So I’ve been really busy lately. For one, we’ve been planning the seminar that’s taking place this up-coming weekend, November 7th and 8th. We’re almost sold out, which is exciting and I want to thank all of you who have purchased tickets and are planning on attending! It’s going to be really fun, the models are GREAT and the studio we’re using is just A+ professional, as are the people who run Smashbox. Secondly, I have been spending ALOT of time SHOOTING SHOOTING and SHOOTING some more! Here are some new pictures along with a Lighting Diagram on a test I did with just 1 Big Beautiful Light!

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(4.68 stars, 34 ratings)

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When the Handbag is the Star!

I received a call about a job from Jennifer Disotell from Public Persona, a high-end advertising, PR and marketing agency which exclusively handles only fashion design clients. Jennifer and I go back a few years;  we’ve worked together on everything from designing her website to working together on look books and line sheets. I like Jennifer’s integrity and honesty. She shoots straight from the hip! She runs her agency with two other women, her sister Nicole Disotell and their creative director, Melissa Castro. Together they are like the Charlie’s Angels of fashion advertising and promotion. Seriously, these girls are hot, talented, intelligent and on top of their game! Okay, so the assignment was to update the MeChar Handbags website and take photographs for ads to be placed in Elle Accessories and WWD. If you don’t know what WWD is by now, stop reading this post, click on that link and go educate thyself. It is the absolute authority of ALL things fashion industry! As well as web presence and editorial advertising, some of the shots were also going to be made into posters for trade shows and showrooms. The first step after her initial phone call was to set up a 3 way call with the client, Charmaine Ho, owner and designer of MeChar. We needed to all get on the same page as far as what Charmaine wanted to see in the final images. Charmaine had a great idea: a story about a girl getting made up and dressed to go out and meet a hot chick and bring her back to her hotel for some fun! Yeah! Pretty far out idea and I was all over it like an old suit! Right up my alley, as they say! When we got off the conference call, I got to work and put together a “mood board”. It’s like a story board. It’s a series of images that depict the kind of look and feel I think the shoot should have. From styling to lighting to location to type of model, it’s the theme and the look that I think the client would like to see. It’s like a visual articulation of what we talked about. Does that make sense?

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(4.93 stars, 15 ratings)

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Moulin Rouge!

I’ve been wanting to post about this shoot since January and I’m just now able to, finally! I did this shoot for a magazine back in January and I believe the magazine has since closed it’s doors. Hey, it happens sometimes. The economy is rough right now, and magazines are taking a huge hit! So no worries, I thought, at least I will have a beautiful shoot for my book and I’ll keep submitting it to other magazines! That’s when Brandon Oelling stepped in and my shoot landed 3 covers for the Chicago based The Printedblog Magazine! Brandon Oelling owns and operates the kick ass company X-equals. X=’s full service digital studio and consultancy continues to set the mark for innovative photography, post-production, and technical services for the fashion, music, and lifestyle brands industries. I blogged about them when they ran an interview with me a few months ago. You can check out that interview again here! I strongly urge my readers to check out X=’s site and blog. They offer up to date digital solutions to photographers’ working in all mediums and industries. Whether you’re needing help with your digital workflow or backing up your database, they offer immediate solutions without killing your bank account. And in today’s iffy economy, that’s a huge plus. Brandon’s blog, http://x-equals.com/blog/ is also great! He breaks down lightroom so easily, giving us no-nonsense help on understanding it. I know I’ve learned a lot of great tips from just reading his blog. PLUS, his blog is chock full of interesting interviews! We are big fans of Brandon Oelling over here and his X= is SO important to photographers in this digital age! I’ve admitted before that post-production is something I’ve never really embraced as far as learning every single thing I have needed to know to keep my workflow running smoothly. People like Brandon are the perfect solution to photographers like myself who would rather  go to a professional for their digital workflow and processing. Hey, I used to go to the lab! Now I just go to a virtual lab!

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(4.62 stars, 13 ratings)

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A Behind The Scenes Look on a Recent
Spring Fashion Shoot

The assignment was to shoot an editorial for Genlux Magazine for their Spring Fashion Issue and the theme was Travel. I love black and white and since I was to shoot “pieces” for this issue, I thought black and white would tell the story well. “Pieces” are just that! The skirt or the jacket or the shirt as oppose to dramatic, lavish evening gowns. Stephen loved the idea and so we went ahead and prepped the shoot. We decided that we were going to shoot this story in a studio where I could control my lighting. We used Jelly from Ford Models who I have to say is just the best model! I love the way she moves and her attitude, plus she’s just a knockout! I used my Nikon D2Xs camera with my 85mm lens on all the shots. I used two lights only. Profoto 2400 pack with one light with a beauty dish with a grid and the other light had a medium Chimera soft box on it. The light with the soft box was place to the left of the model and the beauty dish was raised high and the head was lowered to hit Jelly’s face with the perfect amount of light. I used the grid to be able to direct the light right where I wanted it.

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(5.00 stars, 11 ratings)

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An inside look at the day before a shoot

Photo courtesy of Eric Lennstrom Photography

So I am shooting for the next two days. Tomorrow I am shooting for Genlux Magazine again. I’m shooting for the Spring Fashion Issue. The next day I am shooting a beauty story for Zink Magazine. I’ve had these two shoots slated to shoot for the last 3 weeks. We’ve had plenty of time to prepare for them. I’ll only write about my first shoot for Genlux because to write about both of them would turn out to be a really long and really redundant post. So with Genlux, I was given the theme. Travel! That’s the theme of the issue for Spring and that was the only guideline. Since I am totally bored with lifestyle photography and travel lends so easily to that theme, I racked my brain for a couple of days and then it hit me: I wanted to go off in a totally different direction and do a story on Astral Travel! Right up my alley! I’m so tired of the whole trains, planes and automobiles thing. If I see one more chick on a yacht I might faint from boredom. But Astral Travel. Now that’s something I can sink my teeth into. Stephen, the creative director, OK’d my idea. Which is astonishing!

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(4.41 stars, 17 ratings)

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