A few distinguished gentlemen

Photoshoot with the Rolling Stones at the Carlyle Hotel, New York City. Unfortunately Mr. Ronnie Wood was indisposed, sadly.

White and Warren shoot

With model Celestine Rioux in East Hampton, New York.
Styling: Kusum Lynn
Hair and make up: Ash Orzol
Production: Keri Levitt Communication

Skins: Project - Chapter 1

Model: Jesse Lee Denning

Severely Belated 2010 Business Roundup

To keep it short, sweet and to the point:
- 34% business increase from 2009
- 6th year of growth in a row
- new notable clients include: Nicole miller, Badgley Mischka, Reem Acra, Vivienne Tam, Nel n'Co, SendTheTrend.com, Bjorn Borg, Showroom Seven (Seventh House PR) and Duffy (DZ Group),
- 2011 marks 10th year in business

Champagne s'il-vous-plait. Good news only and not much of a change from previous years. Let's hope that this pot-holed economy is keeping us inventive and on our toes.

A little peak into the darker side of our beloved New York City garment district

Project Runway casting: Your chance to....

....win and get so sick of the industry that you quit. Or make yourself look an egomaniac incapable of working for/with or for that matter against people. Nevertheless still one of my fav reality TV shows as it actually involves a maximum of talent and a minimum of scripted scenarios, other than the challenges of course. 

For more info: www.bunim-murray.com/prcasting

Fashion Blog Roundup #2: fashionista.com

In my humble opinion the Queen of fashion blogs. Simple, unpretentious layouts and just the right selection of stories. Not too mainstream, not too obscure. See for yourself at www.fashionista.com.

Memory Runway: Magdalena and the politics of bookers

Many of us photographers, designers, pr and production afficionados like to rant about model bookers. Considering that they deal with dozens of girls at a time, their respective schedules and clients, it's safe to say that they do more good than harm in the realms of industry chaos. Sure we all had our days where the model shows up late two hours as her agent forgot to tell her she's got a job to go to. I say: Nobody is perfect.

However, ever so rarely there will be a moment where a booker needs a major bitchslap right in his or her face. Prefereably with a diamond studded glove: a few years back a model by the name of Magdalena arrived fresh off the boat from Poland to start what was about to become a rock solid career. Only in New York City for a couple of weeks, a client of mine - while giving her a 10 second elevator look - booked her for our two day shoot after having gone through thirty to fourty girls that day.
On the first shooting day, things went splendidly well: Magdalena, with the looks of a slender Savannah cat, knows how to move in front of the camera and has the attitude of a professional killer. Then my phone rings. It's her booker of her New York agency, let's call her D.: "I'm calling you as nobody else's phone seems to work in your studio. Magdalena needs to go back to Poland. Her mother agency called and notified us that there is a family crisis. Don't tell her though, you should just finish the shooting day and send her over to us. I don't want her to worry at this point. We can send you other girls to replace Magdalena tomorrow." Not questioning what I've just heard I update my client's assistant who seemed more worried about the model's well being than the second shooting day. But once the initial little shock settled it became quite clear that it was all a lie. We called the client who gave us specific instructions as to how to deal with this: "Have the booker provide a copy of Magdalena's passport with US exit and re-entry stamps and we'll pay for the first day she worked for. Show us nothing and we'll pay nothing as the agency jeopardized our production and we'll hand it over to legal." And that was the end of that. Naturally our newbie girl never got paid as D. failed to prove she was speaking the truth. Moments later she appeared all over the Ralph Lauren website.

Good for Magdalena I say. And too bad for D. who is on my and any of my colleagues sh*tlist, if you don't mind me saying so. I don't have a problem whatsoever for a booker to do what's best for her models. But the way D. did it is something I and all others involved have a serious problem with. Trying to make us all feel bad, fuel drama into a false story while yanking her away from us. As if it was that hard to say: "We're so sorry but we can't have you keep the girl for another day due to high ranking demand. We'll be more than happy to replace her at no costs whatsoever." It's called good customer service. Unfortunately there is a severe lack of such from many vendors and service providers in the fashion industry. Too bad for them. And good for me, as good service comes quite easily to me.

But then again...nobody is perfect.

Fashion Blog Roundup #1

As part of a series featuring my fave fashionista blogs I'm starting with the diary like and charming www.fashiontoast.com. Simplistic, modern and clean in layout, it is delightful to watch glossed up point and shoot shots of Rumi in everchanging outfits writing about something as simple as... a day. Have a peak: http://www.fashiontoast.com/

renttherunway.com

Excited for my brand new client renttherunway.com, a so called netflix for dresses. Yup, you heard me: rent a designer dress for a fraction of its' cost, wear it, send it back and don't worry about having spent a fortune or getting spotted wearing that thing twice. My shoots with the wonderful RTR team which is run by Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Carter Fleiss are fantastic. The energy is always upbeat and enthusiastic. And I'd like to think that it shows:

Recession, shmecession.

What, me worry? With two pieces of good news that may not come easy: September '09 has been my best month ever while the third fiscal quarter has been by far the busiest quarter. I'm excited to say that more clients have found their way to my clicking cameras (with a little help from my friends) than any other year. And so far it looks like it will be the best year all together. Question is how much more than the previous year. Not that anyone but me would care. So why am I asking you? Hell, I don't know...maybe I just like to brag.

Current cinematography gigs: A&E Biography

I have been hired to act as one of the East Coast cinematographers for the A&E Biography series (Thanks M.!!), produced by Mark Mark Productions, NYC. Current productions I'm participating in are episodes on Green Day, The Jackson 5 (currently on hold due to the recent tragic events), Boys 2 Men and Kevin James. Duties consist of shooting interviews with journalists, producers, execs, writers and critics on location.

The crew is as always delightful. On a more coincidental note, the first interview we shot for the Jackson 5 doc with Soul/R&B connoisseur and writer Jason King three hours prior to Michael Jackson's death.

Cat fight: Rosemary Port and Liskula Cohen.

Between a word-clawed exploitative blogger, her club promoting boyfriend and a former Vogue model snapping at a New York Post reporter, it looks like some of our fashionista night owls need to cool it down a bit.. The whole jam here:

http://gothamist.com/2009/08/21/skank_blogger_fully_revealed.php

What goes around comes around. Or maybe not?

New Shoot for Sonya Rolin!

Exquisite, lavish, classic with an edge! Can you hear the diamond collared leopards purr? Styled by creative consultant and former Dolce & Gabbana fashion director Justo Artigas.

Two of my clients to be featured on Gossip Girl

I'm happy to see the PR wheels throttle for two of my fab clients: the always gorgeous Georgina Chapman from Marchesa and success story extraordinaire Tory Burch in person.

Source: http://fashionista.com/2009/08/when_marchesa_met_tory_burch.php

Vincent Gallo, charming as ever.

Read the story behind it here:

http://www.blackbookmag.com/article/fashion-week-vincent-gallo-will-track-you-down/4124

"Fashion Meets Finance" event accused of encouraging misogynistic old fashioned codes.

I'm sure the intentions of this particular event are well intended and beneficial for the fashion industry however seems to be bringing out the worst of both sides at once. Read the whole story here:

http://jezebel.com/5332436/doped-race-horses-ozwald-boateng--gluten+free-vodka-last-night-finance-guys-showed-me-the-world

Vogue Documentary awaited with anticipation. And here's why:

http://jezebel.com/5331447/ny-times-critic-vogue-documentary-like-watching-the-titanic-two-miles-out-to-sea

Cinematography going into effect!

The step has been made: My equipment resources have been expanded to uncompressed HD videography with a Panasonic HVX200a, hotlights, softboxes and various mics. A complete list can be found below. I'm as of now available for cine and video work. A reel is in progress and should be available on DVD and online within the next couple of months>

Panasonic HVX200a w/accessories
2 16 GB P2 cards
Bogen fluidhead heavyweight tripod
Skateboard dolly with 25ft. of PVC tracks (MOS only)

Shotgun mic,
2 Lavalier mics
1 Wireless lavalier mic kit
Boom pole, 9'
Shock mount
Various adapters for sound feeds
2 XLR-XLR cables
1 XLR-1/4"mini cables
1/4" mini to 1/4" mini cable, stereo
2 Phone jack cables, mono
1 RCA to RCA stereo cable


2 Lowell DP lights
3 Lowell Omni lights
2 Lowell Pro Lights
Chimera softbox, 36x48' w/ speedring
Nylon grid for softbox, 36x48'
2 Flexfill reflectors, 1 large, 1 medium
2 36" umbrellas, white
1 48" umbrella white
4 Matthew clamps
Conversion gels, spun glass, ND gels, color gels
2 Backdrop stands with cross bar, 9' high, 5-11' wide
1 Heavyweight light stand, 9'
5 Middleweight lights stands, 8'
2 Lightweight light stands, 7'
Adjustable boompole with counterweight, 8' max
3 25' extension cords
1 10' extension cord
2 power strips with circuit breakers
Replacement bulbs

Rubin Singer.

Mr. Rubin Singer's designs, a close to 14 hour photoshoot and a thorough team of 12, gave us results that others could only wish for as a look book!