Editor’s Pick: Mike Mellia Harnesses Both Sides of His Brain

Photo © Mike Mellia

Recalling his father’s life in New York City, Mike Mellia playfully mixes photojournalism with conceptual photography in his photo series “Another Day in Paradise.”

“I like to make things strange,” says the fine-art shooter, who’s no stranger himself to opposing yet complementary realms—his father was a music teacher and his mother, a math teacher. In this photo of fashion model Nicholas Ronyai, Mellia’s mathematical side sees a predominant x-axis, with Ronyai sitting comfortably on the ground in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, reading a book “as if he’s in his living room,” Mellia says, and a looming y-axis of the sprawling urban buildings and passersby who seem oblivious to the sitter. The photographer’s artistic side draws a contradictory mood, between a gigantic, bustling metropolis and a quiet, intimate moment.

Mellia, who shoots with a Mamiya RZ67 Pro II, styled Ronyai in dark pants and a white top; by total coincidence, the three approaching women don similar outfits, “like they’re all drones,” Mellia says. His approach is photojournalistic, but his conceptual side may be driven by fate.

Related Links:

Photo Finish: Packing a Punch with Floyd “Money” Mayweather

Editor’s Pick: Eric Schwabel’s Burning Man Portraits

Editor’s Pick: Matt Henry’s Unexplained Dark Side