Archive for the ‘Glam Shoots’ Category

Recently I had the honor of being selected as the official photographer for the 2011 Breast Cancer Charities of America campaign. This was particularly moving to me since one of my closest friends recently recovered from a bout with breast cancer. Charity has always been a critical component of our studio, so naturally, I jumped at the opportunity.

 

I was thrilled to learn that our first spokesmodel would be the ever-stunning actress and fashion model, Estella Warren. I have been a fan of Estella’s since seeing her in Sports Illustrated, Victoria’s Secret, and her Chanel campaigns, and of course in Planet of the Apes. When she arrived at my studio, she was as beautiful as ever, and I knew this was going to be an amazing campaign.

 

Estella is not only flawless on camera, but is an absolute sweetheart to work with as well—easily one of my all-time favorites. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to photograph her, but it now makes perfect sense why so many companies have selected her to represent their brands.

 

Credits: Make-up by Gabriela Ramos, Hair by Al Ingram
Bracelet available at ShamelessJewelry.com

In March 2010, the Kardashian sisters called and told me about a new book they had coming out, called Kardashian Konfidential. They asked if I’d be interested in shooting new images for the cover, to which I naturally said yes. After speaking with the publisher, however, it was clear that they needed an even greater range of images to use throughout the book, and so we planned this day at the studio.

 

The Kardashian/Jenner family had plenty of images of the girls growing up, etc., but what they needed now were shots of the modern-day Kardashians, as the world currently knows them. So we devised a shoot that was three layers deep—similar to the dream levels in Inception. First we set up our usual studio shooting area to capture staged and posed images for the cover and the inside of the book. Then, two of of my assistants captured production shots of the making of the shoot, and in between takes I would grab one of their cameras and follow the sisters to hair and make-up, where they would tease each other and play while prepping for the next shot. Finally, there were publicity crews from E! that captured press footage of my crew shooting behind-the-scenes of my actual shoot with Kim, Kourtney, and Khloé, that they could use to promote the book. It was a very fun day, but one where we didn’t stop shooting in some form from start to finish.

 

The book is available everywhere on November 23rd. I received my advanced copy a few weeks ago, and I’m thrilled with the final product. Kardashian Konfidential is a quality coffee-table book, with exceptional layout and printing, all very professionally done. Though the cover is a bit pink for my taste, I also realize that I’m not the target teenage female demographic. I’m sure this book will fly off the shelves. Brilliant work by the team at St. Martin’s Press for a fantastic publication!

 

CREDITS:
Wardrobe Stylist – Monica Rose
Make-up by Mario Dedivanovic
Hair by Frankie Payne
Additional Photography by Cherry Gardner and Derek Eskridge

2010 was the year of QuickTrim. The always-wonderful-to-me Kim Kardashian was kind enough to bring me onto my first QuickTrim shoot in 2009, and since then I’ve been fortunate enough to shoot more than 10 product lines for the parent company VitaQuest and distributor GNC.

 

I was digging through my archives and found these awesome behind-the-scenes pics from our most recent Miami shoot, taken by SlickforceStudio assistant Gabe Parra. This day was fun in particular because it was a rare opportunity to have all 3 Kardashian sisters in front of my camera. It’s like the solar eclipse of Kardashian shoots…they don’t come around often, but when they do, it’s guaranteed magic.

 

The Keeping Up with the Kardashians crew was also there to cover the shoot, which always adds a layer of complexity to the set. Thanks to Kim, Khloé, Kourtney and Kris for their loyalty throughout the years, and here’s to all that lies ahead!

 

CREDITS:
Behind-the-scenes Photography: Gabriel Parra
Make-up: Mario Dedivanovic
Hair: Rob Scheppy

In April 2010, I photographed Khloé Kardashian for Celeb Life magazine. I remember this shoot vividly because it was the last shoot before I left for my monthlong trip to Kenya.

 

Khloé’s always been a treat to work with, because not only does she take amazing shots, but she’s also incredibly funny, generous and down to earth. I was excited about this day in particular because it was my first fashion shoot with Khloé. Super-stylist Monica Rose brought amazing clothes as always, and Mario Dedivanovic lent his signature Kardashian-glam artistry to the make-up.

 

The location was a wonderful boutique hotel in Beverly Hills called Maison 140. It also provided me a unique challenge—the smallest spaces I’ve shot in my entire career. And with my lighting setups, it was no easy feat. My superstar Slickforce team kicked butt as always, including lead assistant Christian Arias, assistants Cherry Gardner and Derek Eskridge, and intern Asha Catling.

 

I was extremely happy with the final results of the shoot, and Khloé exceeded my expectations and delivered incredible energy in the pictures. This is hands-down my favorite shoot of hers to date.

 

Great work to Derek Eskridge for capturing these brilliant noir-style production stills.

This week, HairLocs International launched its nationwide campaign across nearly every Niche Media title, including Ocean Drive, LA Confidential, Gotham, Hamptons, and Vegas magazines. Through a good friend of mine, Lupe Ceballos, for whom I used to photograph recording artists, I was able to bring the campaign to SlickforceStudio. We handled everything from the production to the casting—which is why you may recognize some of your favorite Slickforce superstar models in the campaign.

 

The shoot was incredibly fun, especially for hair-stylist Al Ingram, because we got to experiment with many ways of making hair look exciting on camera—and you all know I love amazing hair. Slickforce lead make-up artist Gaby Ramos nailed every shot in this campaign, which is even more impressive given the full spectrum of model complexions that she worked on.

 

Thanks to HairLocs and to the incredible Slickforce team for helping to create a beautiful campaign!

 

MODELS (Left-to-right thumbs): Airess Padda, Nazanin Mandi, Ayanna Jordan, Jenifer Richardson, Remington Nelson

It’s not everyday you get to work with someone you know is going to be big. I mean, it’s different if they’re already a star…but there’s a special energy that happens on a shoot when you know that one day people will be looking back at this shoot, to see where it all began.

 

Such luck smacked me across the face last week when Kris Jenner, mastermind and matriarch of the Kardashian clan, asked me to photograph her daughter, Kendall, for her Wilhelmina modeling book. She had been very happy with the shoots I’d given Kim, Khloé, and Kourtney, and she was hoping I could do the same with Kendall. The only catch, you see, is that she’s only 14-years old.

 

Kendall was a trooper right out of the gate. I asked her if she minded getting in the water, crawling on sharp rocks, etc., and she simply shook her head and said she’d do whatever it took to make art. Thanks to her sisters, I had Kendall’s trust. So, as I do with every model, I immediately got the hard stuff out of the way, because there’s never enough sunlight for a warmup period. I stuck Kendall on a rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and she held her poses with incredible professionalism—and her faces with intensity—even as waves smacked her in the back of the head.

 

The rest of the shoot went much the same way, and Kendall’s learning curve was incredibly steep. I was continually impressed with how quickly she took what she learned from one setup and applied it onto the next one. By the time a girl is 21, which is the average age I photograph, I expect them to have had at least a few good years of checking themselves out in the mirror and working their poses. But for a 14-year-old with almost no experience (save her celebrity genes), Kendall hit this one right out of the park for sure.

 

I didn’t expect the controversy that this shoot generated—it’s already been featured on E! News, People, In Touch, Extra, and Access Hollywood. Apparently some thought the shoot was too provocative for such a young model (sample video here). But to be fair, we should make a distinction between fashion modeling and glamour modeling. If you look at the early work of Adriana Lima, Brooke Shields, Miranda Kerr—the list goes on—their books were filled with sensational-yet-hardly-conservative images that launched them into supermodel status before age 16. In my opinion, whether the model wears a sweater or a swimsuit bears little relevance, as long as the shoot is tastefully done. I made a concerted effort to keep this shoot a very healthy PG13.

 

I have to give special love to stylist Monica Rose on this shoot, who not only brought incredible wardrobe as she’s always done with Kim, and who sat by the laptop making sure every frame was perfect, but who also was waiting in tow with a robe and towel, ready to warm up Kendall each time she ran back shivering onto the beach. You’re the best! xo

 

Credits:
Wardrobe Styling: Monica Rose
Make-up: Joyce Bonelli
Hair: Rob Scheppy
Production Stills: Derek Eskridge & Christian Arias

I suppose it’s every photographer’s dream to travel the world and shoot someplace with crystal waters, perfect weather, and timeless architecture. So when the publisher of SHOW approached me about putting an international shoot together for rising-star-model Laura Doré, I was all too happy to suggest shooting in Italy.

 

I’ve found many excuses to travel to Italy over the last few years, starting with shooting Cities of the Underworld for History Channel in early 2008. Since then I’ve been back 6 times, and have made an effort to improve my Italian with each trip. Once the magazine concept was greenlit, I went immediately into producer mode.

 

The Amalfi Coast is world-famous for its scenic old-world ambiance as well as it’s breathtaking views. I knew we’d have no shortage of places to shoot, so I flew out a week before the rest of the team, scouted some hot spots, and secured lighting equipment in Rome (I was intent on re-creating a full-scale Slickforce-sized shoot, but there was no way I was going to bring all of my equipment from the US). Once the locations were secured, I flew out my best-of-the-best from LA, including make-up artist Gaby Ramos, hair stylist Al Ingram, lead assistant Christian Arias, and wardrobe stylist extraordinaire Diana Chan. I also hired assistants from Italy and London, all of whom I’d worked with on previous shoots in Europe, and a local driver complete with passenger van. We took over 7 cabanas in the small coastal town of Sorrento, where we lived for 5 days.

 

Once the massive logistics were out of the way, I could finally concentrate on the shoot. Since I had my usual gear, most of lighting setups didn’t vary much from the work I produce at home. What I’m most proud of, however, are the setups on the beaches of Capri. Capri is a small island—and there were no docks or piers to the beaches—so we put all the gear on motor-boats, and cruised as close as we could to the coast. Then we loaded the equipment onto inflatable rafts, jumped in the ocean, and literally towed the rafts to land, generators and all. This was simultaneously the hardest day we’ve ever had and the most fun and awe-inspiring shoot I’ve ever experienced.

 

And check out the setups. We had lights hanging off of rocks, ringflashes levitating over the sea, and even lit from moving boats! Christian knows I insist on shooting tethered (I loathe lighting to a camera LCD), so she developed rigs for floating my Firewire and laptop cables back to land, while we all did our jobs either perched on rocks or in the water. These shots make me laugh because my awesome crew is doing the same thing they do at home, only this time they’re in bathing suits and up to their navels in water. This is that shoot that every photographer lives for—the one you will never, ever forget.

 

Thanks to SHOW and Laura Doré for the opportunity of a lifetime, and to Christian Arias, Daniela Guerrero, Hayden Phoenix, Steven Feralio and J.P. Monittola for these amazing behind-the-scenes pics!

Kourtney and Khloé Kardashian recently asked me to photograph a new campaign for the re-launch of their DASH Miami boutique. They wanted something that would stop everybody in South Beach dead in their tracks. What better, I thought, than having them get naked?

 

Well, that’s not entirely true. I did suggest strategically painting the DASH Miami logo across their bodies, so as to keep the ad below porn-level. I wasn’t completely new to the body paint scene, as I got a lot of press for my Vida Guerra painted-as-a-tiger cover a few years back. But what I did remember was that THAT paint job took 3 hours for one model, and I knew we couldn’t burn that kind of time. So I called one of the best body paint artists in Miami, Keegan of Body Art by Keegan.

 

I flew to Miami and quickly assembled a clone version of SlickforceStudio, so the girls would feel right at home. They cast two of their very own DASH Dolls to join them in the campaign.  Once the ladies were all on set, we experimented with a few different poses and body positions, calculated logo placement, and then the fun really began.

 

Special thanks to SlickforceStudio assistant Gabe Parra for these awesome pics!

It goes without saying that Kim Kardashian is one of my favorite clients. So when she contacted me to shoot not one, but both of her 2011 calendars, it didn’t take much convincing. Now, why would anyone need two calendars, you may ask? Good question.

 

Kim made waves on the gossip circuit when she went renegade last summer, tossing aside her classically perfect brunette hair and swapping it for a blonde look. When fans cried for the return of natural Kim, she called me. “I have to go back to brunette for the show,” she said, “but I want you to capture the blonde before I change it back!”

 

Deal. So two days after returning from a shoot in Italy, I got Kim in my studio and we shot her 2011 calendar. You can read her words on the shoot here. Later, when I sent her the final images, she had a brilliant idea: “Let’s do TWO calendars! One blonde, one brunette!” And that, my friends, is why the woman is a mogul. She can sell anything.

 

Shoot #2 was scheduled in late January. And finally, on our fifth shoot together, I successfully convinced her to let me bring in a behind-the-scenes crew (you gotta understand, this girl has cameras following her everywhere…) This shoot was incredibly relaxed, as her crew and I have now worked together several times. We’ve learned to play off each others strengths, as any good team does, and Kim really has fantastic people on her team. Mario Dedivanovic’s make-up is flawless, Frankie Payne nails my favorite windblown look every time, and Monica Rose’s styling is always mind-blowing.

 

Look for an upcoming post once the calendar previews are released!

 

Thanks to Slickforce’s own secret-weapon Joyce Park for these great production shots!

I’ve always like shooting with Vida. She’s as pro as they come, so much so that some days don’t even feel like we’re working. She does her thing, I do mine, and we’ve each done it 1000 times. So when the publisher of Vida’s mag (yes, she now commands her own entire title) contacted me with the “after dark” concept, I thought “Well, here’s something new.”

For one, I’ve always shot not only Vida, but nearly every other model either in a studio or outdoors in sunlight. Suddenly with an issue that would predominantly feature outdoor night shots, I had to get creative—especially technically. I decided to reach into my old cinematography bag of tricks and pull out all the “night shot” classics: fog machine, silhouettes, out of focus cityscapes—the works.

We shut down the Highlands club in Los Angeles for day one (it was pouring down rain and my poor photo assistant Ashley slipped 🙁 and fell down the escalator.), and the shoot went relatively smoothly until an hour before wrap. We were shooting the cover shot (cabaret on stage with smoke) and our fog machine tripped the smoke detectors on the entire complex. Though I apologized profusely to the LAFD, one wonders how in fact the club didn’t set it off nightly. Sensitive little buggers.

On day 2 we secured a house high atop Studio City, with a killer view. The owner was, let’s say, eccentric. Naturally, in freezing October temperatures I forced Vida to get in the unheated pool (I’m horrible, I know).  But my favorite setup was the lingerie look on dry land. I had my assistants smoke up the background, but the wind was strong so it kept blowing away. I had them put it on full-blast, but then suddenly the wind stopped, and then the fog was so thick I couldn’t see Vida. So for haha’s I took a test shot—and fell in love with the look. I could barely make out her silhouette, and she was surrounded by an ethereal glow. Magic!

Though I didn’t know it at the time, we were shooting what would become my 100th magazine cover. Though I hardly feel my career has been long enough to look back, moments like these offer a great opportunity to stop, reflect, and realign yourself with your new goals.