There isn't much to do in Milan and that's the reason not many people enjoy it but here why I like it: There is so much great architecture everywhere, its beautiful, so the city becomes a great backdrop to shoot street style on. All my Milan videos have a certain for feel to them for this reason.
The 2nd reason is because things slow down a bit once you get to Milan (if you're working all of fashion month) and it's a nice change of pace after London and New York. A break full of stuffing my face with pasta is much needed.
Right after we finished shooting New York Fashion Week, Humai and I hopped on a plane to London. We were scheduled to shoot a few shows for Swarovski and cover street style for HEED.
Shooting street style quickly became one of the things I love doing the most. There's a playful, game like challenge to it, and it's exciting running around in a foreign city searching for dope style. I'm hooked, hopefully I'll be doing a lot more of this.
Here are the two videos I shot while I was out there.
...next up Milan.
I really have to get better about updating this blog. Truth is I don't really know if anyone if reading this or not. There no feedback loop, no 'like' button for you to hit letting me know that I'm not just speaking to an empty room. Either way, empty room or not, I have to keep telling the story. So once again I promise to make this a regular thing. Here we go...
I'm currently in Mexico City on an assignment for Swarovski. They have a pretty impressive installation at Art Basel Miami in December and the architect of that installation, Fernando Romero, is based in Mexico City. We are down here to document his process to tie into the final video that will tell the story of this piece. That is our primary purpose for being down here but my schedule allowed me to tack on a few days for me to just kick it and explore Mexico City.
I've never been here before...actually, I did come to Acapulco for spring break in college but I feel like that doesn't count. Even if it did Mexico City is quite different, it's a really big, diverse, very populated city that has a lot going on. I intend to take full advantage of my free time here and check out as much of the city as I can but for now we got off the plane and straight to the taco spot. I am very committed to eating at the hole in the wall, local spot that provides the most authentic experience. So any time I'm in a new city the first thing I do is ask the cab driver where he loves to eat and tell him to just take me there. I've have yet to have a bad first meal.
More to come, stay tuned.
Jeremy Scott of always fun to watch. His designs are fresh, completely out of the norm and always surprising. His show at NYFW was probably one of my favorite, so many great models decked out in dope hair and make up. Check it.
Shot by Atif Ateeq and edited by Amna Ateeq for NYFW.
I love shooting video and I really do but working on HANDS UP made me realize how much I miss working on interactive projects and experiences. I love building things with my hands and telling stories using technology. Must continue to do more of this.
Day three had its challenges but we are getting through it and will be ready to open the doors this Friday.
See you then.
Photos by Humailee
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Today's big lesson was what everything takes a lot longer than you budget time for. When you're toying with new technologies precision is key and shit always breaks three times before it works once.
We spent the day hooking of six 4'x4' wood panels with LED strips. And thats pretty much all we got done. Show opens on Friday and we still need to put this whole thing together and make sure it works. Should I be nervous?
And here is todays Snapchat story:
[fve]https://youtu.be/YlJWDoQstVg[/fve]
As I mentioned in my previous post, HANDS UP is an interactive exhibit I am working on with Roopa Vasudevan. We are building the installation all this week and I'm going to document the whole process, here and on Snapchat.
The last few weeks we have been working on getting the tech to work and building a small scale prototype. The piece is 8'x12' so we really didnt have a place to build it before we had access to the gallery. So we still really dont know exactly what this is going to end up looking like.
Today we spent driving around picking up materials and supplies and we able to get into the space late in the day to drop everything off and paint a few panels. Tomorrow the real build begins. Stay tuned.
I'm snapping this whole week. To follow along in real time add me on Snapchat : atifateeq
[fve]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoST5dl2xLg[/fve]
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It's been two years since I graduated from ITP and in that time I haven't had the chance to work on anything that was programming or interactivity related. I maybe toyed with small things here and there but wasn't able to take a concept and have it come to life the way my next project did. I'm excited to announce HANDS UP an interactive installation that I've been working on with my homie from ITP Roopa Vasudevan. HANDS UP is a large scale piece that explores law enforcement’s relationship with people of color. The installation will simulate the experience of being confronted by the police in the manner that resulted in the 2014 shooting death of Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American teenager, in Ferguson, MO. The piece directly places visitors in the chaotic and overwhelming moments that have since led to an ongoing debate about the state of race relations in America.
Please join me this Friday for the opening of the installation at Flux Factory (39-31 29th Street in Long Island City). If you cant make the opening the piece will be on view from the 15th-17th.
See you there.
