Ditty Bags! A quintessential part of every photographer’s stock, a ditty bag  holds our essential necessities for a shoot. I don’t know what you guys call it but I got used to the term years ago and always lovingly refer to mine as a ditty bag, even though I get the strange looks from my ’20 something assistants. When researching the reason for the name I found this great little article about ditty bag:  The Ditty Bag is “a small bag in which a sailor keeps small tools and equipment, also personal articles” according to John Rogers in Origins of Sea Terms: A modern Glossary of seagoing terminology. They did and still do have one main purpose: to hold a sailor’s personal possessions and some tools of the trade. They have even been referred to as a “housewife” because they held all the essentials for repairing clothing, personal belongings as well as everything that was needed on deck!

Read More »

(4.26 stars, 19 ratings)

 Loading ...

51 Comments

The second half of day two of my seminars addresses the business side of fashion photography. I jump in by reminding my students that one of the biggest mistakes photographers make is forgetting that fashion photography is a business, like any other business, and the purpose of being in business is to obviously make money. That’s kind of a no-brainer, right? We are all aware that we need to generate revenue in order to survive. However, after reminding my students of the importance of remembering that this is a business, I then ask them WHY they are interested in pursuing fashion photography. I mean, why aren’t they interested in say, food photography or portraiture, weddings or cars? Aside from teaching at my seminars, I also answer a huge amount of emails. And again, I ask the people emailing me with questions about how they can make it as a fashion photographer, why are they interested in fashion photography as oppose to other avenues of photography. What baffles me is not very many people can answer that question. What IS fashion photography? I mean, the answer is right there: FASHION photography is about the fashion. It’s the business of photographing the fashion for either editorial or advertising purposes. It’s about selling the clothes! The CLOTHES!!!!

Read More »

(4.48 stars, 33 ratings)

 Loading ...

47 Comments

Honest Critiques

Writer’s Block! It’s not that I don’t have anything to say, it’s just that sometimes I don’t know exactly how to say it. I wish I had it in me to break off some fabulous technical tips and insight on how to light for black clothing (use side light) or an insider secret on a great beauty shot (use a model with great skin to begin with) but I think I want to write about something else. I know that I haven’t been writing a lot lately.  The truth is: I AM BUSY!!! I’ve had a smashing great start for the new year! I’m meeting today with a client for a huge gig that will be a monthly contractual job for 12 months. Love those kinds of jobs!! Getting ready for Dubai in March and I’m so excited!! Just booked my plane ticket yesterday and have already done a couple of interviews for some of Dubai’s newspapers and magazines.  Shooting for my book! Shooting for CHURCH, which has now become a regular client needing me to supply monthly images for their upcoming website. Prepping a shoot for MIRRIN Magazine, based out of the UK that I will shooting next Tuesday. So, yeah……pretty busy!

Read More »

(4.36 stars, 36 ratings)

 Loading ...

72 Comments

Are You Using Protection?

Read More »

(5.00 stars, 2 ratings)

 Loading ...

6 Comments

Submit Your Best Shot and Win a Pair of Etre Gloves!

I just got back from Dubai. I was there for two weeks, teaching some workshops the first week and then shooting 3 editorials back to back before jumping back on a plane for the 16 1/2 hour flight back home to LA. My trip to Dubai was kind of surreal. There’s lots to share about it and I definitely will very soon. Aside from the 3 editorials I shot in Dubai, two being for Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, I shot a third editorial for a magazine back here in the States in the Spice Souk plus I shot for MIRRIN and Genlux Magazine two weeks prior to going. So I have 5 editorials I shot in the last month to share with you very soon! And I seriously can’t wait to share the stories and the photos from all five shoots! Each shoot was memorable in its own unique way. And for some very good news: I shot BTS videos on all five shoots! Even the three shoots in Dubai, with one of them being shot by a pro filmmaker who lives and works in Dubai, Harvey Glen from Alchemy Films. And on that particular shoot, some of his colleagues including Andrew Clemson (provided images below) from Alchemy Films Dubai came down to my set with a RED camera and I shot with the RED, which was an amazing experience (after seeing the still images pulled from the shoot, I’m sold!). And we have it all captured to show you! As much as I hate being in front of the camera (you know I never get use to it) I wanted to share the shoots with all of you. You see, I really DO think about you guys! Oh and the locations I got to shoot at for Harper’s Bazaar in Dubai were just incredible! Well, all three locations were incredible! Out of the 5 new editorials I shot, only 1 was shot in the studio. So you’ll get to see me shooting on location again! (Less swearing and drama this time around….YAY!!) ((Haha…this made me laugh out loud))

Read More »

(4.77 stars, 13 ratings)

 Loading ...

26 Comments