Blog-St. John

For Immediate Release: For More Information:

February 1 2013 Contact Julie White,

HipBrand Group

205-222-2375

Birmingham Photographer Chuck St. John Selected For Inclusion In

The Berg Fashion Library – The Authority on World Dress

(Birmingham, Ala.)—Local photographer Chuck St. John is no stranger to national exposure as his glamorous images have graced the covers of fashion magazines around the world. With studios in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and Birmingham, Ala., and clients across the globe, St. John’s latest accomplishment is in his words “a very big deal.” An image he originally shot for last year’s February issue of B-Metro Magazine has been selected to be in the permanent collection of the Berg Fashion Library, the first online portal to offer comprehensive coverage of dress and fashion around the world by providing access to interdisciplinary and integrated image, book and journal content.

The editorial staff of B-Metro wasn’t familiar with the fashion style “Steampunk” when St. John approached them in the summer of 2010 about doing a feature of alternative fashion but they soon bought into the idea and the shoot was planned for October of that year. “When I turned the assignment in, they loved what I shot,” said St. John.

What was planned for an interior editorial spread landed on the cover of B-Metro and when it hit the streets, the Birmingham fashionistas took notice. The issue that ran the Steampunk cover and feature article received a lot of attention,” said St. John. “A behind the scenes video of the Steampunk shoot has over 4,000 hits on YouTube and the issue that ran the Steampunk cover and feature article won a Gold Addy Award in 2012.”

After the Addy win, B-Metro received lots of email from other city magazines around the country praising the boldness of the step, according to St. John. “There are so many talented fashion people here,” he said. “It was quite a hit.”

The exposure St. John received for his bold and creative style has now garnered the attention of the authority on world dress, the Berg Fashion Library. “Apparently the curators had wanted to include the Steampunk genre for some time,” he said. “But they wanted something shot as a collection, which we did.”

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Birmingham Photographer Chuck St. John / page 2

The Berg Fashion Library is a unique online portal at www.bergfashionlibrary.com which offers fully cross-searchable access to an expanding range of Berg content collections—including the Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion which is the first single reference work to explore all aspects of dress and fashion globally, from pre-history to the present day. Its mission is the same as that of most major museums: to enhance discoverability of collection content throughout the world. Subscriptions are available for universities, schools, public libraries and organization as well as for individuals. It is promoted as a treasury of fascinating insights into people and cultures all over the world allowing searching and browsing by place, period, themes, textiles and much more.

According to St. John, he became fascinated with Steampunk after growing up watching television shows like Captain Midnight, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers in the 21^st Century, Captain Video and Commando Cody and Captain Nemo on Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. “I was totally intrigued by all the cool costumes and the gears and ‘clanky’ stuff,” he said.

Steampunk originated during the 1980s and early 1990s, and incorporates elements of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, horror and speculative fiction. It involves a setting where steam power is widely used—whether in an alternative history such as Victorian era Britain or Wild West-era United States or in a post-apocalyptic time—that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Steampunk also refers to art, fashion, and design that are informed by the aesthetics of steampunk literature. It could be described by the slogan "What the past would look like if the future had happened sooner.”

St. John started shooting fashion in 1981 while living in the Miami area. “That was in an era where every department store had major shoots going on all over South Florida,” he said. “I often tell people that the importance of photography in fashion is what allows far flung audiences to be introduced to the vagarities of the fashion world.

“Without it, I doubt that Steampunk and other genres that are more esoteric would see the light of day beyond their initially small fan groups.”

The February 2011 Steampunk feature in B-Metro Magazine can be viewed at: http://b-metro.com/steampunk/808/. To view the behind the scenes video showing the process of photographing a feature on Steampunk fashions, visit http://youtu.be/lhRSHi1Z-fM.

Chuck St. John’s Photography clients have included Bacardi, RJ Reynolds, Revlon, Sports Authority, Breeders Cup, Henig Furs, Cadence Bank, Miami Dolphins, Aliant Bank, B-Metro Magazine and Adamson Ford. For more information or to request high resolution Steampunk images, call Chuck St. John at 205-266-0918 or visit www.stjohn.net.

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