an intro to persian cuisine

Dear Blog,

2011-06-17T15:39:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I've been absent lately. I've given most of my news attention to my facebook fan page. Please forgive me for neglecting you.
Love,
Margo

A woman's silent history

2011-05-09T21:42:00.000-07:00

Tanya Bello, a dancer who I photographed, received a grant to start her own dance company called Project B. Her dance company is performing at the Garage on Howard @ 6th on May 10 & 11. She asked me to collaborate and create artwork inspired by her concept of Moveable Feast that will hang in the lobby before the show. I created some images as my interpretation of her concept. The actual images are printed on a very delicate and transparent chinese crinkled chiffon.

They dont know how beautiful they are

2011-03-15T22:19:00.000-07:00

Haramara Yoga Retreat

2011-03-01T11:46:00.000-08:00

Best thing I've ever done for myself. So fortunate to be able to have gone, and to have met an incredible group of people. Thank you!

Betty Does

2011-02-14T16:41:00.001-08:00

Bettydoes.com is a fantastic online magazine that features creative and interesting women we want to know about. I just shot my first interview with them, and they've officially deemed me a Betty! Check out the interview and website.

Hope Mohr

2011-01-30T23:24:00.000-08:00

The Hope Mohr dancers were beautiful to work with and Hope was a great director/collaborator. I found a happy moment sitting on the studio floor, legs sprawled out in second, camera in hand, throwing out ideas with innovative, open dancers. Thank you Hope for finding me.

Retrofit Republic

2011-01-24T18:10:00.000-08:00

Working with these girls was a blast - motivated, creative, and moving forward! It was inspirational and collaborative, and they were into me shooting it with the bessa. Enjoy the lookbook here!

Costa Rica

2011-01-07T17:27:00.001-08:00

First Exposures, beautiful mistakes

2011-01-07T16:47:00.000-08:00

Great advice, thank you T.

2010-12-21T09:31:00.001-08:00

Confidently follow your muse. It should serve you well.

SF Chronicle

2010-12-19T22:38:00.000-08:00

Arts of Fashion runway images made it into SF Chronicle today!

Chile with Bessa

2010-12-16T18:43:00.000-08:00

What struck me most about Chile is the importance of family, friends, and going with the flow. Keep it simple, and don't stress about things that don't matter. Thank you beautiful people for such a warm welcome.

Backstage of the runway show

2010-12-10T18:26:00.000-08:00

I can't deny it.. I love my bessa and I shoot differently with it.

Arts of Fashion Runway Show

2010-12-08T22:34:00.000-08:00

Shooting the Arts of Fashion/Art Institute runway show at the Bently Reserve last night was great. Not always easy to keep up with those quick models, but there were some incredible designs on the runway!

In a private home

2010-12-08T17:25:00.000-08:00

Thank you Cynthia for displaying my work in your gorgeous home! I'm honored to be amongst your incredible pieces of art!

Tanya Bello

2010-10-29T13:27:00.000-07:00

Tanya was so great to work with - she has such a beautiful quality of movement that is at the same time lifted but rooted, stable but full of release. Very elegant. Thank you Tanya.

For a Happy French Scorpion

2010-10-27T17:51:00.000-07:00

"Emotions, in my experience, aren't covered by single words. I don't believe in 'sadness,' or 'joy,' or 'regret.' Maybe the best proof that the language is patriarchal is that it oversimplifies feeling. I'd like to have at my disposal complicated hybrid emotions, Germanic traincar constructions like, say, 'the happiness that attends disaster.' Or: 'the disappointment of sleeping with one's fantasy.' I'd like to show how 'intimations of mortality brought on by aging family members' connects with 'the hatred of mirrors that begins with middle age.' I'd like to have a word for 'the sadness inspired by failing restaurants' as well as for 'the excitement of getting a room with a minibar.' "
- Jeffrey Eugenides from Middlesex

Great passage that hits the nail on the head. So true that these terse words hardly invoke the feelings they claim to. His more complex versions conjure up much more truth about feelings!

I have a book!

2010-10-12T17:17:00.000-07:00

Just released my exhibition book from the Exquisite Abandon series I showed at the Festival of Arts in Laguna Beach and 625 Gallery in San Francisco! You can own it for $45. Preview and order the book HERE.

ODC Architecture of Light

2010-10-08T17:31:00.000-07:00

This was a great performance where odc made the audience move through the great new building. It felt much more like a conversation rather than a static one-sided performance.

DWELL

2010-10-05T16:11:00.000-07:00

Tanya B. just told me she found my images on dwell.com! Check out the slideshow.

NY Times x 2

2010-10-05T15:12:00.000-07:00

NY Times 2 days in a row! Plus a stranger in lower haight telling me I looked like I'm from NY. Nice.

NY Times

2010-10-03T16:46:00.000-07:00

Article here on ODC theater opening.. woo! Article in print October 4 if you get a chance to pick up the paper.

Exquisite Abandon Write-up

2010-09-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

Emmaly Wiederholt thank you so much for an incredible write-up on my opening! You have a beautiful way with words, and I love what you see in my work. Check out her blog: Dance in the Bay Area for more enticing dance reviews.

Still Motion

Falling is a weighty subject. From the thrill of rushing wind to the fear of pain and death, falling intrigues and captivates. There’s something about the utter lack of control that creates such a guttural response. Falling is a contextual action: Why is a person falling? From what is a person falling? To what is a person falling? If we take away these contexts we are left with only the fall itself, a moment in space and time characterized by lack of control.

Margo Moritz’ photography exhibit “Exquisite Abandon” explores falling using beautiful, fashionable, emotionless models suspended in free fall. All contextual variants are left out of the picture. There is something almost anarchical about the photographs; there is no sense of order or justice I can latch onto. Devoid of anything but the fall itself, Margot Moritz’ fallers have seemingly succumbed to their fate in a numbed state. I cannot identify with these lovely fallers. Falling fills me with fear and dread and all evidence of this strong gut instinct appears absent in them. Are these pictures beautiful or aberrant distortions of reality?

Other photographs in the series include a nude woman who is lit like the surface of the moon, her body oftentimes obscured. Although she is lit with a sense of modesty, close-ups of the woman’s body are ambiguous: is that a shoulder? A knee? Thus the photographs are non-contextual representations of a naked woman’s body.

The remaining photos of the exhibit are blurred images of a woman dancing against a white backdrop. The blank white setting lends a sense of airiness and space. Again, these photos have no context. Simply a woman dancing, there is no where or why.

The photographs leave me baffled; they are beautiful and eerie. The utter lack of context is bewildering. They play with elements of dance (bodies, movement) but beyond these rudiments they have little in common with dance, which unfolds and has meaning through time and space. Photography is limited in how it can explore dance as a subject. The transitions before and after the snap that comprise a dance are absent in a photograph. Although dance and photography both explore ephemeral natures, they explore it in very different ways: photography aims to capture the ephemeral; dance aims to move through it. Margo’s study of movement in “Exquisite Abandon” is a tribute to dance in the capturing of bodies in space. At the same time it bears little semblance to dance as it shuns context, place, and time.

Go see Margo Moritz’ exhibit at 625 Sutter Street, on display through September 30th. It’s brief, it’s free, and it’s food for the eyes and mind.

Stylist Shannon Dunn

2010-09-08T11:51:00.000-07:00

Shannon your new site looks great - I'm thrilled to be there!

The fear and joy of flying on the REM blog

2010-08-19T16:44:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the REM Eyewear blog for the great article on flying featuring my work!

Almost 13

2010-08-13T17:39:00.001-07:00

Exquisite Abandon / 625 Gallery / September 2

2010-08-10T22:00:00.001-07:00

Creative Boys Club found me

2010-07-31T12:29:00.000-07:00

Happy couple

2010-07-27T22:58:00.000-07:00

Accepted into FLIGHT exhibition in Vermont

2010-07-11T22:41:00.000-07:00

This image got accepted into the Vermont Photography Workshop / PhotoPlace Gallery juried exhibition with the theme of flight. A printed book will be coming out soon! Check out the rest of the show here.

SF Mag Best of the Bay July Issue

2010-07-10T10:16:00.000-07:00

RealPolitik

2010-07-02T23:23:00.000-07:00

A British hip hop artist saw my work in the Festival of Arts last year and is using my image on his album! An unexpected but great connection across platforms and countries.

Diego / Yoga

2010-06-13T22:48:00.000-07:00

Hellos...

2010-06-02T19:37:00.000-07:00

...and Goodbyes

2010-06-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

SF / Brooklyn

2010-05-09T21:09:00.001-07:00

Heidi / Sausage

2010-05-09T16:21:00.000-07:00

The Unwanteds

2010-05-03T22:58:00.000-07:00

2010-05-03T17:39:00.000-07:00

Bessa

2010-04-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

Iranian, American, Polish, Brazilian

Sharing

2010-04-12T20:57:00.000-07:00

An honor to be next to Dennis Darzacq! Someone out there likes me.

SF Mag

2010-04-05T10:08:00.000-07:00

ODC outtakes day 2

2010-03-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

ODC outtakes

2010-03-24T14:09:00.000-07:00

Beautiful

2010-03-12T22:02:00.001-08:00

Merrill

2010-03-04T16:22:00.000-08:00

Something about home

2010-02-17T13:08:00.001-08:00

SF Public Library

2010-02-17T12:35:00.000-08:00

NY

2010-01-29T12:46:00.000-08:00

CA

2010-01-29T12:44:00.000-08:00

Kulkarni

2010-01-13T14:14:00.000-08:00

Johnny Bueno Salon

2010-01-09T17:43:00.000-08:00

2010

2010-01-04T19:03:00.001-08:00

Delancy St.

2009-12-05T23:17:00.000-08:00

Melanie & Alex

2009-11-15T14:31:00.000-08:00

This was such a beautiful wedding - so much love between Alex and Melanie, and good energy from all the family and friends. It's weddings like this that make me want to keep shooting them. How many people can say they get to dance and eat cake after a day at work? Thanks Alex and Melanie for taking me in!

Bessa

2009-11-06T13:10:00.000-08:00

Annie

2009-10-29T17:52:00.001-07:00

Annie blew me away with her movement .. fearless, strong, vulnerable, and elegant. Thank you Annie for letting me photograph it !

Surface is out

2009-10-29T11:55:00.000-07:00

Surface Magazine's Avant Guardian is out, and my Prada spread is in it. Go to a newsstand and see it in person! I'm a lucky girl to have had such an amazing group of people to work with, and what a rare and beautiful experience to be able to do something so personal on such a large scale.. Thanks so much to everyone who made it come to life.

Left Space

2009-10-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

Surface Mag

2009-10-01T16:51:00.000-07:00

I couldn't have asked for a better team to work with on the Surface Magazine/Prada shoot. The models kicked ass, as did the stylists and assistants. Thank you so much to everybody that was part of the shoot. What an overwhelming pleasure to be able to do something personal in such an awesome forum. Keep an eye out for the spread in the november issue !

summer..

2009-08-14T16:51:00.000-07:00

..summer..

2009-08-14T16:49:00.001-07:00

..summer

2009-08-14T16:47:00.001-07:00

Surface Mag

2009-08-13T10:58:00.000-07:00

I'm a finalist in Surface Magazine's Avant Guardian! See all the finalists here.

SF Mag August

2009-08-04T10:24:00.000-07:00

SF Mag July

2009-07-08T21:18:00.000-07:00

Driving to Napa to shoot design stores? Yes please!

ODC

2009-06-25T22:53:00.000-07:00

Falling Bird

2009-05-07T16:35:00.001-07:00

Diptychs revisited..

2009-05-06T17:12:00.000-07:00

Emily

2009-05-01T16:35:00.001-07:00

Anna

2009-05-01T16:05:00.001-07:00

SF Mag April

2009-05-01T09:14:00.001-07:00

This shoot was really fun... Cris who owns a consignment store on Polk street took me back to my days living in Italia. She had a lot of funky stuff in her store, I need to go back so I can really look, and buy..

Painting with light

2009-04-28T23:00:00.000-07:00

Cris in SF Mag

2009-04-25T11:26:00.000-07:00

Scanned pages from the magazine yet to come, but here's a teaser from SF Mag when I shot Cris, the consignment store on Polk street. Ho praticato mi italiano con la bellissima, Italiana Cris.

More from Israel

2009-04-22T23:35:00.000-07:00

and more..

2009-04-22T23:30:00.000-07:00

Gaspard, Brooklyn G

2009-04-04T15:46:00.001-07:00

Gaspard, Brooklyn G

2009-04-04T14:59:00.001-07:00

Gaspard, Brooklyn G

2009-04-04T14:57:00.001-07:00

SF Mag

2009-04-01T17:02:00.000-07:00

I assisted James Chiang a few weeks ago and slipped a few of my own images into the magazine too. James you are r.a.d. and I heart sf mag.

SF Magazine.. woo !

2009-04-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

Lighting Experiment

2009-03-31T23:18:00.001-07:00

Thanks Carmen !

Rope

2009-03-26T14:34:00.001-07:00

Amanda

2009-03-26T09:20:00.001-07:00

Movement I

2009-03-15T18:21:00.000-07:00

Since I just did a spring cleaning on my site and took these down, I wanted them to still have a place to live.

Russian Princess

2009-03-12T17:59:00.000-07:00

Mei-Ling

2009-03-08T15:49:00.001-07:00

Mei-Ling

2009-03-08T15:45:00.000-07:00

Combos?

2009-03-03T16:07:00.000-08:00

Rena

2009-03-01T20:03:00.001-08:00

Beach

2009-02-28T22:22:00.000-08:00

Dylan

2009-02-23T20:28:00.000-08:00

My friend Dylan decided to make the best of his new state of joblessness - he is biking from San Francisco to San Diego in 10 days. Regardless of not making any money himself, he decided to raise $2,000 for the Blind Children's Center in Los Angeles. He left yesterday, with rain dumping on him, so Dylan, I hope you are staying warm out there on your bike! What he's doing is great inspiration to make the best of any situation. Thanks Dylan for letting me shoot you... again.

Movement...

2009-02-17T17:47:00.000-08:00

Movement Study - In Studio

2009-02-10T20:06:00.000-08:00

Israel - Hassie

2009-01-27T22:49:00.000-08:00

Israel - Hassie

2009-01-27T22:47:00.000-08:00

Israel - Hassie

2009-01-27T22:45:00.000-08:00

Israel - Bessa

2009-01-27T21:56:00.000-08:00

Israel - Bessa

2009-01-27T21:55:00.000-08:00

Israel - Bessa

2009-01-27T21:54:00.001-08:00