ad – Ann Street Studio

I spent this past week in Paris. Paris is different in the fall than New York. She turns a beautiful tone of grey, softness in the sky, everything becomes sort of fuzzy. It was cold for the first time this autumn and I found myself wanting to be wrapped in cashmere and bathed in that perfect Parisian light that angles through the windows glowing off the surfaces of skin and disappearing into folds of fabric. Matching my current mood and experience completely was Donna Karan’s Cashmere Aura perfume. I have been a fan and a client as one of her photographers, for many years. Donna Karan represents the kind of woman I strive to be. Independent, confident, successful, world traveled, strong, elegant and most of all… a New Yorker.

But here I am in Paris, exploring the light and exploring new sides of my creativity, taking the time to really feel confident about who I became in New York, what all the hard work was for, and where I want it apply it in my work moving forward. I’ve been making notes about attributes about myself that I can now come to say define me. One of those is my love for scents. I am always perfumed. It’s a daily ritual for me. My hair is scented, my sheets are scented, my baths are scented, my candles are scented, whatever it is about my senses that loves the taste of good food and a beautiful painting also loves a beautiful scent.

I change my perfumes based on the weather. I change my perfume based on my mood. I apply the scents to my neck, behind my ears, on my chest, behind my knees, on the inside of my ankles and always before bed and most certainly on my way out the door. In all the apartment buildings I’ve lived in New York, I’ve always had neighbors comment to me how they loved the way I smelled and always knew when I had passed through the halls that day. That aura that we leave behind, that delicate piece of our existence.

This is a new fragrance in my collection sent to me by Donna Karan. In its luminous rose gold bottle, this mini art sculpture is inspired by the work of Donna Karan’s late husband which is something I’ve always found so touching about her perfumes. The notes are a bright and sparkling balance of modern florals with cashmeran, coumarin, vanilla, sandalwood accord, cassie absolute, ylang ylang, orris accord, sparkling aldehydes, Italian bergamot, and orange oil. A perfect projection for essence of a woman, confidently feminine, and her aura into the world.

My days in Paris were marked in my memories by this scent… and I hope a little piece of my aura was left behind. Below are images captured from moments of my life where I found the intimacy of perfume, skin, light, and life beautifully enraptured in creating the scent of a woman.

Continue reading “Cashmere Aura” →

This past January on a Connecticut estate, I shot my first print ad campaign with my creative collaborator Kelly Framel for a luxury jewelry brand I have been a fan of for many years now: Monica Rich Kosann. As you know, I have been collaborating with Kelly for close to five years now. She knows what I like, what I gravitate towards, and what will make a good photograph. I feel lucky I get to go to work with one of my best friends and have clients I personally love such as Monica. This time, however, was a bit different. When Monica approached us last year about creating their campaign images for 2015 it wasn’t just digital as we’ve done so many times before. This would be mine and Kelly’s first print ad campaign.

So it was a little different…

They wanted Kelly and I create the entire thing from concept to final selection. Kelly spent a ton of time researching photography books and british magazines and would come to meetings dragging a suitcase full of them. A lot of visual inspiration came from Bruce Weber’s Blood, Sweat and Tears and Peter Lindbergh’s Untitled 116. For me, the story was all about heritage and balancing the timelessness of Monica’s jewelry. The way each piece is something you collect (or dream of collecting) and becomes a part of your life until ultimately being passed it down to a loved one. Monica is also a photographer so there was an element of her photographic spirit I wished to capture in the images, the way she finds these quiet and intimate moments so beautifully. I wanted to shoot in natural light, as Monica chooses to do in her own body of work, and I wanted to give elements of a place or home but never be literal. To feel like a life being lived shown with a delicate simplicity.

We casted two women for the shoot to make it multigenerational, something that is integral to the Monica Rich Kosann brand which we also felt represented the storytelling quality of her jewelry. Though I worked closely with the ad agency, I handled all post production in-house from color grading to retouching. I was very adamant that these would not be overly beauty retouched and aside from a very small few blemishes the women were left as beautifully natural as they are in real life.

When I was growing up it was a pre-digital world everything lived and died by what was physically printed. I dreamed of seeing my work in magazines, on billboards in Times Square (back when they were still billboards), window displays and in mailers. I’m very happy about my career and how things have changed through technology but there is a small piece of me that feels really proud to be able to check off an old fashioned goal of making it in print. When the first ad came out it was so thrilling to see it on the shelf and comb through the pages looking for the shot. If you follow me on snapchat you’ll remember the tears of joy I had sitting there, holding it. I hope I am lucky enough, talented enough, smart enough, to make this the first of many more.

So here are the series of photographs we made on this winter day. Though these are the final four you’ll start to see in Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Town & Country among others, I wanted to share with you some of my favorite moments, and fill you in on what exactly they are wearing these chic creatures and a few behind the scenes stories to some of the shots below…

To Monica & Rod, thank you for believing in Kelly and me.

The above shot of Deborah was the first in the series of ads to come out in this month’s Town and Country. The call time in Manhattan for the crew was 4:30am in order to get everyone up to the house in Connecticut by early morning light. As the models were in hair and makeup, the styling team were steaming the clothes preparing for the fist shot. I was standing in silence watching the light come up minute by minute. I knew I wanted to shoot in that soft delicate time before the sun comes up just over the horizon so I told Kelly she had ten minutes to have them ready by the dock. After we finished the shot just in time, the sun arose and that quiet moment had passed.

Above~ Marissa Webb navy button up dress | Primary funktional stockholm sweater coat | Monica Rich Kosann carpe diem necklace, gold locket, link chain with diamond pave bracelet, planet cocktail ring, cat’s eye stud earrings

Below~ Jill Stuart peach top | A Piece Apart white pants | Monica Rich Kosann earth charm necklace, suppose you love me posey ring, octopus charm necklace, short poesy rings necklace

The above shot of Ira was taken toward the end of the day. This is the 2nd ad to come out in this month’s Harper’s Bazaar. This photo is really special to me for a variety of reasons. First, I personally own this charm. It was an anniversary gift, a nod to all the world traveling and memories I’ve collected around the world. At this particular moment in the day I was feeling a little worn down from having so many people talking at me while I was trying to shoot. I felt like I couldn’t hear myself think! I told everyone we got the shot and they all started heading back inside. But I pulled Ira back and asked her to hang on for a moment. It was just her, my assistant and this quiet moment on the edge of the ocean and I asked her hold up the earth in front of her eye, like she has the whole world on a string.

Above~ Tibi blue trench | Monica Rich Kosann sugar loaf bracelet, posey bracelets, gate collection hoop earrings, stacked collection of posey rings necklaces

Below~ Karen Millen white tshirt | Zimmerman pinstripe suit | Monica Rich Kosann hoop earrings with scroll detail, collection of poesy ring necklaces, poesy ring bracelets, & stacked poesy rings

The sports car… that was a surprise. When Kelly and I arrived at the estate the day before the shoot to location scout the grounds keeper took us into the garage were we gasped at the sight of four amazing sports cars. It made for quite the hysterical Snapchat show. On the day of the shoot we had Ira in the previous photo on a yellow couch with a blue jacket on and it just wasn’t sexy or cool enough. The jewelry stayed the same but Kelly put her in a power suit and white tee shirt, we pulled out this little red sports car and that was the right moment. That’s the girl I want to be. This image will also make it to print.

Continue reading “Monica Rich Kosann” →