Credits

Photographer: Matt Haines/One Thousand Umbrellas
Wardrobe Stylist: Marlayna Cherisse (additional work at this link).
Hair/Makeup Artist: Jessica Pollastrini
Editorial Subject: Mackenzie Rosman
Mackenzie is represented by Kanica Suy at Sweeney Management, Los Angeles.
Client: Zooey Magazine

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

-

-

-

-

-

-

Styling comments from fashion and wardrobe stylist Marlayna Cherisse:

I was initially contacted by Zooey Magazine’s editor, Lucia Tran, after she had seen my portfolio online. This is the first I’ve worked with Lucia and am thankful she reached out to give me the opportunity to be involved with the magazine and shoot. This was also the first time I worked with everyone involved in this project (except for my assistant, Narie).

Lucia gave me some guidelines, concept ideas, and direction as to what wardrobe would be needed and appropriate. Comments along the lines of: “aiming for natural and wholesome”, “something mod vintage”, “50’s”, “Zooey Deschanel from ‘500 Days of Summer.’”

All told, I probably had over one hundred pieces for the shoot, including all the clothing, shoes, accessories, and jewelry. The biggest selection was with clothing, which is obviously the basis for putting together outfit options. But it is important to have lots of options for shoes, accessories, and jewelry. They are the elements that can make a look “pulled together” and complete. These details can take a garment into an entirely different style direction. It’s also important to be prepared with as much of a selection as possible, to assure that there are enough options in case something doesn’t work quite right for whatever reason. Always better to be as prepared as possible.

With any actor/actress I need to take their personal style likes and dislikes into account… which is not the case when working with models. Additionally, I have to keep in mind their general audience and public perception. For example, if someone is particularly popular with a primarily younger audience, I wouldn’t style them in an overly sexy manner. Also, when working with celebrities, their PR rep will often be at the shoot and include their guidelines and opinions to influence wardrobe selections. This means that I need to take into consideration and find a harmony between the vision of the photographer, the magazine editor, the celebrity, the PR rep and my own personal ideas for what looks should be worn—all while keeping true to the intended concept.

In this case, I was given no restrictions or preferences. Ultimately, I would have liked to have had more shoe options that had a higher heel. For the most part I selected flats or shoes with very small heels to coincide with the direction I was given to create “natural” and “wholesome” looks. However, at the shoot Mackenzie expressed her preference for wearing shoes that gave her more height. That being said, I am quite happy with how all the looks turned out.

Mackenzie was super sweet… she often offered assistance in other areas of the shoot in some way—like by moving the drapes in the picture setting, or adjusting a piece of equipment in lighting. Several times when I was about to fix a garment she’d want to help by trying to fix it herself. Once she was finished with the shoot, she even asked if she could help me organize the wardrobe to leave. I found this characteristic of hers completely refreshing and endearing. Its not often that the person who is being photographed even acknowledges all of the other elements going on around them. She seemed to have a real sense that it was a collaborative effort and wanted to be involved in all areas.

Everyone was really delightful to work with. I felt at ease in working with this team. I felt comfortable to voice when I needed to step in to adjust something on set. I think we were all able to communicate our ideas and preferences in selecting the looks to be shot. In fact, we ended up shooting more looks than originally intended because there were so many outfits that Mackenzie looked great in, and everyone was so happy to do more than planned. I think that shows what a great team we assembled—we’d all rather work more and longer because we know it looks good and would rather have more opportunity for an amazing outcome.

Photographic comments from fashion photographer Matt Haines:

I was referred to Lucia by a friend of mine, Amanda Elkins, who shot the cover story for this issue of Zooey Magazine. Initially Lucia asked me to shoot Mackenzie and two other separate editorials in one shoot, which would have been incredibly difficult. We discussed different locations, and at one time were planning on shooting in a record store and then later it became a hotel. But the shoot day—a Sunday—made it impossible to find a hotel that would let us use the premises for a shoot. No one wanted us cluttering up their grounds on a busy weekend I suppose. But then Lucia found this wonderful bed-and-breakfast in South Pasadena, and it all fell into place.

Let me rave about this B&B for a moment. It’s called the Arroyo Vista Inn, and is run by a very generous and pleasant woman named Pat Wright. The house is 100 years old—built in 1910—and has three floors. I scouted the location a few days before the shoot, so I could plan the locations and lighting, and was thrilled to see how many different places in and around the B&B that would work for the shoot. I could go back there and do a second shoot and not duplicate any of the locations I used with Mackenzie! Now I need to find a reason to actually stay at the Arroyo Vista Inn overnight.

Like Marlayna, this was the first time I worked with either the editor, the magazine or the crew. That’s not typical for me at all, and was cause for some concern in the lead up to the shoot! But because of budget restrictions, Lucia arranged all the crew for the shoot. And while it was a pretty long day—eight or nine hours I think—the shoot went pretty smoothly. The initial hair/makeup/wardrobe prep took a lot longer than I’d anticipated, and I was able to get two completely different lighting set ups done in two different rooms, without the aid of an assistant. There were so many people on set that I was able to grab someone if I needed a light in a difficult place (for example the shot with Mackenzie on the stairwell, but more on that below).

I immediately gravitated to the ‘blue room’ when I scouted the inn, and knew that simple window light was the feel I wanted. I did however surround Mackenzie with reflectors on the camera-right side, using both a 4 ft high V-card (aka a “V-flat”) made of foam insulation bought from the hardware store—think foamcore but much cheaper. This insulation is my go-to material for V-cards, because it’s cheap and has a highly reflective white surface. I also suspended a car ‘sun shade’ from a light pole. That’s one of those things you put on your dashboard when you park your car, and is covered with a reflective silver surface to reflect the sun and keep your car from heating up. They work really well as reflectors too, and are also much less expensive than the photographically-marketed versions. I think mine cost $2 at a garage sale. As I often say, “light doesn’t care how much you paid for it.” The second image above is essentially the same set up, just different wardrobe. I wanted to keep my ISO low to combat noise, so as a result my shutter speeds were very slow. On the order of 1/8 or 1/15 sec or so. And of course I had the camera on a tripod.

For the stairway landing shot, I did a complete 180° turn on the lighting. Here I had a portable strobe that I often use on my outdoor shoots, a Metz Mecablitz 60. This model isn’t made anymore, but you can still buy its little cousin, the Mecablitz 45, which it resembles. I grabbed someone’s assistant, I can’t remember who, and asked her to hang over the railing and hold the strobe head and a 43″ shoot-through umbrella in position. Between the tight space in the hall and the stairway, and the difficulty in getting the light placed so that it flattered Mackenzie and didn’t reflect in the window at the same time, this was the second-toughest shot of the day. I did keep my shutter speed up at the maximum sync speed (1/250th sec) so that I could bring out the blue sky in the window. Also I didn’t need to use a fill…that shoot-through umbrella was bouncing light all over those white walls, giving me all the fill I needed.

Next up was an outside location, in a little grotto-like sitting area. This proved to be the most difficult segment of the day, and I almost gave up on the location (the red dress above). The dappled sunlight through the leaves created a difficult lighting situation. I tried many different angles and couldn’t find one that didn’t have a problem with too much contrast: hotspots of light and dark bricks and foliage. My lighting wasn’t working either, as I couldn’t get a lightstand close enough. It was all falling apart, and then I decided to just use raw sunlight and let the shadows fall to blackness. A couple of shots with Mackenzie looking directly into the sun—and she was a real trooper about that—and then I packed it in. Some tweaks in post-production made the images look like moonlit images. Voila! The image is rescued. Surprisingly, quite a few people like that image the most.

For the final location, we move back into the inn, this time in the large living room on the ground floor. It has wonderful windows on two corners. I wanted Mackenzie framed against the window, with the background blown out to give it a light and airy feeling. Once again I was using slow shutter speeds of 1/8 sec or so, and of course the tripod. But this time I was also using an Alien Bees B1600 strobe.

For the images with the blue dress, I had a 40″ octabox on the Alien Bee, which was partially gridded. By that I mean the top half had the grid attached, so I could keep light from spilling on the ceiling and walls. But I left the bottom part of the octa exposed, so that some spill would light her dress. A funny moment happened when I attempted to fold up the bottom part of the cloth grid and attach it to itself using a bobby pin, and had absolutely no success. I fiddled with it for a few minutes and then Mackenzie walked over and tucked the grid under itself. Problem solved. I might need to get her to assist on my next shoot, if she’s available…

For the final shot, with Mackenzie sitting in the chair, I pulled the grid off the Alien Bee and placed the light camera-left. But I was having trouble getting the right angle for the light, and ultimately decided it would be easiest to take the strobe outside and shoot through the window! I must be reading Joe MacNally’s blog too much. I then had a problem where the strobe was hitting the sill of the window, which was then reflecting in the window behind Mackenzie. I had to set up an 8-foot V-card to block this reflection. I also had the 4-foot V-card to her camera-right, to get some fill from the sun on her. Remember, that shutter speed is very slow, so the ambient is going to make a difference for the fill. I think I also used a Nikon SB-28 with a LumiQuest SoftBox III for fill on these shots, positioned just in front of the camera.

I’m very excited to finally be able to show these images. The magazine is on newsstands now, and I just received my copy in the mail today. Go check it out!

Fashion+Light is operated as a labor of love, and a benefit to the people who participate. We don’t charge anyone anything. But we would appreciate if you’d click a product link above, and go buy something at Adorama (our affiliate partner). That way we can keep the lights on and the servers humming. Thanks!