May 2011 US Vogue Editorial - Caroline Trentini, Photo: David Sims, Stylist: Camilla Nickerson

David Sims photographed Caroline Trentini for the May 2011 issue of American Vogue on February 28-March 1, 2011 in London with stylist Camilla Nickerson. 

May 2011 American Vogue Editorial 
Model: Caroline Trentini 
Photographer: David Sims
Stylist: Camilla Nickerson
Makeup: Diane Kendal
Hair: Guido Palau 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photography College

Should you or shouldn’t you go

When young photographers are starting out and beginning to learn the technical craft of photography, there  seems to be a lot of confusion on whether or not photography college is the right choice. I get a ton of emails asking me whether or not I think it’s important to go to college and/or to get a degree in photography. And honestly it’s one of those questions only you can answer. Everybody is different and everyone learns in their own way. For some people, college is an important, integral part of their growing process and really want to participate in that kind of schooling process. Others are more self-motivated and learn better by doing. Experience is their best teacher and they flourish without the restraints of a school environment, all aspects of it including peer pressure and social mine fields. I can tell you about my experience and you can use that insight to help determine your own destiny but I, in no means whatsoever, would ever assume I know what’s best for you.  So while I’m eager and happy to share my story, I suggest asking a lot of different people their opinion and do your research. One person’s perspective is not enough when you’re really on the fence about something this important and life changing.

I was 17 when I decided to become a professional fashion photographer. While I had the inspiration and the vision and the ideas, I had a very tough time mastering the technical aspect of photography. So in other words, I had the concepts, I just didn’t know how to execute them technically to see the results. And I was probably weakest in lighting. Composition and angles, I was pretty good at as well exposure and depth of field. I got that stuff fairly easily on my own by reading books and experimenting. But lighting!! That was a killer.

I put together a portfolio in high school and got accepted into Otis/Parsons in Los Angeles for my first year of college. I was really eager to learn how to light and then I was pretty much going to go out and conquer the world, or so I thought. I had a father that was willing to pay for Art College. If you don’t have financial help and you’re going to have to take out loans or work part time to put yourself through school, that’s something to consider. Because the work load is going to be tough and holding down a job that can support you is going to be even tougher. And student loans are a bitch to pay off. So that’s one thing to really take into consideration when considering photography college.  In my family, education and college were very important. My father went to USC and he was very proud of his Alma Mater. So he was willing to pay for me to get a college education and a diploma. In saying this, let me assure you, that these things have never held importance to me. ( I told you, I was always the rebel kid). But I knew for myself, that the discipline of school and the fact that I HAD to show up and I HAD to participate was going to be the catalyst to me learning the craft. I am not a very disciplined person. I needed the pressure of keeping a GPA and I needed the stimulation and competition from my peers to improve and challenge myself to work harder and thus proving results by doing good work.  So after my first year at Otis/Parsons, I got accepted into The Art Center College of Design. Now this was back in 1984 when the school was tough to get into and even tougher to stay in. It was not only very expensive, even back then, but it had a grueling work load. I mean, the school opened at 7 AM and closed its gates at 11PM, I think, and I honestly was in school that many hours, 6 days a week, during my first year there. I had no social life, I had to break up with a boyfriend about half way through my first term, I never saw or hung out with friends outside of my classmates, I was busy!! But I’ll tell you something: I learned. And I learned a lot. Especially about lighting.

Art Center Campus

But I can also tell you, that first year of lighting classes were not about lighting beautiful models. I was lighting toasters and wine glasses and shiny metal objects and occasionally my classmates. I carried 7 classes my first term and we had an assignment due every week from every class. If the assignment was rejected on the critique wall then we had to re-do that assignment, plus get the new assignment in by the following week. It was daunting. We worked hard at Art Center back in those days. I’m not sure how difficult it is now. I’ve heard that they aren’t as tough in the admissions process. Back then, it took me 3 tries to get in. My work was deemed too “avant-garde” and they wanted me to take some night classes in lighting to get accepted. I did what it took to get in there because I knew that I lacked the technical skills to master my concepts and I would learn those skills at Art Center. I also have to say that back in those days, there were only a handful of good photography colleges to choose from. There was Brooks Institute,RISD (Rhode Island School of Design), Pratt and Parsons. Nowadays, with the digital explosion and everyone including half of their family wanting to be a photographer, there are photography colleges everywhere! I mean, I’m blown away at how many photography colleges and schools there are out there. I mean, how do you choose? Do you want a degree? Do you just want some basic classes to hone your skills? Do you need a degree? Is it important to actually go to school?

Okay, so here’s the low down. While Art Center is a very prestigious school and I’m grateful to my father for footing that extravagant bill (he spent around $100K and that was between 1984-1987). Yeah, a truckload of money. You got that right. But no one has ever asked me to produce that diploma that made my father so proud! I’ve been asked if I went to school, but no one has asked for proof of my diploma.

Did I become a better photographer because I went to school? Well, yes. I did.

Did Art Center prepare me for the “Real World” out here? No, it didn’t. Nothing does but cold, hard experience.

If I had it to do over again, would I go? My first question would be, who’s paying? If I had to pay that kind of money to put myself through photography school, I couldn’t go. In my early twenties, which is when I attended, I didn’t have that kind of money and with the workload, it would’ve been impossible to work and go to school.

So my short answer to anyone asking whether or not they should go to college is:

1. Can you afford it?
2. Can you live and eat while going to school?
3. Are you going to be taking out massive loans to put yourself through college?
4. My last question would be, How important is getting a diploma?

Like I said earlier, my father wanted me to get a diploma because education was important to him. But if you’re serious about becoming a professional photographer, having a diploma doesn’t amount to much. At the end of the day, your images in your portfolio are what get you the job, not your diploma.

If you need the discipline of school to learn, then school would be a good option. If you’re motivated to go out and experiment and learn on your own, you don’t need school. I would recommend to anyone who’s just starting out to assist a pro photographer and learn from them. You can pick up lighting set ups and learn technical skills right there on the job AND you’re earning money instead of paying someone to teach you. At the very least, intern for someone and work part time so you can learn from a pro and then your part time job can support you while you’re learning. Another great way to learn where you don’t have to spend the money for a degree is workshops. It’s a small investment and you can learn from the pros. It doesn’t have to necessarily be fashion oriented either. You can learn lighting and exposure through a lot of the weekend or even week-long workshops being offered world wide these days. DVD’s and tutorials are another great way to learn. Blogs, the internet, websites, there are literally thousands of them out there giving great tips and advice on lighting and technical knowledge.

It’s really up to you and your financial situation. My personal story is that I’m glad I was fortunate enough to have a father who paid for me to go to college. But I kept learning out of school and nothing beats learning through experience. And school ultimately did not prepare me for the real world of commercial/fashion photography. School can’t even begin to teach one how to deal with the politics and the marketing and the ins and outs of developing relationships with clients. That education is learned through the school of hard knocks. And I will say that I have met plenty of professional photographers who did not go to college. They are self-taught and have done absolutely great in their careers. So do your homework, research the schools you’re thinking of attending, figure out how much money it’s going to take to get through school and live at the same time and then make a sound decision based on all of the above to decide if college is indeed something you need or if you can learn through assisting, workshops, DVD’s and experience! And best of luck to all of you out there trying to make this important decision!

Harper’s Bazaar Arabia Louis Vuitton

Shooting for the November Men’s Issue of Harper’s Bazaar Arabia

It’s such an incredible feeling when you really click with an art director or a fashion editor. It’s a rush, in fact. And that’s the way it feels when I work for Sally from Harper’s Bazaar Arabia. I am always excited for another opportunity to work with her again, we just have a mutual love for fashion and we are on the same page, aesthically! So when I got her email back in July about this men’s shoot, I was thrilled! There was about a 3 week lead in before she actually landed in LA so the first thing we started doing was looking for the perfect model and since we were also shooting the cover, the casting was very important!

There was a decent amount of prep work that went into this shoot and I’ll explain this to you now. While we were scouring LA for the perfect model, I set out to search  the perfect location for the shoot. Sally wanted something very “LA”, you know, sunny, and glossy and hip! But Harper’s was also doing this story to coincide with the Louis Vuitton Trophy, the sailing race set to take place in Dubai from November 12th through the 27th!  And  because the shoot was with Louis Vuitton clothing exclusively, their people had some input too and they wanted a nautical theme sort of enter-twined with the story to enhance the Trophy race. So I first reached out to rowing clubs or considered renting an actual rowing boat. We realized that since we had to get 6 pages and a cover in one day, maybe the rowing boat would be too limiting. I reached out to some Yacht clubs too, but there weren’t any that were really aesthetically interesting to shoot in Southern California. That’s when I thought of a pool located in the Hollywood Hills that I had shot at about 2 months before this shoot came up. Situated high above Hollywood Boulevard, this house had all the glamour of Hollywood and then some! It was modern, sleek and bright. But the main star of the house is it’s pool. Beautifully “poised” in the front yard, the pool looks out over the city of Los Angeles with lots of white concrete surrounding it and tons of shooting opportunities. I forwarded Sally some outtakes of the pool from my previous shoot and she approved the location. So the location was nailed down first. The casting took a bit longer. I emailed the top LA modeling agencies and gave them the job break down and started forwarding the packages once I got them to Sally in Dubai. We went back and forth for awhile until her and her staff decided that Dylan Griner from Photogenics Models was our “it” model for this shoot. With his “rugged” but still beautiful looks, he was the perfect model for this kind of shoot.

So we had the location set and we had the model. The last thing we needed were some props to fill out the story. Because Sally picked up the samples in Paris from Louis Vuitton, we could have the model actually get in the pool with the clothing and get them wet. Originally I put together a shot list to include a lot of shots in the pool or just outside of it. But we needed something extra to read “Nautical!” While Sally was actually flying from Dubai to Paris to pick up the clothing from Vuitton, I was at Omega Cinema Props in Hollywood and photographing potential props for our shoot. Omega caters to the movie industry so they have football stadium sized buildings stocked full of everything you can possibly imagine in the way of props! They have them sorted by country or era. Or themes. When I called them to ask if they had a nautical section, the answer was yes, “yeah, sure, they’re all in building C”. It’s really awesome to visit there. SO many possibilities!! I drove down to Omega and took a bunch of pictures of different type of boating rope and buoys, different oars, just anything that looked interesting and Nautical.

When Sally arrived in LA, I met her at her hotel to take a look at the clothing and show her the pictures from Omega. She approved the ones she wanted and the shoot was set! This was 2 days before the shoot!

Our call time was 12 Noon because I didn’t want to start shooting in the middle of the day when the sun was directly overhead. Why? Because the light isn’t very attractive at that time of day. The morning of the shoot day, Tyler and I headed to Omega to pick up the props that I had put on hold.  We then headed over to the house to get our equipment unloaded and set up before the rest of the crew arrived. David picked up Sally from her hotel so she didn’t have to take a cab all the way from Santa Monica, which if you know LA, Santa Monica feels like it’s in a different time zone when you’re up in the Hollywood Hills!  By the time they arrived, the lighting was set up and Dylan, our model, was in make up. Sally used a guest room at the house to lay out the clothing and we had Dylan try on the clothing to see what worked best on him. Meanwhile, I was busy with Tyler working out the order of the shots and how the sun was going to move over the pool area we were shooting in. Because of the brightness of that summer sun in LA, I decided to use a neutral density filter. The main purpose of a ND filter is to cut down the amount of light that passes through the lens. So, in other words, I didn’t have to shoot at F16 to get my exposure. I own a ND 2 which has a filter factor of 2 stops. That means I have to open up 2 stops when I put that filter on. So I could shoot with a better aperture AND the ND filter also darkens the sky and helps keep colors saturated. So I knew the blue sky and pool water would really pop with an ND filter as well as being able to control my aperture. Meghan Stoll from AIM Artists was our men’s groomer for the day. She gave Dylan that “perfect” tousled hair look which looks like it wasn’t worked on but actually was. She also evened up his skin with a little foundation. Obviously we’re not going to slap on a ton of make up on a male model, especially for a pool shoot.

The day went really smoothly with zero drama. I want to reach out here and give a warm and sincere big thank you to Adam Press for letting us take over and invade his incredible home in the Hollywood Hills. We had our computers set up in the dining area, his living room became our grip room with all our gear laid out on the floor so we could run and grab an extra C-stand or whatever we needed. His guest bedroom, as mentioned, became the wardrobe room and the kitchen area was Meghan’s grooming domain. And then of course we shot the entire story in and around the pool. We we did indeed take over his house, if only for a few hours, but still. He was very gracious in letting us shoot there and I’m very grateful that he did because the shots turned out so lush and rich! And indeed the location had a lot to do with that.

Also a special thanks to Daniel Castro and his friend for the extra hand in assisting that day. Like I always say, it take a village to produce these shoots. There’s lighting issues to take into consideration and we have to trouble shoot constantly. One thing we decided to do on this particular shoot was to use our strobes as the sun and over power the sun. We were able to do this by positioning the lights at the angle the sun was coming in and then using a strong enough power of watts, we were able to trick the camera and sort of “over-ride” the sun. Slapping on the ND filter gave it some depth and saturation and there it is: our finished product!

All Images ©2010 Melissa Rodwell Photography

And to add one more amazing aspect to an already great day, Matthew Wardenaar and Evan Matthews from EME Productions came out and shot our BTS video. These two are great guys who I met through one of my LA seminars and they’ve become like family! Not only are they some pretty handsome boys, they’re genuinely sweet. Oh and they’re pretty damn talented as well. Although, I think it’s a one sided love between us. I think they just love us because of our famous In and Out Burger’s catering on our shoots! LOL. Just kidding. That’s an inside joke. But  Check Out their VIDEO that they did for us, so we can share with you the day of the shoot!

KURV Magazine

How My Gothic Chapel Idea Came to Life

I have had this idea swimming around in my head for years,  but I could never find the right place to shoot it. First of all, Gothic chapels aren’t exactly on every other street corner in Los Angeles. And flying to Europe with my team was not an option due to budgetary limitations. Ha. That’s a joke……this was just an idea I had that I wanted to shoot so there was no budget, or in other words, I was taking care of the budget out of my own pocket. But as luck would have it, I ran into Naomi Burrows and I told her my idea and she was very excited about collaborating on it with me!  So my little Gothic chapel was constructed out of side walls and props in the Out of Frame Studio just behind Calumet on Highland Boulevard, smack in the middle of Hollywood, California!

(Click on Images to Enlarge)

Working with a set builder is wonderful for many different reasons but one of the things I love most about it is being able to pick and choose which props they pull. Naomi would be out at prop houses and text me photos of beat up wooden church altars and I got to choose which beat up wooden church altar I wanted inMY shoot. Fabulous! I love that kind of control!

Shiffy Kagan lent her genius again with the styling. We had a few short phone calls, a few emails with mood/inspiration ideas bounced back and forth between the two of us and again, she pulled what I wanted and what I asked for as well as contributing her own brilliance with a few pieces and ideas. That is the definition of a good stylist. And I worked with Camille Clark for make up and Robert Mefford for hair. I really love working with Robert but it seems the last six months he’s in been in NY more often than LA. However, since my own move to NY, I hope I get to work with Robert much more! The whole team is with AIM Artists.

But what I found most interesting about this shoot was the last minute change I had to make to the lighting. After spending the better part of the early morning doing lighting tests, I wasn’t 100% happy with the results we were getting. The strobe effect was too bright, too “brashy”, especially for a dim, candle lit, small Gothic Chapel. The lighting had to reflect the period, or stay roughly close to the era. So what did I do? I jacked up my ISO to 1600 and turned off the strobe on the profoto power packs and shot with the modeling lights only. From the first couple of light tests on this set up, I was pleased. A little tweaking here and there ( I had to move my key light a little closer in to the models to get more light on them ) but we had it nailed.

I wanted to shoot a twisted little story and I needed models that could EMOTE! And thankfully, I got it! Enel from Next Models in LA and Masha from Fenton Moon in NY were my girls for this shoot and I took a bit of a gamble because I hadn’t worked with either one of them before. One thing I look for when I’m casting a model who I know needs to emote is I look for it in her book and if she has it, it’s a safer bet than a girl who appears she doesn’t move or emote a lot in her portfolio. I also ask their agents about them as well. And honestly, the best thing you can do when you’re casting for a certain something is to actually meet the model and see for yourself.  For this shoot, I was very happy with both Enel and Masha. Both girls played off one another and moved really well. It was a joy to work with both of them.

KURV Australia picked up the story in August and I patiently waited until it hit the newsstands this month so I could share it with you. KURV is awesome! If you ever get the chance, buy a copy. The paper and the content are exquisite. Since they only publish 3 times a year, the magazine is more like a collector’s item. It really is a great magazine and I’m proud to be in it this month.

If I don’t get a chance to say it, Happy Holidays to everyone! And thanks so much for all the Facebook LOVE on my Birthday! That was truly heartwarming to read all the birthday wishes from all over the world. My blog readers rule! I’m really blessed to have such loyal and lovely readers!! God Bless. See you next year! xoxo

Additional Images

An Emerging Fashion Photographer

A little belated, but Happy New Year to everyone! I hope that 2011 is a very healthy and prosperous year for all! The big news for me is that I moved to New York City over the New Year holidays and I’ve been settling into my new life! Unfortunately, it’s one of the reasons I’ve been off the radar……unless you follow me on Facebook!

I thought a great way to start off the new year would be to showcase one of my blog readers! I’d like to make this a permanent addition to the blog as well. Every couple of months I’ll be showcasing a young, up and coming fashion photographer who’s work I strongly feel shows potential.  I’ll interview them and write up about how he or she is making it happen for themselves!

So let’s dive right in and introduce you to someone who I feel has a great eye and therefore, a tremendous potential to make it to the top, if he so desires! I actually met William David Walsh through Facebook. He sent me a friend request awhile ago, after sending me a message on how he follows my blog and is a supporter of the efforts I try to make in enlightening young photographers on the world of the fashion photography industry. I then found William’s updates either hysterically funny or the photography he’d post simply stunning and totally on the same page as my taste. I knew by seeing what William finds to be an interesting fashion photograph, that he too would have an interesting eye. After checking out his website one day, I proved I was right. While I can admit that William is still learning and experimenting, his tests prove to me already that he has “the eye” to begin with. And truth be told, whenever I’m doing research on an upcoming shoot and I am pulling images to put together a mood board, I actually send William a Facebook message and ask him if he can find a certain editorial that I’m looking for. I’ve never even met him, but I know he has done his homework and knows his fashion editorials and imagery and that’s a great way to learn how to become a better shooter.

At any rate, I wrote William and asked him a series of questions and to send me 10 of my favorite shots from his website. And here he is: William David Walsh! Truly a young photographer to keep your eye on:

How old are you?

22

When do you first pick up a camera and what prompted you to do so?

I picked up my first (working) camera late in life, actually. During my third year in high school I decided I wanted to go into gaming illustrating and as a result of that I purchased a Kodak point and shoot to capture images on the go ( for those reading between the lines yes my introduction to photography started with digital cameras, I’m an avid film lover now though and I work with the medium a lot ). Shortly after that a photography club was started and I entered my first competition back in Jamaica . After 3 merit awards I decided this was the road I wanted to down. Plus, being the impatient person I am I’d take two days in a digital darkroom vs painting for a week in an art studio any day.

When did you decide that fashion was the direction you wanted to go in?

I think it’s always been at the back of my head to go into fashion photography. I remember collecting Vogue covers and editorials to use for reference when painting in art class. Something about the glamour and drama behind fashion images always sucked me in. After about 2 years into photography school I came to realize that glamour and drama were far more painstaking than those glossy pages lead me to believe.

Do you have a day job? What’s it like to handle working and trying to find time to test for your book?

I do have a day job.  Retail….The glamorous life of a college student! Where balancing them is concerned, I work 40 hours a week and during those 40 hours all I can think about are ideas for shoots on my days off!

What photographer (s) inspire you the most? And what about their work moves you?

My biggest inspirations from the old school era are Helmut Newton and Richard Avedon. I absolutely love how simple and powerful the photographs from those two are, not to mention the passion they had for the medium. Newton especially had a major impact on my work. Believe it or not, I hated black and white photography at one point until I was introduced to his work through my visualization class. I can go on and on about how I admire his approach to shooting: simple, to the point and straight in your face! He wasn’t afraid of anything.

What are your plans for the future?

Publications…….publications……more PAID work and eventually turning photography into a full time profession….A little New York and Paris here and there wouldn’t hurt either…..

(All Images © William David Walsh Photography)

My Final Question is: Are you SURE about Fashion Photography as a Career?

Yes I definitely want to continue on the path of fashion photography.. I live it and breathe it… Nothing gets me excited like fashion and photography do!

And it takes that kind of passion and dedication to not only photography but to fashion as well that determines the success of a young, emerging fashion shooter. I’m quite impressed with Williams hard work and diligence. I see his Facebook updates where he is at his “day job” all the time but posting ideas or recent pictures from his latest tests. He works now with top modeling agencies in San Francisco and Los Angeles and has been published in Flasco Mag and Love, Sex and Dance Magazine. Here is a link to his website: http://www.williamdavidwalsh.com/#home

I’m a fan and I’m going to keep my eye on him! You should too!

In other news, there’s a lot to update you with but I’ll save that for the next post. I promise, though, it won’t take me a month to write it! Stay tuned! xoxo

Visualizing The Shot Before You Shoot!

I have to apologize for not posting more often. We arrived in New York City on January 3rd and I have been working non-stop since we moved here. With jobs for Ralph Lauren and Nike, which took me back to LA for a week to shoot and then back to NYC to finish the job, my schedule has been a whirlwind of exciting jobs and networking. I’ve also shot two amazing editorials which I’ll blog about as soon as they’re published! Let’s just say that my decision to move to New York was definitely a good one! I absolutely love it here and have acclimated to it faster than anyone could’ve have guessed I would.

Before I moved to New York City though, I had one last shoot in LA for Rusnak Automotive Group. Elizabeth Rusnak, Vice President of Rusnak and head of marketing and advertising for the company happens to have been my best friend in High School and after having a Good Bye dinner in Hollywood with “The Girls”, her and I decided to do another shoot together with my models and her cars! Trust me, Rusnak doesn’t sell ordinary cars. They sell high-end, luxury automobiles of the Rolls Royce, Bentley, Jaguar, Porsche caliber. I have worked with Elizabeth over the years on various projects and since we go way back, there’s a great collaboration between the two of us. Liz was witness to my initial discovery of photography, we even worked on the yearbook together in our Senior year of school waaaaay back in 1980!!

Because of time restraints for both Liz and I, we decided it was best to shoot the cars in one of the Rusnak warehouses.  It was your typical space, complete with awful fluorescent lighting and grey, dingy walls. But what was great about it was it’s actual size: it was big enough to move the cars around and get my lighting in there. I can shoot in a closet, but if I have my choice, honestly,  it’s nice to have a big space to get really creative in. Especially when you’re shooting big cars like the Rolls Royce Phantom!

I knew before I even shot this job that I was going to be working in this space, which I’ve shot in before. And I knew I would have to drop in different backgrounds. I decided that since I would be moving to NY in less than a month after shooting this, I would shoot some New York City nightscapes and strip those into the background. So I lit the set accordingly. I used a lot of flare and back light in order to recreate the look of headlights streaming into the car where the models were sitting. While I was shooting, I kept the background in mind and visualized what kind of “final” picture I was going to get after I included the retouching. It’s important to always have your final image in mind when you do a shoot. There is so much prepping that goes into my shoots, nothing is left to chance. However, there are times when I change the whole thing up the day of the shoot, depending on whether I had an outdoor shoot and the weather dictated the need for necessary change. Or perhaps the energy on set dictates a different direction. Even some styling “surprises” can change the direction. But for the most part, I research and plan way before my shoots so I can nail down the shot list before I even get to set.

I wanted to do a sexy, romantic shoot in the high-end cars.  So I knew I needed a male model as well as a female model. I had recently worked with Rina from Photogenics in Los Angeles and we had a really nice chemistry on the last shoot so I booked her again for this shoot. I love her long, thin body. She wears clothes like a dream! I wanted an edgy, “European” looking boy so we booked Lawrence for this shoot. Since I decided on using Rina first, it was then easier to cast my boy.

I placed them all over the place. Back seat, front seat, him in the front, her in the back, outside of the car, her alone……all different scenarios. And I shot with my wide angle lens, the 24mm for most of the day. I had a beauty dish, a large octabank, some parabolics on the background and we even popped in my trusty speedlight to add some extra flare. Just like I discussed in this previous post, I don’t use speed lights for any key lighting but they do lend themselves nicely as background light or interesting flare. Tyler sometimes held the speed light just off the car’s back end, pointing it towards the camera so I could get the effect of  headlights blasting into the car. Since my backgrounds were going to be New York street scenes, and NY is a crowded, busy place, plenty of interesting outside light was necessary to give this shoot a realistic feel. I guess if there’s anything to learn from this shoot it is to think before you shoot. Think about the final image you want before you get to the studio or the set. That way you can direct your lighting and models to formulate the final look.

All Images © 2011 Melissa Rodwell Photography

Styling was done by Rodney Burns, Make up by Johnny Saade from Artists by Timothy Priano and Hair by Adriana Trevizo, also from Artists by Timothy Priano.