Weekly Roundup: Walter Shintani, Steve Craft, Leah Perry, and John Kealey

BY Wonderful Machine 17 March 2017

In Mexico City

Photographer Walter Shintani spent some time photographing Fiesta Xhita; an ancient ritual passed down from the Otomi culture. The festival, which takes place in various towns across Mexico, kicks off 40 days before Ash Wednesday and features elaborate dancing and traditional garments made from ixtle.

A diptych of photos by Walter Shintani. Each photo features an individual dressed for the Fiesta Xhita. On the left, a person wears a headdress that looks like a voluminous blonde and brown wig and hot pink clothes. The person on the right wears a similar wig but multicolored. This person also has a horn affixed at their forehead and their face is covered with a cloth.

Walter, intrigued by the merging of religions, was eager to document how this ritual has survived throughout the century. This ritual to bring good crops and rain to Mexico is not commonly known, and in addition to continuing his work on this project, Walter hopes to bring consciousness to this culture.

A photo by Walter Shintani that features an individual dressed for the Fiesta Xhita. The person is dressed in a bright green garment with colorful tassels and wears a black and green headdress that looks like a chaotic wig. Their face is covered by a black cloth balaclava of sorts, and they wear a pair of black animal horns on their forehead.

See more of Walter’s work on his website.

In Phoenix, Arizona

Steve Craft was awarded the Silver Award in the Landscape category for the 2017 Graphis Photo Annual. His winning image of Prada Marfa was taken last year on his annual road trip with his son.

Steve Craft's photo of a Prada store located in Marfa, Texas. The photo, taken at dusk, features the tiny, rectangular building on the left of the frame next to a telephone pole to the right. It is entirely dark except for some lingering light on the horizon from the sunset and the lights inside the store. The shop glows in the darkness.

We arrived at the location just as the sun had set and the front face of the building was in almost complete darkness except for the interior lights. We decided that the front needed more light so we positioned our car to have the headlights illuminate the front of the building just enough to give it some texture.

See more of Steve’s work on his website.

In Atlanta, Georgia

Fashion photographer Leah Perry‘s recent personal project had a great reception on social media. The project, inspired in part by the Louboutin shoe campaign, #NudeAwakening, had Leah working with models of all skin colors and pairing them with matching clothing.

Leah Perry's photo from her personal project. The photo features seven smiling models standing in a row organized left to right from lightest to darkest skin tone. Each model is wearing garments that closely coordinate with their skin tone.

Good casting and styling is a key factor that could either make or break a project like this. Leah knew it wouldn’t be easy to style this shoot, so she worked closely with her team to manage both production and casting.

The logistics of this project were intense. I am fortunate the modeling agency, UWM, was willing to work so hard on this with me. Finding models to fit the range of skin tonality, especially when a few were booked on last minute jobs was tricky. Almost like a jigsaw puzzle. Even though there are a lot more tonality options in clothes, it’s not widespread. My stylist ended up dying fabric and making extra pieces the day our shoot to compliment all the skin tones.

A diptych of photos by Leah Perry of a dark-skinned woman and a light-skinned man posed in intimate embraces.

Leah hopes that with this work she can help further the goal of making “nude” a more inclusive term for the fashion industry.

See more of Leah’s work on her website.

In Ottawa, Canada

With baseball currently in training season, sports and fitness photographer John Kealey has some images to share of the Toronto Blue Jays. The opportunity to photograph them during practice came about after John had finished up shooting pitcher Marcus Stroman and found himself with some down time between shoots. The photos were a hit and ended up being used on Sportsnet’s social media feeds as well!

A photo taken by photographer John Kealey of the Toronto Blue Jays' practice. A large group of team members in uniform are running on a baseball diamond from the right side of the frame to the left.

My late uncle was a writer for the Blue Jays back in the day. I used to go down to Dunedin when I was growing up so this assignment was particularly one that I will never forget.

John Kealey's image of a Toronto Blue Jays baseball team member. The player has brown skin and has his back turned to the camera, displaying the large number six on the back of his jersey. He looks to his left with his head tilted downward.

See more of John’s work on his website.

Further Reading
Read more articles about Walter Shintani.
Read more articles about Steve Craft.
Read more articles about Leah Perry.
Read more articles about John Kealey.

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