In 2008, the SlickforceStudio team and I started ModelKamp. For years, models had been asking us not only for help with their portfolios, but also for magazine referrals and tips on how to navigate the often-intimidating modeling industry. As with nearly every spin-off of the Slickforce brand, the idea for a modeling camp was sparked when countless aspiring models came to us after being scammed by shady producers of “super-shoots,” which ultimately over-promised and under-delivered. We’ve always prided ourselves as being the most professional photography studio in the world, so the “model-camp-to-end-all-model-camps” seemed a logical step, especially given our unique position in the magazine and modeling industries.

 

This October we held our 6th ModelKamp, which sold out a full two months in advance. The three-day workshop began on Friday, opening with a panel of industry guest speakers. First, I spoke with the new models about building their portfolios, how to work with photographers and styling crew, and tips on magazine submissions. Then, 20-time Magazine cover-model-turned-actress Vida Guerra spoke to the ladies about her career, avoiding the pitfalls of the modeling game, and not losing yourself in Hollywood.  After Vida, SHOW publisher Sean Cummings spoke about his magazine, what he looks for in models, breaking in to the business when you’re brand new, and the payoffs of persistence. Finally, the models did fittings with their wardrobe stylist, selecting their outfits for the next two days of shooting.

 

On Saturday, the girls arrived bright and early for a full day of shooting at SlickforceStudio with myself and magazine-photographers Christian Arias & Cherry Gardner. Cover-model Brittany Dailey then arrived on set, so the models could watch a professional photo-shoot first hand. Brittany and I then coached them on poses and facial expressions while they shot fashion, glamour, and headshot looks.

 

On Sunday, the models were ready for their final exam. We met at 5:30am, hopped in passenger vans, and carpooled out to Slickforce’s Ultimate Graveyard location in the beautiful Mojave desert. There, the girls experienced a large-scale supershoot, usually reserved for celebrities, as they shot fashion and glamour looks with our three top photographers. It’s always a treat for me to take people to the desert for the first time, because watching their excitement reminds me of the awe I experienced when I first fell in love with the California desert.

 

As we wrapped at sunset, one of the models, Yvonne, threw her arms around me for a tearful goodbye, saying she never felt so good about herself, and that she was sad to be leaving her new family. I reassured her that she would always be part of our ever-growing Slickforce family, but it was still a warm reminder of why I take so much pride in our company.

 

All in all, our models left with a minimum of 6 looks, over 700 photos, and free retouching. To date, we’ve had 11 models land spreads in various magazines, two of them covers! Registration for ModelKamp 7 opened this week. Get more info and hold your spot at ModelKamp.com!

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

I can remember growing up, watching the Miss Universe pageant, and thinking “How is Miss Venezuela always so hot?” It was fitting, then, that my first trip to South America was to Venezuela.

 

I didn’t know much about the country before my trip, other than that I was likely to find beautiful scenery and even more beautiful people. And I was right on both accounts. The Venezuelan people were extremely friendly and welcoming, and the weather was…well, I’d say perfect…but when you’re right on the equator like that, sometimes it’s actually so hot and humid that your eyebrows sweat. So let’s just say almost perfect.

 

Though the country itself was breathtaking, I found a few things to be absolutely magical. The first, was that there were secret beaches, like in that Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach. We took a boat from the coast and headed out to sea, in the general direction of Puerto Rico. On the way, we passed an eerie bird sanctuary on a huge island where humans are strictly forbidden. Try to picture this: thousands of birds circling an island, all types and colors and sizes. And there are mean-looking aggressive vulture-like (sorry, I’m not an ornithologist) birds working guard-duty around the perimeter of the island. And they just look at you, like, “You know you can’t come in here, right? Keep moving.” But if you look past the evil guard birds (pictured above), it’s like Jurassic Park inside. Birds just playing, chasing each other, without a care in the world.

 

So we move past the bird kingdom and continue to boat out to sea for another 30 minutes. And then, a tiny dot on the horizon appears. And soon the horizon becomes an island. And as you get closer, you see people partying in the ocean surrounding the island. Again, not on the beach, but in the waist-deep crystal-clear ocean. And they are drinking liquor and serving food and selling jewelry and sunglasses from styrofoam trays in the ocean. A guy even ran my credit card from a floating tray! How does that happen?? It was an entire community at sea…like Atlantis, minus the mermaids and underwater castles. So maybe if Atlantis had a small college town, it’d be like that. Still…magic.

 

The next visually-stunning event, which happened completely by chance, was an amazing lightning storm, the likes of which I’ve never seen in my life. It started around 2am, so I scurried to the roof of my hotel and took some long exposures. In hindsight, I wish I could have gotten closer (with lenses, silly), but then again, you never know where lighting will strike so I covered the shots pretty wide.

 

I had hoped to visit Angel Falls, the tallest waterfall in the world, but alas I discovered it was a weeklong round-trip with lots of trekking involved, and I didn’t have the time on this journey. So, I’ll look forward to coming back for sure.

 

Special thanks to the wonderful Daniela and Dayda for taking care of me in Valencia, and to Roberto for the stay in Tuacacas. I am blessed to have so many wonderful friends all around the world.

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.

We just got back from PhotoshopWorld in Las Vegas last week and had a blast! We threw stunning models Esther Hanuka and Ayanna Jordan (discs 1 & 7 for Mastering Retouching fans) in the trunk of the car and drove to Sin City on a mission!

The big news at this show was that Mastering Retouching ships iPad-ready, which had many curious customers circling the booth. I also took advantage of our PSW presence by announcing the first PhotoKamp, a 2.5-day workshop for photographers and artists, on November 12-14 in Los Angeles. The pre-launch of PhotoKamp was met with overwhelming response…so much so that we are almost completely sold out less than 2 weeks from the initial announcement!

We also doubled our booth size this year from the Orlando show, which allowed us many more opportunities to meet our friends and fans, as well as many talented photographers and Photoshop artists. German wunderkind Calvin Hollywood dropped by to say hello and meet the models, and we were also blessed with the presence of PhotoshopWorld royalty Matt Kloskowski (PS genius), Dave Cuerdon (retouching legend) and Wacom guru Wes Maggio.

But, with all due respect to the talented artists we met, no one impressed me more than my beloved Slickforce team. Director of Ops Kevin Savarese, lead retoucher Joyce Park, and assistant Derek Eskridge assisted models Esther and Ayanna in educating the public on the Slickforce brand, and photographers Clint Davis and Matt Timmons graciously joined us to show their support as well. I am moved and humbled by the dedication of my team, and it motivates me even more to keep our brand growing.

INDEX:
TOP: Mastering Retouching on the iPad!
1-9: The Slickforce Team showing PSW how it’s done.
10: The team throwing up Slickforce gang signs.
11: The team (L-R): Kevin Savarese, Joyce Park, Clint Davis, Ayanna Jordan, me, Esther Hanuka, Derek Eskridge, Matt Timmons
12: Partying at Blush @ Wynn
13: Models Ayanna Jordan and Esther Hanuka
14: Ayanna Jordan, Nazanin Mandi join R&B artist Miguel for his performance at Eve nightclub

As you read in my post on day 1 of this shoot, this session was planned to build Kendall Jenner’s Wilhelmina Models portfolio from scratch. This shoot also generated more controversy than any shoot I’ve ever done.

 

To date, these photos, or discussion of them, have been featured on Larry King Live, E! News, Inside Edition, Access Hollywood, US Magazine, OK! Magazine, The Huffington Post, and over 50 blogs.

 

As with day one, Kendall was an absolute natural in front of the camera, and a pleasure to work with. In hindsight, I’m glad we got the more difficult beach shoot out of the way on the first day, because it really made this second in-studio day a cakewalk.

 

Special thanks to Clyde Haygood on hair, Rob Scheppy on make-up, Monica Rose for her always-brilliant styling, my ace-team at Slickforce, and to Kris Jenner for shepherding me through the publicity storm!

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

Though I certainly found my safari and my experience living with Maasai to be mind-blowing, I must confess that if I had to sum up my trip to Kenya in one word, it would be a very easy answer: monkeys.

 

My beach hut, though mere steps from the Indian Ocean, was surrounded by giant trees—palms, baobab, and mangrove—which were homes to families of monkeys. The monkeys were eerily intelligent, and they would watch you—study you—like cynical mini-humans, trying to determine if you were something to fear. Much to my surprise, I befriended a few of of the gray Sykes monkeys—the black-and-white Colobus monkeys didn’t care for me very much. By the end of my trip, I would walk out onto my porch, shout some wild animal call into the sky, and a half-dozen or so monkeys would literally drop out of the trees, hanging by their tails, and hop onto my front porch. There they sat, patiently waiting, like dogs without the barking, until I produced some fruit from a bag—which they took from my hand, and sat there quietly and ate. I had never seen anything like it. They happily ate my bananas, apples…even my cookies! The sheer interaction with the monkeys alone put my safari experience to shame.

 

I also made a point to visit Kaya Kinondo, one of the actual sacred forests that the forests in Avatar were based on. The trees were out of this world, with roots growing in all directions, even up. The forest contained medicinal trees, plants used for cooking and spices, and even some foliage reserved for rituals to the gods. It was a peaceful place, and I could see how generations of Digo tribes were able to find their spiritual center here.

 

When I returned home to my beach hut that night, I was shocked to find the place had been trashed—and I knew someone had broken in. Strangely, my camera and my laptop were untouched, but surrounding the overturned furniture there were banana peels everywhere. Who would break into my house, I thought, eat all of my bananas and leave my Canon 5D? Then it hit me: I had been robbed by monkeys.

 

INDEX:
Top Images: Kaya Kinondo, Sykes monkey eating my cookie
1-5: Kaya Kindondo, the sacred forest
6: My beach hut in Diani
7: Black-and-white colobus monkeys
8-14: My Sykes monkey friends, eating all of my food

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

It’s safe to say that the Kenyan coast is the closest thing I’ve found to paradise. After my excursions around Nairobi and inland, I decided to head to the coast for something a little more tranquil. I took an overnight train from Nairobi to Mombasa, which was awesome…one of those old rickety sleeper cars…I felt like I was on the Orient Express. I found Mombasa a bit too crowded and commercial for my taste, so I headed south to Diani beach, an hour or so away from the Tanzanian border. Once I arrived, I knew within minutes that I had found what I was looking for.

 

I rented a 2-bedroom beach hut, just steps from the Indian Ocean, for under $50/night. I couldn’t believe it. Every morning, a fisherman named Ali would come to my door and sell me fresh fish, and I bought fruits and vegetables from a local farmer. I’d never had passion fruit before, and it instantly became my favorite fruit ever. It was the healthiest menu I had ever eaten. Around Diani were many wildlife sanctuaries. Among them was Shimba Hills, where I spotted the rare sable antelope, only found two places in the world. I reminded myself, however, that I came here to relax, so I made a point not to burn myself out sightseeing.

 

The beaches were perfect, white sand as far as the eye could see, and not a soul on them, save a few trinket peddlers. The ocean was unbelievably warm, so when I wasn’t vegging out on the beach, I made sure to get in lots of scuba diving. I made friends easily in Diani—people were incredibly welcoming and sincere. I even managed to find a crew eerily similar to my friends back home, which made me often forget I was on the other side of the world.

 

There are no words to describe the nights on the coast. Just take a look at the pictures and you’ll understand why. Barely any light pollution allowed for the brightest stars and the most incredible astral photography. Every night I would stumble blindly from my hut to the beach in the pitch black, where I set up my camera for night shots. I couldn’t believe the exposures I was getting, and it further cemented my love for Kenya. Tutaonana, inshallah.

 

INDEX:
1-4: Night train to Mombasa, that #2 shot is a 30-second exposure at 3am.
5-8: Shimba Hills, grasshopper, sable antelope, elephants
9: My beach hut in Diani
10: The view from my beach house
11-15: My shade sanctuary, white sand beaches
16: My friends in Diani: Didi, Gitz, Sidney, Ali Khan
17-21: Nightfall on the Kenyan Coast