Instagram/ Green/ Studio Marcus Hay

Photography: Studio Marcus Hay

We love Green at Studio Marcus Hay Green is fresh, full of life and comes in many hues and shades. Often seen in nature, Green can also be seen in other unexpected places  Studio Marcus Hay always has the I-Phone at the ready and all these images are captured on Instagram. Some of the above images are shot in Chicago, Northern France, San Francisco and London

Come be inspired by the color Green and follow us around the world at Instagram

www.instagram.com/marcushay

NEW YORK STORIES/ Green and Blue Color Trend

Photography: Kat Teutsch

Photography: Kat Teutsch

Photography: Kat Teutsch

Photography: Kat Teutsch

Photography: Kat Teutsch

Photography: Kat Teutsch

Last Monday on Memorial Day, Photographer Kat Teutsch and I got together to work on a shoot we had long spoken about doing, not so much the subject matter to begin with but more that we wanted to create a story together. I met Kat at the opening of Prop Workshop, A great new Prop house in New York some months ago and we had been in contact since. Kat has a very playful light but graphic approach to her work and we both thought we would be a good fit. Over the months I began to loosely form an idea and I began to collect and gather props that seemed to fit.  

I have for a long time wanted to a series of color based stories, Funny enough inspired by fictional characters, eccentric hybrids of personalities I know or admire from a distance in New York. The story you see here is a Blue/ Green Trend based story in essence but to give it a narrative or a thread to hang by while creating the images I had put into words a story that morning of the shoot and had written it down, It went like this:  

Edna Indigo Greenleaf, born July 12^th, 1923

Edna, born somewhere in the Mid West, In the 1960’s she moved to Manhattan, NY, moving to the West Village. Her heritage is vague but she does have some Scandinavian and Greek Heritage. A Professional but single, Her profession is also a little unknown, she is the spinster who lives next door, You know she has been in the building a long long time, but she keeps to herself. Her rent is stabilized. She may have worked in Academia.

Enter into her world and you know she is a travelled woman of whom has a love of Photography and Botanicals, She lives surrounded by treasures of the world, Artifacts from China and other exotic destinations travelled to in her youth when the East was still a mystical place. She loves to paint and while away the hours, A bit of a bower bird with eclectic tastes, She is also the older woman you see in the street with the bright blue bloomer pants and exotic beads, A woman of another era but who also likes to think she keeps up with the times, The New York Times, that is!

Sub consciously Edna is a hybrid of my current next door neighbor, Jazz singer Blossom Dearie who lived in the West Village and a lady I saw on the street years ago on the Upper East side who owned a parrot she kept on her shoulder. It may seem a bit odd to create such characters, but it really helped get into a spirit and mood for the shoot, It’s almost like creating a set for a character in a film. I also liked the idea of throwing out the window the old wives tail "Blue and green should need be seen" which is why exactly I chose those colors to work with. 

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy knowing about the process and enjoy the images from the shoot We had a lot of fun creating them, We plan to create more shoots based on color and colorful characters in the future, stay tuned!   

Thanks to Prop Workshop for the wonderful backgrounds that I rented off them plus a handful of props, Most props seen here I actually own or collected especially for the shoot. Some may recognize it was shot in my apartment, as most self produced shoots are ; )

Colorways/ The Green Machine

What is it about green? It's so fresh, so alive! Green really does take you head first into the natural world, Nature comes in all colors but green seems to dominate. Wikipedia says: “Animals such as frogs, lizards, and other reptiles and amphibians, fish, insects, and birds, appear green because of a mixture of layers of blue and green coloring on their skin. Many creatures have adapted to their green environments by taking on a green hue themselves as camouflage”

Green sometimes can also be described as someone who is inexperienced, jealous, or sick, depending on where you are from; green can have broad and sometimes contradictory meanings. In some cultures, green symbolizes hope and growth, while in others; it is associated with death, sickness, envy, or even the devil.

We all know that political groups have put their stamp on green as symbol of environmental protection and social justice, and thus consider themselves part of the Green movement, some naming themselves Green parties. And of course the advertising industry and business not far behind any influential movement means many companies are marketing green/ environmentally friendly products.

I love crisp greens, like that in a rainforest, crisp, dewy and succulent, like a sugar snap pea that makes that sound and smell when broken. I also think of green glass, green grass and the green that effects the copper used on our older buildings.

In terms of green influences in my other green world, I think of green leaf motif wallpaper, Here in New York, the Martinique Banana Leaf Wallpaper at Indochine, www.indochinenyc.com is famous since the 1970’s, If interested you can source it on www.designerwallcoverings.com, A recent design classic is the Leaf series by Lievore Altherr Molina for Arper, www.arper.com and at ICFF 2010 in New York a few months ago I spotted the relaunch of Acapulco chair which is made from powder coated steel frames and vinyl cord, handcrafted using a Mayan weaving technique. INNIT, www.innitdesigns.com, a contemporary furniture producer from Mexico are now producing it again, Of course I love it in green. Lastly I always think of those amazing green fabrics at Marrimekko (amongst others), www.finnstyle.com/marrimekko.htm with their large range of designs influenced by the natural world, a clique I know but often our best source of inspiration.