The Anatomy of a Photoshoot

Have you ever wondered how a fashion shoot goes down?
Well, on the off chance that you have, I'm going to walk you through one that I did recently.

The shoot I'm going to show you was for a fabulicious feather vest that was just to die for.
The photographer was the amazing Kelly Cappelli, the hair guru was the genius Will Zecco, the model was Tamara Anthony, (one of those ridiculously beautiful girls who also happens to be fantastic fun) and we shot it at my favorite studio out here, Studio 5.

Now, the lovely Tamara is a brunette, and when we were looking at the vest, and at the concept


for the shoot, we thought it might be really cool to put her in a blonde wig.
Prior to a big shoot happening, there are meetings with the creative team (us) and meetings with the client/ad agency/marketing people etc all seeking out a meeting of the minds.



The vest was very pale, starting out white and graduating color to a soft pink. I didn't want to overwhelm it or detract from it with a solid or strong lip, so I opted for a very dark and dramatic eye, and a soft wash of mouth.
Tamara has one of those amazing faces that you can do anything with, and she always looks drop dead gorgeous, so that gave me a lot of freedom.
I have bags of lashes, and in this case chose to use a really cool pair by Make Up Forever.




At this stage we were in what I consider 'preliminary make up'. The framework is all set, but once hair is completed I know I may need to do some adjusting. Once we have her under the lights we run some test frames to see how it all looks, and I make any final adjustments needed before we start shooting.

So the beautiful brunette now heads over to Will to get wigged up.



The vest is hanging on the rail behind Will

Will is super clever with hair, and can really do anything you can think up. He can also create hair that can withstand anything, including fans blowing high speed, wild dancing, hanging upside down - you name it.
Did I mention that along with some big gleaming diamonds he's a girl's best friend?




I love watching him work!




Now we put Tamara under the lights, and Kelly starts working her magic. Kelly has the most amazing creative vision. I love love love shooting with her!!!
I can stand right behind her and watch over her shoulder, and still be completely wowed when she sends me the images to look at.
In her mind's eye she can see so much more than the rest of us. She can paint her world with light and shadow and texture, and frankly, thats a huge part of what makes her such a brilliant and highly sought after photographer.

I can't show you the final pictures of the vest, but I can show you a couple of the make up images.



I so love what I do! Its pretty cool when you get to do fun things with inspiring people and call it work.

Isn't life fun?