Human Nest Kit - some Assembly Required

Lately Fred has been doing a number of portraits of people using the antique large format camera, and I've been helping with some set/hair/make-up here and there. We wanted to do a conceptual maternity portrait of Brandi, and when she mentioned that she was setting up the baby's room and deciding on colours, etc., I came up with a visual for "nesting".

Fred and I visited our local community garden, where we "un" dumped a large selection of branch trimmings to bring back to the studio so I could create the nest.

It didn't actually take that long to build the human-sized nest in our studio, and it was strangely attractive to me, like some kind of natural art installation.

Then I had an inspiration to see what it would look like with a Man Ray feel. So I gathered up all the odd little toys I've collected over the years, creepy little composition doll, Fred's vintage teddy, etc., and wove them into the nest. I really liked the effect, it added to the interest of the nest as art exhibit, but in the end I felt it drew too much attention from the subject - Brandi - so I took them away.

When Brandi showed up, she slipped into the shift I had created for her, I pinned up her hair and Fred was ready with film-holders loaded and a controlled natural light set ready. Brandi stepped in, Fred refined her posing and the captures were made. Timeless.

And finally, partly in fun, I put the "Human Nest Kit", on Craigslist, hoping someone would want to come and take it off my hands of make some other use of these cool branches. They're really quite lovely, but Fred says they have to go. Sigh.

Sweet Nostalgia

Ok, so I'm hanging around on a Saturday afternoon, looking up Madeleine Peyroux... whose voice sounds a lot like Billie Holiday, and I came across a sweet little Youtube video made from old family 8mm film. It made me smile. And hum along a bit. And feel a little nostalgic... and it's not even my family.

Take a minute to watch some authentic vintage footage of a traditional family dancing and celebrating and holidaying in the 50s/60's, set to "Getting Some Fun Out of Life" by Billie Holiday.

Maybe you'll adopt them as your "family", too!

Chloe for Bambi

Recently published in Bambi Magazine, this fashion story was shot on a really really COLD day in January or February, but look how effortlessly HOT Chloe makes it seem (pun definitely intended). Fabulous creations and fashions by Wendy Cook, and strong angles and moods created by Benjamin Kwan.

photography Benjamin Kwan
styling Wendy Cook
model Chloe @Charles Stuart
hair& make-up by me

Four looks, one face

Here's a little creative where we just wanted to stretch the boundaries a teeny bit and see how different one model could appear... within a fashion context, and without being cartoonish or using anything fake. So that she looked like it was her natural look in each case.

So, nothing crazy, but subtle differences in lighting, expression and make-up can create quite diverse moods and looks.

Photography Robert Kenney
Hair/make-up by me
Model Siobhan @ LizBell

My name's not "Edna".

Enda B

How do you go about freshening the image of a fashion store that appears to be named "Edna"? We all know "Edna" is not a name that's synonymous with fashion (unless you're a fan of The Incredibles).

Well, a good first step is to remove the capitalization.

enda b

When the first letter is capitalized it makes "Enda" read as a proper name, so your brain takes a short-cut and inserts the most common name it knows (Edna) with similar letters - sort of like auto-correct when you're texting... and we all know how wrong that can be! An additional advantage to using all lower-case is that the word now appears softer, friendlier, more youthful... and frankly, no longer like someone's stodgy old aunt.

Next, I develop a short phrase that says what enda b has to offer. Which is: head-to-toe styling using a thoughtfully planned out selection of established and emerging designer lines, personal shopping and attentive, warm and experienced staff. In short:

where everything comes together

Next, a talented stylist (Yvadney) pulls a selection of gorgeous S/S designer clothes and accessories fresh in the store for spring (DKNY, Elie Taharie, Nicole Miller, Michael Kors, PENNYBLACK, etc.), I book the perfect model (Lauren), and Fred shoots a lovely little campaign of casual-to-gala looks. You know, show the people what you've got. In store. Now. All at enda b... where it all comes together.

And for me, it also all came together - this was one of those incredibly satisfying projects where I had the fun of concepting the whole new look & logo, I got to produce, art direct and provide hair & make-up on a really fun shoot, and then I got to incorporate the shots in ads, direct mail, eblasts, signage and a brand new website.

Now that's what I love to do!

Direct mail - sorry, all 200 scarfs went the first day.

First of series of eblasts, this one
promoting PENNYBLACK (only at enda b, super sweet line!)

7' wide in-store banners

New website with lookbook gallery and blog.
www.enda-b.com

Photo team:
Liz Dungate - art direction, hair, make-up (and now you know what the fainting couch was for)
Fred Fraser - photographer
Yvadney Davis - stylist
Lauren Innes @ Next - model

Productive mess

I love waking up to projects in mid-creation. I eat my breakfast while reviewing the progress, and obsessively plan my next steps... visualizing how it will all turn out. Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't, but at that magic moment, everything is possible.

And I take just as much pleasure in other people's projects, like Fred creating the beautiful stained wood floor for our upcoming editorial.

Not to mention the fun of finding and making props to flesh out the set.

I simply love those days of inspiration and anticipation while a "productive mess" takes over our space, and almost feel a little sad when the project is complete and all the mess is cleared away.

Why wait?

I find I'm often waiting to see/get/show images from a shoot. I'm currently waiting for some advertising images to be published, some editorial images to be published, and some creative images to find their way to me. And sometimes the images never arrive and I just have to move on.

But recently I did a fun little creative with three great people, and I already have the images. And I don't have to wait for them to go "public"! Can you tell how happy I am? And the icing on the cake (speaking of icing, I made two large cakes, fully decorated and layered for a birthday party tomorrow... don't ask me about icing... but I ramble...) is that I also love the results.

:)


:: THE JOKE :: from evaan kheraj on Vimeo.

photography | Evaan Kheraj
styling | Luisa Rino
model | Taylor @ Richards
hair/make-up | me