Katie (LA Models)
Shorts: American Apparel. Ring, vest: stylist's own.
A few weeks ago I worked with Katie from LA Models on a shoot. I had some very specific ideas about the final look of the images, based on some inspirational pages I’d pulled from magazines. Sometimes I start with visual references from other photographs, to give me some guidance on where I want to take the shoot. Other times, I have more of a conceptual story in mind, and the look of the shoot exists more in my mind than reality (you’ll see that in a post coming up in a week or two). It certainly is easier to translate my vision into something concrete when I can hand the stylist some pages and say “let’s do this, but not this part, and change this to that” etc. Otherwise I’m left trying to describe vague things I see in my head! But both styles of shoot design have their advantages.
For this shoot, the look was all about ‘boy shorts’, casual tops, and reclining on soft and furry blankets. The trick was to keep it fashion and not have it turn into something cheesy or “pin-up”. I thought long and hard about how I was going to achieve this. The key component for maintaining a fashion look was going to be facial expression. Wardrobe and posing would make their own statement, but if the model had a “come hither” look on her face, the results would be a disaster. Instead, I wanted the model conveying anything but sexy: anger, melancholy, even a hint of a smile as in the lead image. This would create subtle layers rather than just a one-dimensional image.
So I kept telling Katie to “give me stink eye”.
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Danneille
A few weeks ago I worked with Danneille, who is with the Elite and Q modeling agencies. We were introduced by a mutual friend, Desirée Durang, who has assisted me before and was also the assistant on this shoot. Danneille had recently moved to LA from the east coast, and needed to update her portfolio to make it more ‘California friendly’. High fashion with lighter, sunnier feel. We decided to go for a ‘resort’ look. The kind of clothing the well-to-do might wear while vacationing in Palm Springs or the south of France. And since we didn’t have the budget to rent a sailboat or take over a Malibu mansion for the day, we decided to head for the beach.
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Bianca (Ford Models)
This shoot almost didn’t happen, for want of a wardrobe stylist. I haven’t stressed over a shoot this much in ages. But wow am I pleased with the result!
I pitched the test-shoot idea to the Ford modeling agency a couple of months ago, and after much wrangling (they’re picky…they’re Ford!) we agreed on a look and a style, went through the model selection process, and found a model who was available. I literally had this set up a month in advance, because I knew there was going to be some scheduling complexities. I needed hair and makeup artists of course, but I also needed a wardrobe stylist, so we could have some proper couture rather than just whatever was in the model’s closet (I’m sure Bianca might have a nicely appointed closet…but why risk it?) I also had to find a studio to do this all in, since my usual haunts were out of commission or too far out of the city to be practical.
Picking hair and makeup were easy: one of my favorite teams consists of Kris Young doing hair, and Naz Madaen doing makeup. They were both available and excited to do the shoot. Brooks Ayola, a amazing portrait photographer, agreed to let me use his studio in Chatsworth, California. So all I needed was a wardrobe stylist.
And that was almost my undoing.
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Mason Rae (model test shoot)
A few months ago I worked with Mason Rae, the model you see here. I had seen some images of Lara Stone in a magazine that I wanted to loosely emulate. It was more of a starting point really, but I wanted to work with the umbrella as a prop, and go for something light and airy. I didn’t want an underlit look though, and also didn’t want to go the whole faux-polaroid route either. So like I said, a loosely-based starting point!
I wanted a local model because I had arranged hair and makeup to be done at a salon here in Ventura. The location was simple, just the beach on a (fortunately) cloudy day. We spent two or three hours in the salon, trying not pace around nervously while the team (Naz Madaen with makeup, and Joey Villegas on hair) prepped the model, and then off to the beach for an hour’s worth of shooting. This was a one-look shoot! And we got a nice bonus: sailboats in the background.
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Four Girls at Home (again)
I don’t know if this speaks to my complete lack of creativity or not, but I managed to come up with the exact same title for this blog post as I did a year ago! I made this family’s portraits last year and called the post “Four Girls at Home“. Brilliant writer that I am, I came up with the amazingly unoriginal title again for my second session with this family. But hey, I’ve added the “(again)”, so all is redeemed.
I love working with families over time, as I mentioned in a recent post about another family. It’s a comfortable way to shoot, and I get to see the kids grow up, and I get to see old friends again. And so it was again, with this family of four girls.
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Raul (model portfolio shoot)
Raul hired me a month or so ago to get his model portfolio started. He didn’t have any images yet, so we had to plan for the maximum amount of variety. That meant a flexible location and as many wardrobe changes as we could manage. With those goals in mind, we headed down to Ventura Harbor, which had boats and docks, a retail area for manmade structures as background, and a beach across the street. We got some useful images in the marina area, but the beach images are the ones that really speak to me the most.
Raul, as you can probably tell, is a yoga buff. Lives and breathes it, from what I could tell. He was so enthusiastic about yoga, he’s planted the seed in my head…I’m thinking about looking into it! It’ll be a long time before I’m practicing it on the beach in a speedo though. Sorry, ladies.
So to torture Raul, I told him to slowly lower his torso and arm until it just blocked the sun in the above shot, and then he had to hold it. Then I made him do it about fifteen more times. Hey I wanted the best yoga-position-sunset-blocker shot I could get!
(If you leave a non-spam comment on my blog, I will donate a canned food item to the local food bank.)
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Point Mugu (Family Portrait)
This is my third year making this family’s portraits. I like being able to work with a family over time, because I get a chance to know them, see their kids grow up, and build a relationship. Not to mention, the familiarity makes for a wonderfully relaxed session!
I’ve made all this family’s portraits on the beach (see last year’s here). The mom loves the beach, and the dad really wanted to do something different. And in these sorts of situations I’ve long since learned, mom wins. 
But to make things a little different, we decided to increase the challenge level, and make the images at a rocky beach instead. So we chose a location near Pt. Mugu, with the iconic Mugu Rock in the background. This location is tricky though, and I’ve only shot here once before (several years ago). The tide has to be low, or there’s absolutely no beach. It’s windy. And it helps if the shoot is in winter, so that Mugu Rock is side-lit at sunset rather than a stark silhouette.
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Horacio (model portfolio shoot)
Horacio contacted me awhile back and we’ve been waiting for schedules to free up. He wanted to do something ‘architectural’, and suggested the local community college. I scouted the area a couple of times, which was made easier by bringing my kids to see the big cranes at the construction site on campus. Talk about multi-tasking! I focused in on the library, which had a very modern, clean look. Horacio and I decided it would be best to shoot ‘guerilla-style’, just show up on a Sunday evening and shoot, and hope for the best. But the cops showed up…
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Dana at the Harbor (model portfolio shoot)
This was one of those shoots where you wonder and hope and pray that it’s all going to work out well! Fortunately, it worked out really well. But it was looking dire for awhile.
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Tennis, Anyone? (Model Portfolio Shoot)
This shoot was “personal work,” i.e. I did it for my own purposes rather than at the behest of a client. It was a quick shoot, zero budget, single theme, no wardrobe changes or big productions. But I knew how I wanted it to look in my head, and it turned out pretty close. I like when that happens! Happy accidents are great, but so are happy “on purposes”. Ok so I’ve got the concept, now to find a model, a location, wardrobe and a whole bunch of tennis balls…all for free.
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