Grand Canyon in 3D

Well, it is pseudo-3D, but it is still great.
3D glasses needed!

Zapped in three dimensions by Benjamin Rančič (Place3D).
And yes, that is me on the rim.

Elle Slovenia Fashion Editorial - A Day in the Year

The story was published in Elle Slovenia January 2011.

Creative direction by Petra Windschnurer
Styled by Tina Curk.
Make-up Maja Šušnjara.
Hair by the very talented Ryutaro Sunami for Paul Mitchell.
Featuring two of Slovenia's greatest models - Anja Krvina and Brane Maselj Baki (Alen Kobilica Models).

See the video here.

The sexiest models this side of the Alps - Made in Slovenia calender for 2011

Zvone Kukec, a designer and a friend approached me the other day with a brilliant offer. I was chewing the idea of shooting a bundle of Slovenia's sexiest fashion models semi-nude at the back of my head for a while, so his offer of shooting the annual calender for Collegium Graphicum (a printing company from Slovenia) was a perfect opportunity for materializing my ubiquitous plan.

I called the agencies, I called the girls, I called Hasselblad and I called Profoto. Everybody said yes immediately. The planets were in the right position. The light was green.

We shot over a period of one week. It was hard getting all the girls together as some of them were really busy with bookings or working abroad. With careful planning we squeezed everything together within the set time frame and handed the photos to the Jamšek brothers, the owners of Collegium Graphicum. Needless to say, they loved the results instantly.

Because of a constant bombarding of all things Made in China, Japan, Germany, Romania and Bangladesh we decided to name the project MADE IN SLOVENIA - that is where our gorgeous girls are from after all. Let the world see the beauty of our supersexy babes, shot in tasteful black and white and posing sensually.

To really appreciate the calender you have to see it in its full glory, printed on marble pearl paper and super-sized to 50x70cm. Unfortunately it is printed in a strict limited edition of 300 copies for the lucky few who manage to get their hands on Slovenia's answer to the world-famous calender by Pirelli.

Or, as Egotastic.com would put it...(click)
And the Italians said something similar...(click)

Impressum, tech specs and more:

---------------------------------------------

AD&D: Zvone Kukec

Make-up: Tina Fabjan (head of make-up artists@Max Factor), Barbara Brenčič in Ana Porenta (both Max Factor), Saša Godejša (Eva)

Hair: Matej Komar & Kristina Kralj for Matej Komar Hairstyle, Goran Krstič for Frizerstvo GK (Anja)

Models: Živa, Sandra, Karin, Natalija, Eva, Nika (Bronz), Sara, Kaja, Ines (MG), Nina (Immortal), Anja, Tara.

Post-production: Julija Pugelj

Shot with Hasselblad H4D-50 (represented by Meditrade, Središka 21, Ljubljana).

Lighting by Profoto Acute2 2400 Ws & Profoto Giant Reflector (represented by ProFot, Rimska 3, Ljubljana)

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

PS. THE CALENDAR IS NON-COMMERCIAL AND THUS NOT FOR SALE!

Let it shine

New editorial I did for Modna.
The model is our exceptional pussycat babe Anja Krvina.
We call it "The Muse".
Make-up & hair was done by Luka Luka for Christian Dior.

Tres chic, cherie.

Bhutan - A kingdom in the clouds

Bhutan is unique.
The national slogan tells people that gross national happiness is more important than gross national product.
Everybody has the right to talk to the king once a year.
Nobody begs.
Everybody smiles.
Oh, and did I mention Bhutan is a small remote buddhist kingdom tucked away in the Himalayas?

I am sooooo glad I spent my honeymoon there.

A taste of Ego

Just did a campaign for Ego Age Protect yogurts (Ljubljanske Mlekarne) with the wonderful folks at Votan Leo Burnett.
Our amazing dancer, showed us how to be full of energy even at 4am.
He was dancing on the tables, all over the floors and even up against the walls.
Great guy. Reminds me of Roberto Benigni.

Valerija Kelava before Valerija Kelava

This is Valerija before Zoo, Pop, 10, Russh, Dazed&Confused, iD, Vogue etc.
This is Valerija before Burberry, Balenciaga, Prada, Cerutti, Versace etc.

This is Valerija casting for her first Cosmo shoot.
(Just some polaroids we did back in 2003.)

Above Malibu

Poetry in motion.
Shot in September while shooting an assignment for Playboy.

Nina Osenar raises a storm in the USA

Former Miss Hawaiian Tropic, swimwear model, Playmate of the year, Bachelorette, singer, designer, Celebrity Big Brother (Big Brother slavnih) host and now a yoga teacher, Nina Osenar was discovered by Egotastic!, America's prime celebrity gossip site. They can't get enough of the photos she did for Playboy Slovenia a couple of years ago.
Those were the days...

Photo: Nina Osenar for Jana magazine.

Alen Kobilica for Modna

A couple of weeks ago I shot our respected supermodel Alen Kobilica, who has bravely and courageously battled an extremely vicious disease and won. His optimism was overwhelming, filling the gloomy forest atmosphere with positive vibes throughout the entire shoot.

I used the trusty ProFoto Giant Reflector, Magnum with grid & a fog machine, all equipped with Flash Feeder power supplies "Made in Slovenia". If you happen to be shooting on assignment this side of the Alps you can rent all the ProFoto equipment and field power supply units here.

After the shoot the sky opened and flooded the scene. What an experience!

MINIVERSE II (check-in and check out this exhibition at Ljubljana Airport)

As time flies by, so do images.

After two long years Galerija Fotografija is proud to present the second part of my Miniverse series, aptly named MINIVERSE II.

New, expanded and improved, the images will feature distant miniaturized places, from Swiss glaciers and Malta to as far as Algeria, Tibet and Las Vegas, USA.

Only those who actually travel from Ljubljana Airport will be able to see the 30 photographs as the exhibition will adorn the new passenger terminal on the upper level of the airport.
Check-in and have your boarding cards and documents ready for inspection, please.

The exhibition will start at 16.20 on September 13th.
That day is my 35th birthday.
Do fly by and share a drink!

Slovenia's Next Top Model ...FINALLY!

This autumn will be all about the looks - the Slovene version of Tyra Banks' "America's Next Top Model" franchise called Slovenski Top Model is coming to a screen near you.
The girls are lovely, the crew is great and the photographers' list is a virtual who-is-who of Slovenia's crème de la crème.
There will be drama, action, intrigue and joy, all skillfully coordinated by Nuša Šenk, one of our tiny country's true great top models, seen everywhere from Vogue to Sex And the City movie.
Stay tuned for the show and a couple of my shoots on a TV3 screen near you!

Photo: Matej Mitruševski/Fotomitru.

Wild At Heart (with Lindsey Byard)

"This whole world's wild at heart and weird on top. "

Lula, from David Lynch's Wild At Heart (1990)

(...see more in Modna magazine.)

Photo: Ales Bravnicar
Styling: Barbara Zgalin
Make-up: Kristina Vidic using Mac Pro
Hair: Ryutaro (ryutaro.co.uk) using L'Oreal tecni.art
Photographer's assistant: Marta Lamovsek
Assistant to stylist: Jana Marincic
Model: Lindsey Byard@Next London

I love American Apparel - and American Apparel loves me back!

I am a huge fan of American Apparel.
I love their philosophy. I love Dov Charney's vision.
I love their ads (they use employees and friends instead of models, but those with Sasha Grey, Faye Reagan, Charlotte Stokely and other hipster porn lolitas are the raunchiest advertising pieces still allowed - though not everywhere, mind you).

Their wonderfully kinky & just perfectly sleazy stuff is not available this side of the Alps, so I sometimes grab a piece in their shops in Vienna (nearest), London, LA or Las Vegas (Outlet!!!).

I love to incorporate their stuff into my work - on models and my photographs. I think it is the "perfect amount of stable foam" on the cappuccino of sexiness.

>>But there's more! One fine day I received this letter in my inbox:
Hi, Ales! I work at American Apparel and we're huge fans of your erotica and glamour work!
...
Michelle Lemay
American Apparel

To prove it Michelle sent a huge package full of wonderful stuff - so huge that the completely incompetent FedEx Slovenia held it for 15 days, not knowing how to handle a priority express shipment.
Thanks for the effort, Michelle, our mutual platonic love just bloomed. Now if there was any way to meet Dov...

Verses, carved in stone - Nakovana, the prettiest ghost town in Croatia

Since 6000BC there have been people here. Illyrians, Romans, pirates, you name it.
The village Nakovana was first mentioned in the 14th century and was apparently one of the most developed settlements on Pelješac after Ston. After being part of the Dubrovnik Republic, the Italian Fascists burned down the village and the Germans forced the population to seek refuge (this is rather interesting) in the Sahara Desert (in El Shatt, Egypt). Upon returning, very few resettled in the village and today there are only 4 people living in Donja Nakovana (its heyday saw as many as 270).

Ivan Lupis Vukić, the croatian inventor of the torpedo (really!) lived here and there are many people with the surname Lupis still living around the region. The attractive stone houses are quite well preserved and kept neat mostly because of an eager civil association called "Uzorna Nakovana". They are doing a fine job! Due to its great historic value the area is now a protected cultural and ecological zone, well signposted and tidy.

There is something mystical about this village. Trust me.

How professional photographers are being f***** by kids with cameras

In 2005, Getty Images licensed 1.4 million preshot commercial photos. Last year, it licensed 22 millions. Most of the work was generated through amateurs submitting their digital work.
Every 20-something kid with a $2000 digital camera nowadays thinks he is a professional master fashion/commercial/portrait photographer because he knows how to slide some switches in Lightroom and shoots his androgynous friends who brag enthusiastically about their underexposed, badly composed portraits on Facebook and Twitter. The concept of photography has gone downhill for the professionals, but not because of the growing competition - it has collapsed mostly because those amateurs are largely happy to be paid anything for their photos, just for the sake of being published somewhere. Or even not paid at all. They never follow any rules, never read any books on photography and cannot name any true master photographers. They just shoot what they see and like. But when presented with a serious assignment the lack of mileage becomes apparent - the results are shitty ad campaigns, rheumatic fashion poses and catastrophic lighting.

The ad agencies do not seem to matter, willingly ignoring the quality for the sake of profit they make.

What a sad story.

National Geographic Adventure does my Sahara

A 10-page spread highlighting my overland voyages to the Sahara - from Morocco to Egypt to Algeria to Mali...

(If you are by any chance interested in such a voyage click here).

Proud. Very proud.

(Magazine cover photo courtesy of National Geographic Slovenia/Rokus Klett. All rights reserved (C) 2010)

Celebrating 10 years of photography

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

...

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost: The Road not taken, 1915.

My name is Nadiya - Ukrainian Beauty 2.0

(A quote from the Simpsons):

"Are you Jamaican? 'Coz Jamaican' me crazy..."

From my recent underwear editorial in Eva Magazine.
Model: Nadiya Bychkova@Bronzmodels.

The War is Over

Such a night in the bar of this 'Hotel Bizarre' ...I'll write some postcards and throw them away. And maybe someday I'll leave here but the drinks, they are so cheap here...
And somebody's always got to pay...

It feels like the end of the world...

FIREWATER, from the album The Golden Hour.

MODEL: Ana Colja@LA Models
Shot in Roy's Cafe, Amboy, California.