.”
Some of my photos from the upcoming Fall 2014 issue of Beautiful Savage have already been previewed on this blog. The Gotham article also features Jamie Nelson, Dwayne Michael Campbell, and others — see Chad Saville's Top 10 Photographers in New York City Right Now.
Exactly three years ago, Sasha Frere-Jones — then the culture editor at The Daily — sent me along with intrepid reporter Zach Baron to Las Vegas. Our mission: to follow in Hunter S. Thompson's footsteps 40 years later, and report on what happened to the American Dream in the intervening years.
Today, our piece — which previously disappeared into the Great Cache in the Sky along with The Daily — has been resurrected on Longform.org, along with tons of previously unpublished photos.
It's a long read — as good reads often are — so grab a drink, plop yourself in a cushy chair, and enjoy our stories of fear & self-loathing: http://reprints.longform.org/fear-and-self-loathing-in-las-vegas-zach-baron
I’m enormously proud of the work Catapult and I did together, and hope this campaign will help draw attention to important issues women are facing today, such as forced marriage, child slavery, and forced prostitution. The campaign has been enormously successful so far, with pieces in The Guardian, Mashable, and BuzzFeed already out there. Help Catapult get the word out there, and find a women-led project to support!
Even in 2014, the rights of women and girls are severely threatened by sex trafficking, slavery, child marriage and other violations around the world. International Women’s Day, observed annually on March 8, continues to spread awareness and garner support — and change — for women across the globe.
Catapult, a crowdfunding site dedicated specifically to the advancement of women and girls, has released a startling new visual campaign in an attempt to make this year’s IWD “more than just a cover story.” The Cover Stories campaign features three mock magazine covers that highlight terrifyingly real human rights issues to push the conversation forward.
Headlines such as "The Wedding You’ll Never Forget But Wish You Could" and "Who Needs a Childhood Anyway?" float next to the young models. The cover of Good Slavekeeping pretends to cater to the human rights violators themselves, adding another dark layer to the already serious campaign.
Michael Gira of Swans, photographed for Sasha Frere-Jones's music column in The New Yorker.
I rarely shoot musicians. But when I got an offer to make a portrait of Michael Gira, I did what you should do next time Swans play your town: just go.
Swans' To Be Kind is out now, and is another in a long line of masterpieces. Revisit Sasha Frere-Jones's column for which this portrait of Gira was commissioned.
Untitled 30/93 (The Standard), from Fucking New York.
A wonderful write-up about Fucking New York from Frank Webster in PDN:
“In his latest book, Fucking New York, Nikola Tamindzic ponders whether a New Yorker’s love for the City is the most important relationship in his or her life, asking the question to the point of absurdity: What would screwing New York City actually look like? The project evolved into distant, almost architectural, slightly removed from reality, though quietly sensual photographs — their flow broken up by in-your-face closeups and an occasional overtly humorous shot. The uncanny/unreal city feeling the images evoke are reminiscent of surrealist painter Giorgio de Chirico’s plazas, punctuated with Lynchian humor.”
Untitled #99/39 (29th street), from Fucking New York.
A great, fun write-up on Fucking New York by Marina Galperina in Animal New York:
“Sometimes you just want to grab hold of those buildings, throw yourself at the sidewalk and ugh, ugh, ohhh. Photographer Nikola Tamindzic’s newest project Fucking New York is about fucking New York, that powerful appreciation for whatever it is that makes you tolerate this city’s many flaws and fuck-ups, that love manifesting itself physically as a series of poised sexual abstractions. It helps that Nikola’s photos are always beautiful. He makes pressing your breasts at a window look eloquent, enchanting. Hmm. Hmmmm. Hmmmmmm.”
Nikola Tamindzic went out late on Friday night to shoot pictures at Trash, a weekly themed party at 40C, an East Village nightclub.
Mr. Tamindzic is a night-life photographer — equal parts Ron Galella, Weegee and Terry Richardson — with clippings in Time Out New York, Black Book and The Village Voice. The Voice named him Night-Life Photographer of the Year in 2006.
“My pictures suggest a story that happened before the shot and a story that hasn’t happened yet,” Mr. Tamindzic said. “There’s a sense of melancholy. I’m thinking Lee Friedlander photographs from the ’70s. Hopefully, when it comes together it puts two contradictory layers in the photo: you’re both adoring it and not repulsed by it — but, yeah, almost repulsed by it.”
Take, for example, a picture Mr. Tamindzic took the weekend before last at a book party for Arianna Huffington: Ms. Huffington with Charlie Rose, Mortimer B. Zuckerman, Jann Wenner and Rupert Murdoch. None of the five — except for Mr. Wenner, who theatrically pretends to be holding Mr. Zuckerman and Mr. Murdoch at arm’s length from each other — appears to want to be in the photo. Yet they are all smiling gamely enough because, well, it would be horrible form to move out of the frame.
“I don’t judge my subjects,” Mr. Tamindzic said of his portraiture, which also includes studio and fashion work. He added that although he makes more money by selling pictures to glossy magazines, his primary employer (which had sent him to the Huffington event in the first place) is Gawker, the acidic media-gossip Web site. Mr. Tamindzic is 35 and grew up in Belgrade, in what was then Yugoslavia. He came to America in 2000, took a job doing Web design work, then landed in New York in 2004. It was around that time that he fell in love with photography, and during his initial months in town, he happened to end up at a Halloween party held by Gawker’s founder.
“I was bored so I took a lot of pictures and posted them online, and the next day they called and said they’d pay me to start taking their party pictures,” Mr. Tamindzic said.
His work can be viewed on his own site, homeofthevain.com (the name comes from a lyric by the literate post-punk band the Fall).
"Perfect scene: dark room, huge sofa, and two striking, gorgeous women lounging. I come over slowly, trip the shutter, smile and move away, happy that I got a lovely, natural looking photo that's going to work perfectly as a context shot for the party I'm covering. An hour later, I find myself standing next to the brunette above, as the blonde takes the stage, and I realize that it's maybe time to reconsider this whole nightlife photography business if I'm unable to recognize both Annie Lennox and Gina Gershon. Whatever, it was a very dark room."
At the nightclub on Friday night, Mr. Tamindzic sized up the crowd. “It’s very young,” he said. “Lower East Side street kids, N.Y.U. students, trustafarians.”
He leaped into action, snapping pictures of the two young women who were being paid to dance on the bar in underwear and cutoff shorts and encouraging them to mug for the camera. Mr. Tamindzic, a lanky 6 feet 3 inches tall, all legs and elbows, was purposeful and obvious, with a hefty Canon EOS 5D camera in one hand and a LumiQuest softbox flash in the other (to throw up a noirish, crime-scene photographer’s burst of intense light). He uses long exposures, then shakes the camera while the shutter is still open, causing colors to blur and lights to streak.
“I’m not recording what is really happening, but it’s something like what the brain is seeing late at night, especially if maybe you’re drunk or very excited,” he said. “I like that hour between 3 and 4 in the morning when desperation sets in, when you see all the anticipation of going out starting to fade. The masks drop and everybody realizes the night is not going to be everything they were hoping for.”
"Whenever I think about my nightlife photography, and all the things I've shot in the past, this is the shot that comes to mind, every time."
Mr. Tamindzic appeared to be at the top of his game as the clock struck 1:30 a.m.
He snapped pictures of a couple of young career women in pumps and wool coats, one of whom held a bouquet of flowers; they were out on the town for her birthday.
He photographed a rather robotic looking woman in a futuristic version of a Playboy Club waitress’s outfit.
He photographed a couple who had fallen into what appeared to be an unlikely and unaccounted-for embrace.
There was something of the character portrayed by David Hemmings in “Blow-Up” in the way Mr. Tamindzic worked the back room of the club, pulling women onto the velvet couch and coaxing them into poses — for example, a hand on someone’s stomach, or a shoulder strap undone. They were mostly shy but thrilled by his attention.
“I like to bring people to a point of vulnerability and then meet their gaze,” he explained earlier in the evening about his portraits. “That creates compassion, which hopefully is reflected in the image. If you get vulnerability out of them and then look away, that’s the cruelest thing you can do. To flinch at that point and not take the picture, the subject will throw the wall up faster than you can say — well, faster than you can say a very short word.”
