Happy new year!

:) :) :) :) :)

Nastya and Kat.

When MUA is tired

Nina Just is one of the craziest MUA's I've seen! Super funny gal! She was very tired after a lengthy make up session where she had to put make up on 5 models using elaborate snow imitations, liquids and body paints. I asked her to pose for just 10 minutes and these shots I guess were the most suitable to her mood that day. Anyway, make sure your MUS is rested and fed. :)

Underwear Ad

Alex contacted me for some underwear ad style image and told me that they had to be slightly "editorial". He is trying to make it in the fashion biz and I was glad to help him out.

The light was dramatic and the Quadra worked like a champ! The deep octa never seizes to amaze me as well. what a great versatile tool! Gosh, I need to be backed by Elinchrom! Help me Frank! :)

Maxim Magazine

Or so I wish... ;)

I 've told myself many times that stuff that one sees in MAim magazine (american version where there's no nudity), is not really worthy of exploring as it desn' have any soul nor it has any artistic value. However during this shoot with Masha, a pro Russian model from Moscow, I realized how important to at least pretend that you are shooting for a famous publication. It has to be done professionaly, it has to be clean, you have to forget your lack of experience and just go with the flow.

The shoot lasted barely an hour, and we knocked out around 90 frames which is a very small number at least for me. The reason for such a short hoot was the weather outside the studio (-25F)

and therefore the heaters inside the large studio facility couldn't keep up with the cold. Masha was fully dressed for the light check, poses, etc and then we asked her to start posing for real, barely dressed. She was a trooper and just a very nice person, who never complained, whined or asked for anything (pro models are not just pro model looks)

below are the 2 shots we kept.

Fury!!

I am currently visiting my family in Russia and boy is it cold here!!
We had a fashion editorial shoot of G. Skandal's new collection "Aliens" and it reminded me of the band called Rammstein. As you all may guess their music was playing VERY loudly during this rather tough shoot.

Lots of takes, lots of coffee and brandy, since it ws -30C outside and this huge facility is tough to heat up.

3 lights were used.

Stripbox with a red gel

Stripbox in the front

Small softbox for the BG.

hairspray and lighters for the fire.

Red gels for some reason gave a blurry effect and I have to look into that.

Also the Hensel Pro lights are prety darn slow in the recycle department so the shoot went like this -

click - tell a joke. click - cry a little. click - remember a curse word... yeah. fun but not really to much of it. I wish I had a profoto with its 10 clicks p/s. :)

Klara - my new favorite model

Klara is from Otto Models. Wanted something she didn't have in her book yet. I hope she likes... 
One freakin' amazing model!! She is also a photographer so she knows what's going on in my poor head during a shoot. 

I love Dockweoler Beach and I've been wanting to shoot there for a while now. The only problem is that the airplanes there are so loud that by the end of the day you lose your voice trying to screwm the directions to the model... lol. I resorted to communicating in a more of a straght forward way (last pic) :)

Klara came back to our house and she as so cold that beach shoot that a nice hot tub was a must. Good thing we didn't pack the lights and the cameras away yet, so here's one from the set. It is just one (out of 50) that I had the time to retouch and retouching was the hardest part here, since fair skinned people tend to get very red and blotchy while sitting in a 130 degree water... one tough retouch, and no you can't see the before.