Sophie Blackall, the one artist that I stumbled upon while on my trip in NYC that I had to shoot. I first saw her work (below) on the train, and something in me wanted to know the stories behind all the characters.



Thankfully, a friend directed me to a video about Sophie and the print she did for the New York Subway. (Which you should watch here, it's only 4 minutes)

I'm assuming half of you didn't click on that link, because let's face it, most of us can't be bothered clicking on a video link and watching it. So this is me forcing Sophie's story down your throats.

Sophie runs a blog "Missed Connections". Missed Connections is a section in craigslist for lovestruck individuals to write to that drop dead gorgeous girl on the bus but never got the chance to talk to her because she was busy reading her book. What Sophie does is she draws these couples that write to each other in her own special way.





Yeah, now you want to watch the video don't you? Go ahead, click here.

Check out more of her work at

http://www.sophieblackall.com/
http://missedconnectionsny.blogspot.com/

 
This is Zero Friends, a bunch of talented individuals who you can never take too seriously (you can probably tell from the photo)



..and this is their store in Oakland, California.


Alex Pardee, incredible artist, first stumbled on his work when someone showed me his book (which I now also own because this champ signed and gave me a copy), he's been making amazing work for years now and now has a distinct style. Alex is also possibly the nicest dude alive. I'm not gonna lie, the photos I saw of him and his beard did intimidate me, but he bought us lunch (best asian food I had in Cali) and was a wonderful host while we were hanging out at his studio. If you've never seen this man's work, this is your chance now to live. View his work here


and here.



 Darren Scott, the business and brains behind the company. The backstage guy, he does the emails, the accounts, the logistics.....the beer. And speaking of beer, check this out.

Looks like a normal fridge doesn't it? Don't be fooled. Dave occasionally brews some beer, and the beer goes inside the fridge, which is not actually a fridge anymore, since they dismantled the insides and made it into a beer dispenser. 


Unfortunately Quake and Dave (guys on the left), didn't have time to get their individual photos taken, actually Quake didn't like his photo taken at all. But there you go, Zero Friends.....still not in the most serious zone.


Miranda Caroligne

Yes yes, she designs, we get it, but wait, this is the amazing part.... she wrote a "For Dummies" book.