Posts Tagged ‘Kim Kardashian’

Here it is: the 2D cover of the premiere issue of WMB: World’s Most Beautiful! I’m both thrilled and honored to have my friend Kim Kardashian grace the cover of our first issue.

Thanks to the help of my wonderful friends at E! News, the secret is out! The whole world now knows about WMB 3D: World’s Most Beautiful! The E! Online announcement coupled with the primetime E! News broadcast brought in so much traffic it crashed the entire family of Slickforce servers. And thanks to my stellar IT team, we were back up in a matter of minutes. Now that’s what you call one of those good problems.

See the official E! News press release here!

Hey guys, here’s a sneak peek at something really cool my team and I have been working on for the past year. This is the most rewarding project I’ve ever worked on, and it’s easily the most fun I’ve ever had as an artist. Thanks to everyone involved, many of whom will likely be familiar faces to you…more details coming soon. Enjoy!

Last week, Kris Humphries asked Kim Kardashian to marry him, and I was asked to take the engagement pictures (ahem…where’s my ring?) I’ve never seen a bigger ring in my life…it was like something from Romancing the Stone. That night was a priceless opportunity to catch the ever-growing Jenner/Kardashian/Disick/Odom family in a genuine moment of surprise and support. As I watched Bruce Jenner share Olympic stories with NBA stars Lamar Odom and Kris Humphries, it also occurred to me how much alpha-DNA is in that family’s future bloodline.

Even more awesome was that the story made the cover of People, which has resulted in proud messages from my mother, family and friends who have been reading the magazine for decades. Thanks to People photography director Chris Dougherty for being such a pleasure to work with.

Congrats to Kim & Kris on their engagement. Grab your copy now!

Earlier this year, I received a call from the Skechers ad department to photograph Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner for their new international Shape-Ups campaign. Having been a Skechers fan for many years, I was really excited about the shoot, and also for the chance to reunite with two of my favorite ladies and their incredible glam squad.

The shoot took place at 5th & Sunset Studios in West Los Angeles, a fantastic facility with multiple sound stages and a virtually unlimited grip & lighting selection—a dream come true for a lighting nerd like me. Monica Rose styled the wardrobe, Joyce Bonelli delivered flawless make-up, and Clyde Haygood brought amazing hair styling as always.

Kim and Kris hit yet another one out of the park with this shoot, taking great direction and bringing their own personalities to the campaign. My brilliant SlickforceStudio team made me proud with stellar support that day. Our intern, Terekah, complimented Kim on her shoes, and was pleasantly surprised a few days later when she arrived to the studio to find her very own pair of Shape-Ups—a gift from the lovely Miss Kardashian herself.

It’s been a lot of fun watching the reach of this campaign. So far, I’ve seen billboards in several cities, multi-story retail displays, and perhaps the most fun: the ad ran in TSA security bins in nearly every airport in the country. Now that’s getting your brand out there.

Production photos by Derek Eskridge & David Rivera

A few days before Thanksgiving, mogul/manager/matriarch Kris Jenner asked me to photograph the annual Kardashian/Jenner family portrait, which they’ve historically released just prior to Christmas. This was an exciting opportunity for me, primarily because it marked the first time I would have the entire family together in one room.

Having photographed nearly all of them individually throughout the last year, I knew each of their particular poses, facial expressions, and subtle nuances. But I wanted to do something different—less smiley and happy than I’ve done in the past—but something more gothic and stark—alluding to family portraits of Victorian era aristocracy, with little expression and the focus on mere presence.

I believe a family portrait should tell a story. In this case, I took a look back at the growth the Kardashian/Jenner family experienced in the last two years. Kris had only weeks before completed the remodeling of her home, which featured huge black-and-white marble tiles, high ceilings, and sprawling staircases. I blocked out the positions of the family members, paying special note to the couplings of Kourtney & Scott and Khloé & Lamar, as well as Kendall’s growing prominence in the media spotlight. I also felt that it was very important to capture this “turning point” moment in their family history, as it marked the first appearance of young Mason.

Hair, make-up, and wardrobe did a fabulous job as always, though as you can imagine it takes a while to get an entire family through the process. And as if having every Kardashian mini-mogul in the room wasn’t pressure enough, Rob had to leave to catch a flight, which gave me a pressure-inducing twelve minutes to capture the entire shot. I was thrilled with the final image, which given our enormous time contraints, proved once again that preparation is everything.

CREDITS:
Photo by Nick Saglimbeni
Make-up by Joyce Bonelli
Hair by Rob Scheppy
Wardrobe Stylist Monica Rose
Behind-the-scenes photography by Terekah NaJuwan

I am going to steal your brains! *Frankenstein groan*

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

Three's Company

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

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!