Really excited that the backstage work I shot for Thom Browne is in a new Style.com print feature. Pick up an issue or check it out here
Posts tagged work.
If you ride a bike and wear clothes you have probably heard of the new H&M x Brick Lane Bikes collaboration (if you havent catch up here). As a man who likes clothes and loves bikes I was stoked when they reached out to me to have me help spread the word and give away some pieces from the line. All you have to do is tag an Instagram photo of you and your bikes with #HMBikeStyle by Friday and 5 dudes will win some new threads.
Now grab a camera, finds some tailwinds and show us your bike style.
I shot a feature for Rag & Bone with The Man Repeller and her husband Abie, check out the whole shoot here.
silence and snow
It was snowing the night my Father told me how disappointed he was in me. I will forget a lot of things in my life, but I will never forget the way the wet snow sounded crunching under my size 5’s.At the time I was stunned with how loud the sound was but looking back, I think it was his silence that was so alarming.
I grew up in a house were passion was assumed, excellence expected and effort essential. My Dad used to call all of us brother’s the “Future Leaders of America” and you know we all started to believe it. So when, in the months leading up to my frosty walk, I had let my grades slip and my passions switch from homework to girls his predictions of grandeur seemed a bit more distant.
When he finally spoke up my Dad did not say much but it stayed with me. He said [paraphrasing here], “Every great thing in this world is a product of passion. The way a Ferrari sounds, the way your favorite song makes you feel or a winning catch with 10 seconds to go. They are all products of people who love what they do, and apply themselves to it fully. Your Mother and I expect you to be great, but more than that we expect you to want to be. Find your passion, it will be your greatest asset and best friend.”
I have spent the better part of my last 10 years hopelessly addicted to my passions. I have wanted to be a lot of things and gotten the chance to be quite a few of them. I helped build a small business, took an older one into the digital space, I tried to change the way people viewed stock photography, I built a record label, I’ve done marketing consulting with some of the biggest companies in the world, I am a fashion photographer and tie maker. I celebrated youth and speed with my brother and raced for my dream brand. I’ve lived a life fueled by passion but sometimes lacking in focus.
I am proud to say that starting today, I am going to start living out another dream of mine: running a business. For the last 6 months Rich, Holly and I have been working nights, weekends and mornings on building Fohr Card and starting today we are all focusing on it full time.
So, when I walk from the L-Train the our offices in Brooklyn later today, I will listen to the sound of the rain and think about the crunch of the snow. I’ll stand there for a second and feel the cold of that night years ago and think about my Dad and Mom. I’ll thank them for believing we all would be great and giving us the confidence to believe the same.
Web Pose-Off 2012: #Fashion vs. #Menswear
I was lucky enough to be asked by Lucky Magazine to shoot the newest installment of their Web Pose-Off. This time asking some of the loveliest ladies of the web to mimic their favorite #menswear bloggers. Make sure you head over to Lucky to read John’s amazing captions and a big thanks to Jesse for putting this together and Megan, Holly, Rachel and Marissa for generally being great. Also thanks to all the photographers who inspired this, it was fun to recreate your work.
Today, I’m excited to introduce Fohr Card, a project I’ve been working on for the past couple months with the incredibly talented Holly Stair and James Nord.
We believe in creating as many opportunities as possible for brands and bloggers to work together. To achieve this goal, we’ve created Fohr Card - a way to rank fashion blogs by follower counts and traffic, key metrics that brands use to identify bloggers they’d like to work with.
On your very own Fohr Card, you can connect your Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and Google Analytics accounts to pull in your most current stats, giving brands an accurate picture of your true reach.
If you’re just getting started with your blog and haven’t had a chance to build up your numbers, let us know! Every week we’ll be highlighting new and notable blogs that feature terrific, original content.
One year ago Rich and Holly changed my life. My Tumblr was 3 (or 4?) years old and I felt good about my followers but was having a hard time being noticed by brands. After a few (not so subtle hints) dropped at lunch, Rich connected me with Oscar de la Renta to shoot their FNO party. It was the first time I was ever paid to take a photo and from there the last year has been surprising in so many ways. I have moved to become a house photographer at Oscar, been to Abu Dhabi and Brazil with Puma, I have been able to work with some of my favorite brands (looking at you J. Lindeberg, Warby Parker, Marchesa). I am humbled and honestly thrilled at the shape my life has taken since that lunch.
The question was how can we scale that experience. How can we help brands find talent and lift them up by providing the opportunity to do great work. How can we help a brand answer questions like: Who are 5 good menswear bloggers in Chicago? Who should we have take over our Instagram for our show? Do you know any rare, but untested talent out there?
I think Fohr Card will be able to answer those questions in a much more precise and egalitarian way than the methods currently used. Bloggers, brands are asking these questions, you might as well be the answer…
You can get started by creating your Fohr Card here: fohrcard.com/signup.
Limited invite code of 100: ”james”
Hunt1 a Deux North Experience
Two months ago Dylan and I smoked a cigar and talked about creating a brand that celebrated that wind in your hair, blood in your veins feeling you get when you go fast enough to make your eyes water. We wanted to have fun and in the process bring together a group of young, stylish riders together to do something bigger than themselves.
So sitting here watching this video on my screen makes me damn proud. Proud of my little brother for driving this project on a daily basis, proud of Angelo, Jayson and Bam Bam for finishing the ride with style and class, proud of Aaron and Pace for making this beautiful film. I am grateful for the support we have gotten from brands like Gage & Desoto, NYC Velo and La Colombe and for the help of the two best looking follow car drivers we could ask for Megan Collins and Chelsea Rogers. I am humbled by the whole process and it all feels so, so right.
So again, I present you with Deux North’s first film.
Happy Hunting
Mashable 9 Inspiring Photo Blogs You’ll Love
I was lucky enough to be included in a recent Mashable feature, they asked me some questions about what photography meant to me, what made it special and what my favorite image was. The last question was tough but I picked the above from an Oscar de la Renta show almost a year ago. Read the whole thing here
“Photography makes me feel thankful. Thankful that I have found myself in a situation where I get to show people, through my perspective, a world that surprises me daily. Thankful that I get to work with individuals and brands that I have respected for years. Thankful that I have the opportunity to do something every day that I love.
Stella Artois threw a great party last week for Belgium Day and a little bit of rain did not spot over 1,000 people from coming out to eat mussels and frites, scarf down some waffles and wash it down with perfectly poured Stella Artois.
Excited to be traveling to DC tomorrow to do some more work with Stella Artois for their Taste of Belgium event at Yards Park from 12-7PM. Do you live in DC? Come out, drink a beer and say hi!
Do you remember, as a kid, the first time you went really fast on your bike, and it felt like you were flying, or the first time you got both wheels off the ground, and how you could feel, almost hear, your heart beating. It was like the first time you held her hand, or ran away from home and got lost.
Now, do you remember the last time you drove by a lake and wondered if there was a rope swing but never stopped, or the last time you looked at a smooth stone and imagined throwing it across the water but finished your conversation instead. When was the last time you considered a tree based on climb-ability? Ran across the grass barefoot, or decided to be a robber instead of a cop? Well, no one wants to be a cop anyways.
Let’s pretend again, and play a prank; we’ll defend a fort, or draw a map to plan an escape. All we have to do is take off our shoes and jump in, or walk outside and find an adventure.
Deux North is a story of unabashed childish freedom and thrill. This is about the past, happening now. Friendship, adventure, and experience are your characters in a story about city life told amongst nature, and the last one there is a rotten egg.
The story begins with the Summer Hunt Series, ten trips north, to the high peaks of the Catskill and Adirondack Mountains in New York City’s backyard. We invite everyone to follow along in realtime on Twitter & Instagram @DeuxNorth, and #Hunt1. The complete story will be told through film, word, and image on deuxnorth.com in late july.
Deux North was bro-founded by myself and Dylan Nord and designed by Michael Miano and Dan Forbes.
I think clothing should look forward as much as it looks backwards. I believe new materials and processes can inform classic designs and methodology. I think clothes should make someone feel more like them selves instead of allowing them to pretend to be someone else.
It is with these ideas that I decided to start a line of neckwear, named Vulpine. The ties are handmade in New York City with Italian silk and then (for the first time ever) we have screen printed vinyl on the bottom 1/3 of the tie. Our first run was done in a very (very) limited run and for that reason I am opening up a lottery to get your hands on one. They will come hand numbered and retail at $99. Please email me at jamesnord@gmail.com to put yourself on the list, I will be contacting people in the next week re: payment and shipping.
Over the coming days I will be posting more detail about design and construction, but for now I wanted to say: Internet, meet Vulpine, Vulpine, the Internet.
Three Questions with Nosyeux
Nosyeux: What fuels your passions?
Me: My passions are not so much fueled by anything as I am fueled by my passions.
Read the (short) interview here
It might be small but I am still happy to have my picture of Parker Posey make the latest issue of W Magazine.
HIGHLIGHTED LIFE
THE PERSONAL TUMBLELOG OF JAMES NORD:
the author of this blog is:
Fohr Card Co-Founder
accidental photographer
rapha racer
sartorial stickler
hustle disciple
ask me anything
