About the Cover of Buckman Journal: Gorge
Photography by Paisley Lee & Nails by Sam Sangermano
With this cover, we wanted to show the many facets of gorge—as it appears in nature, a deep expanse; the act of indulgence, filling up to the brim; as slang for something stunning, so gorge!
In that same broad-spectrum spirit, Buckman always does our best to show the fullest range of forms and their creators, which often begs questions: what does it mean to be creative? When is something considered an art? What mediums might be overlooked by the ‘fine art’ world, or by print? What about the art of self-expression, of self-decoration?
So we sought to capture the beauty of a bejeweled nature. Manicured hands dripping in metals, luster, and fruit juices. The body decorated by nails and jewelry, meticulously crafted by the hands of artists. Colorful candies, gems, and florals alike, eyes feasting. But also allowing the uglier side, the ravenous cavern demanding to be filled. Too much of a good thing until it spills over, coating all those precious shimmery pieces.
The photos were shot with both film and digital by Paisley Lee, who also the did the lighting and photo editing. The nail set was created and worn by Sam Sangermano. The concept, props, fabrication, and styling was a collaborative effort between Paisley, Sam, and Team Buck. A special thank you to Garbie Studio for providing the space to shoot.
Featuring jewelry by: Aiyana—silver, pearl, & glass necklace. Christina Mrozik—silver moth pin. Gunthur—silver & gold chain ring. Preciosa Shop by M Gonzales—multi beaded chain (for masks or glasses). Snake River Jewelry—bronze field ring. Tai Vautier—two different silver & gemstone rings. Tiro Tiro—brass knot ring & silver vos ring.
One of the stars of the shoot was our beautiful blue slime. Using a “super secret” recipe (cornstarch, water, food dye) and a “super scientific” process (everything in a big bucket, stir with whisk and/or hand), the desired color and viscosity was achieved. Gentle drizzlings of the goo, with many clean ups and resets in between gave us our ideal shot.
The set was composed mostly of food and natural objects—cabbage, oranges, olives dusted in luster, rainbow candies, moss, sprinkles, rocks, etc. Even though most everything got gooped in the process, it was relatively easy to wash off, restore the jewels and objects, and compost the organics.
“While making these nails I was thinking a lot about our beloved Columbia River in the spring, abundance of green and dirt, luxury, GOLD.”
Sam’s nails were gel X extensions with sculpted and gem components, applied day of for the shoot.
We chose to go with all film images for print, but photos were captured on digital as well—extra shots that didn’t make the final cut can be seen below. We also wanted to show a side-by-side comparison of differences between the the two (top is film, digital is bottom). You can see the apparent tone differences, as well as the richness and depth of film that is incomparable. Paisley shot film on a Pentax 6x7 camera using Portra 160.
