I had the opportunity to go to New York Fashion Week as a photographer for Uptempo Magazine. It was one of the best experiences of my life and I am so thankfully that I was asked to be a part of it. I took a bunch of photos on my phone (which you probably have already seen if you follow me elsewhere in social media land), but in case you haven't, here they are!
January has been a fun month for me. I went into the new year wanting to redo my portfolio and I had the chance to work with a number of New York agency models. In the span of nine days I shot 12 models and made some great connections. Blog posts will be coming of my new work but first here are behind the scenes photos of my shoots!
Looking through comp cards from APM Models New York.
Shooting with Christina from APM.
Lots of time spent in from of the computer.
Hair and makeup room at KB1111 Model Agency.
Jessica and Michael from KB1111.
The models love Benji.
Two looks with ReAnn from APM.
Loved shooting this fashion shoot with Ella from APM.
I haven't updated my blog in almost a month! A lot has changed since my last post. I've moved to New York! It was time to take on the city and I'm so excited! Lauren O'Jea and are moving together to take on the makeup and photography world respectively.
Lauren and I wanted to do a photo shoot with our favorite girls before we left. So on October 21st we shot Mandy, Haley, Drea, Tori, Sabrina, Cassie, and Emilia with Lauren and Katie Bouchard on makeup, Kelly Thomas on hair, and Fran Collazo on wardrobe styling. It was such a big shoot and it was so much fun. I can't show the photos just yet but here are some Instagram shots taken by Lauren, Sabrina, Caity Sherlock, and myself while the girls were getting ready and at our super secret location.
I was so happy that this was my last shoot before the move. I love these girls so much and some of them have been with me since the beginning of my photography career. They mean the world to me and I will miss them so much.
Sunday night I made my way to New York to shoot DJ Silver Medallion for a look book with PLNDR. The heatwave in the city was in full effect. We all were pouring sweat but we made the trip from Brooklyn to Coney Island. I've never been to Coney Island so it was pretty awesome checking it out even for a little bit. I'm not a fan of amusement park rides but I would definitely go back to hang out and see the sights. We only had a limited time shooting but we had so much fun.
I had the pleasure of shooting Timeflies for a lookbook for PLNDR in New York City last week. PLNDR is Karmaloop's extremely popular flash sale website. Danielle of popular fashion blog We Wore What was the stylist. Mandy was my lovely assistant for the day who went above and beyond the call of duty. It was such a fun whirlwind of a day and I was so lucky to be able to photograph Cal and Rez. They are going to blow up so check them out now before they make it big. A big thanks goes out to Heather for asking me to be a part of this shoot.
I can't wait to show everyone the photos but in the meantime here are some behind the scenes photos. Photos from Heather's, Timeflies', and my Instagrams.
Last Saturday, Shawn and I had the chance to help out on a look book shoot for PLNDR, a flash sale website created by Karmaloop. I met the woman running the whole thing, Heather, a few days beforehand and asked if there were a few more people needed on the shoot. She said yes we offered to drive. Now at first I thought that the shoot was in Boston since that's where her office is but actually it was in New York. Not only that but we would be needing to bring four other people. Six people in Shawn's Kia Rio5? That made me nervous but there was no way I was missing this shoot. Thankfully two cars were going to New York and we would only have to drive everyone back on the way home.
The photographer Nick flew in from Shanghai the night before so even though he was wicked jet lagged he did an amazing job on the shoot. There were two stylists on the shoot, Cassandra and John. I know and love Cassandra because of doing our first Trunk Show video on her. Once we got there and saw how much clothing needed to be upacked and checked in, I became the styling assistant. It was cool being there and doing something other than photography. It is important to see how all aspects of a production works and understand it so you can appreciate those individuals even more.
It was a denim look book so there were jeans, jackets, button ups, t-shirts, and a TON of footwear all laid out, ready to be styled. There were seven male models for the shoot, all bloggers and editors of magazines. The men were:
I (along with Shawn and everyone else with an iPhone) on the shoot Instagramed throughout the entire shoot. Also there were two different behind the scnes videos being filmed while we were there so when they are released I'll be sure to share them here!
They shot in the studio along with outside on the street so to protect the shoes we had to tape the bottom of the shoes to protect them. It was not fun pulling the tape off.
The KarmaloopTV office is so much fun. There were bikes and a ping pong table and masks all over the place. Ryan and Shawn had some fun with the masks.
Shawn with Jermaine, the editor of Vibe. I cant.
The best onesie. Ever.
Finally it was time to wrap up the photo shoot and head home, stopping for dinner at Rogue first. I was so glad that we got to participate on this shoot and I can't wait to work on more!
This is one of those before and afters where not much had to be done to the before. The before shot looks good but after looking at it for awhile I wanted to warm up the photo, especially around the hair and skin, pump up the colors of the scarves, and darken the area around the girls to draw the focus just on them. All this was achieved just by using curves and layer masks, a little dodge and burn, and gradients.
Recently I shot for designer Maria del Carmen Mercado with Lauren O'Jea and Jeannine "J9" Calia on makeup and hair respectively. As I was editing a beauty shot for the girls, I decided to try out some new editing techniques. I never have shared a before and after before so I thought that it would be cool sharing some every once in awhile. Click the photo to see the before and after larger. I also decided to make a version in black and white, which I may actually like more than the color version.
Last week I shot an event for celebrity hair stylist, Oribe at Bijou night club in the theater district in Boston. I actually had no idea what I'd be shooting, it all happened so fast. Really all I knew was it was for Oribe and I had to be in Boston at 9:30 in the morning.
The event was for Oribe to do a few demonstrations on models in front of local hair stylists. Then after a lunch break all the hair stylists would be doing the same hairstyle showed to them on their own model. It was an extremely long day but it was a lot of fun and I met some amazing people that I'll be working with in the future.
Photos of Oribe's models for the day.
Photos from the event.
Oribe and I.
I'll let you in on a little secret. I hate the beach. Ok, maybe I don't hate them but I definitely don't do beaches. I don't like hot sand and I hate stepping on broken seashells. I don't swim and I hate even walking at the edge of water. It's always too hot and I never have anything to wear to the beach. So when Amanda said she wanted to shoot at the beach, I wasn't too pleased. But of course I did it and I survived. Doesn't mean I'm going back to the beach any time soon.
I also did the makeup for this shoot, which was a first for me. Don't be too harsh!
Amanda // Model Mayhem
I started July on a high note with shoot with model Andrea, hair stylist Jeannine, and makeup artist Elizabeth. We met Andrea through our friend Stefan who I spotlighted last year. The shoot was really fun and relaxed. We were going for a natural beauty look. Really simple yet gorgeous.
I met Elizabeth on Model Mayhem. Immediately I knew I wanted to work with her. I always enjoy working with new makeup artists and hair stylists. I ran into Jeannine at The Whiskey Republic for an event they were having and we got to talking. We were always running into each other but never had a chance to sit down and just talk. She said she was interested in working with me and as we were talking Andrea showed up so I thought that was perfect timing. Through a few Facebook messages we planned out the shoot and were ready to go that next Friday.
Elizabeth and Jeannine did an amazing job on hair and makeup. It's beautiful in it's simplicity. I didn't want to go overboard with the editing because it would take away from the photos (and then I think they would start looking like the pics floating around Tumblr). I really love how they came out. The shoot was so much fun and they were an amazing team to work with.
Since I now have video editing software and a computer that won't crash every time I open up Final Cut, I'm made a behind the scenes video. Expect a ton more of these videos from my upcoming shoots.
Elizabeth // Website // Facebook // Model Mayhem
Jeannine // Model Mayhem
I love looking at photos of people's workspaces and computer set ups. I am in quite a few groups on Flickr dedicated to showing off desks and workspaces. It inspires me to think up with my dream workspace would be like.
Right now I'm at the office where I edit travel videos. I'm always cleaning and organizing the space because it gets cluttered really fast. I just cleaned up so I wanted to make a quick post of my workspace at the office. All photos were taken with the ShakeItPhoto iPhone app.
My work computer is a Mac Mini (I believe it's the first generation with 512 MB - video editing is painful on this machine) with a 21 inch monitor and I edit on Final Cut Pro 5. That's my new MacBook Pro in the foreground.
Lacie external hard drive with Panasonic MiniDV camcorder.
Microphone and random DVCAM tape. I have no idea what's on that tape.
Container with a bunch of MiniDV tapes from various trips to Italy (I've never been to Italy, the people I work for have).
My Instagram screensaver, Screenstagram, on my MacBook Pro.
And last but not least, every office needs a nice view.
All of us took so many behind the scenes photos last night they deserve their own post. Check out the final images here.
Erinn of HeadsWillRoll doing Mulan's hair.
Shawn hanging out before he had to set up the lights.
Lauren O'Jea doing makeup.
Lily meowed which apparently concerned Mulan.
A Daft Punk dance party happened at some point in the shoot.
Lovers.
Lily wanted to be part of the shoot.
The shoot was so much fun and now I'm off to do it all over again so I need to wrap this post up and get out of here. Check out more BTS photos on Lauren O'Jea's facebook fan page and Mulan's blog.
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