You're Invited: "No Invite Vol. 6" Zine Launch By Dan Bassini

Growing up in Central New Jersey, Dan used to watch a now-defunct cable TV channel that covered New York City culture called The Metro Network. During the fashion season, they would air coverage from New York Fashion Week. He always found the chaos of these beautiful and interesting people running from place to place around the city to be so exciting. It wasn’t until Dan moved to the NYC area that he was able to witness it first-hand. The only issue was, he had no connections to the fashion world or any idea how to go through the proper channels to get involved.

Here is a bit more about how Dan started this project:

"I started researching where the events were happening and showing up. Sneaking into shows and parties using other people’s RSVPs, a friend's workers pass, one time I helped carry DJ equipment into a fashion party hosted by Marvel, whatever it takes. It’s since evolved over the last three years into a large scale portrait project focusing on the beautiful chaos that takes over the city twice a year. Shooting with compact 35mm camera’s keep me discreet while tending to elicit a more positive response from my subjects who are used to paparazzi sticking telephoto lenses in their faces. Heidi Klum mentioned to me after taking her photo how she missed that feeling of picking up film from the lab and being excited to relive the moments in the photos."

Dan tells us about why he loves using Lomography film for this project:

"It’s no secret that I’ve had a major crush on Lomo CN 400 lately. I think I cracked the code once I realized that CN 400 loves a ton of light so I started illuminating my subjects with direct sunlight and using fill flash as much as possible. This gave me beautiful saturated colors while maintaining accurate skin tone. I’ve been a long time Portra 400 devotee, but Lomography has lured me away with those gorgeous poppy colors."

One of Dan's favorite photos is the cover image. He told us the story behind it:

"The story behind the cover photo of Vol. 6 still cracks me up a bit. This big Sprinter van pulls up outside of the fashion show and a team of PR people hop out and rally the photographers and create a big commotion like some big shot is going to come out of the van. Out hops this guy wearing two giant down winter coats and a winter hat in 90-degree weather. Everyone swarms to grab his photo including myself, as I rarely know who anyone actually is and usually find out later if they’re someone famous. The guy proceeds to walk around out front of the fashion show but never goes inside, then hops back in the van with his team and disappears. Someone had gotten his info and looked him up and he was a total nobody. I was a little reluctant at first about putting him on the cover but had a realization that fashion week is entirely about the spectacle and he was the perfect example of that. Fake it ’til you make it!"

No Invite Vol. 6 is being released on November 23rd with a party and photo exhibition at PS Wine Bar (193 Newark Ave. Jersey City, NJ at 8 pm). The exhibition will be up until the end of December. If you would like to purchase a copy of the book, it will be available online November 23rd as well along with previous volumes here.

written by birgitbuchart on 2019-11-21 #culture #people