TWO MEN DEFIED A KINGDOM
(NY) I’ve never been in-love, my first boyfriend when I was 21 was Feras, a Syrian-born chef who works for one of the hotels in the city of Riyadh, when I was based there as a graphic designer almost a decade ago. I know what your thinking now, Saudi Arabia + homosexual relationship = heads rolling over a basket, and my first ‘bromance‘ will sound like an epic movie that Anthony Minghella would direct “set in the vast deserts of Saudi Arabia, two men defied a kingdom”. We had it going for 2 long passionate years, I remembered being relocated to Al -Khobar and Feras would drive 500 km towards the Gulf Coast just to see me, looking back, in a way we did defy a kingdom, and that’s the closest thing I have for a romance story in my life. Feras is one of the most beautiful man I’ve seen, he kinda look like Jesus Christ especially when he grows a moustache, intelligent, passionate about life, and most importantly passionate about me, I learned so many things from him, including learning to speak arabic. Love though-is still a foreign language for me, and like I said before, I never been in-love.
1995
I had an opportunity to interview a man who captures romance like nobody else can, it’s a distinct quality in his work. People do fall-in-love in his world the way I see it, and his name is Arnaldo Anaya-Lucca. One of the most iconic fashion image for me when I was still in highschool is that of supermodel Tyson Beckford for a Ralph Lauren launch of his high-end men’s brand in 1995 and it is an image that captured a photographer’s love for beauty and everything that it represents. I love men who have a clear passion and love for life, I’m privy to their love stories every time I look at their work, whether they’re creating a masterpiece in the kitchen or in the darkroom. With all the superficiality, politics and debauchery rampant in the fashion industry today, it is surprising that there are still some real people in fashion.
ST. JOHN’S MILITARY SCHOOL
Anaya-Lucca’s photographs are featured in Australian Vogue, Esquire, Interview, The New York Times Magazine, Spanish Harper’s Bazaar and multiple international editions of GQ. His client roster includes Polo Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Emporio Armani, Oscar de la Renta, Brooks Brothers, Lord & Taylor, Bloomingdale’s, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman. This photographer’s story started in Ponce, Puerto Rico, when he was born to a cardiologist father and Episcopal minister mother, and in 1974 relocated to US to attend St. John’s Military School in Kansas. I had a great time talking to Arnaldo, and I hope you’ll have a great time reading the rest of his story in this world-exclusive one-on-one interview.
THE 5-YEAR-OLD
LOPE NAVO: Thank you for dropping by Naiveboy.com Arnaldo, I’ve chatted with you for a while now and I’m flattered every time you share your opinion about my work. Like I’ve told you before, I want to live in your world for a day, there’s something so fresh, positive and luxurious about it, what do you think inspires that Arnaldo Anaya-Lucca world?
ARNALDO ANAYA-LUCCA: I guess my boyfriend, family, and friends would be better in answering that question for me but I’ll try. I have always been a happy person even as a child. I had a beautiful childhood in Puerto Rico, very magical, and I guess that kind of sets the way you experience and see life in the future. My boyfriend and friends always say I am like a 5-year-old, which its kind of true. I get very excited every morning about what the day might bring. I guess I managed to keep that child inside of me. When you are excited about life in general, you feel very grateful and that breeds a very positive state of mind. And only a positive state of mind is able to see the endless beauty surrounding us.
My inspiration always comes from every day life. People, places, history, art, society. It’s the way we see ordinary events, objects that leads us to creativity and then the way we experience those things that leads us to our unique style. But my way of seeing things was definitely influenced by the works of Richard Avedon, Bruce Weber, Steven Meisel and Herbert List‘s magical photographs.
NAVO: What does your love ones think about your craft and your profession?
ANAYA-LUCCA: They’re just really proud that I pursued a dream and was lucky enough to have it realized. I’m still dreaming everyday.
NAVO: Do you remember the first photos you have taken? And with what camera?
ANAYA-LUCCA: The very 1st photos I took where of my family and friends in Puerto Rico. Pictures at the beach, the mountains and home. I used my Yashica FX3.
MR. RALPH LAUREN
NAVO: Why did you become a photographer? At what point did you know you want this career?
ANAYA-LUCCA: I always loved taking pictures but never dreamed it could become a career for me. When I was in high school, one of my older brothers, Abel, started taking pictures and I got the bug. On my 18th birthday, my parents bought me my first camera, a Yashica FX3 (I still have it) I told my parents I wanted to major in photography but that did not go over well. My Dad was a cardiologist and to him photography could only be a hobby, so I went to college and majored in Finance. I became a yearbook photographer at my College (I went to school in Kansas City, Mo.). To this day all my college friends think of me as always having a camera around my neck and to them this career is not a surprise but it is to me. After college I moved to NY and after being turned down 4 times…yes, I got 4 rejection letters in one year, I landed a job with Ralph Lauren at the Polo Mansion on 72nd St. in the spring of 1988 in the men’s clothing department selling suits.You see I had become a bit obsessed with Ralph Lauren and my dream was to one day work along side “The Man” himself. After 4 1/2 years in the mansion I got my big break in the beginning of 1993 and was offered a position in Ralph Lauren’s Men’s Design Studio. I was now working and developing Men’s Lines with Ralph…my dream became a reality or so I thought!! I was still taking pictures but design was my focus and I loved it. It was Ralph’s eldest son, Andrew Lauren, that inadvertently opened my photography’s Pandora’s box in late 1994. Andrew’s then girlfriend and my best friend, Rebecca Indri, told Andrew that he should ask me to photograph him as he was interested in becoming an actor and needed a head shot. She told him that my hobby was taking pictures and that I was good. I photographed him a few weeks later and the result was amazing. I shot him in my apartment with daylight b&w portraits against a white wall. He looked like a 1950′s movie star in my photos. A month later I was in a design meeting with Ralph he pulled out the photos and said, “Your pictures of Andrew are unbelievable…you captured him like no one has in the past and he has been photographed by many top fashion photogs!” He said to me,“You have a gift, an amazing eye and I want you shoot an ad campaign for me.” Well he kept his word and 3 month’s later I photograph Tyson Beckford for the launch of Ralph Lauren’s high-end men’s brand, Purple Label. The photo ran in American GQ in the fall of 1995. It was my 1st published photograph and still one of my favorites! My photography career was born and in the summer 1997 I left Ralph Lauren after 10 years in the company to pursue photography full-time with Ralph’s blessing. He became my most loyal client. That’s the real dream for me, shooting Ad campaigns for my mentor, Mr. Ralph Lauren.
THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED
NAVO: Is there a photo book that your fans can collect that features your work in the near future? Any latest project?
ANAYA-LUCCA: No book yet Lope. It’s in the future as I’m still growing as a photographer and it’s so difficult for me to choose a theme or idea for a book but yes I WOULD LOVE TO in the future. I did have my 1st solo exhibition in Miami during Art Basel last December that I’m very proud of. I’m also really excited about a few ad campaigns I’m shooting this month and next for RL (top secret) look for them in the fall as well as one editorial shoot in particular commissioned by Russian GQ-Style that will run in March. It’s an “English Patient” Story with one of my favorite models,Vladimir with Wilhelmina.
NAVO: Congratulations to your art exhibition Arnaldo, I wish I could’ve made it to Miami. Talking about books,what’s the last book you’ve read lately and what is it about?
ANAYA-LUCCA: Thanks Lope, Further Along the Road Less Traveled: The Unending Journey Towards Spiritual Growth by M. Scott Peck is the last book I’ve read. My boyfriend suggested it. It made me look at myself in a whole new light. At the end of the day you got to balance your superficial lifestyle with some emotional awareness no?
NAVO: Who’s your favorite historical figure?
ANAYA-LUCCA: Queen Elizabeth I, I’m obsessed with British History especially “The Golden Age” when she ruled.
NAVO: I’m sure you’ve seen the Cate Blanchett “The Golden Age” movie too! Whats your top 3 favorite films of all time?
ANAYA-LUCCA: Umm, that’s hard. I believe that anyone will agree that it is impossible to narrow it down to 3. There are numbers of movies that truly inspired me personally or professionally and for some reason they all fall more or less in a category of social dramas. The Hunger (1997), Sense and Sensibility (1995) and All About My Mother (1999), are some of them.
NAVO: Speaking of Queen Elizabeth I, If you’ll get a chance to photograph a dead icon, who will it be and why?
ANAYA-LUCCA: As much as I find a lot of my inspiration in our history. For some reason when it comes to icons I need to feel them. I need to be able to follow their careers through time and see how they develop as an artist or persona. I need them to be ALIVE.
NAVO: Who’s your favorite Diva?
ANAYA-LUCCA: Madonna.
PUERTO RICAN ON SKIS
NAVO: What’s a regular weekend for an Arnaldo Anaya-Lucca?
ANAYA-LUCCA: Spontaneous getaways with my boyfriend where the beach is near and there is plenty good restaurants to choose from.
NAVO: Your work always reminds me of youth and athleticism, are you an adrenaline junkie?
ANAYA-LUCCA: I love to ski so I guess you can say I’m an adrenaline junkie. When I was a freshmen in college my father gave us an amazing gift for spring break, 4 days at a private mountain home in Winter Park, Colorado. For me, my twin brother and my sister it was a rush… I mean all we knew was the beach when we were kids. We discovered a winter wonderland that was more beautiful than I had ever imagined and I’m still addicted. I ski every year. A Puerto Rican on skis is a rare sight to see.
NAVO: What can you advise the young men and women all over the world reading Dangerously Naive, who wants to make a living photographing the most beautiful and interesting people in the world?
ANAYA-LUCCA: The reality of life is that we need to make a living in order to survive. And often that livelihood doesn’t include our dreams or passions. If your passion is to be a photographer you should passionately continue to create and express yourself through photography and not feel motivated by money-making. Passion should be its own foundation. Making a living from it, it comes as secondary. So I would advise them to keep on creating, expressing themselves and the rest will follow.
CITIES ARE LIKE PEOPLE
NAVO: What do you think of the disappearance of a lot of magazines (367 magazines closed in 2009) for the past years?
ANAYA-LUCCA: We are in transition in many aspects of our world, the biggest transition that is undergoing now is in politics, economics, environment and media. It feels naturally that many business needs to close in order to transit including many fashion magazines. The survival of the fittest in a way. I see a bright future about it all, especially with on-line media. There are already many magazines that created their online versions and there are some really good ones coming up. My favorite is www.thecontributingeditor.com edited by Matthew Edelstein. I think we should all focus on a positive future and keep on creating great work.
NAVO: What is your favorite part of your job?
ANAYA-LUCCA: I would say when my creative vision becomes physically tangible, when it becomes a reality. There is a certain satisfaction to be able to translate a vision from my mind to an actual photograph. I travel a lot for my work and meet many interesting, creative people so therefore travel gives me inspiration and it’s an endless source of joy for me.
NAVO: What’s your top 3 favorite cities in the world? and why?
ANAYA-LUCCA: Well top 3 again, is hard but I guess I could say Barcelona, Rio de Janeiro and London for now. They are super diverse culturally, have a very big art scene and most importantly they feel sexy in some way or another. Cities are like people, you fall in love with them, you explore them, experience them, and stay loyal to them and hopefully grow old with them but there is always an option to grow apart. But the good news is that there is always another city to explore.
http://www.defactoinc.com/
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Related Entries: http://naiveboy.com/2009/12/06/the-ten-greatest-films-about-photographers-by-navo/
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©2009 Dangerously Naive
©2009 Naiveboy.com
“Every man’s memory is his private literature.”
James Dean
Mark Fisher
Greg Knudson
One of the most grounded icons in the “fashion house” died at the aged of 92 yesterday in his Manhattan home. These words were written in his obituary: “Irving Penn, A courtly man whose gentle demeanor masked an intense perfectionism, Mr. Penn adopted the pose of a humble craftsman while helping to shape a field known for putting on airs. Although schooled …in painting and design, he chose to define himself as a photographer, scraping his early canvases of paint so that they might serve a more useful life as backdrops to his pictures.”
ich he graduated 1938. Penn’s drawings were published by Harper’s Bazaar and he also painted. As his career in photography blossomed, he became known for post World War II feminine chic and glamour photography. Clarity, composition, careful arrangement of objects or people, form, and the use of light characterize Penn’s work. Penn also photographs still life objects and found objects in unusual arrangements with great detail and clarity.
His still life compositions are skillfully arranged assemblages of food or objects; at once spare and highly organized, the objects are raised to a graphic perfection, articulating the abstract interplay of line and volume.
Mr. Penn
