Do you spend obscene amounts of time in the dark room? And the rest of your time flipping through magazines full of brilliant photography? Are you waiting for your big break?

Then grab your SLR and start shooting.

Tomorrow, W’s launching a contest for young photographers based around the theme,
‘Obsession’ - I’d shoot Christopher Kane’s Lolita gingham, since I’m still swooning. Each contestant can submit one photo which will be judged by a panel of experts, including W’s Creative Director Dennis Freedman. Twenty semi-finalists will be selected and their images will be posted online and submitted to a public vote.

While the rest of Fashionista was out and about at Alexander Wang’s show and crazy raucous afterparty, (making me consistently more and more jealous from their tweets) I took a fashion week staycation and trekked over to the School of the Visual Arts Theatre to watch a discussion between Juergen Teller and Cathy Horyn. Here’s what I learned.

1. Has been shooting Marc Jacobs’ advertisments for eleven years, and did not get paid in the beginning.

2. Uses a 35mm camera and refuses to go digital.

3. Does most of his shoots by himself and with his one assistant.

4. Dakota Fanning’s whole family was on set for her Marc Jacobs’ ads, and Dakota sent him a few handwritten letters afterwards saying thanks and recommending books.

5. The legendary Victoria Beckham in a shopping bag ad campaign for MJ only happened because of a personal call Teller put in to Ms. Beckham. Beckham’s lawyers wanted to review all the photos before the ads ran, and Teller refused, so he called Victoria directly instead and the rest is fashion history.

Fashionista’s favorite party photographer, Jeremy Kost, took a break from snapping the actual partying scene for a minute to capture his boys-only exhibit entitled “After the Party”. Showing off the faces (and the abs) of some of the modeling world’s best known boys, his exhibit is a collection of 180 Polaroids that pair the man candy with a variety of props ranging from stuffed Elmos to blow-up monkeys.

If you want to check out the faces of Parker Gregory, Ryan Kennedy, and Reid Prebenda (just to name a few of Kost’s top choices) we suggest you head over to the Dactyl Foundation on 64 Grand Street, if you have some free time between 12 - 6pm, Tuesday - Saturday, from now until March 21st.

After all, even if Reid is in Models.com’s Top 50, they just don’t show him in his underwear. You definitely got ‘em there, Jeremy.

—CARSON GRIFFITH

To: Tips@Fashionista.com

From: Photo@[at]vmagazine.com

V Magazine is in search of a few great photographers to take party photos. Photographers MUST have a keen knowledge of key industry figures, impeccable taste level and most importantly, a quality digital camera (please no 5.0 megapixels, etc).

We need real photographers with an interest in the industry, tireless professionalism and a high level of availability for any events that may arise. Those selected for an interview MUST bring their camera and portfolio. There is no compensation but you will gain entry into the most exclusive industry parties and receive a V Mag by-line.

Please note, the “from” e-mail is where you should send your info to… Luck!

In an incredible collision of a post-fashion photographer and a post-Fashion Week celebrity, Hedi Slimane has taken a series of shots of Lindsay Lohan for, what looks like, just the fun of putting it up on his website.

Past subjects of Hedi’s online fashion diary include Lara Stone, a dog, and too many dirty young things to count.

So why has he suddenly turned his usually model-focused lens onto one of Perez Hilton’s most frequent subjects? (We can’t even get into the question of Lindsay’s appearance.) Could this be the beginning of an opposing exhibit to his celebrated Perfect Strangers tour?

Chadwick Tyler, the New York-based photographer who’s shot for NYLON, Tank, V and so many others, has landed his first photography exhibit.

Tiberius, which runs at the Honey Space Gallery from February 10th to March 12th, features Tyler’s work with 52 models, all in black and white portraits, and all sure to be hauntingly beautiful (read: Some will love it; Some will think it’s too creepy to appear outside of a Korean horror film.)

The models, all females with the exception of Tyler Riggs, range from the super known to the totally unknown, including Iekeliene, Maggie Rizer, Imogen Morris Clarke and Karlie Kloss (full model list, and a couple images, after the jump.)

Since the exhibit features so many runways girls and opens two nights before the first Fall 09 shows, we’re considering the opening night like the movie trailer for Fashion Week, so make it out if you’re in town!

In case you’re in Berlin tonight, and in case you’re curious about Iekeliene Stange’s photography-related pursuits, you’re in luck, because her first Polaroid-only exhibition, “I Like Ponies,” gets feted with an opening night party by projektGALERIE at 7pm local time.

Entrance is free (even for the party), and the pictures stay up through January 31st (more details here).

On a side note, projektGALERIE’s blog includes some interesting information: That Iekeliene is so serious about her work, she’s considering moving to Berlin full-time in order to concentrate on her art.

So does that mean less face time with the Dutch model for the fashion world? …

Fashionista’s very own photographer, Jeremy Kost, is looking for an intern.

He’s specified he needs someone “sharp, tactful, hard-working and self-motivated” because you’ll be working on and uploading images to his site, occasionally assisting on shoots, and some events.

It’s unpaid, but you could get school credit, but only if you know what you’re doing in Photoshop, own your own laptop (which you’re comfortable bringing to the office), have flexible hours, know the difference between Jessica Stam and Jessica Joffe, can organize anything, are cool with Fashion Week madness, etc. In short, you must be awesome.

If you think you’re it, send your info to Jeremy at Info[at]RoidRage.com. Luck!

Fun fact:

Carine Roitfeld’s boy spawn, Vladimir, is showing an exhibit of his work during New York Fashion Week next month.

No word on exactly where or when the ex-model’s presenting his work yet, but the budding photographer is showing during Fashion Week, so maybe we can expect tons of photos of his ex, Lily D?

Guess we’ll see.

Update: Actually, we got it wrong. It looks like Vladimir is just curating the photography exhibit (as in, they’re not actually his photos) in conjunction with Louis Vuitton (not LVMH) on Feb 17th to show the work of three photographers: Salim Langatta, PC Valmorbida and David Mushegain. A portion of the proceeds from the limited edition prints will go to benefit AMFAR.

Not everybody knows that Helena Christensen is actually a pretty good photographer in addition to being a very pretty model. Her work’s appeared in Marie Claire and ELLE, and she’s had several exhibitions here and abroad.

But if you haven’t had the pleasure of taking her handiwork in, we suggest stopping by the Dactyl Foundation Gallery at 64 Grand Street anytime between December 15th and January 10th.

That’s where Helena’s next exhibit takes place, a series of photos she’s titled “Far from, close”. For every work sold, Dactyl will give a child at The Point a camera of his/her very own, and all proceeds will benefit The Point and CPI Chernobyl organization.

But the opening night party will be thrown by People’s Revolution - so don’t come unless you’re ready for potential cameras!

Just like with the Cory Kennedy/Paris Hilton tee from earlier this year, Cobrasnake and Ksubi are teaming up once again, this time for an exhibition of Mark Hunter’s “social photography” (press release’s words, not ours), in Ksubi’s Australian stores.

The exhibit includes 200 signed photos lovingly curated from Mark’s hard drive, all of “young girls” (press release’s words, not ours) once featured on Cobrasnake, shot in London, Paris, New York, Tokyo, LA and Sydney.

If you want to catch the exhibit, titled “Too Young” (press release’s words, not Girls Gone Wild’s), stop by the Bondi Beach Ksubi store in Sydney at 6pm, or at the Armadale store in Melbourne on the 28th (full details after the jump).

Mark himself will be on hand, signing limited-edition tees and prints available for purchase, which, unbelievably, people will actually buy (ok, our words).

Ok, clearly we don’t actually think that. Anyway…

One for all you photo freaks out there:

Does the shot of Marion Cotillard on the Eiffel Tower shot by Peter Lindbergh (thanks, WWD) remind anyone else of the divine Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn on the Eiffel Tower shot by Erwin Blumenfeld in 1939?

Even though Lisa makes it look like a ferris wheel and Marion like a death trap, we think so.

Class discussion, please.

PS Just for fun, I’ve added two photos of another model standing precariously on another building that one of my old professors just passed along to me. Bonus points if you can name both the model and photographer.

Fact: Reed Krakoff, the President and Executive Creative Director of Coach, is also a photographer.

Fact: Reed and Simon Doonan, the God of Barneys, are friends.

But did you know Reed just finished a book of portraits on professional fighters, Ultimate Fighting Championship?

Yes, fact.

We assume some fighters will be showing up to the launch party in at least Trovata, since it’s being thrown by Simon and Radar at Barneys in a couple weeks.

And yes, this is probably the last time we’ll mention wrestling, ever again.

The Hearst Corporation is looking for the next standout (and as of yet undiscovered), bust out photographer, and their doing it in competition style.

They’ve just announced the beginning of their Hearst 8 x 10 Photography Biennial Competition, for which photographers with at least 2 years of professional experience can apply for the chance to be one of eight lucky winners whose work ends up showcased in the Hearst Tower lobby - and smack in front of the eyes of judges like David Granger, Donna Karan, Peter Lindbergh, and a few other people capable of making a young photographer’s career a living possibility.

You can apply between now and January on the competition’s site.

And good luck - we could use more than oases backdrops and hopping models in our magazines.

Chanel Iman likes being a model so much that she took some pictures of herself and made a little story she calls “Murder She Wrote”.

When we first heard that Polaroid was discontinuing its instant film (a fashion crowd favorite), our first thought was, “What’s going to happen to Jeremy Kost?”

Well, in addition to his work achieving a whole new level of antiquity in a few years, we at least know he’s going to have a career in making fun videos.

Tomorrow night is the premier of his first video installation work in NYC, “Not Yet Titled (Making Faces)”, (a take on Bruce Nauman’s own video work), to be shown in the lobby of the Tribeca Grand through Sunday night, when the private bash hosted by Terence Koh and Shamin Momin (the Whitney curator), takes place.

We highly suggest making the pit stop way downtown if you want to see 20-foot tall videos of boys in their underwear making faces at each other from across the lobby.

See you there!

(Click through to see a few more stills…)

Does anybody have an extra $40,000 dollars laying around?

Because we’re going to need it to get a piece of Kate at next month’s Christie’s auction.

On April 10th in the middle of the afternoon, 135 prints from the private collection of German photographer Gert Elfering will go up for auction at Rockefeller Center.

Nude prints of Kate and Gisele shot by Irving Penn are among the most sought after, as are Avedon portraits of Brigitte Bardot, a semi-topless Lauren Hutton, and even The Beatles, along with prints shot by Man Ray, Mapplethorpe, Helmut Newton, Diane Arbus and Horst P. Horst.

We’re kind of wondering where some of these pieces will be hung once the lucky betters take them home. Would it be in bad taste to have a naked Kate in the entry way? How about nude Gisele in the kitchen?

A lot of models like to make claims like, “Modeling is just how I make my money so I can pursue my real passion - photography” (paging Janice Dickinson,) but it turns out that at least one current model may actually mean what she says.

Iekeliene Stange doesn’t just take photos to work out her wrists, they actually end up in magazines like Muse, Japanese Harper’s Bazaar and The Room for all (ok, some of) the world to see.

She’s currently taking black-and-white photos of the backstage madness during Paris Fashion Week, all of which will be, according to her, “from my perspective.”

According to WWD, she plans to show an exhibition of her work, which covers several seasons of fashion, at a London gallery.

This is actually a little bit funny - Iekeliene did everything possible with her body language to ward off photographers snapping pictures of her getting ready backstage during New York Fashion Week. When they were either too nice or too important to ignore, she would contort her body in a weird pose giving a face like, “Happy now?”

But maybe it’s different when you’re a model yourself?

Those wishing to see The Sartorialist’s photographs in person should call The Danziger Gallery in New York.

Next month, they’ll host the first exhibit of Scott Schuman’s photographs, with prints selling for $1200 each.

Whether the images will be more illuminating than the blog is a matter of personal preference, but it’s worth noting The Costume Institute’s winter exhibit is also about the interactions between websites and style - their new program, Blog.Mode allows visitors to write their reactions to various Costume Institute outfits on a special Met blog.

Maybe it’s too much to ask, but we hope The Sartorialist will bring his camera to both art openings, documenting what people think they should wear when their own opinions and manifestations of style are on the line.

Also: we’re dying to go to the Sartorialist’s big art opening, because we know everyone will really dress up.