Christy Turlington Cover Shoot!

Ok, so here I am in the Dominican Republic, on my Honeymoon, enjoying this beautiful weather and perfect scenery…

…and then I look down at my phone(I know…I’m on my Honeymoon, I shouldn’t be looking at my emails…lol)…but what would that have gotten me?…Ha!  Anyway, there was an email from  Women’s Running Magazine asking me if I’d, “Like” to shoot Christy Turlington for their March/April 2012 issue.  Ummm…well….you know…Yea!

To shoot one of the original Supermodels of our time, and a personal favorite of mine…. Aaaaamazing!! It turned out to be a really wonderful shoot.  She’s absolutely one of the nicest people I’ve ever shot.  Beyond being physically beautiful, as has been captured for her entire career as a model, she’s also a great human being.

Much of the feature in the magazine covers Christy’s foundation, www.everymothercounts.org.  It seeks to help increase education and support for mothers and their children’s health.  Did you know that a woman dies every 90 seconds from complications of pregnancy?  Neither did I before I met Christy.   You wouldn’t think that in today’s world, this could still be happening. Please check out the foundation link above for more information.  Christy also directed a documentary film, “No Woman, No Cry”, in which she travels to four parts of the world where maternal care is desperately needed.   You can see more about her film here, “No Woman, No Cry” Film.

It was truly an honor to meet and photograph her.

Can you believe she’s a mother of two?  Insanity…

Here are the results of our shoot…

I must thank my wonderful team for their amazing work here.

Team:
Photography:  James Weber, www.jamesweberstudio.com
Hair Stylist: Giovanni Giuntoli, www.giovannigiuntoli.com
Makeup Artist: Tamah K, www.seemanagement.com
Art Direction:  Melissa Mellert
1st Assistant:  James Sullivan, www.1prophoto.com
2nd Assistant/Videographer:  Jesus Baez

Thanks to David Zimand for the portrait of me in the contributor photo.  It was taken at the May 5th, “Art for the Cause” event for my foundation, The Leukemia Needs Foundation.  www.leukneeds.org

It was nice of the magazine to do a little behind the scenes of the shoot.  We had such a great time shooting it.  It all happened in 2 hours.  Hair/Makeup/Photography, and even a small interview during hair and makeup.   It’s amazing how much you can get done when you have to.

We had some fun at the end of the shoot with her in her, “Every Mother Counts” t-shirt.  I LOVED her energy!

Thanks so much for checking this out…more to come soon.  I’m working on a little video behind the scenes right now…check back later for that…

Black & White Beauty

Beauty…

Most of us ascribe current beauty images with beautiful full color images.  Let’s be honest, though…most of these images are ridiculously retouched for most of the major ads.  In terms of what “sells” in the beauty world, it’s all color.   I’ve personally been told that black and white beauty images don’t sell.   What’s the point in creating or showing work that shouldn’t sell??  Well, maybe because I like it and who the #$%@ cares.  At some point in your life you have to create images for yourself regardless of  what other people tell you is right or appropriate.   I like the feel of a beautifully crafted black and white image.  I breaks it down to just the essence of the photograph.  Light, Shape, and Form.  In any case, I’ve been shooting some images recently and have been compiling a series of them that I think really take shape in the black and white environment.  Here are a few of them…

Real People Rock.

I shot these for a pharmaceutical company recently.  It was a full day, shooting non-stop, but some great stuff came out of it.  Some of the personalities here just cracked me up.  I had a blast putting this together.  The kids were a lot of fun to work with.  I had to shoot everyone normal, then act like they had sinus pain, then act like they were “healed”…all better.    It made for some fun groupings.  Some of their expressions were just priceless.   To see them all you can go to my site here:  http://jamesweberstudio.com/#/Portfolios/Real%20People/1.

Click on the images to see them larger.This kid was my favorite in his, United Colors of Benetton shirt.  He’s a GAP ad waiting to happen.

This one was quite the little actress.  She’s going to do well.

I loved how this one went from zero to anguish in 2 seconds…lol.

Loved the devilish look in the middle and the mind meld thing happening on the right.

What more can you say, we’ve all felt like this before. lol.

Ok, he was giving me, “I’ve got to pee”…not quite what I was looking for, but he still gets the cutest kid award.

I think he just wanted to go home, but you know what.  That’s ok.

Just awesome.

Future CEO of something…just you wait.

Justin Bieber Lookalike 1

Justin Bieber Lookalike 2.  Total ball of energy…I’m sure Mom knows all about that…lol.

Mark Zuckerberg Lookalike

Loved this one’s energy.  I think he was shot and done in under 2 minutes.

He was too funny.  He walks up to me, shakes my hand, and says, “I’m Jaden.  Like Jaden Smith.  I’ve been in a movie too!”…and proceeds to be professionally cute on camera.  Awesomeness.

She was great.  She had that hair in her face and didn’t even try to move it out of the way.  She knew it made her look more miserable.   You know she’s pulled this routine on her parents before getting out of school.  Very believable.

Ok, not great in the anguish department, but very cute.

This one rocked the house.  Pain, anguish…Genius.  One of my favorites.

Not to be outdone, the competition arrives!

He was a pro…great stuff.

Great smile.

Probably the best actor there.  Great stuff.  Can you believe he’s 18?  Thought he was shooting for our younger category.

I was actually a little worried here.  Thought he was choking for a second there.  He was pretty good.

Beautifully miserable…

He should try out for “The Office”.  He’d be a shoe-in.

Not sure what he’s giving me here, but I kinda dig it.

I’m seeing a Miley Cirus Love interest part in his future.

She was great.  Smile to anguish in seconds.

A lot of shooting, but all in all, a great day.  Loved all of the varied people and pulling these expressions out of them.  You can see more of them on my site at: http://jamesweberstudio.com/#/Portfolios/Real%20People/1

 

Faces of Men I

I started a men’s portrait book a few years ago and have been slowly adding to it’s contents.  I’m continuing a series I’ve been working on, kind of like a men’s black and white beauty series.  I’ll be adding to it occasionally as I come across good new faces…I’ve got a few new entries to add to the collection.  The first is Kyle L.  from Major Models.  I shot two editorials with Kyle…the stories are in the works, so I’m holding off on sharing those for the moment, but we shot some portraits after the first editorial that I really liked.  He’s very chill and a great male model to work with on any shoot.  I highly recommend him.

Below are some of my other images in the series…this is an ongoing project.  Feel free to email me if you’re interested in shooting for it.