I'm 16 years old and look over to my father on the other side of the pool table, “I’m going to be a music teacher.” His response was classic, "Aleks my Son nooo. You’re not going to make An-E Mahhhhhhne.” Then he asked, "What, you teach high school?" I nodded in the...
KARJAKA Magazine
Wingtips, Wooden Heels, & the Wardrobe
I'm 15 years old and marveling at the broguing on my new wingtips. As instructed, I went outside to scuff up the leather souls as to add traction and not fall on my face later that evening. As a young doubler in my teens, I was headed off to some sort of jazz gig. As...
The Best is Yet to Come
Emily Iaquinta My model gives me a blank stare as if it to say, "Is that it?" Mother gives me a glance, and by Mother and I mean Russ, my right hand man. He gingerly pulls me a side to talk technical, but what he really is saying as he whispers into my ear, "Maybe we...
The Gambler
Sixto Franco No this isn't a Cliff Notes version of Dostoyevsky's masterpiece. But the man did get it right. We're all gamblers at the slot machine of life. For some it's a career or business, maybe it's your family and children, personally it maybe that New Year's...
The Response
Tony Arnold, Soprano Incongruity is underrated if you ask me. The bizarre, absurd, the playful. I love a photo, or any other art form for that matter, that makes me laugh, gasp, takes my breath away, that makes me weep. Photography is more than something pretty to...
Why So Serious?
I love a business lunch. I'll have a sidecar please. The waiter perplexed as to what a Sidecar is, let alone a thirty something ordering off the drink menu, shuffles off to consult the barman. Impressed, the 50 year old pro gives me a wink and a nod. It's going to be...
Don’t Iron the Shirt
I know, controversial, right? But seriously, don't over think it. What's your day to day outfit of choice? Do you spend 30 mins (+) organizing your outfit, or do you roll out of bed and step into your casual uniform of jeans, t-shirt and comfortable shoes? Obsessed...
Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition
It's midway through the Spring semester, I'm sitting in my studio irritated. Surrounded in a sea of arial font type, neon yellow posted notes and red sharpie pens, I'm grading papers and questioning my own knowledge as I fact check copious generalizations being made...
Talk Dirty to Me.
You know you want to. Tell me your secrets. Confess, you visual sinner, you! Reservation be damned. Be vulnerable and open up for once in your artistic life. Let your guard down. This is you, your image we're talking about after all. We're moments away from the...
Something to Smile About
If you haven't figured it out, I'm genuinely interested in people. Portrait photographers by nature are makeshift anthropologists, psychologist, sociologist and various other "-gists" all wrapped into one. Me? I'm more interested in who someone is on a global level....