Ilse Valfre is an illustrator and fashionista living in Mexico. I found out about her doll illustrations a couple years ago and have been a fan ever since. Her work is charming, detailed, and witty. Her dolls are always well dressed and completely relatable. On top of that, Ilse is completely adorable. Absolute girl crush material! I hope everyone loves her work as much as I do. Check out our interview below!

Claire: Tell me about your life as an artist in Mexico.
Ilse Valfre: Mexico is really cool, there are a lot of talented people so that is always inspiring.

C: What inspired you to start your doll drawings?
Ilse: My interest in fashion and comic books.

C: What’s your creative process like? What mediums do you use?
Ilse: I mainly use pens, watercolors, collages and primascolors.

C: Are your illustrations like a diary? Are your drawings related to what’s happening in your day-to-day life.
Ilse: Not really, it’s based on my girlfriends. I have always enjoyed telling stories. Growing up I was a big fan of comic books so I guess that has been the biggest influence in my work and I like creating scenarios that tell a story.

C: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Ilse: I am still figuring out.

C: Tell us a random fact about yourself!
Ilse: I have identical beauty marks on my left and right index fingers. Really Cray!

C: What do you hope people take away from your work?
Ilse: I love humor, so hopefully my illustrations can make them smile if they’re having a bad day.

C: Any new projects in the works?
Ilse: I’m currently in the process in developing my own brand.

Short film featuring Ilse directed by Tim K.

@valfre
www.ivalfre.com
www.ivalfre.com/blog

A little over a year ago I had a dual art show with photographer Foster Huntington for Impossible Polaroid Film in New York City. On opening night I wanted to introduce myself but couldn’t find him. I asked the event staff if he was coming and they replied he was “out on the road somewhere having an adventure’. Foster had ditched his New York design job, bought a WV van, and went searching for beautiful places with no reception. His blog A Restless Transplant is a diary of his travels teeming with photographs infused with youth, nature, and surf culture. If you have a case of wanderlust like I do they will seriously make your mouth water.

Without further ado, MEET Foster Huntington!

Claire: Introduce yourself!
Foster: My name is Foster Huntington and am originally from Portland Oregon. In 2011, I left my job in New York, moved into a VW van and hit the road.

C: If you had to give yourself an official job title, what would it be?
Foster: Hopefully someday I will be able to figure that out!

C: What’s the most inspiring thing you’ve seen on the road?
Foster: The most inspiring thing for me has been meeting people living lives that they are proud of. They come from all walks of life. I’ve met seasonal workers that live off of 15,000 a year and are happier than anyone I knew in New York.

C: Do you have a home base or anywhere you could see yourself staying put for a while?
Foster: I dont really have a home base. That’s the best part about having a van or camper. Home is Where you Park it!

C: Do you have a favorite picture you’ve taken on your travels?
Foster:

C: I love your blog The Burning House. Tell us a bit about it and how it came about.
Foster: Im really interested in the notion of minimalism, It’s a big inspiration behind my work. The Burning House is an extension of this. When I started it, I was living in New York and working in Fashion. I tired of being in a culture where people defined themselves by the expensive things they owned. The Burning House seemed like a different way for people to define themselves through objects with a focus on the sentimental.

C: Do you collect anything?
Foster: I have a few too many surfboards but im doing my best to kick that habit. Its hard to collect anything when you live in such a small place.

C: Top 5 roadtrip songs?
Foster:
The Weight by the Band
Friend of the Devil by the Grateful dead,
Fire on the Mountain Grateful Dead, Cornell 77 to be exact.
A Creedence song. Right now I’m into Cotton Fields.
Home by LCD Sound System

C: Do you plan your trips in advance? What’s in the cards for you in the coming months?
Foster: I’m going on a trip to Germany with my brother in April but other than that I’m flying by the seat of my pants. The best part of not having a home is that you’re always on a trip of sorts.

Instagram: fosterhunting
Twitter: @Fosterhunting
www.theburninghouse.com
www.arestlesstransplant.com

I’m thrilled to finally share my maritime muses with you in A La Mode. These nautical up-dos illustrate the French phrase ‘a la mode’, which means to be in fashion and also with a scoop on top! The series was shot in my little Los Angeles apartment as well as a bed and breakfast in Pasadena where we shot Einstein’s old claw foot bathtub. The intricate coiffures were constructed by my brilliant hair team Suzii Andrews and Travis Hite. They created everything I imagined and more! I’m so grateful for shoots like this where work and play are one in the same. I feel so lucky to create and collaborate with such warm and wonderful friends.

Behind the scenes video:

Featuring – Dianna Agron, Ashley Arabian, & Ashley Avignone
Photography & Art Direction – Claire Oring
Hair – Suzii Andrews & Travis Hite
Production Assistant – Erin Webb

When YM&C brought up the idea of having editors pick their 5 favorite songs of the year it seemed almost impossible. The amount of beautiful music created this year is a bit overwhelming. However, these tracks below fell into place in a matter of minutes. These are the songs I couldn’t get out of my head this year, and didn’t really want to anyways.

Best Coast – “The Only Place”: I like to sing this in the shower and revel in being a Los Angeles native.

Father John Misty – “Funtimes in Babylon”: I like to put this song on in the morning while I lie in bed and look up at my ceiling. Josh Tillman’s lyrics are so moody and beautiful.

Leonard Bernstein – “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra” (Moonrise Kingdom Soundtrack): I loved everything about the Moonrise Kingdom Soundtrack. It was equal parts charming and educational.

Lianne La Havas – “Au Cinéma”: Something about her raspy voice just pulls at my heartstrings. I have her new album Is Your Love Big Enough? on vinyl and it’s seriously perfection.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – “Fiya Wata”: “Let your love blaze like fire!” I love that. I also have a girl crush on Jade Castrinos.”

After recently featuring Joey L’s work on YM&C, we were able to get an exclusive interview with him about his photographic adventures and his creative process. His answers were filled with the insight and he even shared some advice for aspiring photographers. It’s hard to hear his story and not feel inspired. Joey’s hard work, beautiful technique, and an unwavering sense of wanderlust are a recipe for magic.

CLAIRE: It looks like your work has taken you all around the world. What were some of your favorite locations?
JOEY L: I am very fortunate to see many beautiful places such as Ethiopia, Indonesia, India, Bolivia and many other nice countries that end in ‘ia.

C: What do you look for in a subject?
J: Photographers only tell stories with sight, so when we are done our job and show people our work, there are no other senses to help guide our photographs. Because of this, often times we seek subjects that can visually link a single image to a greater narrative. For example, in a series about religious people, how can you express the inward such as belief with something as outward as sight? You must rely on how things look- the personal objects the subject surrounds themselves with, the environment they choose to live in, or even how they choose to present themselves to others. Sometimes, you can look at someone and know straight away what kind of person he is. However, our eyes can also deceive us. So, it is up to the photographer to be like a filter. A photographer has the responsibility to make something as chaotic as a moment in time into a simple flat photograph. To filter out all sights that could confuse or distract, and channel the vision into a single cohesive body of work. A good subject can guide the whole process.

C: What’s your creative process like?
J: On my personal trips where you see a lot of my portraits from around the world, that process is very slow. It takes a lot of time and patience to have some degree of control of the outcome. In a strange land unfamiliar to you, sometimes you can’t fight problems, you have to go along with them to conquer them. Most time on those trips isn’t spent clicking the shutter- that part is very quick. For me, the most time is spent setting up the shoots, getting the people comfortable with what I do, getting them to believe in my work, and then after that perhaps I can take a portrait.

In my commissioned shoots back home, sometimes I don’t have the luxury of time. But one thing I do have is more control. Equipment and electronic doo-dads are easy to get, and the people I work with are true professionals in their fields. When I have been gone months on a trip somewhere, all I want to do is go home and be in complete control of a production. But when I am doing commercial shoots for too long, I want to venture off and let the unknowns slowly influence me and push to take control of how my photographs turn out.

C: What equipment do you use? Do you have a favorite camera?
J: You can check out an ever-changing, ever-evolving gear list on my site here: http://www.joeyl.com/gear/

C: Tell us about your new book Photographing Shadow and Light. How long did it take you to create it?
J: It took way too long to write because I had to keep writing hours between 3am – 5am. When I wrote it last year, I had a lot of projects on the table. But that busy time of photographing eventually contributed itself to the book, and all the forces & tasks pulling me this way and that somehow became one big happy family.

The book is a behind the scenes look at many of my photoshoots. There are case studies which cover my approach to each shot, my sometimes techie lighting setups, and how each shot was executed in the end. It’s full of nice big pictures too.

C: If you could take a photo of anyone or anything what would it be?
J: There is one monk in a rock hewn church in Northern Ethiopia who won’t ever let me take his picture. Of course this monk looks really cool to me, but I don’t know much about him. Every time I go to see him and walk for hours with my stuff, he is not interested in anything I do. Fair enough. Out of respect I don’t push it, but I know he’s just playing hard to get… Right?

C: What advice do you have for young photographers aspiring to get into commercial work?
J: It is very easy to lump all commercial photographers into one category. We all use cameras, but the clients we work for, or the places our photographs are displayed are all very different. You don’t go to an ear doctor to fix your eye. You need to specialize in the beginning, and get really good at one thing instead of mediocre at many things. Then people in that field will recognize that work, and it may just be the style of work you one day get paid to create. In the beginning, I would aim to work in one focussed path that you are passionate about. I would start by choosing to photograph a subject matter that is important to you, something to keep you full of passion during the hard times.

www.joeyl.com

*Sponsored by Crown Publishing Group