We got our hands on a cool photography zine called Girls and Boys by Ryan McGinley apprentice Nicole Lesser (who’s BFFs with another young photographer we’re in love with, Dana Goldstein), and hello 20-year-olds, lay off the fucking color photocopies and cut ‚Äòn’ paste shit—this is the kind of zine you need to be making. We’re talking nice laser prints on quality archive paper, clothbound, glue seeping out a little, with a black cardboard cover and a picture stapled to it, and a custom stamp and sticker in the back. It’s fancy but it’s still somehow punk as hell. It’s just like, "Hey, here are some pretty pictures of people who are just hanging out without many clothes on"—people like Ryan himself and Nicole’s cute friends, many of whom are prolific young photographers themselves (does anyone, like, write anymore?).
Here are some of her photos, along with a thing Ryan wrote about her that's somewhere between poetic and weird.Nicky has been by my side since the winter of 2006. She's traveled across the United States with me two summers in a row. On the road we share a bed and cuddle up. I make her take showers and wash her hair for her because she's half a punk and never takes a shower. I like to call her Nicholas.I can never understand what Nicky is saying. You can't hear her talk. Her voice is like a new language. Her own dialect. It's difficult for her to get enough breath for a sentence, which comes out in a muffled falsetto like a Charlie Brown character where you can't hear what they are saying. It's kind of like if you speed up a record but not as fast.Her taste in music rules. She loves oldies and always has amazing classic rock playlists with Donovan and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas.She’s a Californian girl. She smokes lots of weed. Pothead. She's always sneaking off to get high. She's so mellow, the coolest girl I know besides Amy Kellner.Her unique sense of style, her high waisted shorts and tucked in T-shirts. She's so cute you just want to squeeze her. She's looks like she's 12. Her glasses are such a huge part of her look. She has a rat tail that goes down to her ass.She’s honest, sweet, and sincere. She's a space cadet.You can get a copy of Girls and Boys by writing to Nicole through her web site; it's $15 for the color one, $5 for a photocopied black-and-white version.
Here are some of her photos, along with a thing Ryan wrote about her that's somewhere between poetic and weird.
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