CRAZY BEAUTIFUL VIDEO ABOUT PASSION AND LOVING WHAT YOU DO.

January 23, 2013

Today we photographed Dr. Cheryl Saban. Eleanor Stills was the photographer; Holly Copeland was the stylist; Annie Ing with Celestine was the makeup artist; Randi Peterson with Timothy Priano was the hair stylist; and Elisa Wishan with Exclusive Artists was the manicurist. It's the first time I worked with photographer Eleanor Stills on a fashion shoot. She went to Art Center which to me used to mean a lot. Recently I was asked to review the graduating students' portfolios and I was kind of shocked at how much the work has declined. But that's another commentary for another day.

If you don't know Cheryl Saban, google her. Such an accomplished woman who has a rags to super riches story. Her husband, Haim, is the man behind the Power Rangers franchise. Needless to say, they won't be hav'n to balance their checking account any time soon. 

We shot at the Peninsula Hotel in their largest suite and out in the back garden of the property. When we first got to the hotel we had to go through security who then directed us to Suite 429. When we got there, I knocked on the door and this sweet Asian girl comes to the door and says, "Oh, I'm so sorry I'm leaving now." It was only 9:00am. I think she thought we were with the hotel since I was wearing a badge and kind of barged right in. So she quickly got dressed, gathered her things and left. Come to find out, we were sent to the wrong suite. So this poor sweet girl who was probably paying about $1500 a night for her suite was short-changed by about three hours. Whoever she was, is, I'm so sorry! 

The shoot itself went off smooth as Lou Rawls singing A Natural Man. (Random Lou Rawls reference courtesy of 88.1 where i heard it today). Cheryl loved the fashion so much, she bought almost all of it. A beautiful, beautiful Elie Saab gown. A Stella McCartney jacket and bell-bottom pants outfit and a top. She wore Avakian jewelry and stunning earrings by Henri J. Sillam.

Cheryl is such a chic, fashionable woman. And so smart. I got the chance to interview her after the shoot and it will appear in the Genlux spring issue. She's really an awesome, down-to-earth, grateful, kind, compassionate woman. I hope I capture all of that in the piece, without sounding too syrupy.

At our Genlux party last week, Kristin Chenoweth was kind enough to say that the interview I did with her was her best...ever. What a doll!



New from SONOS, the speaker company so cool, their logo even reads upside down, comes their newSONOS Play 5. We crank up this one at our Genlux photoshoots to create the right mood for our models—works every time. For our cover shoot with Kristin Chenoweth, she wanted to hear some opera, so I set Pandora to Maria Callas and let it rip. Hooks up to your WiFi and allows you to stream your Pandora, Spotify or iTunes music into whatever room you place it. Control it through your computer, iPhone, Android, or iPad. Add more SONOS speakers and you can have different music playing in each room or sync them all together. Genius! SONOS Play 5, $399, sonos.com

Friday, November 16, 2012

Woke up to find the streets wet with needed rain. It's crazy how long we've had warm temps. We all love bright, clear days for doing photo shoots, but now, as we head for our Winter issue, we need the skies to "gray over" so we get the feeling of cold wafting through the images.

The rain reminded me it was time to buy some new cashmere v-neck sweaters. Great staple item. So I went online and found some at Macys.com that were discounted by 65%. So I got one in black and one in heather gray. (By the way, this was not a paid endorsement).  

Marc Baptiste told me he was shooting Solange Knowles today for Vanity Fair so I texted him to see if Solange would be up for doing the cover of our MUSIC+FASHION issue. I'm waiting to hear back. She'd make a great cover. Plus, we haven't had an African-American girl on the cover since Mary J Blige a few years ago so we're due. 

Today, I'm editing a few stories: Ari Abromowitz shot one up at a ranch in Santa Inez with a beautiful horse, and I have one shoot that an Italian photographer did. The model in the Ari shots looks so boring and it's going to take some work to create a story that has some pazazz. So often we pick models without seeing them based on their online books alone. It's actually more important to view polas and videos to really see how they look and move. Or, if you have time, to see the girls in person. I never seem to have the time to do castings or to see models in person.