Archive for the ‘Behind-the-Scenes’ Category

This summer, I photographed good friend Khloé Kardashian in super-sexy black latex for a personal project of hers. The shoot was featured in Season 8’s “Life’s a Beach (House)” episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. The risqué shoot quickly went viral, and we’ve been overwhelmed with requests from both photographers and Kardashian fans to get a closer look at Khloe’s shoot.

Here are a few of the final shots, some behind-the-scenes images, and a detailed lighting diagram of the setup. Photographers should note the amount of negative fill (4×8 solids) used in the setup—as black latex reflects everything. My thanks to the stunning Khloé for trusting us with such a wild concept, and to the amazing stunt team that rigged the hanging swing and taught our star how to fly!

CREDITS:
Photography by NICK SAGLIMBENI
Hair & Makeup by ROB SCHEPPY

Summer may be over, but there’s plenty of heat for Firefighter Kaitlynn to contend with. Our newest hero joins the SlickforceGirl ranks this October, constantly putting herself in harms way to save others.

Here, Kaitlynn risks her life to save a pair of dalmatian pups in this Saglimbeni Store Exclusive Collector’s 13×18 Poster. A portion of proceeds from poster sales are donated to the Breast Cancer Charities of America’s iGoPink campaign. Order your Limited Edition posters here.

My thanks to the incredible team that helped make this high-concept shoot a reality, especially model Kaitlynn Carter, the SlickforceStudio crew and our brilliant glam squad. We’ve got a wonderful making-of video for you on the way next week. Stay tuned for more details.

The SlickforceGirls need your help. Find out how you can join the fight at SlickforceGirl.com!

CREDITS: 
Model: Kaitlynn Carter
Photography by Nick Saglimbeni
Make-up by Therese Williams
Hair by Al Ingram
Styling by Diana Chan
Post-production by SlickforceStudio
Production Stills by Joyce Park

After weeks of anticipation and a record number of pre-orders, Melanie Iglesias’ Ice Cream Disaster 24″x36″ Collector’s Wall Posters have finally started shipping. Order yours now at the Melanie Iglesias Store or right here at the Saglimbeni Store.

For those who want a closer look (and really who doesn’t), here is a behind-the-scenes gallery and a video from Melanie’s shoot at SlickforceStudio.

CREDITS:
Photography by Nick Saglimbeni
Makeup by Therese Williams
Hair by Al Ingram
Styling by Tara Williams
Production Stills by Joyce Park for SlickforceStudio

In late August, we packed up our bags and headed to Germany for our fourth PhotoKamp workshop. Being our first PhotoKamp outside the US, this weekend workshop drew participants and crew from 9 countries—some traveling from as far as Nigeria.

On day one, we met at Luminanz studio in Saarbrücken, near the French/German border for a meet and greet with the photographers, followed by an informal Q&A. As a sign of the changing times in our industry, a majority of the questions this year focused on brand building, marketing one’s art, and making a living as a photographer at a time of unprecedented competition. We then all headed for a real German meal in downtown Saarbrücken.

On Saturday morning, we met at Luminanz studio for a full day of studio lighting. I divided the room into two setups. The first was a commercial fashion lighting setup, similar to what I’ve done for Kardashian Kollection and Neiman Marcus. The second, by popular request, was my “pinup glamour” setup, which I all but retired in 2010 when I stepped down from my last long-term magazine contract. I also covered several “one light” setups that produce striking (and super affordable) results.

On Sunday, in classic PhotoKamp tradition, we ventured out for a day of location lighting. Our German coordinators arranged for us to shoot at a vacant coal mining facility, complete with all kinds of industrial madness. We again split into two setups. The first involved lighting a massive space with minimal lighting, using a combination of natural light, strobes and fog. The second focused on mixing strobes with outdoor elements, positioning your model relative to the sun, and—an unplanned lesson—shooting in the rain.

I continue to marvel at the good fortune we’ve had to attract such amazing talents and personalities to our PhotoKamp workshops. Being that even I was out of my Los Angeles-centric comfort zone, it was a wonderful opportunity to eat, talk and bond with both new friends and old. My sincerest thanks to our German coordinators Stefan Rasch, Carsten Simon of Luminanz studio, our four wonderful models and makeup artist Miriam Regitz. Also to my amazing international SlickforceStudio crew Scot Fortino (US), Hayden Phoenix (NZ) and Peter Major (Hungary).

We’ve just created an official PhotoKamp Facebook page to learn more about PhotoKamp and for past students to stay in touch. New dates for upcoming workshops will be announced in the next few weeks on our Facebook page and at PhotoKamp.com!

CREDITS: Photos by Hayden Phoenix and Carsten Simon.

It’s probably the alternator.

In Issue 3 of WMB 3D: World’s Most Beautiful, I brought two of my favorite rising starlets out to Ultimate Graveyard for an apocalyptic shoot-to-remember. Kendall and Kylie Jenner’s fashion feature was styled by the insanely talented Monica Rose, who found the perfect pieces to complement the decaying location.

Here is a backstage look at the making of this shoot, with wonderful production images by photographer Joyce Park. WMB 3D #3 is available now for iPhone, iPad, and on Google Play. And check out the video below for a closer look at the shoot!

CREDITS
Photography by NICK SAGLIMBENI
Styling by MONICA ROSE
Makeup by GABY RAMOS TORELL
Hair by JAKOB SHERWOOD

Production Stills by JOYCE PARK for SlickforceStudio

Alright, I’m just going to come right out and say it: I love my job. When I was kid, I could only have dreamed that one day I’d find myself in a career where I am constantly surrounded by the world’s most beautiful women. With all that said, it’s not everyday that you get to photograph an actual supermodel.

Like most, I had first “known” Estella Warren from seeing her in countless Chanel campaigns, and in Hollywood blockbusters like Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes. My first shoot with Estella was in 2011—when I photographed her for Breast Cancer Charities of America’s iGoPink campaign (read post here)—and we became instant friends. Her stories make me laugh, and on camera she conjures the most striking expressions with seemingly minimal effort—truly a photographer’s dream.

After the success of our first two editions of WMB 3D: World’s Most Beautiful, I wanted to follow up with an unforgettable third issue. I envisioned a bold cover to round out the trilogy, and yet I knew that only an amazing and experienced model could make risqué look both artistic and classy. Estella delivered on all fronts, and she was charming throughout the shoot, despite the provocative and sometimes painful poses. She was particularly excited about being photographed in 3D.

I’m proud to announce that today, you can see Estella’s cover, interview and 8-page photo feature in Issue 3 of WMB 3D. It is available on iPad, iPhone and on Google Play. There are also a limited number of Collector’s Print Editions available in the Slickforce Store here. (read about the printing process here). I’m in awe of the beautiful work rendered by the glam squad, and I am eternally thankful to Ms. Warren for our most memorable cover yet.

Enjoy!

CREDITS
Photography by NICK SAGLIMBENI
Makeup by THERESE WILLIAMS
Hair by AL INGRAM
Styling by NATALIE YURI

Production Stills by JOYCE PARK for SlickforceStudio

Last week at SlickforceStudio, we photographed the Arthur George designer sock line for Neiman Marcus. Created by Rob Kardashian, Arthur George features wild designs for both guys and girls, ranging from socks to stocking to leggings.

After seeing just how bright and colorful so many of the designs were, I opted for a neutral photography palette to allow the socks to pop. The models did a wonderful job of showcasing the brand, and I give them a lot of credit for proudly conveying a young, energetic label. Having photographed both Kendall and Kylie Jenner’s very first modeling shoots, it is also awesome to witness just how comfortable they have become in front of the camera.

Congratulations to Rob Kardashian and John Burtzloff on producing an amazing campaign. Look for Arthur George at your nearest Neiman Marcus store or visit agsocks.com for more info!

CREDITS: 

MODELS Kendall Jenner, Kylie Jenner, Matilda Price, Pia Mia, Matt Cook Jr.
PHOTOGRAPHY Nick Saglimbeni for SlickforceStudio
MAKE UP Etienne Ortega
HAIR Guy Romeo
STYLIST Matthew Ryan

PRODUCTION STILLS by Joyce Park for SlickforceStudio

If you’ve ever held a copy of WMB 3D: World’s Most Beautiful in your hand, you know it’s a beast of a publication. With 2D and 3D sides combined, the magazine measure over 1/2 inch thick, and boasts over 225 pages: each one meticulously photographed, retouched, and designed by our art team. As such, I don’t like leaving the printing up to chance.

After years of seeing my work printed for other publications, one of the printers that always delivered stellar results was Canadian print-house Lowe-Martin (formerly Dollco). For this reason, I chose them as the official printer of WMB 3D. When I received the first shipment of Issue 1 in 2011, I couldn’t believe I was looking at CMYK printing—the colors were nearly as rich as they were on an RGB display. For Issue 3, I decided to make the trip to visit our friends in Ontario, and document the process for you. (Be warned: I’m going to get technical, so the faint of heart should just skip to the pretty pictures now.)

After we locked the layout for the publication, the master PDFs were generated and sent to the printer via FTP. Once the images are cleared through preflight—file prep which insures color and registration accuracy—a high-resolution set of color-match proofs was sent to me in Los Angeles to review. Upon approval, color-separation ink plates are burned (at a microscopic 20 micron resolution) and mounted onto press for printing.

Issue 3 was printed on a brand-new Heidelberg XL 40″ 10-color press. In the case of WMB, five ink bays are reserved for one side of the page (typically Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, and then a spot-color or varnish), after which the page is perfected (flipped in line) and the back side is run through the next five ink bays.

The pressman color matches individual ink densities using the Inpress control sheet reader. Once approved, the switch is thrown and the sheets are printed en masse. The Estella-Warren-graced cover was then run though press a second time to apply the spot gloss varnish to the WMB logo and to Estella’s boots, making them extra spiffy. Finally, the images are collated, bound, glued and trimmed on a perfect binder, where they are made retail-ready.

My thanks to the stellar team at Lowe-Martin for taking such wonderful care of our progressive publication: Pam, Dave, Brad, Cathy, Paul, Noah, Rose, Rob, April and the rest of the team. To see this beautifully printed book up close, visit the Slickforce Store to order your copy of WMB 3D Issue 3.

This was my first shoot with Melanie Iglesias, for the premiere issue of WMB 3D: World’s Most Beautiful. Glamour is a tricky business, because it’s very easy to fall into the “men’s mag” category. I wanted the glamour in WMB to be as classy as it was sexy.

We found this beautiful mansion in Pasadena; they had all this really great furniture and huge windows. I like to shoot at very slow ISOs, so we augmented all of the natural light with umbrellas and diffusers. For this particular setup, where Melanie is in the chair, I had one diffused umbrella on a 2400w/s pack keying her, and an Octabank outside the window boosting the ambient sun. I was using a lot of fan on this shoot, so I wanted a really fast shutter, but I opted to keep it at 1/125 so we didn’t lose the natural light exposure. Enough of the hair exposure came from the strobes so we didn’t have too much motion blur.

Mel and the whole team did a great job on this shoot, and to this day it’s still our most downloaded gallery on WMB 3D. Enjoy the behind-the-scenes video…we left the original production audio track in for a more authentic shoot experience. Download the FREE WMB 3D here for iPad, iPhone and Android.

CREDITS:
Photography by NICK SAGLIMBENI
Hair by AL INGRAM
Makeup by GABY RAMOS
Styling by SARAH WALLNER

I have always been fascinated with the industrial technologies associated with the arts. Offset printing, darkrooms, chemical baths at film labs, drum-scanning, silk screens—all of it. As we were preparing the upcoming issue of WMB 3D for print, it occurred to me that the rising generation of photographers may never get to experience the sheer awe of large-scale press printing, just as many have never set foot in a darkroom. So I decided to document our latest print venture for our readers.

Over the last decade as a magazine photographer, I’ve witnessed my images printed both wonderfully and horribly—something every artist will experience at some point in their careers—largely dependent on the critical choices of printer, stocks, coatings, and color-profiling, often made by the publishers. So, when it came time to print the first issue of WMB 3D: World’s Most Beautiful in 2011, I already knew which direction I would go with regards to printing.

Last week, I traveled to Ottawa, Canada to press check WMB 3D Issue 3. I spent the day touring the massive press facilities, marveling at the precision with which beautiful art can be made from such massive, outwardly grungy, industrial machines. I will follow up in a few days with a post on the actual press check experience, but here’s a sneak peek for the curious artists.

Order your super-sized Collector’s Print Edition of WMB 3D here!