Beauty photography, behind the scenes

I spent a beautiful NYC spring day in my studio with the talented makeup artist and hair stylist Tom Venditelli of Agency Gerard and manicurist Naoko Saita

Creating Beauty Images For Our Portfolios.

Natural makeup, natural hair, clean manicure and soft lighting along with Brazilian beauty Kelie Santos (DNA) and the equally lovely Jandra D (Next).

It was a fun, easy day, low pressure, hair flying in the wind, making beautiful photos and listening to great music.

My favorite track of the day was Vavava Voom by 70’s glam rocker Brett Smiley.

Here are some behind the scenes photos to whet my appetite to share the final images!  Kelie is being primped by Tom on set.  Jandra is doing her “Cousin It” imitation making sure her hair is voluminous and loose.

 

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Ai Weiwei at the Brooklyn Museum

ast night the Brooklyn Museum hosted a members reception for the opening of Ai Weiwei: According to What which will be open though August 10.

Ran into neighbors and close friends Maruchi Santana and John Parham.  Check out their branding firm Parham Santana.  Super creative people.  Maruchi has an amazing aesthetic and sense of color, John is always ready to share his latests cocktail recipe.

I digress, if you are in traveling distance to the great state of Brooklyn, go see this show!!!

Roberta Smith’s review in the NY Times.

(The images below do the art absolutely no justice.  I am hesitant to include them.)

  

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Jovani Bridal Campaign

As promised last week, here are

photographs from the Jovani bridal campaign.

The location is the fabulous third floor of the Metropolitan Building in Long Island City, Queens, NY. It is chock full of great props in a distressed but chic setting.

Our model was the stunning Morgan Chelf from IMG. Cliff Hoppus styled the shoot.

 

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Fashion Editorial

I am please to share my latest fashion editorial published in Fashion 360 Magazine.

The inspiration for the shoot was the 1953 movie “How to Marry a Millionaire” starring Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall. We had two Manhattan locations; The Chester, an upscale restaurant in the Meatpacking District and a luxury apartment in Silver Towers. The balcony of the silver tower apartment had a dramatic, sweeping southern view of midtown and downtown Manhattan as well as the Hudson River and New Jersey.

The models were the beautiful Taylor Burns and Carleen Laronn both from Major Model Management. Fashion editor Ikponmwosa Edorisiagbon styled the shoot, makeup by Shon Michaux-Simon, Hair by Dior Sovaoa, and nails by Elizabeth Garcia.

My son Sam was my photo assistant. Always nice have your teenager listen to you when you ask him to pick something up or go get some coffee.

You can see the full editorial using this link: Fashion 360 Magazine – How to Marry a Millionaire

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A Weekend of Backpacking – photo essay

A father’s dream when your 17 year old son plans a backpacking trip; 48 hours of quality time with no screens to distract!

We had an amazing weekend, here is the photo essay to prove it!

Sam and my dad coordinated the destination, prepared the equipment, procured the supplies and guaranteed outstanding weather. Turnkey! All I had to do was buy some salami, hot dogs, cheese and powdered milk and load my backpack. Participants in the adventure are myself, my son Sam, my Italian daughter Caterina (foreign exchange student through AFS), my brother-in-law Hil, my niece Miriam and my dad Martin.

I brought along my backup Canon 5D Mk II with a fixed 40 mm pancake lens. I love this lens. It has a very small profile, extremely light, fast enough at 2.8 and a great focal length. Got that?

The trip started off Friday night with a visit to the Museum of Modern Art to attend the opening of an exhibit of Caterina’s work. She was accepted into an art studio class for teens at the museum’s education center. Caterina (from Lerici Italy) is having an incredible year, taking advantage of her exchange experience.

We then had a celebratory Chinese dinner and drove up to a motel near the trailhead for a good night sleep and an early morning start. Caterina claims I snore, but offered zero proof.


Before hitting the trail we had to fortify at the Bright Star Diner. Also needed to make sure our hair was set. Luckily the placemat gave reference to a local attorney in case we ran into some legal issues.

I think the rest of the photos speak for themselves… hydrating at the trail head, headed up to the campsite on the Appalachian Trail, beautiful weather, dehydrated astronaut ice-cream, beautiful vistas, setting up camp, gathering wood, roasting hot dogs, Caterina’s first amore, and a tired but very happy group.

One item of note, it was a strenuous 3 hour hike up to the site. Our gear was not super light. My dad is 79 years old and kept up with the 17 year olds, basically stride for stride. Now that is inspirational!

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Bridal Fashion Photography – Behind the Scenes

I was hired by Jovani to photograph their new bridal fashion collection.

I brought on the ultra creative, hardest working man in fashion, Cliff Hoppus to style the shoot. With limited time Cliff was able to pull together flowers, veils and other accessories to make for a very successful shoot. The location is the Metropolitan Building in Long Island City, NY. It is a fabulous location, beautifully appointed, with lots of shabby chic furniture, peeling paint, rich tones making a great environment to shoot in.

Here are some fun behind the scenes photos of Cliff and my assistant Bin modeling for lighting tests. I will post some of the final images with the real model, Morgan Chelf (IMG) next week.

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Fashion photography for a cause!

I was excited when I was contacted by Melanie Holland to help produce a fashion photo shoot promoting Elephantasia.

Elephantasia is a fashion event organized by Gabby Wild benefitting the Wildlife Conservation Society and raising awareness to stop the slaughter of African Elephants. The event will be held on Friday May 30 at the Central Park Zoo featuring a fashion show of over 50 designers of sustainable clothing. The donation to attend the event starts at $96, one dollar for every African elephant slaughtered each day.

Gabby Wild is a student of veterinary medicine at Cornell University. She is a tireless spirit who created her foundation to save and sustain wildlife around the globe. I am inspired by her energy, ethos and dedication!

With only one week to produce the shoot, I brought on

set designer Cooper Vasquez to help with creating and executing a concept.

We emailed images for inspiration conjuring the feel of jungle and savannah. Renting a hand painted backdrop from my friends (and next door neighbor) at Oliphant Studio along with begging, stealing and borrowing tires,
folliage, and a fog machine, Cooper pulled his magic creating simple, elegant sets that perfectly complimented the clothing and theme. I was astonished we could create and shoot 4 scenes in the 5 hours allotted on a Saturday morning.

Our beautiful and elegant model Mireille Van Der Wees from Elite Model Management created a stunning tableau for the photos.
Hair and makeup courtesy of the Alex Anthony Salon, Manhattan.

I am pleased to share some of the images we created! It is wonderful when my fashion photography can help with a greater good!

Gabby and Mireilla pose for a portrait.

Publicity photos for Gabby Wild

Photographs of Mireille to promote the fashion event.

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Fashion e-commerce

Fashion e-commerce photo shoot for designer Donna Degnan.

More technical than creative, it still requires an eye for detail and the ability to direct a model to best show off the designs. Customers buy garments based solely on the way it looks in photos. The photos have to look clear and stunning.

Not why I chose photography as a career, but it helps pay the bills and beats digging a ditch!

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Not Beauty or Fashion photography but…

When the worlds greatest dentist

asks you to take photos for his website, you put fashion, beauty, and everything else on hold and head to the Bronx.

Dr. Robert Steinberger, East Tremont Dental, has been my dentist for longer than I care to admit. Throggs Neck is not exactly convenient to my home in Brooklyn, but he is well worth the trip. I have recommended him to friends and family in Manhattan, Connecticut and New Jersey who faithfully flock to the Boogie Down for their bi-annual checkups. He is that good! Dr. Steinberger originally hails from Brooklyn and has never forgotten his roots. He is honest, caring, smart, and has mad dental skillz. In the unlikely event that I ever move to Alaska, I will still have my teeth cleaned just north of the Whitestone Bridge.

Here are a few photographs I shot of the Doc, not fashion photography, but a thing of beauty.

Looking forward to seeing them up on his website!

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Fashion advertising shoot, behind the scenes photographs

Fashion Campaign

Last week I photographed and advertising campaign for my client Shani Grosz in my Manhattan studio. It was a long day shooting against two set ups, white seamless paper and a painted backdrop with fog turning my studio into a haunted forest. The stunning model, Julia Anisimova from Q Model Management killed it. She had great energy from entering the studio at 7am till the last frame was shot ten hours later. Wendi Miyake provided flawless hair and makeup and was on point though out the shoot.

Here are some behind the scenes photos.

Client photographs model Julia for social media

This photo shows a bit of the lighting setup and the hanging backdrop.

The Photographer

It is no secret I am a frustrated model.

Fashion Model Julia Anisimova on set.

This is just a test frame. All out of camera. Not the final select, no retouching at all!

Photo assistant

Have to include the first frame of the day. Meet my assistant Ed Estrada. My righthand man and guardian angel!

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