Mert Alas and Marcus Piggot, Turkish and Welsh photographers, met in England in 1994 and became a creative tour de force. They have merged high-glamour, colour and sometimes dynamic landscapes with a fair amount of image manipulation to create amazing images in fashion, portraiture and advertising. They always seem to get something new out of models and actresses (as shown in the hot-off-the-press images of Cameron Diaz for V Magazine, below) and create unconventional images.
Lara Stone, has now been a firm favourite on the fashion scene since 2006. She has graced the covers of many magazines and catwalks, culminating in French Vogue dedicating its entire Feb 09 issue to her. And why is she so popular? One reason is certainly her versatility and ability to adapt to any shoot; from sexy and seductive, to young and innocent, to primped and preened. Much like her supermodel predecessors such as Linda Evangelista and Kate Moss, Lara has a chameleon-like talent; more actress than mere model.
And here she is as Karl Lagerfeld’s muse in a short film for Chanel’s Preview Fall 09 collection…
Since September 2007, alongside their main ad campaigns, Louis Vuitton have been running a series of images under their ‘Core Values‘ campaign. Featuring such luminaries as Mikhail Gorbachev, Catherine Deneuve, Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, Sean Connery, Francis Ford Coppola together with his daughter Sofia and most recently, with Sally Ride, Buzz Aldrin and Jim Lovell to highlight Louis Vuitton’s environmental commitments:-
“Louis Vuitton…has a long-standing commitment to environmental responsibility. The core-values campaign is therefore a perfect opportunity to promote this cause, and Al Gore’s Climate Project [which they will also support with donations] is a natural match, a truly worldwide initiative to fight global warming.”
Louis Vuitton.
The ads have been shot beautifully and atmospherically by Annie Liebovitz.
Annie Liebovitz’s ‘At Work’ book, describing her many experiences, including the last portrait of John Lennon and Yoko Ono before his tragic murder and the infamous shot of John Cleese hanging like a bat, is a must for any photography book collection and is available in the Focus Hub Shop.
Further to my post about the Gucci Flora ad by Chris Cunningham, video director, I would like to tell you about my experience with him. I shot this image of Chris in 1998 – it was when he had just shot the Madonna ‘Frozen’ video (below) and was seriously smokin’ in the industry. This photo was originally for i-D magazine, but has subsequently been published in Surface, UK Vogue, and to this day, 11 years later, Chris continues to request it as a publicity shot. Recently, I’ve been talking to Chris about him using it as his official photo, as this image is the only one of himself he’s been really happy with.
It was a typically grey London morning when myself, my assistant (now my wife) and some equipment (my trusted Hasselblad 503 and Profoto 7B) turned up to shoot Chris at Black Dog Films, not knowing what to expect. Very charmingly, Chris came out to meet us on the street and took us inside. We had to set up in a backroom with just a plain, white wall as a backdrop. Not the most ideal circumstances for a brilliant portrait shoot, but nonetheless I persevered. The result you see here was all in camera, composed and framed there and then. A completely captured moment.
We spent the rest of the day hanging out with Chris, shooting pool in the offices and watching MTV. By the end of the day, he even showed us his latest video at the time, Aphex Twin’s ‘Windowlicker’, before its official release.
The message of this story? Despite the seemingly limited circumstances, never underestimate opportunities and always make the most of every chance. You never know where today’s ‘quick shoot’ may take you in the future and who you may meet along the way.
Madonna’s ‘Frozen’ video, from the ‘Ray of Light’ album, which you can buy here.
“This Fall 2009 season Halston will reinterpret the traditional show format with the launch of a digital concept revealing a 360?degree view of the Ready?to?Wear collection. The initiative synthesizes the most visual and tangible elements of Halston, and brings these to realization in an exclusively commissioned production, fusing the genres of fashion, film, music and art that serve as the foundation of the brand.
Produced by award?winning creative agencies, Blink Productions and Colonel Blimp, the video will capture the mood and inspirations of the designs worn by the Halston heroine Dree Hemingway as she moves through the film’s interior world created by director Nez Khammel. Khammel sought to evoke the enduring Halston mystique with vignettes styled to capture the associated glamour and decadence of a transient era.
This new medium and a viral marketing proposition provides a global platform for viewers to indulge in the captivating atmosphere of an intimate presentation, and by moving beyond the standard formula of catwalks and presentations Halston’s Fall 2009 film will create a true portal to the experience of fashion.”
This is the official press release from Halston’s PR department.
What it really translates to is “this is an amazing video release that reinterpretes the de rigeur fashion catwalk concept and gives us something so fresh, so beautiful and so classic that it will be referenced for years by all in the creative industries”. The video was filmed at Pinewood Studios, London where they shot along an ‘endless’ New York street (originally created for “The Bank Job”).
The star of the video is ‘one-to-watch’ Dree Hemingway, daughter of Mariel Hemingway, great-granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway. But we shouldn’t focus on her genetic celebrity, because Bree is a fast-rising star in her own right. Signed to Elite+ Model Management, she has already been shot by Craig McDean for Interview Magazine and Vogue UK has dedicated several pages in the July issue to her beauty and innate style, shot by Lachlan Bailey (both below).
She is a trained ballerina (which explains the effortless jumps in the Halston film) turned model and actress. Dree was born in America, went to drama school in London and then lived in Paris. She is truly international, which explains her personal style – New York elegance mixed with just enough European individuality.
