MR. MARLEY

After creating his own genre of poetry set to reggae music, bringing it to the masses,becoming one of the world’s best­ selling artists of all time, and, at age 36, leaving broken hearts strewn across the planet, Bob Marley’s influence remains as strong today as it was back when you might have been so lucky as to make eye contact with him during a chance encounter or from the front row of one of his concerts.

Jamaican­-born photographer Nigel Scott was one such lucky soul. He captured images of Bob Marley performing at three shows in Toronto between 1975 and 1979. The resulting photographs remained hidden for years, and now through August 15 they’re on display at the Rockaway Beach Surf Club alongside his Marley-­inspired artworks.

This is Nigel’s way of giving Bob Marley what he calls “a small Thank You.”

Though a bit shy when the focus turns to him, Nigel answered our questions about his art and his memories of Mr. Marley.

Imagista: Do you have a routine you need to go through to get your creativity flowing?

NS: No. It’s pretty much there all the time. It’s a drug man, creation. For me it’s the ultimate thing, to make something from nothing. I’m pretty much 24/7 thinking about it. Maybe a little too much sometimes.

Imagista: Were you an artist as a child?

NS: My mom recognized something because she took me to a special art tutor when my high school didn’t have an art program. I dedicated my book (Conversations With Blue) to her.

Imagista: How did you get to know Bob Marley?

NS: I can’t really say I got to know him. We once crossed paths playing soccer, or it’s called football in Jamaica. That was in 1974. It was a just a little game, like five guys over here, five over there. Then in 1975 when I first went to Toronto he was playing there at Massey Hall and I went to check out the concert. I was going in to get tickets and ran into a friend of mine that was his art director. He asked me if I wanted to wait because Bob was coming to play a soundcheck. Five minutes later he came in. I nearly fell off the chair during the soundcheck. I was only 19, you know? I’d seen him play before. I loved Marley. He was just brilliant. After the sound check he looked at me and said “I know the I face.” That’s the Rasta Jamaican way of saying it, you know? I couldn’t believe he knew my face. That’s how I ended up on side stage that night.

Imagista: Your work with Bob comes up in a lot of the bios written about you.

NS: Oh yeah? This stuff was never exposed until I went to Japan. I never wanted to become the guy that shot Bob Marley, to be honest. I’m not a music photographer. So I put these away for 10 or 12 years. One day I thought I should check them out and I was very scared to see if they looked dated or if they looked good, and actually they looked good, you know. So I fell in love with them again and I brought them out when I went to Japan. They’re Marley freaks over there. They love Marley, man.

Imagista: What do you think are the biggest misconceptions about your work, if any?

NS: I don’t know, really. I don’t know. I mean it’s hard to know how people see me.

Imagista: Do you believe in callings?

NS: I’m not sure about callings or destinies but I do believe in a synchronicity. I do believe that Marley had a calling. I don’t know if I have the calling. I think I have a passion.

Imagista: Anything else you want to add?

NS: I learned a long time ago… There are a whole bunch of interviews I did when I was really young. Too much, too much. I try to just answer the questions.

CONTRIBUTORS

MEAN STREETS

HENRIQUE SCHEIFFERDECKER

CONTRIBUTORS

AMERICANA

WENDY MCNETT

Clothes by:
FRENCESA LIBERATORE – www.francescaliberatore.eu
KTZ – k-t-z.co.uk
CHARLOTTE OLYMPIA –  www.charlotteolympia.com 
JI OH – www.jiohny.com
HAMLET’S VINTAGE – www.hamletsvintage.com
MANFREDONIA – www.manfredonia.us
PREEN LINE – www.preenbythorntonbregazzi.com
ANTIPEARLE-  www.antipearle.com
RAFI & OLGA-  www.rafiandolga.com

CONTRIBUTORS

IMAGISTA IN PRINT

Imagista is proud to announce our first ever print issue! The issue is 100 pages long and contains 91 pages of photography and absolutely no ads. This limited edition issue will be available to purchase online Friday, September 18th at 3pm.

HIDDEN CHARMS

RUSSELL RAGLAND

The London four-piece Hidden Charms are on the verge of a breakthrough. After, “stuffing into vans in the freezing cold and playing a gig every other day for a year,” as lead vocalist and songwriter Vincent Davies describes it, these blues-worshipping young lads (all aged 21 or younger) kicked off a four-night weekly residency at legendary Camden venue KOKO on September 11.

“All these little tiny gigs in clubs and pubs have been building up to this. And it’s our home town. A big high pressure gig. But it’s why we do this,” says Davies. “The first show [at KOKO] is going to be the biggest show of our lives.”

The Charms, who’ve been playing together for two years, consist of Davies (vocals, bass, guitar), Ranald Macdonald (vocals, keyboards, guitar, bass), Josh Lewis (guitar, bass), and Oscar Robertson (drums). Macdonald and Davies write the band’s songs, and it’s clear that the work ethic applied to playing gigs also carries over into their songwriting. “We have probably written 50 songs from when we started”, said Davies. “20 songs that would be considered for an album. We’ve never been too pressured about holding onto songs. We move on quite quickly and are confident that we are going to write more and better ones. We’re not desperate to hold onto songs. We are writing so many so quickly we aren’t holding onto songs we wrote six months ago.”

Not unlike their heroes Pete Townsend and Ray Davies, the group has ambitions to quickly move beyond their blues influences and create a unique sound all their own. Not content to be merely blues revivalists, they respect and appreciate true songwriting. “When we started off we were in love with John Lee Hooker and were into getting blues grooves and vamps down to create this sound, ‘cause were all white English guys”, Davies jokes. “At first, we might have sounded more reminiscent of the blues revival guys of the ‘60s like the Yardbirds. [Now] we’re putting in more dissonant notes and a more eerie, darker atmosphere but obviously keeping the roots in the blues, ‘cause that’s the best shit, innit?”

Davies was indoctrinated into blues music by an unlikely source: the 1980 John Belushi/Dan Akroyd film “The Blues Brothers,” featuring such blues greats as John Lee Hooker, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and James Brown, and soul groovers Booker T & the MGs. He recalls his days as a precocious child, dressing as a Blues Brother for his eighth birthday party. Later, as a young teen, he fell under the spell of Jack White, his “hero,” and ventured deeper into the music of Son House, Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. Bob Dylan was also a major player in his musical education.

Hidden Charms had their prayers answered when they were contacted by music legend Shel Talmy to travel to his Los Angeles studio and lay down tracks in 2014. Talmy, best known for his early work with The Kinks and The Who, produced such seminal classics as “You Really Got Me” and “My Generation,” and used a young Jimmy Page as a session musician. He had heard several early self-released Hidden Charms tracks online and reached out to the band.

In true 1960s fashion, Talmy and the band had three days of rehearsal and then seven days in the studio, cutting 10 tracks. “There was no time to talk about Keith Moon’s drum microphones,” Davies jokes. Talmy has since become a mentor and a friend. “When someone like Shel is talking about songwriting and he says he likes this lyric, this is a guy who has dealt with Ray Davies and Pete Townsend. You’re going to listen.”

Hidden Charms has since dropped four singles, including the ear-candy hit “Dreaming of Another Girl,” released by Deltasonic (The Coral, The Zutons) in the UK and B3SCI in the US. Characteristic of their patient and determined maturation, the group is in no rush to release a full-length. “Obviously you want to have as big a fan base as possible before you put out that first album. You only get to do your first album once,” shares Davies.

Two things become clear when speaking with Davies: He is a true believer in the power of the song, and he is not reluctant to build his fan base the old-fashion way, one gig at a time. It’s not all blood, sweat, and tears, however. At age 19 the band was hand-picked to play his neighborhood venue Hammersmith Apollo with Nashville roots greats The Mavericks, which he notes as a career highlight.

Recalling the Charms’ first New York show at Brooklyn venue Baby’s Alright (where they played with borrowed equipment) this past May, Davies is still in awe. “Unreal. My favorite show we had ever done. We had a friend who is a photographer. He had a couple of parties and we didn’t know anyone in New York. He invited a load of his interesting friends and models. A couple of nights later all of these girls turned up [at the gig] with Hidden Charms’ shirts on, singing the songs, ‘cause we had been hanging around all night singing at the parties. A beautiful night. To have a room full of people singing your songs wearing your t-shirt jumping around? A thrill of a lifetime, man.”

CONTRIBUTORS

MAD OVER YOU & IMAGISTA

                 Please Support Mad Over You and Imagista!

Imagista is thrilled to announce our partnership with social cause T-shirt company Mad Over You Tees!

Mad Over You, founded by Ian Madover, is an amazing social cause company that donates 100% of its net profits to support of arts programs for underserved youth at community centers across the US.

Central to Imagista’s own mission is our passionate support of the arts so partnering with Mad Over You only serves to strengthen that mission.

The afterschool arts programs that Mad Over You supports have a profoundly positive impact on the lives of the kids who are in these programs. Without a thriving community center, many kids would have nowhere else to go to learn, express themselves, and build meaningful relationships within their communities.

A well run community center can help to build within these kids a powerful sense of self-esteem. Through creative programming they are exposed to worlds they never knew existed and discover abilities they didn’t know they had. It is not just the children who benefit from these programs, buttheirfamilies, neighborhoods and communities as well.

Imagista will support Mad Over You by initiating a social media campaign featuring portraits of influential creative talents from around the world. Many of these artists have already appeared in Imagista, making this campaign that much more special for us.

Mad Over You and Imagista will post the images to our social media networks (and our website) along with the hashtag #Madover. The hashtag #Madover refers to what inspires and drives us! We’ll also ask each artist to post their photos over their own social media channels.

The objective of this campaign is to generate awareness around Mad Over You and sell t-shirts in order to support this amazing cause.

For more information please see www.madoveryou.com

Please follow Mad Over You

Twitter: @MadOverYouTees

Instagram: @MadOverYouTees

Facebook: www.facebook.com/madoveryoutees

CONTRIBUTORS

KATHRINE HERZER: THE DREAMER

ANDREA RAYMER

CBS’s sophomore political drama, Madam Secretary, lives in the space between Scandal and the West Wing. Its star, Téa Leoni, continually draws Hilary Clinton comparisons for her portrayal of Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord. Madam Secretary gives the audience equal parts personal and professional drama, with 18-year-old Kathrine Herzer holding her own as Alison McCord, the teenage daughter of the Secretary of State.

Though she may be young, Kathrine’s acting career has been a long time coming. Imagista recently spoke with Kathrine about how she fell in love with acting as a child and how that love has grown in the years since.

Imagista: How did you first decide to become an actress?

Kathrine Herzer: Being an actress is really the only thing I have ever wanted to be! I started working professionally when I was 10, but school was always my priority. When I started high school, though, I decided I wanted to pursue acting as more of a career than a hobby.

Imagista: What is your favorite thing about acting?

KH: This is such a difficult question! It’s the feeling of really connecting to a character that I love most about acting, which is so hard to describe! I also love that acting allows me to explore so many different things, because I have so many different interests.

Imagista: Lately you have become most known for your role as Alison McCord on Madam Secretary; what is your favorite part of working on the show?

KH: I love this show so much!! Alison is just starting to figure out who she is, and she brings such exuberance to everything she does. She’s a lot of fun to play.

Imagista: Who in your life has been most influential and encouraging in your career?

KH: My mom is absolutely the most influential and encouraging person in regards to my career. She has always been fully supportive of my dreams, and me. Without her help I would not have had the courage to pursue them.

Imagista: Is there any particular person you don’t necessarily know personally who you really look up to in your career?

KH: My two career idols are Julianne Moore and Robert De Niro. They are both so talented and intelligent; they have done such amazing things with their careers and lives! They inspire me so much.

Imagista: If you weren’t an actor ,what do you think you would want to be doing?

KH: If I wasn’t an actress, I have no idea what I would want to be doing… Like most 18 year olds! But, I’m working on the show and going to school at NYU now, so probably a pretty similar situation just without the work! I do know that I would definitely be in school.

Imagista: What’s next for you? Is there anything coming up that you are particularly excited about?

KH: I’m so excited for the show’s premiere and for everyone to see it! Season two has really stepped it up, and I can’t wait to see where it goes! Every time I see a new episode I’m blown away. It’s going to be an amazing season!

CONTRIBUTORS

SOFÍA ZÁMOLO: LA BELLEZA

Argentinian-born Sofía Zámolo began her long career as a model at the young age of 16 and quickly started working all over Latin America and the United States. In addition to modeling, Sofía now has a very successful career as a television host.

CONTRIBUTORS

THE GENTLE MAN

CHRISTINE DE LASSUS

CONTRIBUTORS

FEMME FATALE

HENRQUE SCHEIFFERDECKER

CONTRIBUTORS

LAUREN COHAN: SOLE SURVIVOR

RACHEL L. BERGMAN

The world knows Lauren Cohan as Maggie Greene, the last surviving member of her family on The Walking Dead. Intelligent and brave, Maggie’s intent on not just staying alive, but making a life in her new world. It’s not hard to draw the connection, then, to the bold, open, adventurous woman behind the character.

Lauren operates on creativity before caution, impulse before plan, feeling before fact. Eschewing possessions, she prefers to stay light in all aspects. To play the serious, you must first be easy, she tells us. She was a perfect pair with photographer Brian Bowen Smith – with fun, light hearts, they created intense, action-driven images.

Two days before she headed off to shoot season six of The Walking Dead, Lauren talked life, art, comedy and horror with Imagista.

Imagista: So how was your shoot for Imagista with Brian Bowen Smith? We have a slightly unconventional approach to our portrait shoots in that we really like creative input from both our subject and our photo and styling team.

Lauren Cohan: Brian and I had a mutual friend who first told me about Imagista. When Brian and I spoke on the phone I could tell right away that he was super collaborative, excited, and excitable. It’s very rare that you get to be in an utterly creative environment. We weren’t promoting a product or even a film or show. We were promoting creativity and art so everything we did was a “yes.” Everybody on set was game to try or at least to consider every idea that was put on the table.

Brian just thinks so big. We shot at Joshua Tree which, in itself, is amazing. From standing on rocks and letting out a huge parachute behind me, to riding on a motorcycle, to wearing deconstructed old army clothes – I was even wearing some of the stylist’s old army clothes and old long johns.

We were in this big, barren environment and we all had this sense that we could make something that was all our own. I think that happens really rarely on photo shoots.

At one point toward the end of the day I was riding on the back of Todd’s motorcycle and there was nobody on the road except us, not another soul for miles and we were just driving with the parachute strapped to my back while Brian was shooting. I think those photos really captured what a crazy day we had.

I felt like we were this little band of gypsies out in the desert by ourselves and we just had to take some pictures.

Imagista: That’s really cool. And we’re happy that you had that experience. That’s what we try and do at Imagista – encourage and support our contributors and our subject’s creative processes and experiences.

As you make all these references to your shoot it all begins to make sense to me. There’s something very evocative about the images but I couldn’t put an exact finger on it. And I love the epic scale of the images.

LC: It was just so big. Big rocks. Big props. We had a huge parachute. We had the Joshua Tree. We had this 50s horn.

I had this weird idea for an Americana kind of 50s thing. I was really thinking in terms of how you can tell stories with certain hairstyles and the idea of putting a 50s vibe into a really contradictory situation. Brian had this idea for this sort of lone survivor point of view. We wanted to bring different ideas of combat and war along with an almost Mad Max theme to the shoot.

Imagista: Are you Australian?

LC: No, I’m actually American but I lived in England for a long time. Everybody thinks I’m Australian and I haven’t even been there yet!

Imagista: So, shifting gears – how did you become an actor?

LC: I was at school and I always planned on studying psychology. In fact, I’d always wanted to become a child psychologist ever since I can remember. Then toward the end of high school and the beginning of college I was doing plays just for fun on the side. And then I thought: “You know, this is kinda fun actually. Maybe I’ll give this a shot.” I left school and I got an acting job and I thought that doing the film would pay for drama school so I could go and study acting. I landed this one job and then landed another film after that and I never really made it to drama school, which I still really want to do.

But it’s been really good for the most part. Some stuff has been really challenging. One of the first movies I did was a big challenge and it was disorganized in a lot of ways and difficult but I made some of my best friends and learned some of my biggest lessons there. Then on every project after that I was like, “Oh, that’s actually not what making a movie is usually like.” I realized that making movies can be much more streamlined. But that was a really great place to start because I really learned a lot.

I was living in London at the time and I was in my early twenties and that film was shot in Egypt. It was pretty crazy. Then I moved to the US a couple of years after and I already had US citizenship so it was kind of a fun and impulsive decision. I’m a very impulsive person. My favorite thing to do is to literally give everything away and just move to a new country. I’m the queen of giving everything away and just starting all over.  I feel like I’m truly happiest when all I have is a duffel bag.

Imagista: Tell me about how your role, Maggie, came into being on The Walking Dead.

LC: I’d done one of those drop-everything moves again – after being in LA for a few years I just wanted to be back in England and about a week and a half after I got there I made this tape for The Walking Dead. I booked it within a few days and then I just moved to Georgia. I had no idea – no idea! I just knew how much I liked it.

I didn’t get a script. I’d just gotten these two scenes and from that it was just like, I had to play this character. Even in just those two scenes, you could just feel she was this woman on the precipice of everything. I just thought it was so interesting. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind since then, and now I’m in Georgia seven-and-a-half months of the year.

Imagista: Obviously the show has become this massive hit but when you were reading the script at first, however complete, did you have a premonition of how big the show would be or any inkling of how far it might go?

LC: No. I was so attracted to the idea that these were such different people all in this one crazy situation and I was just enraptured by the story. I never thought about whether anything would do well. I just wanted to have fun and this was the next adventure. Maybe on a deeper level though, you know? My gut was just like, “Yes. Go, go, go.” But did I know? Hell no! Nothing’s ever this successful! Everybody’s always trying to wrap their heads around it, including us.

Imagista: Who has had the biggest influence on you as an actor? Who are your muses and inspirations?

LC: As far as actors I just adore Goldie Hawn and Kevin Kline.

Imagista: Both of them are such great comedic actors. Is that part of it – the comedic element?

LC: The irony is I never intended to do serious drama. My natural self is much more at ease than any role I’ve ever played. Maybe that’s why I play more intense, serious, dramatic roles. I think the dream career is having a foot in each side, the dramatic and comedic, and bringing the comedy to the serious and vice versa.

Imagista: How do you like to spend your downtime, when you have it?

LC: I love to run, I love to read, and I love to travel. My grandfather lives in Greece and we have a little house there, in Kalamata. My granddad is an interesting character. He definitely instilled in me a love music and art from a young age. Art was his gift. I have a lot of his hand-drawn pictures.  

Imagista: So if you weren’t an actor, what do you think you’d be doing right now?

LC: I love building. I love houses and design. I think I’d love to buy a big old building in Dumbo and turn it into apartments and have a coffee shop and restaurant on the ground floor and a yoga studio on the top floor and a children’s sculpting studio on another floor.

Imagista: Are you working on anything else right now that you’re really proud of?

LC: I just finished a movie called The Boy, which is a horror film. I wasn’t going to do horror but I read it and couldn’t say no. It’s about a girl who’s American and she goes to England to be a nanny for this couple’s child. They’re a pretty buttoned-up couple but when she gets there she realizes they actually want her to look after their doll. So it’s sort of this black comedy kind of thriller. As the nanny starts to look after the doll she starts to fall in love with it as her own child. She goes on such a crazy journey and through such a gamut of emotions. When I was reading it I couldn’t wait to do it. That’s pretty much how I gauge if I want to do something – if I can’t wait to act it out.

When I first read the script I thought maybe I needed something that wasn’t so intense and horrifying. But I’ve come to realize that that’s how you feel reading the script and hopefully how the reader feels watching it, and filming it is different. My character only knows what she knows. She feels safe being there. Making a horror film isn’t half as scary as reading or watching it.

Imagista: You said you like to give things away and go on an adventure. Do you have a possession you’d never give away?

LC: I have a t-shirt that was my uncle’s that my mum stole from him when they were kids and that I stole from my mum. I was thinking lately that if I could only keep one thing, this crappy t-shirt would be it.

You know, I read the other day that it’s really good to hold on to something for a year and then pass it on, even if it’s super sentimental to you. Pass the energy on instead of wasting it. Getting rid of something is only getting rid of the thing. The energy will come back to you at the time you need it.

Also, when you’re having trouble getting rid of something it helps to think about whether what connects you to it is a fear of the past or the future. I think when you’re less cluttered all of those things are more alive inside of you and your memory and I love the idea that we sort of already know everything we need to, and have everything we need to. We have all the knowledge but it’s the clutter and the noise that stops you from accessing it. It’s all a journey. It’s a process.

CONTRIBUTORS

DENIM IN THE RAW

BECKY SIEGEL

Clothing:

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CONTRIBUTORS

ERIC T WHITE:

ANDREA RAYMER

It is hard to find a photographer who manages to capture quite as much frenetic energy and whimsy as Eric T. White. Eric’s work exists at the place where editorial fashion and fine art photography collide. His interest in historical photography combined with bright colors and an uninhibited inclusion of the female form makes for an uncanny reproduction of the youthful energy of adolescence.

Imagista spoke with Eric about his work and what inspires him.

Imagista: What is some of the major inspiration behind your work?

Eric T. White: I love the idea of youth and innocence. Bringing my subject into an environment that lets them relax and really feel like themselves is important. I always want my work to be a document in some way. I love the idea of photographs as historical documents. People change and they age and grow but the photo as a document of a time or place have always fascinated me.

What do you think are the most important defining elements of your work?

ETW: I think simplicity is very important to my work. Snapshots have a kind of elegant simplicity that I try to emulate in my work.

Imagista: How important is humor in your work? In what way is it incorporated?

ETW: Humor is very important. Our culture is becoming more and more fluent in the language of images and humor is a huge part of this.

I think humor is a way of looking at life in general, a little wink or nod to the unexpected.

Imagista: What do you love about your own work?

ETW: I like how strange it can be.

Imagista: How did your career get started?

ETW: Mickey Boardman.

Imagista: How long have you been working?

ETW: I’ve been shooting consistently for about 2 years.

Imagista: Who are some of your key collaborators?

ETW: I’m a huge fan of stylist Alpha Vomero! Also I love Kara Neko!

Imagista: Can you tell us about some of your upcoming projects?

ETW: I have an ongoing flower project that I hope to wrap up by the end of this year. Hopefully I can publish another book with this body of work.

Eric’s book, For a Good Time is available on his website.

CONTRIBUTORS

JENNIFER FERRIN: UNACCIDENTAL

ANDREA RAYMER

Jennifer Ferrin’s career is not an accident. The actress grew up knowing exactly what she wanted to do. Jennifer caught the acting bug in middle school and stayed on a focused path that led her to getting her big break days after graduating drama school on As the World Turns and now having major roles on AMC’s Hell on Wheels as well as Cinemax’s The Knick.

Jennifer spoke with Imagista about the steady path that has been her career and where she would like to see it go.

Imagista: How did you get into acting in the first place? What made you decide to become an actress?

Jennifer Ferrin: I grew up singing, music was my first love: piano, I played cello for a little while. That’s kind of where I got into the arts I guess. When I was in middle school we did a funny little play that our class wrote, it was a Christmas play that made no sense, I played Vanna White. I’m sure it was entertaining to us, I don’t know if it made sense to anyone else. But people laughed and I kind of got the acting bug. I realized I could make people happy and getting that kind of response was really intoxicating.

Then when I went to high school I immediately got into the theater program. At my high school you were either in theater or you were in football or a cheerleader, and I was definitely not a cheerleader

Imagista: You grew up where? In Georgia?

JF: Yeah, in Georgia. The high school I went to had both an amazing football team and an amazing theater and arts department; I was very fortunate in that respect. I just started doing musicals right away -my first musical was Guys and Dolls– it was kind of like a dream world that I get to do this and I just loved it.

Did you end up going to Hollywood right after high school? Did you graduate and go straight into acting?

JF: No, I went to a liberal arts college first. I always knew I wanted to go to college. I went to College of Charleston. I went up there to check it out and it is one of the most beautiful campuses, its old, its got cobblestone streets around campus, there is Spanish moss just dripping from these beautiful old live oaks, its very magical. I am very visually stimulated, my surroundings are very important to me. I just loved that vibe. And then I met the theater department and they were awesome. One of my teachers, a woman named Joy Vandervort-Cobb is just a rock star, I actually saw her recently. They were very supportive and very encouraging and I decided it was the place for me for a while.

I went there for two years and realized I wanted more intense training – at a liberal arts college you kind of have everybody doing it, I had accounting majors in my acting class – I just knew that I needed more of a structure and I transferred to North Carolina School of the Arts which is a conservatory program.

Imagista: So you moved up to North Carolina? How’d that go?

JF: North Carolina was awesome, it was what I was looking for at the time: structured and intense, it was full emersion. There was a slight bit of that old method of break you down to build you up which I don’t think is as popular as it used to be, but there is something to be said about it depending on who you are and I wanted a little bit of that at the time. I had some incredible teachers – the teachers there were all working as well, they were all working actors and artists. So we got a lot of exposure to different things, it was a very small class, there were only twenty or so of us.

So it was kind of a surreal experience I don’t think I will have another experience like being in drama school. You are very in your own bubble, especially when you are not in a place like New York. I always wonder what it would be like to go to Juilliard, but I think that for me, I would have been so distracted by New York and all that it has to offer. I don’t know that I would have been as focused.

As soon as I got out I was ready to work. When you graduate you do a league showcase for the casting directors and agents and they judge you. If they like you and want to meet with you you get these little pieces of paper with little check marks and everybody really feels their worth or lack of in that moment that really means nothing. I actually got a meeting with someone that ended up submitting me for a job and I got it right out of college in New York.

Imagista: What was that job?

JF: It was a three-year contract on a soap opera called As the World Turns…

Imagista: Yes I know it well… Wasn’t that one of the longest running soap operas?

JF: It ran for over fifty years if my numbers are correct.

Imagista: How many seasons were you on that?

JF: I did three years; they give you a three-year contract. It takes that long to really develop a character and it was awesome, I really learned how to work in television because I didn’t have that experience- I grew up in theater. So it was like getting sort of a crash course on television.

Imagista: Do you ever get stopped on the street for being recognized as your character?

JF: Not anymore. One time I was at my brother’s wedding in south Georgia and we were at the dollar store to pick up supplies for the rehearsal dinner, like crepe paper or something. It was the weekend my character died on the show so it was a really big storyline on the show and the checkout girl was like “do you know who you look like?” and I just said,

“What if I told you I am?” and she kind of lost her mind.

She immediately had to call all of her friends to the store. Meanwhile, my mom is like “where are you” and I was held hostage at the store.

It was very sweet; I have never had anything creepy or invasive. I have been fortunate to have lovely fans.

Imagista: Who would you say has been your greatest source of inspiration towards your acting career? Or is there someone in your life that you feel has really influenced you in your career? It can be someone you know personally or someone you haven’t ever met…

JF: I think there are a lot of different factors that have influenced me – having this incredible platform when I was a younger, movie… I love old movies, I love Audrey Hepburn, I love Katherine Hepburn, Lauren Bacall. And then really like Meryl Streep from the very beginning, I just loved watching her work. Once I just sort of connected that I could do something like that it got even more inspiring to watch. Then you just sort of dissect everything they do, and of course Meryl Streep is such a chameleon, she has something that no one else could possibly have, but it still constantly inspires me. I think Kate Winslet as well; I just love all of the roles she chooses. They are all feminine but strong and really intelligent women that are able to be vulnerable and strong and wounded and playful all at once.

Imagista: Your two big roles right now are Hell of Wheels and The Knick; they are both period pieces in sort of a similar time period. Is there any serendipity around the fact that you have these two period roles coming out around the same time? Or was it sheer coincidence?

JF: There are a couple of factors. With Hell on Wheels I had been wanting to work in New York for a while and just be home. I then met my now husband and he is extremely supportive and encourages me to get outside of my box and my comfort zone. He told me “We don’t have kids yet, and I love you and I can come and visit you wherever you are working. What if you opened yourself up to working outside of New York?” So, I thought about it and opened myself up to the idea and the show runner for Hell on Wheels contacted me and was writing a new role and asked me to put myself on tape for it. That day I put myself on tape and went back into the subway in 23^rd street where there are all these mosaic hats on the wall with a famous person’s name. My character is loosely based on one of the first female investigative journalist, Nellie Bly and I saw her name and there was something serendipitous about that.

For The Knick, I had been watching Downton Abbey and it made me want to do another period piece, one in New York. At the time Julian Fellowes was writing a show called The Gilded Age which was put on hold for a while, but every one was buzzing about it and it was supposed to be about New York City during that time period and I really wanted to be a part of it. Your wishes get answered in all kinds of ways and then The Knick came around and there was my period piece in New York.

Imagista: That’s crazy, its like you have psychic powers…

JF: I do believe in the power of writing down things that you want and putting things out there…

Imagista: What do you think you would be doing if you weren’t acting?

JF: That’s a hard one for me…

Imagista: Yeah, your acting career doesn’t seem so accidental. It came into place so nicely and you have been incredibly focused on your career for so long. Have you ever thought of what you might do if you weren’t acting?

JF: My brain goes there from time to time, there are certainly things about the actor’s life that are not as exciting, there’s a lot of waiting around. So in those moments I will sometimes ask myself, “Do I really enjoy this? What else would I do?”

I do want to be a mom someday, I do want to have kids, it scares the heck out of me but I think its also amazing. I am also really into health and wellness, there could be something there, I love to travel, but as far as a profession I really don’t know, so I am very happy that this all worked out the way it did and I don’t have to worry about it

Imagista: Is directing or writing something of interest to you?

JF: Directing not so much, I am so enamored with all the directors I have worked with, especially Steven Soderbergh on The Knick. I really admire the skill level, the patience, the vision, you have everything in your head at once, but I don’t think I would be suited well as a director.

What does interest me is bringing people together on a project and producing in some realm and potentially getting a piece of work that I am passionate about made. I talk about it a lot with some of my female actor friends; we all know some really talented actors and we talk about the kind of material we want to see for women. Fortunately I feel that right now there is a lot more of it than there has been, especially on television. I was just bingeing on Orange is the New Black, because there are some incredible stories for women right now. I would love to be part of keeping that momentum going in our industry; I think it is really important.

CONTRIBUTORS

AMERICANA

WENDY MCNETT

Clothes by:
FRENCESA LIBERATORE – www.francescaliberatore.eu
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ANTIPEARLE-  www.antipearle.com
RAFI & OLGA-  www.rafiandolga.com

CONTRIBUTORS

REEDUS RISING

MICHAEL WILLIAMS

Walking With TV’s Deadliest Legend

The first thing I notice about Norman Reedus when I walk into NYC’s Dune Studios for our shoot, is the fact that he’s already there. He’s arrived early. In fact he’s arrived a few minutes before both my assistants, my editor, and I arrive. I’m a little surprised because punctuality seems at odds, a little incongruous, with the image of Norman Reedus. But not much about Norman seems predictable.

It strikes me that there’s something a little paradoxical about the man. That this crossbow carrying, zombie hunting, motorcycle riding, badass, is also incredibly friendly, kind, and considerate takes me back for a second. Indeed, he treats everyone on set during our shoot with the same easygoing kindness as he treats our editors, introducing himself to each and everyone on set and me. That’s something I don’t always see on major celebrity shoots. But Norman is not the norm.

Despite all the warmth and charm there’s still this wonderfully restless and slightly menacing quality to Norman. He’s the kind of man that I would want on my side if a bar fight were to break out. But let’s hope things never go in that direction.

Our shoot and interview that followed was effortless. In fact it was fun. I felt like I was spending the day with a dear old friend. I see why his fans are both so crazed and so loyal to him. Success for Norman Reedus has been hard-earned, well-deserved, and looks good on him.

Michael Williams: Why did you become an actor?

Norman Reedus: I ended up at a party in Los Angeles one night and got really drunk, after yelling at a few people from the second floor—someone approached me about being an actor. They asked me to do a play at the Tiffany Theater on Sunset. The play was called “Maps For Drowners.” I was an understudy and the first day my lead didn’t show up so I filled in. There was a woman in the audience that night named Laura Kennedy who was at William Morris at the time. She ended up side-pocketing me, which means she didn’t sign me. That’s where they don’t really sign you but send you out on your own. I started working. Now Laura is a casting director. She cast me in the Boondock Saints—and we just kept going from there.

MW: So, you had no experience going into it right?

NR: None—at all. The play was the first thing I ever did.

MW: A lot of lines to memorize?

NR: Oh yeah. It was terrifying. I mean, right before that I was working at a motorcycle shop in Venice called Dr. Carl’s Hog Hospital. Incidentally, I ended up having a fight with the boss and quit and then went to that party that same night so it all kinda relates. But yes, it was terrifying. The first film I did was called Floating. Then I did Mimic. Or maybe I did Mimic first because Guillermo del Toro got me my Sag card on that film. So—let it be known—he basically started me (laughs). Then I did Floating, then I did Six Ways To Sunday with Debbie Harry. And then I just kept going.

MW: How old were you?

NR: Oh god I don’t know, that was a long time ago. I guess I was in my early twenties. It was a long fucking time ago.

MW: Did you have any premonitions that you might become an actor?

NR: It seemed like everyone in LA was doing that. You know what I mean? (Laughs). I had a bunch of friends who went to Otis Parsons Art School. Every once in a while we’d do a group show. We’d lug our shit somewhere and nail it on the walls ourselves, throw a party, and call it a show. I was doing things like that as well. I had taken seven French doors, like seven foot ones, that I got from a newspaper out there called The Recycler. And I did this little girl’s body and elongated her at the knees and the elbows and wrapped her in different gages of wire and so on. Then we’d throw a party in Beverly Hills. We did shit like that all the time. But to be honest, I don’t think I thought I was ever going to be an actor.

MW: Is there anyone who’s been a key influence on your craft? Like, say, Strasbourg?

NR: I don’t even know what Strasbourg is (laughs). And I don’t know what the ‘methods’ are. I also don’t know what the Stella Adler technique is. In fact, I don’t know what any of that shit is. No, I’ve been fortunate to work with good people off the bat. And I’ve learned a lot from them. Case in point: I learned a lot from watching Willem Dafoe early on. Also, Alan Rickman, I learned a lot from him. I also had really good directors—like Guillermo (del Toro). He became a friend of mine. And watching him work is just infectious. He’s got the coolest attitude towards the work. I remember working on Floating. That movie’s about a kid and his father. After a drunk driving accident his father’s in a wheelchair, but the kid’s at an age when all his friends are going off to college and starting lives for themselves and so forth. The kid has to deal with the guilt of going off and leaving his father in that condition.

On the set, the director comes over and softly says, “So how do you want to prepare for this?”

I’m like “Well, what the fuck are my options? Coincidentally my own dad was dying at the time and he was in a wheelchair, so I said, “Just give me a phone then come get me in five minutes.”

I called my Dad and had a normal conversation with him—then we did the scene, then I cried so much in that scene that I had so much snot coming out of my nose that they couldn’t use the first take which I begged them to use but they didn’t. Then we broke for lunch. I didn’t go to lunch with the crew. I went to take a nap. During the break this grip came up to my tiny little room and said to me “Look, I know you’ve never been on a movie set before.”  I guess that was painfully obvious. “But I just want you to know that during lunch it was painfully quiet in the there. And that never happens. So that was a good scene you did”. I thought to myself, “Oh, so that’s what this acting shit is all about. You just jump in and do it”.

MW: Now you’re actor on the The Walking Dead. Any different on that set?

NR: It’s my favorite job I’ve ever had. I’m having a blast on that show. We shoot that out in the woods in Georgia. There’s none of the regular traps that I think you would have if we, say, shot in Burbank or something. Also, I’ve had five years to work on a character instead of a month so all these little things that you do can take on more meaning. Sometimes you drop these little seeds behind that later become trees in the storyline. So, you have all that to work with and it’s great. The cast and the crew and everybody there, they become such a tight family. It feels good when the band’s together. It’s quite the blessing actually.

MW: Outside of work you have this affinity towards motorcycles.

NR: When I was a kid there was this friend of mine named Tune who had a Yamaha YZ80. Oh my god it was so loud. We used to ride through neighborhoods and hide from cops. We’d hide in an alley then take off the other way. We’d try to ride wheelies. We’d end up having to get stitches. All that crap. It was so cool. That’s where it first started. Then I worked at a couple of shops. I didn’t really do much mechanical work except maybe some basic stuff. I couldn’t really listen to a bike and tell you what’s wrong with it back then, but now I kind of can. In Georgia, that’s how I get to set every day. I ride through the country. The cast lives over in Atlanta and I live the opposite way, an hour away, in the woods— like, way out in the fucking woods on a lake. It’s beautiful. So, I ride everyday with the sun coming up and it’s cool.

MW: If you weren’t acting what would you be doing?

NR: When I was really little I wanted to be a marine biologist. That’s what I really wanted to do. But I don’t think I’m dedicated enough to pull that off. I don’t know, then I just thought I’d live somewhere in the woods with a bunch of cats and just make art and just be quiet.

MW: What’s next?

NR: I have a book of photography that just came out called The Sun’s Coming Up Like a Big Bald Head, and all the proceeds go to charity. It’s a bunch of images that I’ve taken over the past fifteen years—like in Russia, in Berlin. It’s pretty cool. It’s all over New York. It’s in St Mark’s books and a bunch of other book stores, too. I have a book of fan art that just came out also. You can get both books at www.bigbaldbook.com. I have an Adult Swim cartoon that’s coming out as well. Yeah, I’m playing a voice. Me and Danny Trejo and a few other people. It’s a blast! We record it in Atlanta. I also have a film coming out called Triple Nine that John Hillcoat directed with Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck, Kate Winslet, and just an awesome cast of people.

CONTRIBUTORS

THE MUSE

SANTE D’ORAZIO

CONTRIBUTORS

THE MUSE

SANTE D’ORAZIO

Just in time for Halloween Sante D’orazio photographs his muse Enga Purevjav in avant garde fashion by CreepyYeha.

Please follow Sante D’orazio and Enga Purevjav on Instagram.

CONTRIBUTORS

FASHION’S DJ: CHELSEA LEYLAND

RACHEL BERGMAN

New York–and the world–knows Chelsea Leyland as a DJ, producer, fashion tastemaker, and model. She’s made music magic for Naeem Kahn, Prabal Gurung, Diane Von Furstenburg, Christian Louboutin, and Vogue, to name just a few, and she’s been photographed for Vogue.com, Nylon, W, Teen Vogue, and more. Hailing from London and based in Brooklyn, Chelsea’s also worked Berlin, LA, Milan, Paris, Sao Paolo, and Tel Aviv, among other locales across the globe. She recently landed a new show on Apple’s Beats1 radio.

But who, really, is Chelsea Leyland?

In the first in his new series of podcasts, Jonathan Bookallil, who shot Chelsea in New York for Imagista, sought to find out.

Here’s what we learned from their chat:

Chelsea prefers the London fashion scene. It’s always a welcome break–she says the fashion parties have a better energy there. People laugh and dance and don’t take themselves so seriously.

During Fashion Week in New York, Chesea works up to 3 gigs a night and mixes for runway shows by day, and these mixes are what she considers the most challenging aspect of her job: a few minutes of perfect, pre-recorded music to soundtrack a runway show requires more thought, work, ego-balance and meetings than a whole evening spent entertaining crowds.

She doesn’t consider herself a die-hard fashion girl, and finds Fashion Week hard to enjoy. “It’s a stressful time for everyone,” she says. “it’s not a week that brings out the kindest side in people.”

She considers her new show on Apple Beats1 her “first corporate gig.” Though she’s hosting rather than programming the music of the show, she’s constantly championing new artists, introducing them to Apple and trying to bring them to radio.

Chelsea never intended to be a DJ and came to New York at 19 to study acting at Lee Strasberg. It’s still her dream to act, and still what she feels she was put on earth to do. But one night, a friend asked her to DJ his July 4th party and since she didn’t know how, she cross-faded between two iPods. “I still think I’m a terrible DJ,” she admits.

Listen in to hear about her favorite gig she’s ever done, her start on the New York scene, what she does with her summers and what she loves about festivals.

CONTRIBUTORS

ALEXANDRA PARK: SKIN OF STEEL

ANDREA RAYMER

Alexandra Park has the role of a lifetime. After a decade of hard work and small roles in Australia, she landed her breakout role playing Princess Eleanor on E!’s first ever scripted series, The Royals. For a network known for its reality TV indulgences, it is quite unexpected that you would find characters as wonderfully flawed and nuanced as Alex’s Princess Eleanor and the rest of the ensemble of The Royals.

Alex has known that acting is her destiny for much of her life. Performing was her first and only love. Here she tells Imagista how–through the long road of her career–she has managed to grow skin of steel while still being able to create such a beautifully broken and raw character as Princess Eleanor.

How did you first get into acting? What sort of drew you to it in the first place?

As far back as I can remember back to being a small child I always wanted to be a performer of some kind. It started off with singing; I wanted to be a singer you know–Tina Arena, Mariah Carey–that was my thing. My mum would find me lying on the floor of the living room just blaring their music and pretending that I was them. That was kind of my dream.

Then I started wanting to do musical theater, which I did in school, but I was always sort of in the background in the chorus. I don’t really think my dancing and coordination was really up to scratch (laughs) so that didn’t quite work out. I was about 14 at that point which was when I got my first agent in Sydney and I sort of fell in love with film and television and the idea of playing different characters and actually acting as opposed to singing and doing musicals.

Since then it was about ten years before I landed this job on The Royals playing Eleanor. It’s hard obviously deciding that you want to be an actor, it’s a very cutthroat, particularly in Australia, it is much smaller and there aren’t as many opportunities or as many projects being made. So, it was hard and it was slow–I did a bunch of guest roles on certain Australian shows, but never really landed something that gave me my shot. I think I grew a thick skin; every rejection I got was a fuel to my fire. It made me want it even more, and made me want to prove what I can do. If you have that, then you will be able to make it in this industry, and if you don’t, then you wont. Its incredibly hard and heartbreaking being told “no” time and time again.

I think I was born with that thick skin that acting requires. It is now steel. My skin is made of steel, so it’s all good.

What do you think is your favorite thing about acting that keeps you going through all the times you have been discouraged?

There is nothing else; there is no other option for me. This is the only thing that I have ever wanted to do. I think that’s a huge part of what kept me going, I didn’t want to try anything else. The idea of completely immersing yourself in a character whether they are fictional or nonfiction, I think it is in your blood, which is something that I think many actors will be able to relate to. You crave it, it is just this thing that you just need to do. I love being able to just sort of transform into someone else and understand them and add bits of yourself into them and create this character. You get to explore the mysteries of somebody else.

I think I am sort of fascinated by life in general. I often say I am going through a quarter-life crisis because everything just fascinates me and I am so intrigued by people and the way things work. I think that comes from my desire to be an actor and to tell people stories and take a break from Alex for a minute. I think that is my favorite thing about acting, being able to do all those things.

Your major breakout role has been Princess Eleanor on The Royals, what is your favorite part of working on the show?

It’s her. It’s Eleanor. I am incredibly protective of her and I adore her, she is in my mind like a dream role for a female to play. I don’t think there are many strong female characters out there, particularly on television. Eleanor is so multi-layered and so deeply flawed and vulnerable and incredibly relatable. That’s the main thing I love about The Royals is I get to play this young woman who is flawed and is going through stuff that young women across the world can relate to, that I can relate to. In terms of just trying to figure out who we are and making mistakes and growing up and trial and error and exploring who you can trust. I think there is so much goodness in Eleanor, so much vulnerability and pain and desire to do good. But she is real, she screws up, she makes a mess, she can be a nightmare at times. She is a trainwreck with a heart of gold. She is an incredibly interesting character to play.

For me she is the best thing about working on this show. Getting to play her.

I completely agree. I was so excited about the show when it was first announced and I immediately was hooked because of your character. She is so interesting.

She is, she’s just interesting. There is nothing that is hidden with her. It is all just there in front of you. That’s why I am so protective of her. Young women around the world are watching and they get it, I get it. She’s made some mistakes, but she means well and is very honest. What you see is so real.

Tell me about what the audition process was like and how you got this role, because clearly you really love it…

I was at home in Sydney and I put down a self-tape for Eleanor about a month or two before I moved to LA. Actors do a lot of self-tapes and 99% of the time you put a lot of work into it and completely fall in love with the role and nothing comes of it. Why do we do this t ourselves? I don’t know!

Then I actually moved to LA shortly after that and went in to see Barbara Fiorentino, who is an incredibly giving casting director, who I had the privilege of meeting previously. I went in for a completely different pilot that wasn’t quite right for me physically but was a really great character and I was really excited because it was one of my first auditions since I had been there. I got a call the next day from my manager and he was like (in an American accent) “Well you know the bad new is you were so wrong for that pilot in every way, but the good news is that Barbara has been looking for the Princess in Mark Schwann’s new show The Royals and she thinks it might be you” I was like “Fantastic, where do I sign?”

It wasn’t that easy, obviously, but it was funny that it wasn’t like the normal way that you audition. But Barbara and my manager, Jeff, were on my side and sort of hassling Mark Schwann to sit down on Skype with me. I was incredibly nervous when I finally spoke with him and he sort of asked me why I thought that I might be their princess. I worked on the scenes with Barbara and sent out the tapes and waited for a few days twiddling my thumbs and tearing my nails apart until I got the call. And went to London to film a couple days later the happiest I have ever been.

Is there anything you did after you got the part to prepare? Did you have to learn etiquette or research the monarchy? Did you base you character after anyone in particular?

Not really, obviously or royal family is completely made up and is not an imitation of the British Royal Family or any royal family for that matter. There was no sort of research in that sense, which was quite deliberate for me and some of the other cast as well. We wanted to develop these characters that Mark had written in a very real and raw way so that they were completely unique from any other characters out there, royal or not. So for me it was just about thinking about the back-stories and coming up with stuff myself. We started with Mark telling us how he wanted our family to be and then we were sort of on our own, Mark gives us a lot of freedom to create these characters and bringing bits of ourselves into them that will grow with us throughout the process. I think that is why he is so successful in writing characters that people fall in love with. I think any sort of inspiration for Eleanor was just sort of a combination of beautifully complicated women that I have met in my life. I took lots of bits and pieces and molded them together to create her.

Who in your life do you think has been most influential in your career path?

The most influential person in my life is my mum. I get so emotional when talk about this. She is literally my biggest supporter, my mentor, and my encouragement. Ever since I was a little girl she would always tell me to do what I want to do and don’t give up and you are not going to be happy if you force yourself to do something that is not in your heart. She has always been there to support and believe in me and has been with me every step of the way.

Is there anyone that you don’t necessarily know that you look up to a lot and whose work you really admire?

There are so many people that I look up to and admire. Tons of actors and my acting teacher back home in Australia, Sandra; she has kind of stuck by me for so long and has always picked me back up when I was down. I am also really inspired by Australian actors. I always wanted to work at home, but it is a lot harder, it’s a much smaller pond. There is such great Aussie talent, which is what I grew up watching. There’s just not enough of it, so it is hard for people to work there. Asher Keddie, Claudia Karvan, Cate Blanchett, the list goes on and on…

Acting was obviously your first love; do you have any idea what you would want to be doing if you weren’t an actor? It seems like this is the dream for you.

I really don’t. As I mentioned before when we were talking about what made me keep going through all the discouragement, I’ve never really had an interest in anything else. When times got really tough and I was working in a clothes shop just making rent, you know borrowing money from my mum to put my self-tapes down, I would get pretty emotional, but again it just put fuel into my fire and feed it even more. All I ever wanted to do is to perform. I wanted to sing and do musicals, but there was nothing much further out than that. I don’t think I ever would have stopped trying.

Do you still sing? Is that something that still interests you?

I mean, sure. Around my house I like to sing and annoy my friends. I’d like to but I think acting is where my heart is at now. Maybe one day, but right now I am just completely in love with telling stories through acting. And I don’t think I’ve quite got the ability anymore, it takes a lot of training to sing properly, I think I’d need a few years to dust off the old vocal chords.

Is there anything coming up that you are really excited about in general? Obviously there is the next season of The Royals…

Yeah, I’m just excited about life at the moment I think. I really am just really happy. I am going home in December for a few weeks and I will get to see my family and friends there. I am excited to audition for other projects that I can do in between seasons of The Royals. I’m excited to be living in LA. I am living with my best friend Tom Austen who plays Jasper on the show with me and we are just having a ball.

Watch the Season 2 Premiere of The Royals Sunday November 15th at 10/9c on E!

CONTRIBUTORS