Mane Attraction

Getting ready to do another crazy hair shoot, made me think of this one. Fred came up with this concept of big hair and over 4 separate sessions we created these shots. Real hair and extensions... not "photoshopped" hairstyles.

photography - Fred Fraser
hairstyling, make-up, wardrobe - me
models - Brandie, Kelly, Natasha and Erica

Fainting couch project completed... just in time!

The fainting couch is finally refurbished and ready for reclining. Many hours were spent searching for the perfect low feet, the ultimate neutral warm fabric, and creating a pattern from scratch to sew the cover with. I used our trusty staple gun to secure the fabric to the bottom and attached a gold fringe for the final touch.

Et voila! La divan de évanouissement! Sounds lovely in French, non?

Creating the pattern by measuring and cutting until it appears to fit.

Pinning the cover on to see where it needs to be adjusted before sewing.

Tracing the side piece onto craft paper to create a pattern for
future covers. Who knows, maybe red next?

The pieces are sewn and it fits!

The fabric is pulled and stapled underneath,
now attaching the trim.

The final result.

And the fainting couch in its first set, ready to go tomorrow morning!

Bun shoot - BTS

I feel like everyone else has blogged this beautiful fashion story so I don't need to repeat it here... but let's face it, you're dying to see the people behind-the-scenes. And the scene-behind-the-scenes. So, wait no longer!

The scene unfolds.

The scene isn't as glamorous from this angle,
but look at Joanna working so hard!

Viktoriya dangerously playing with scissors
(a feature on Bun's Chanel-inspired necklace).

Me applying a bit of hairspray.

Maybe a bit more...

Vamping Viktoriya.

The LARGE format camera with our teeny model.

Fred under the "skirt", Joanna thinking "Should I jump in....?"

We're all so pleased, great team effort!

photography - Fred Fraser
styling - Joanna Kulpa
hair/make-up/props - me
modeling - Viktoriya

La Penza

How do you create an image of someone who creates images? Lisa Penz is an artist who creates beautiful paintings of female faces with large luminous eyes, merging traditional and pop art styles with a very cool result. We set up a session to shoot Lisa with the large format camera, and Fred came up with a fun concept to hint at Lisa's trademark big-eyes look, while also creating an intriguing portrait of an artist. When the images are processed and scanned I'll post the results (or a link to Fred's blog), but for now you can have a peek at the behind-the-scenes of the second part of her session (where we shot some simpler PR portraits of Lisa).

The full scene, and Fred discussing poses with Lisa.

Fred adjusting bellows of the camera to focus. He focuses by viewing the projected image of Lisa on the ground glass back.

Having the image view upside down and backwards (camera optics) makes for an interesting challenge to compose and focus, but Fred's been shooting on this type of camera since well before he was shooting digital, so it's become second nature.

What I see when I look at the ground glass before he replaces the view back with the film back. The film back is opaque and must be removed to re-focus, so from this point until the picture is taken the model must not move!.

Fred taking a light meter reading while I snap this shot of the ground glass on the camera. I've helpfully turned it around so you can see it better. :)