This story was originally published on April 15, 2015. We've updated it to reflect more recent projects.
Just a few years ago, it seemed like utter wizardry that you could get rid of red-eye with the click of a mouse (and a photo-editing program you downloaded onto your computer). These days, you’ve got a million different filters to choose from that immediately erase zits, even out skin tone, and create the overall look of a character in a Godard film. (You, just hazier.) And, while ubiquitous filtering has changed the expectations of how stylized our run-of-the-mill portraits need to be, anything that takes a half-second to do is just a ‘gram — it’s not quite art.
What is undeniably art is The Push Pose, a collaborative portraiture project between creative director Emma Fletcher and photographer Tamara Schlesinger. Featuring the women you’ve been harboring not-so-secret heart-eyes for, The Push Pose takes original photos of these babes and does them over in beautiful, imaginative ways. Says Fletcher, "[We photograph] the subject freely without strongly adhering to a particular concept. The photographs are then transformed in processes through painting, folding, or collaging.”
The results are stunning, from the women involved, to the personalities featured, to the incredible amount of detail and care put into turning these photos into something beyond a 2-D snap. Some things are just a little too jaw-droppy to accurately describe without resorting to emoji. Read on to see some of the women featured and the “filters” applied, but please note before trying at home: This kind of craft takes more than just your iPhone.
Follow @thepushpose on Instagram.
Subject: Michelle Williams
"Filter" applied: Michelle was shot coming out of the fetal position. The original photos were so womb like, Fletcher was inspired to work with two different glass blowers, Emrys Berkower (from Token Lights) and Michael Anchin to take the images and blow them into glass orbs.
Photo: Courtesy of The Push Pose.
Subject: Ikeliene Stange
"Filter" applied: Says Fletcher, "[Stange] is very earthy, extremely beautiful, and an otherworldly person." The artist wove differently hued versions of the same photo of Stange into an intricate printed pattern.
Photo: Courtesy of The Push Pose.
Subject: Ivy and Chloe Blackshire
"Filter" applied: Fletcher used painted mesh and marbling to turn her portrait of the Blackshire sisters into a ghostly Victorian-like valentine.
Photo: Courtesy of The Push Pose.
Subject: Olives Apples
"Filter" applied: Apples twisted herself into these poses during the photoshoot. Fletcher then used Markus Linnenbrink backgrounds to collage Apples onto as a fierce rainbow-tamer acrobat.
Photo: Courtesy of The Push Pose.
Subject: Rachel Trachtenburg
"Filter" applied: Fletcher wove Trachtenburg's image with lengths of metallic paper.
Photo: Courtesy of The Push Pose.
Subject: Jemima Kirke
"Filter" applied: Jemima's pink hair inspired Fletcher to reimagine her as a rock queen and collage her photo against soft spots of paint on silk velvet. Says Fletcher, "We imagined her as an album cover, as her instincts are so incredibly cool."
Photo: Courtesy of The Push Pose.
Subject: Martynka Wawrzyniak
"Filter" applied: Black-and-white portraits were collaged on top of full-color counterparts. Cutouts follows the lines of the Prouve furniture she's posing with in the other pictures in the series.
Photo: Courtesy of The Push Pose.
Subject: Heather Boo
"Filter" applied: Small slits were cut into the black-and-white prints, light was projected through, and then the image was re-shot. Ethereal, much?
Photo: Courtesy of The Push Pose.
Subject: Heidi Bivens
"Filter" applied: Says Fletcher, "Heidi was one of the first people we shot. Her series was done with the help of pattern-maker Azusa Sumikawa. We printed marbling onto the film, and then cut it all into circles that fit together to make the balls that she's in."
Photo: Courtesy of The Push Pose.
Subject: Jessica Joffe
"Filter" applied: Fletcher wove colored prints through portraits of Jessica and sometimes combined two similar shots. "[Jessica] has a solemn elegance in these photos, and I think the weaving made her appear fragile," she says.
Photo: Courtesy of The Push Pose.
Subject: Hailey Benton Gates
"Filter" applied: Azusa made a pleated collar for Hailey to wear in the original shoot, which inspired the final portrait. "Her poses were so amazing, and the pleating changed her body depending on what point of the body [it] started from," Fletcher explains.
Photo: Courtesy of The Push Pose.
Subject: India Salvor Menuez
"Filter" applied: Marbled paint was cut up and collaged with India's portrait. Says Fletcher, "She's obviously a royal queen. We turned her kind of into a cult leader."
Photo: Courtesy of The Push Pose.
Subject: Lou
"Filter" applied: Here's where it all started. "Lou is really the birth of the push pose. She is the logo. She inspired and embodies the poses."
Photo: Courtesy of The Push Pose.
Subject: Kate Lyn Sheil
"Filter" applied: Says Fletcher, "This took TWO talented pattern-makers — Yoko English and Azusa Sumikawa — to figure out the jagged shapes that the prints are folded into. It's not origami, because they are cut and folded together. She looks galactic in the end."
Photo: Courtesy of The Push Pose.
Subject: Jennifer Pastore
"Filter" applied: Fletcher always saw Jennifer as a sort of mourning bride. ("I always thought a veil would look amazing on her.") Her portrait is printed on layers of stacked organza.
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