Credits

Photographer: Matt Haines for One Thousand Umbrellas
Wardrobe Stylist: Jennifer Margolin
Makeup Artist: Naz Madaen
Hair Stylist: Kris Young
Model: Kendall Clifford
Stylist Assistant: AJ Diedrich
Photographic Assistant: Desirée Durang
Client: LA2DAY.com

Comments from Jennifer and Matt follow the images. Click on any image to see it larger.

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Styling comments from fashion and wardrobe stylist Jennifer Margolin

Matt and I went through a number of themes before we came up with the one for this LA2DAY shoot. During the past LA Fashion Week I saw Ashi Studio’s collection and knew I wanted to use some of the pieces for a future shoot. There was one skirt from the collection that caught my eye and I knew it had to be in the shoot even though we still needed a theme. Matt and I talked about shooting this story on location, as he had a Simi Valley location in mind. Once I knew the photo shoot would be outside, a military inspired theme started to evolve. Matt was on board and our theme was born! We had the location, theme and model; now I had to outfit this shoot with beautiful clothes. Once the theme was set it was amazing how the clothes all came together. First on my list was Ashi Studio, I had to have the big tulle skirt that helped inspire the theme for this shoot. I also pulled some great pieces from Literature Noir, Plastic Island and McGinn among others. I wanted to add some softness to the military inspired wardrobe so I pulled some great tulle skirts, ruffles and lace pieces to add.

The day of the shoot I showed up with my styling assistant, AJ Diedrich, and we started unloading everything. First thing we needed to do was to find a place to set up “shop.” We found a spot underneath a large tree that would serve as our dressing area. It was comical to see a makeshift styling suite in the middle of the wilderness. Once the wardrobe was unpacked we laid it out so we could start pre-styling. I brought a clothes rack for all of the hanging clothes, which also doubled as our makeshift changing area. The accessories and shoes were laid out on large rocks that were under the tree and served as great tables. Kendall, the model, was amazing to work with and made my job easier. Besides making the clothes look incredible she was great at quick changes. That was so important for this job as many times the wardrobe was at least a five-minute hike from the shoot location. When you are trying to get as many looks as possible, those extra five minutes start to add up and eat up valuable time.

Styling on location is amazing and fun, but a lot more work. When you are at a studio your wardrobe is right there and it’s easy to do quick changes. For our shoot we would dress the model in our styling area and then hike out on the trails to various locations. I would add the accessories once we got to the location where we were shooting. It was a long, warm day, but I loved every minute. The team for this shoot was amazing. It’s so great to work with such talented professionals. Everyone delivered their best and the photos speak for themselves.

Photographic comments from fashion photographer Matt Haines

I’ve shot at this particular location in Simi Valley a few times before, and every time it yields very different images. The area is so varied, and there are always spots that I haven’t seen before…and I’ve only explored a small fraction of the park. This was my first time shooting there in the spring, and it was very green. I was concerned it was too green in fact, because I had been picturing a more “desert hills” look. Not to worry, it wasn’t hard to find the look we were after anyway. It’s just a matter of pointing the camera in the right direction (which is the essence of photography).

This was a big crew as far as my shoots usually go, but we needed everyone because of the remote location. Everyone helped haul boxes of wardrobe, metal wardrobe racks, and hair and makeup equipment. I probably had the lightest load, as I’m used to working on location and know how to pack light. A simple Tamrac camera backpack, my Metz Mecablitz 60 strobe (discontinued, but its less-powerful cousin is here), and a paint-roller pole with a MetalHead screwed on it, so I could mount an umbrella adapter. I also had a homemade reflector, about 3 ft x 4 ft, made from foamcore and hinged with tape. One side is white, the other is spray-painted with gold metallic paint.I also had along a couple of Nikon SB-28s in case I needed some more light, but didn’t use them.

I didn’t want to switch lenses out in the field if I could help it, so that I could avoid dusting my sensors. So I had my Fujifilm S5 Pro with a telephoto zoom (some off-brand, 70-300mm plus crop factor), because I wanted to take some long shots to isolate Kendall from the background with limited depth of field. And on my Nikon D200 I had…something or other. I don’t recall now which lens I had. I seem to recall it was a lens that would let light in and make pretty pictures.

I typically shoot with strobes, and I wanted to do some more natural-light shooting this time. Hence the reflector mentioned above. But I get nervous when things aren’t flashing, so I shot about half and half. Images 1, 6 and 7 above are strobed.While #7 is strobed, in that same location I made some natural-light images, one of which is the lead image on LA2DAY.com. Image #3 has the gold reflector to camera-right, just out of frame, to fill the shadows a little. Image #4 doesn’t have any reflector fill at all, as Kendall was perched on a high rock and there was no getting a reflector up next to her. Didn’t matter though, as the sun had almost set, the contrast was reasonable, and some cliffs (camera-right) were bouncing some light back into Kendall’s face. Meanwhile shot #2 has the sun firing directly into the model’s face, with my shadow intentionally falling on her.

I also wanted to shoot some film on this shoot, just to make it even more challenging. I brought my “lucky camera”, which is a Zeiss Ikon Nettar II 518/16 (at least I think that’s the right model). I say “lucky” because it seems to yield a higher percentage of really nice shots than any other camera I use. I don’t know if it’s the model or the particular camera that makes it lucky, so I hope it doesn’t break on me. The Nettar is a simple vintage medium-format 6×6 folding-bellows camera. No rangefinder (nevermind auto-focus!), just guess the distance and set it on the dial. It will sync flash if I want, and I did take some images (not shown here) using strobe, but also used it with available light. And rather than guess the distance, which I’m horrible at, I brought along a tape measure. You can see me measuring the distance to the model—”here, Kendall, hold this to your nose!”—in one of the behind-the-scenes photos below.

I misjudged how long makeup, hair and wardrobe would take on this shoot, figuring an hour should be more than enough. Wrong! Two hours after arrival, we were just getting started shooting. I had a little internal freakout, muttered a few comments to my assistant Desirée about how we were going to maybe get three looks shot before sunset, and paced nervously every time Kendall went back to change. Mind you this wasn’t the crew’s fault. Location shooting has its challenges, especially on the crew when it comes to preparation. I should have planned better, is really what it comes down to. But with AJ (Jennifer’s assistant) shouting out the time every fifteen minutes, we moved things right along. And we ended up shooting seven different looks, which was two more than I had hoped for!

This was a physically demanding shoot. I was exhausted afterward, and thirsty from the heat and dry air. I felt like I could have slept in my car but I headed home instead, a little worried that I hadn’t got anything good. Mind you, I worry like that every time I finish a shoot. Once again I prove my doubtful-self wrong, because I’m very pleased with these images. The client liked them too!

Behind the scenes images (taken primarily by the crew) with commentary below.

Above, I measure the distance to Kendall’s nose, so that I can set the focus on my vintage film camera.

Stalking people or animals in the park? Nope, just shooting from the best vantage point. I’ve got my big hiking boots on so I have some protection against rattle snakes. We only saw one snake that day, and it was already dead, and Naz the makeup artist screamed bloody murder when she found it under her makeup chair!

Kendall waits patiently while I wind the film between shots. There’s a reflector to the left out of frame, positioned to catch light between the leaves and bounce it back into Kendall’s face.

Above, Desiree holding the paint-pole umbrella/light stand, while Jennifer looks on as I shoot Kendall.

Above: The “styling suite/changing room”.

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