January 26th, 2012
This past July I spent 9 days in India roaming around two of the finest hotels in the world for Travel + Leisure. I’ve done travel stories before but this one was unique because I didn’t leave the hotel for the entire trip. The best way to describe it would be Lost In Translation meets The Shinning. (Not the redrum parts, just the being isolated in a large hotel parts)
My brief for the job was to “do what you do” which is always the best brief one can receive. First thoughts after receiving the assignment were, how the hell am I going to shoot one hotel for four days? Well, I sure was wrong. As the sun was setting on day four I was franticly running through the halls of the hotel trying to get to the ideal vantage point to capture that perfect closing shot.
Even though the rooms, views, food and pools were amazing, my best memories from the trip were the times hanging with the young porters (aka my assistants) bs ing about motorcycles, music and cricket. Being in a hotel for 9 days solo can get kind of lonely, so it was nice to run around these massive properties with my new friends who were as excited as I was about finding that good light.
This assignment was one of the best of my career, but the real icing on the cake was getting the January cover. Thanks again for giving me a shot Whitney.
Here are a couple outtakes and a tear.
Read More »
January 5th, 2012
A couple of months ago a rare thing happened, the opportunity to photograph some of the world’s most talented chefs literally landed on my doorstep.
Food is one of my top five passions/obsessions and I must say I was just a little excited when I found out this years Le Grand Fooding event “Equisite Corpse” was going to be held in my studio’s common area.
Minutes after the chefs finished preparing their four course tasting menu, I ushered them into my studio and photographed them still sweating from the tiny makeshift kitchen they’d been cooking in for hours. The dinner ran consecutively from Friday night at 9pm until midnight Sunday and I spent most of the weekend camped out in my studio shooting around the clock.
Next time you are in Paris pickup a copy of the latest Le Fooding, or take a look at the images here:
You can also check out this video to get a better idea of the event and some behind the scenes action from the chefs here:
November 2nd, 2011
This August I spent four days at the Indianapolis GP with my father. The Moto GP series is the most prestigious platform for motorcycle racing in the world. The riders, teams and officials travel to 14 countries and compete in 18 races.They arrive on a Wednesday, unload and build the paddock Thursday, practice Friday, qualify Saturday, race Sunday and break everything down that night and do it all over again next week.
My father raced Moto GP in the 70’s and I spent a lot of my childhood in racing paddocks. This was my first GP in 5 years and it was planned as a father and son weekend not a photo project, but after arriving in the paddock and being consumed by the energy of the bikes, media and fanatics I knew I had to shoot it.
Having no media pass I snooped around as much as possible and focused mainly on the action that took place before and after the race. The fans and media are relentless (you must remember, in Europe these riders are up there with Footballers and Rock Stars) so I decided to take a step back and capture the frenzy. In the afternoon when the fans left and things mellowed out, I photographed the mechanics and racers.
These are some photos I shot while I was in Indianapolis having a great four days with my pops. Enjoy.
http://dustinaksland.com/the-indy-grand-prix/
August 18th, 2011
In addition to shooting stills for the September issue, I also shot and directed my first video for Dwell.
August 18th, 2011
I recently spent the day photographing NYC architect Jeff Sherman and his beautiful Brooklyn brownstone home for the September issue of Dwell. It was inspiring to see what hard work, patience and a lot of creativity could produce on a limited budget. Check out Jeff’s great story here:
Read More »
July 21st, 2011
Last month I headed back to SF to shoot Saul Griffith for Details’ feature story “The Makers”. It’s always great when you are invited into a designer/inventors workshop and allowed free reign to snoop around and shoot whatever you like, while chatting about the important issues of the day, like renewable energy and creating electric bicycles that have enough power to pop wheelies. Here are some outtakes from the shoot. You can view the story here:
Read More »
July 12th, 2011
If you’re in the neighborhood…….My latest series Sounds of the Soil will be showing at Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago. The opening is Friday July 15 and will run until Sept. 3 The show is part of their new Ctrl+P series that brings work found online to gallery walls: Read More »
July 8th, 2011
A couple of months ago I headed down to the Leifsdottir HQ in Philadelphia, PA to photograph founder/head designer Johanna Uurasjarvi for Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People In Business 2011 issue. You can view the article here:
June 8th, 2011
Shot Hub SoMa, Intersection for the Arts and TechShop in San Francisco for Fast Company magazine. You can read the story here: and see outtakes from the shoot here: Read More »
March 22nd, 2011
I recently updated the site with a new collection of images I shot while traveling through the Rajasthan region of India last Jan-Feb. I spent 5 weeks traveling all over India; New Delhi, Agra, Varanasi and Goa, but after going through stacks of contact sheets, the images I shot in Rajasthan spoke to me the most. “Sounds of the Soil” is my photographic journey through the beautiful and enigmatic Rajasthan region of India. It’s a region filled with harsh climate and terrain, contrasted with the warm, fun loving spirit of it’s inhabitants. On my journey I met so many interesting individuals, the subjects I was most intrigued by were the ones working this unforgiving land, and the entertainers roaming the dessert with their songs of love, separation, heroism and revelry. Here are some snap shots from the trip:
Read More »
