New Nighttime Shoot

My editor at Jezebel Magazine sent me a link to a recent ad she really liked for H&M, we are now putting together a shoot with the nightlife, energetic ideas of the campaign as the inspiration.

Driving around LA the past few days, I've been looking for locations that are clean, interesting and have some sort of old world feel. The styling is going to be a little punk/edgy, so I want the environment to contrast, to feel thought-through and beautiful, not sloppy and off the cuff.

This will be my first full editorial story shot with only flash, I'm a little nervous. I don't want to just reiterate a Terry Richardson look; I want the flash to be flattering, sexy, unexpected, not reportage-looking with huge shadows looming behind the models.

The image up top is from Juergen Teller for Paradis Magazine, I recently started shooting flash during the day, it is gorgeous. I am going to try it on this shoot and see what happens!

Ears & Cheers

I was sitting in a friend's apartment two weeks ago and she mentioned an actress/comedienne to me, Charlyne Yi, and I put her name on my list of people to google.
Two days later, I got an email about shooting her for the 25 under 25 spread in Venus Zine. A totally bizarre confluence of events and last week I shot her.
Having never shot a comedienne before, I wasn't sure what to bring, as I wanted her to be herself and not feel compelled to "be funny." I bought some animals masks and mickey mouse ears and called it a day.
She showed up early, and was incredibly nice; she knew what did and did not want to do, liked some props and not some clothing options (there was a bolero top) and effortlessly did her thing in front of the white seamless.
I always like to bring props, but I want them to relate to the person I'm shooting, not just be something cute. Charlyne only used what appealed to her which made the whole image work.

I've found someone new

I was trolling the web the other day and saw Erika Larsen's site, she does very nice commercial work, but I really loved her series called The Hunt and Young Blood, the images of young people with majestic and imposing dead animals.
I'm not quite sure what it is, but the looks on the kid's faces, most strikingly the bald person in the field with the elk or moose or deer (called Deerslayer). The pride in the death of this beautiful beast, the clear inequity of power, the posed feel of it.
Her work is sad and inviting, confrontational and unsettling, all at the same time.

Muggin'

I recently shot for my favorite potter, Ayumi Horie, and here is the result. It will be featured on a postcard you can buy from her site.
I never thought one could enjoy shooting plates and cups....

Future Holdings

As the economy falters, I thought about the advertising used during times of great financial ruin and it seems to be that we should be expecting a lot of happy, fun photography and I hope desperately that this won't be the case. The Lanvin ads from Steven Meisel this season are incredible.
But they do not promote general levity.
My hope is that ads will veer away from general consumption and instead tailor thoughtful ads that appeal to a smaller demographic and therefore can be a bit more exciting. Time will tell.

Treasure

I was trolling the web for photo competitions a few days ago and found one for SHOTS Magazine. I looked through past editions and found one photographer whose work was lovely, but what was really amazing was his inspiration page, there are some incredible photographers on it. Well worth the time spent looking through the thumbnails. Gorgeous work and references; I can't wait to use them as references.

Roid Rage

The impending finality of Polaroid has been very difficult for me. I shoot almost all 600 film at this point and am trying to find a way to digitally replicate polaroid.
Thus far the best thing I have come up with is having the retoucher I work with, Jose Fuentes, tweak each image by hand. My friend Lisa showed me a website, Alien Skin, the program is called Exposure 2, about which I was initially apprehensive, but as time has worn on and as Lisa urged me to, I played with the program and it seems to be the best option. You can use the polaroid function, but them you have to go into the other tabs and really moderate the colors, pixel quality, etc.
Or you can find a discounted stash and hoard it.....

I am jealous

I just discovered the work of Katerina Jebb , thanks to Kelly Grubb, and I was blown away. She has shot several album covers, but her main technique is having people pose on the bed of a photocopier and scanning the images from that.
I love them.
It does lead me to wonder how big a photocopier she is able to find.

The Return

I got back from NYC last week and have been working like a madman to catch up.

Saturday was lovely, I shot for Rachel Pally, who I have to say was a total dream. She was a wonderful client: smart, knew what she wanted, a pleasure to work with. She does a whole line of Jersey Knit clothes and the only real challenge was finding enough different poses to have each outfit be it's own unique look.

Prior to that, I was shooting Dunlin's fall bag collection, and again, really wonderful designers and incredibly collaborative and generous, I loved working with them. We shot a ton of polaroid which I hope makes it on to the website.

Never say die

Ben sent me an article to an 80 year old photographer, who makes cameras from trash who is now having an expo in Paris and a book on his work published:

http://gizmodo.com/5039967/czech-photographers-cameras-made-from-trash-still-capture-pretty-ladies-just-fine