Complex magazine and Justin Bieber’s management commissioned Tony Kelly with the task of bringing Bieber into the next stage of his career, from boy to man as the star reached his 18th birthday. Kelly, along with photo director Greg Garry, came up with a concept of a bare-knuckle fight in a spit and sawdust boxing club in the depths of LA’s South Central. Bieber brought all of his raw talent and energy to the shoot and was a true professional. The combined elements resulted in what turned out to be an iconic photo shoot of today’s biggest pop star.

LA based photographer Tony Kelly regularly shoots high fashion spreads for the likes of British GQ, Tatler, Glamour and Vanity Fair and campaigns for American Apparel and Mini.  After starting his career covering conflict in war torn countries, including Rwanda and Afghanistan, Kelly moved into the fashion and celebrity arena where he has spent the last 8 years bringing his signature style to an entirely different audience.

Follow Kelly on Facebook at  tonykellyphotography and on Twitter @tonykellyphoto.

-courtesy Tony Kelly.

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All photos © Alex MacNaughton. Above: Justin O’Grady, age 21.

Alex MacNaughton decided to create his new book London Tattoos (Prestel), because he felt previous books on tattoos were overly stylized and told readers very little about the people who wore the artwork. “Quite often the people bearing the tattoos couldn’t be recognized as individuals,” MacNaughton says. London Tattoos on the other hand, was shot and presented in a clean, minimalist style, and the first photograph of each subject presented in the book is pulled back, showing them in their everyday clothing, which often hides their elaborate body art. MacNaughton also includes several details showing the tattoos close-up, and short quotes from subjects about their tattoos, what they mean to them, and what they think about the culture surrounding tattoos, provide further background. (more…)

© Herb Ritts Foundation. Man with Chain, Los Angeles, 1985. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2011.19.11

Herb Ritts was considered one of the most important photographers to emerge during the 1980s. He had a distinctive sense of style, and the visual dexterity to stand out for both his personal work (which helped revive the genre of male nudes) and the fashion and portraiture of his commercial photography. From the late 1970s until his death in 2002, Ritts’s ability to bridge the gap between art and commerce was not only a testament to his imagination and technical skill, but also reflected the blending of art, popular culture, and business that followed the Pop Art movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Herb Ritts: L.A. Style (Getty Publications, April 2012) traces the life and career of the iconic photographer through his renowned images, as well as some of his unpublished work. An exhibition will be on view at the Getty Center from April 3 through August 12, 2012; at the Cincinnati Art Museum from October 6 through December 30, 2012; and at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida, from February 23 through May 19, 2013.

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All photos © LUCEO.

On Friday, January 13th, from 6-10PM the LUCEO cooperative is hosting their third annual exhibition at 25CPW in New York City. Titled “Greater Than The Sum”, the exhibition highlights the group’s ability to connect, collaborate and create. LUCEO seeks to engage the audience, making them the final arbiter in the work. Breaking from tradition, their new exhibition “Greater Than The Sum” combines a broad curation of each photographers work into one 163′ run that spans the entire gallery. Rather than selling individual prints, LUCEO is selling CUTS which give guests the opportunity to hand-cut a 24×24″ section of the print they most want. The show also consists of an interactive installation and a soundscape scored by composer Tyler Strickland.

For those that can’t attend in person, you can still reserve a CUT and LUCEO will have a stand-in make the cut for you, or you can purchase a limited edition catalogue from the LUCEO store. The catalogue also includes a download score for the unique soundscape.

-courtesy LUCEO.

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© Natalie Halford

The first public exhibition of the Young Photographers Alliance (YPA) 2011 Mentoring Program will take place at the Calumet Gallery in New York City on January 12th. The theme for the program is “Everything is Energy,” which the 60 mentees interpreted in a wide variety of ways to create a compelling collection of photo essays. Natalie Halford, from the University of Westminster, focused on photographing teenagers because “they are full of life and have boundless energy, they represent the now, however, everyone can relate to this energy as it is inscribed in all of us … we were all that age once.”

With financial assistance from ASMP Foundation, YPA coordinated 15 teams, mentored by 25 professional photographers, in cities around the world: U.S. (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, San Diego and Seattle), Canada (Toronto), China (Beijing), Thailand (Bangkok) and U.K. (London and Glasgow).