His weapon of choice is the imagination before the camera. His colorful photos look like virtual eye candy, and if a photo says a thousand words, his photos rival an entire Shakespearean sonnet. Meet FrizzyCube, one of the world’s most renowned digital artists–and my #1 homeslice.
I met Neil “FrizzyCube” Nakahara in 2005 when Myspace was still an acceptable form of social networking. Before the website got filled with creepy stalkers, I befriended Neil through some pleasant exchanges, and we set up a shoot. We chatted on the phone and talked for hours–I had not done that since junior high, back when I loved to prank call people and obviously before *67 and *69. Neil explained his “Toasty Hot” photo shoot concept to me and scooped me up for a shoot shortly thereafter.
Neil’s assistant at the time had full access to this amazing steel factory outside of Manhattan. After a few hours of set-up and shooting, I noticed that the strobes kept moving. One time I looked over, the softbox slowly slid from one side to the other. No drafts, no A/C…just an empty, dark, cold and creepy steel mill. I pointed it out to Neil, and as we both watched the light move from left to right, he said the light had moved five or six meters away from where he originally placed it. Zoiks!
Neil mentioned this experience in the latest issue of Flavour Magazine, this really fabulous e-zine based in the UK. With printed magazines going out of business left and right, it looks like e-zines represent the wave of our future–and Flavour easily takes the cake as a pioneer. Check out the cool interface. I enjoyed sitting in front of my computer, flipping through its pages.
I got the warm fuzzies AND cold chills when I read pp. 68-69. First of all, how cool is it to get a shout-out by one of the most sought-after digital artists/photographers out there? I have some of his big-wow PSD’s sitting on my desktop, and I marvel at the level of skill, time and effort he puts into one single piece of artwork. Any Photoshop geek would appreciate the layers upon layers of tips and tricks in a single FrizzyCube PSD file.
Neil spent countless hours teaching me Photoshop. Every time I get stumped with a retouching problem, he comes up with an easy fix. I want to start something new on my blog next year where I interview photographers that have greatly influenced my work. If you have any interview questions for Neil, please post them in the comment section below. In the meantime, take a gander at FrizzyCube’s dreamy photos (www.frizzycube.com) and show some love!
11 Comments
I’ve always liked that picture, its so crazy and cool! I barely recognize you in it, you can have so many different looks! I’m not huge into PP myself, but I do like the work FrizzyCube does, its like realism and anime all blended together!
OH MY WORD!!!!!! Everyone told you you were the hottest thing. And now this proves it! You can toast bread! LOL
I so have to step up my game!
HOT HOT HOT!
Noel.
What a fun story and shoot. And how cool is that to be honorable mention in his interview! I just went through all his sites and I see where you got your last sites horizontally scrolling portfolio.
What I wouldn’t give to sit behind him and watch his set up and post production processes.
Ha! You guys rock.
Spencer, I knew somebody would point that out! I actually stole the idea from Stephen Eastwood (www.stepheneastwood.com), and when I decided to change up my layout, Frizzy wanted to simplify his super-creative flashy website–and thus, the scroll. I still like the horizontal scroll. It lays it all out there, and you can swoosh back and forth with relative ease. You’d be surprised, though, how many people don’t know you have to slide the bar over to the right to see the rest of the photos. oy vey!
You may already know this person, but I was going through my favorite photog sites and thought of your macro work when I saw the work of Suza Scalora.
Her site is at http://suzascaloraphotography.com
If you look at the ‘Editorial’ portfolio she has some great work in the same vein as some of yours. Again, I may be way behind the curve here and you may be the inspiration for her work.
I agree with the horizontal gallery. I like the feel and flow it gives, but I guess its too much for casual browsers. Sorry about spamming your post with comments!
I’m still picking my jaw off the floor. Suza’s work is Ahhhhhhh-mazing! I’m probably going to stare at it all night.
Drop a comment anytime, Spencer! I love it when people visit my blog and write notes. It’s more interactive, and I love b.s.’ing with my friends.
Amy,
This picture of you is soo HOTTT and funny!!
The lighting is great… Neil Nakahara is a very skillful photographer (also in post processing..)
(When I saw the toast, I just imagine myself would be nearby the ceiling, with the fishnet to catch the toast and eat them w/ butter, peanut butter n jam.. yummy!)
Will wait for more pictures from you…
Well, this is STILL one of my favourite pictures E-V-E-R since the very time I saw it back in the days! Neil is an amazing artist and you’re so gorgeous. Amen.
Hey Who else did you chat on the phone with for hours! Im jealous!
Tienny! That is too funny! Neil’s assistant really gets a lot of credit for this because he provided all the puffs of smoke with a big ol’ puff of a cigarette. Even when we shot it, I had a quizzical look on my face like, “Zuh?” When I saw the ultimate magic, I nearly fell out of my chair.
Oh, Roberto…you can stop by my website, ANYTIME! It was great chatting with you this weekend.
Steven, I’ll never forget the conversation we had about Pearl Harbor in 1996-ish. I don’t know what happened, but it’s hard to get me on the phone these days.
ahahaha thats right this shot is amazing and crazy!
Neil told me about this story but i said stop when he first talked about strange stuff that only strange things that you can’t see do! i’m a big scared baby :p
You two are awesome
rub!
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