rose – Ann Street Studio

Chantecaille

March 13, 2015June 22, 2017Posted in Beauty, ProvenceTagged a rose love story, a rose story, ann street studio, annstreetstudio, arose story, arosestory, beauty, beauty product, Chantecaille, Eddie Hernandez, erin framel, fashion, fashion editorial, Fred Van de Bunt, jamie beck, kelly framel, luxury, rose, rose de mai, rosedemai, roses, Tammy Becker, Teresa Dilger, teresaDilger10 Comments

I love Roses.

I love to grow them, receive them, smell like them, and photograph them it’s no wonder the rose is considered the “queen” of essential oils. You can imagine my excitement when I discovered Chantecaille’s Rose de Mai line of beauty products made extraordinarily with a very special rose gown in Provence, France which blooms only once a year called Rose de Mai and harvested by hand. I love every morning waking up and applying the Rose de Mai cream which feels as if you are rubbing thousands of rose petals on your skin. What is even more special is that the scent is all natural from the actual roses that make up these products and take care of your face with the power of this floral ingredient.

There is something very calming about the smell of roses. When I’m feeling very stressed from a long day of editing and deadlines or after an intense photoshoot, it’s nice to spray Chantecaille’s Pure Rosewater on my skin not only to re-hydrate it but lift my spirits. Rosewater has an interesting history dating back the the Ancient Romans who not only drank Rosewater but bathed in it… obviously I wish I had more Rosewater baths in my life, right?! Aside from just being incredibly luxurious, Rosewater fights depression, insect bites, inflammation, sunburn, and signs of aging. I guess this is as close as we can get to the “fountain of youth”.

Sometimes we are incredibly fortunate enough to get clients we are personally fans of. Last December we were brought into the Chantecaille offices in Soho and briefed on their top secret newest member to their rose collection, Rose de Mai Face Oil, which was just released a few weeks ago. They asked us to come up with an idea, some visuals, on what the Rose de Mai line means to us and how we would visualize Chantecaille into a body of work. You can imagine, I was beside myself- a total dream job! We got to work right away concepting everything from stills, to videos, to cinemagraphs. Later this spring the work we created will be rolled out around the world in Chantecaille’s in-store displays, website, social media channels and in press such as WWD.

After the creative was signed off on by every member of the Chantecaille family (this is a family run business) we got to work. First step. Find the perfect roses in the middle of winter which we did through Rose Story Farm and had as many as possible shipped overnight. The studio has never smelled so beautiful! There were roses everywhere, in the windowsill, refrigerator, work table, kitchen counters! Over the course of a three day shoot we made beds of roses, flower crowns, flower hats, flower petal showers, you name it. It was a pure delight.

Of course Chantecaille does more that skincare, they also have an amazing line of makeup made most famously by Angelina Jolie when she reapplied their lipgloss not knowingly on camera at the Golden Globes. So I was VERY interested in hanging out at the makeup station for our shoot to pick up any tips / tricks from Chantecaille’s in house makeup artist Eddie Hernandez. My favorite things: their mascara smells like roses (DONE) and this is my FAVORITE makeup tool now.

Here are some of our favorite moments from this very personal collaboration with Chantecaille~

Above~ Red Audra Dress

Below~ Chantecaille’s new Rose de Mai Face Oil

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Above & Cover~ White Audra Top

Below~ Red Audra Dress

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Below~ Delphine Manivet Dress

Above~ Marchesa Top

Below~ Chantecaille Rose de Mai Cream

Above~ Katie Ermilio Bandeau

Below~ Elie Saab Dress

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Above & Cover~ White Audra Top

Below~ Delphine Manivet Dress

Above~ Misha Nonoo Jumpsuit

Below~ Chantecaille Pure Rosewater

Above~ Marchesa Top

Below~ Delphine Manivet Dress

Below~ Misha Nonoo Jumpsuit

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Chantecaille Rose de Mai ||Modeled by Teresa Dilger of Silent Models || Makeup by Eddie Hernandez of Chantecaille || Hair by Fred Van de Bunt from Art Department || Styling by Kelly Framel & Erin Framel of the Glamourai || Manicurist Angel Williams || Flower Artist Tammy Becker

Happy Valentine’s Day

February 13, 2015February 13, 2015Posted in BeautyTagged pink, pink rose, pink roses, rose, roses, roses still life, still life, stilllife, Urban Garden11 Comments

I have a very, very deep love for roses that goes all the way back to my childhood. It first began in with my grandmother’s rose bushes, trimming them, cutting the flowers to take to my elementary school teachers. Growing up in Texas my father would always bring me a dozen yellow roses on special occasions and now from time to time when I come home from New York to visit.

This past summer I put a lot of love and attention on the terrace at the back of our studio in Tribeca. It’s a small urban garden but in a city this compact I feel pretty lucky to have the amount of outdoor space I do. I grew my first rose garden, the flowers in these shots I cut from these bushes. I was so proud every time a new bud would emerge and in the mornings when I sat outside with my coffee I would touch the petals and remember the sweet lingering memories of my childhood.

Tending to a garden, making sure that someone is there to take care of it when you’re traveling or working the hours away was a lesson for me. A lesson in care, patience and pride. I realized, it’s not unlike relationships. If you don’t tend to them, take care of them, they too can wither and die. It’s not much that we need, just some sunlight and water and it’s amazing what things can blossom into and make your life a richer place.

So on this Valentine’s Day I give you roses and I hope your own gardens are full of love.

more natural beauty…

Dying Flowers || Butterfly & the Bell Jar || Winter Flowers || Simplicity || Flower Arranging

Film vs. Digital

March 27, 2014March 28, 2014Posted in LifestyleTagged 4x5, B&W, black and white, blackandwhite, botanicals, delta, delta 100, digital, film, film photography, flower, flowerpower, flowers, ilford, ilford delta, ilforddelta, large formart, photography, rose, tutorial23 Comments

I‘m often asked in interviews the difference between film vs. digital, if film is dead, and how I choose which medium I want to shoot with. Film photography will always be a part of my life. It was how I was raised to take pictures; it is my roots in photography. It feels different to take a photograph on film than on digital even though so much of what they accomplish is the same.

When I shoot on film I am looking for a depth to the final image…quite simply, I find film images to have a soul. Maybe that has something to do with how you take the picture. We go through thousands of digital photographs weekly which feels like the next image diminishes the value of the one before. With film, even when I feel like I’m shooting a lot, it is only in the hundreds and when I push that shutter release each time, that shot is thought-out, composed, and one where I waited for that perfect moment. My friend Adam who had a show this past fall at the Sasha Wolf Gallery said if he ever had to teach a class in digital he’d make his students shoot on camera cards that only hold 36 frames to train them to think about each shot.

However, digital has this beautiful clarity, this “reach out and touch it” ability that I find so beautiful. The velvety texture of flower petal, the saturation of color in a blushing rose. Digital puts you there, in the moment, feeling the light, and seeing even what the human eye can’t. The speed with which we can capture, document and share with digital photography is so astonishing. Recently I tweeted, “Every two minutes, we take more pictures than the whole of humanity in the 1800s.” I alway say, photography is a right, not a privilege, and thanks to digital that has never been more true.

On a day where I just don’t want to sit at a computer editing or writing emails, or I need a break to get in the zone creatively, I find my favorite thing to do is photograph flowers. Flowers represent so much about life to me: the beauty, the aging, the individuality and sexuality. I wanted to illustrate the difference between film and digital, so on my last flower study I took (as close as possible!) the same photograph on a digital Leica M with macro lens and then again on a 4×5 Toyo View Camera on Ilford Delta 100 ISO black and white film. I used natural light and did a variety of shots using different F-stops for a varying depth of field.

You tell me what you prefer: Film or Digital?

Simple natural light setup in our studio, white textured cardboard background. Above, using the shutter cable release to avoid my hand shaking on the shutter release, which causes motion blur. Most of the 4×5 exposures were between 30 secs and one minute. Below, focusing view on the 4×5 ground glass.

The outcome.

at f/45

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Flower Arranging

March 12, 2014November 3, 2014Posted in LifestyleTagged flower, flower arranging, flowerpower, flowers, rose, roses, still life, stilllife19 Comments

Recently I had the pleasure of taking a little crash course in flower arranging with Belle Fleur at the Flower School of New York over sips of Veuve Clicquot Rosé champagne. I’m always photographing flowers here at the studio as a personal project and quite honestly, it’s one of my favorite photographic subjects. I am always in awe of the beauty of a rose, the fold of a tulip, the color of a ranunculus or the smell of a hyacinth. The abstract lines and organic textures become something else though the lens of a camera, allowing each flower to have its own personality, life, expression, and age not unlike the way we are as humans. Since we have beautiful flowers around so often it was really nice to pick up a few tips and tricks on making your own arrangements at home! Read below to find out what I learned…

On arranging: Arrange in your hand. Start with the biggest flower as your “anchor” and build around that. You can cut your flower arrangement to the correct height for your vase by putting the vase at the edge of the counter and holding the arrangement next to it for the desired height and cut. To keep the flowers in the arrangement you created tie a clear rubber band around the stems to hold in place.

On cutting flowers: You do not have to cut under water when you buy quality flowers, but you should put them in water seconds after cutting as a “scab” immediately begins to form over the freshly cut end. Every few days, re-snip the ends of the arrangement to get fresh water into the flower and have it last longer. Cut the ends at an angle so water travels UP!

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A Drop of Rose

October 18, 2012May 3, 2013Posted in BeautyTagged a drop of rose, beauty, dkny, perfume, pure, pureDKNY, rose, roses14 Comments

Is there anything lovelier than receiving a dozen roses?… burying your nose into the classic & romantic fragrance is like hearing a nostalgic love song. A new perfume, “A Drop of Rose” by pureDKNY, allows you to enjoy that delicacy and romance all day. Whereas a bouquet will fade in time and the fragrance will become a distant memory, the perfume will leave you wrapped in pure rose essence.