Where our guy, Mike Schinnerer magnifies Upstate NY’s fashion and beauty scene. Each month his trained eye will focus on some of the industry’s highlights and deliver them to you.

Hey y’all. It’s good to bring the loupe back. When I began editing photography back in 1995 for Sports Illustrated, there was no digital images. We used a loupe (magnifying device) to sort through hundreds, maybe thousands of slides and film. For 2 years in 2014-15, I had a local to “Upstate” website named In the Loupe. On the site, I broke down the hundreds of photography submissions, showcased the winners, casted original shoots and kept everybody in the loop on future collaborations and events. That was for all photography categories: wedding, newborn, fashion, beauty, portrait, landscape and even composites.

In 2021, I revisit many of the same concepts with this column, but concentrate on fashion and beauty under my Stitched brand. So let’s dive right into the eye-catching stuff that these five professional photographers produced over the past couple months.

1. Lamont Aulet

Lamont is a very talented up and coming photographer. You will also see his work on our current Rock-n-Roll Valentines feature. I also like Lamont because he’s a graphic design guy like myself. Lamont would have to admit that he has to give the assist to Marcela Tobar of MT Makeup on this one. She is a true beast with makeup and to foreshadow a bit, will be our 1st Pro of the Month for our March publication. Also, a shout out to model Megan such a fresh look in this series.

2. Tina Pelech

Tina and I go way back over 15 years. It also feels like I haven’t seen her for 15 years, besides on her all-star selfies. She shoots the best self portraits in the Upstate region, maybe the world. All you cellfie home models take a look and take notes. Tina is easily one of the best fashion photographers I have met and worked with. She has been experimenting with mash-ups and digital art effects for a couple years to add a lil’ something, as with this collage vibe with model Lana.

3. Julia Rabkin

Julia is a tremendous talent, who resides out in Rochester, which is as far west as I’ve worked fashion collaborations and covered for ITL. I met Julia at CNYFW (Central NY Fashion Week), which is a better commute, but I’d be willing to drive the 4 hours to collaborate with her. She makes great choices and this image of Faith is simply beautiful.

4. Dan Doyle

When it comes to being consistent with the look and natural light mastery, the award goes out to Dan. He is the head shot/portrait king, as evident in these photographs of two of our regular models, Karlie and Emma. Dan did two features with Stitched last year and you can find them on our Features page with many other archives.

5. Lisa Wood

Lisa may be a new comer in the photography realm, but she is a long-time pro with makeup and body painting. She used both art mediums to capture this energetic masterpiece of Aniah. Lisa is hustling out there and her photography skills are growing quickly. Be on alert!

I’m assuming I’ll be seeing lots more from these artists in my loupe in 2021, because we are just getting going again. That goes for you photographers reading this February entry as well, let’s get inspired and get busy producing epic work. Until next time…

*Submissions are once again welcome! But I will be keeping my eye on the scene and screen grabbing away when I see something inspiring. Then hopefully you will find it on ITL on the 1st of every month. Work submissions must be within the last two months, because we don’t want to see old or resurfaced stuff no matter how good it is. Submit in the ABOUT US / CONTACT US section. If you are a designer, stylist, makeup artist or hair stylist and your work appears here minus a credit, chances are I didn’t have your information at the time of publishing. Please feel free to tag yourself in our social media posts and introduce yourself for future collaborations.