Scratch Magazine Cover of the year

Its really hard not to be a sore loser except that I truly love the first place cover! This was such a fantastic opportunity not only because it was my first cover but Scratch Magazine gives so much love and respect to the image itself so thank you Alex Fox of Scratch Magazine!!! This was a bold and graphic beauty editorial that I shot with the fabulous manicurist Honey, make up artist Natasha Morgan, and our beautiful model is Julie at Q.

MARILYN MINTER

So as a creative artist, and one obsessed with both beauty and make up, I often find myself wanting to direct the make up artist or apply the make up myself. Although I've never actually done it, its always one of my favorite parts to any shoot. Its the transformation that's always fascinated me and the colors, glitter and textures that have attracted me.
Recently a friend of mine told me about the artist Marilyn Minter. She has upped the ante of macro beauty. She takes slightly distorted macro beauty shots of lips. mouths, tongues, eyelids, over the top high fashion make up with texture, glitter, diamonds and pearls, layers together the images and then recreates them with paint. The result is dripping wet melting and dissolvingcolor, luminous, glamorous, overtly sexual and disturbing and absolutely brilliant. She also has a video called http://www.greenpinkcaviar.com/

Photo District News

I have been so incredibly blessed with the ongoing support of PDN, I can't thank them enough! I was invited to share an experience that many photographers, unfortunately, are so familiar with. In so many ways, its considered such an honor to receive a commission from a European glossy. It's such a dream come true to see the work you have invested both time and money and have poured your heart and soul into, in print. When the editors approach you with a concept or theme, you believe and trust that once executed, it will without a doubt go to press. This project was one of those aforementioned, which got rejected due to the publications "change in direction" and general lack of communication. I was heartbroken, but with tenacity, confidence and perseverance, I emailed every single publication I had access to, until our shoot got the green light at W25. Barbara Goldman of PDN wrote such a nice article about my bewitched beauty shoot, I had to post it to my blog with a huge THANK YOU to her for her continued support of y work and my career!!!!

ESPN and Dockers Fathers Day Advertorial

This is my Dockers advertorial which ran in the Fathers Day Issue of ESPN. I was referred by a former client but I really believe I got the job by offering to buy the client an ice cream sandwich. Thank you for the marketing tip Maya Farrally Plourde!!

My new agency!!!!

So I realize its been a while since I've blogged, but life has become hectic with shooting, updates, appointments, new work, website redesigns (stay tuned) pre-production, post production, occasionally both simultaneously, running, retouching, networking and occasionally socializing. The frenzied social networking of last year has been put on hold, as I've come to realize only with direct phone calls will I make contact and book jobs.

So here is my update!
I have had the luck and pleasure of reconnecting with my very first agent ever, James Taylor, from 2002! I have signed with Marnie Rose Agency and he is once again my agent as well as Marnie and Janessa. I'm really happy and I feel like I'm in a really good, healthy, drama free, stable environment. That was my big wish for 2010. Stability.
In the very same week I was also put on the roster of Studio D- Hearst. It took almost a year of testing, learning new software, workshops, and studying and finally that too is official.
Since then I have shot my first job for Seventeen and I'm on hold for another.
I have also signed with Corbis for creative stock and spent a day shooting exciting manicured nails with food and medical related concepts. I was very lucky to have my girl Honey give up here entire Sunday for me as well as my friend and food connoiseur Jonathan, who became the food prop stylist.

I will be updating my website shortly so keep checking back in for new work and updates!!!!

Photo District News Feature on me!!!

This was super exciting!!! Photo District News or PDN online, the most well respected resource publication in the industry, wrote a feature on me transitioning into video and motion. I was interviewed by phone and quite pleased with the writing! Thank you Jaqueline and David for the love! Its an interesting time, because the medium is evolving again, and not to say that print is dead (it is not) but just as we transitioned from film to digital, were now evolving from digital into the moving picture and I'm embracing it.

SCRATCH magazine cover and feature

Polkadots and stripes!!! Super graphic, visually exciting and FUN project with Nailz by Honey and make up/ hair design by Natasha Morgan. This was a fantastic collaboration, photographed (hmmm ZERO short term memory these days) with the beautiful model Julie at Q Models. The story of our creative process is actually printed with the images in this fantastic cover and feature for the glossy UK magazine Scratch!!!! They did a beautiful layout including text and I'm really proud and excited to see this one in print!!

Snakeskin and Nailz, Nailz, Nailz

Sometimes I really have to think about how incredibly blessed I am with the people that are in my life. This is my sister in law Tatiana from Brazil. One of the first things I noticed upon meeting her, other then the fact that she was madly in love with my brother ;) was how flawless, graceful and otherwise PERFECT her hands were.... Honey, a friend and "fantabulous" super down to earth Brooklyn native nail tech and manicurist, provided us with hours of entertainment and an array of nail accessories and polishes. This was a test for my Capture Workflow performance for Studio D in the Hearst Bldg and a part of a very rushed end of the day.
Results are still pending, but our shoot was none the less amazing.

Ava Gray Lookbook

This was a golden opportunity that made me feel...like I've arrived. Discovered via Artists and Creatives website, the designer and brand called Ava Gray, and fantastic new client, chose me! I have to take a moment such as this and appreciate it. I'm always pleasantly surprised and impressed when a client can see beyond the specific niche that I've created over the years, and recognize the diversity and range of what I can do, and have trust and faith that it will be executed beautifully.

The imagry and design here are the collaboration of my photography, an extraordinary support team of hair, make up, wardrobe and flawless model Mia at Trump who wears the line as it is intended, sophisticated, elegant and expensive. My super hero agent (cape and all) Joe Lombardo, is the vision behind this exquisite and brilliant design, and although this is not our final, its already looking like a campaign. Keep an eye out for the final Lookbook and collection of the new Ava Gray line!!!

There is beauty in simplicity!

Belinda in VICTOR de SOUZA

Model Belinda Baidoo of Ghana. Capricorn. She and I have worked together for years and randomly run into each other all over the city. Without a doubt, one of my favorite girls.
Her features are breathtaking, her body long, lean and toned, and her skin is absolutely flawless. This was an extreme exercise in pulling resources and collaborating last minute with zero production time or budget. Mercury's retrograde definitely affected communication that weekend, so here's proof that miracles can still happen.
Grace Jones meets Lady Gaga immersed in aluminum foil and metallic leathers, set design by Nesto Sutton. The effect is ice and diamonds with a little assistance from photoshop. Storm Pederson dressed Belinda in various pieces of the newest collection by designer Victor de Souza. Hair by Dante Blandshaw and make up by Kim Weber.
Special thanks to Sasha Wyroba for production assistance and my initial introduction to Storm Pederson, which led to this opportunity.

Promotionals and Marketing, A Tangible Souvenir

It's been a difficult year for e-mail campaign blasts, so I decided to order new cards and motivate myself with an old school traditional hard mail. I researched my target demographic which are celebrity clothing brands, record labels and ad agencies who handle movie posters and put together a very specific mailing list. Thanks to the love and support of my mom, immediately after Labor Day Weekend hundreds of cards were mailed via the US Postal Service. A mighty costly endeavor, but one filled with with promises and rewards. A tangible souvenir of sorts and one you hope the art buyers, creative directors and photo editors find pretty enough or strong enough visually, to post to their walls.
These are a few of my additional favorite images from the recent ad campaign of Kristinia Debarges for Babyphat / Teen Vogue.
Big shout out to the the crew over at Liquid Entertainment. They were kind enough to cut me an amazing promotional video of behind the scenes footage from this campaign as well as my past campaigns with Vanessa and Angela Simmons for Pastry.

http://www.liquident.net/uploads/wendyreel/behind the scenes Wendy Hope

HIGHLIGHTS MAGAZINE