Post-Retro

Jade Brownfield and I met while working the red carpet together at the Maxim red carpet Derby event in 2012, and in the back of my mind, I knew that I wanted to work with her at some point in the future.  Upon seeing her again at the 2013 Maxim event, I knew that then was the time to ask her.  She said yes, and I started thinking of concepts that I could do with her.  I keep a working list of ideas and concepts that I have in mind to do in the future, but I’m always open to hearing other people’s ideas and incorporating those when possible.  She said that she had always wanted to do a pinup shoot.  This is something that had not crossed my mind, honestly, due to the fact that pinup has been done and perfected by so many other photographers.  Knowing that my style was different, though, I was sure that I could put my own spin on the pinup theme.  Part of that confidence lies in the fact that I have a creative and talented team that I work with that is capable of bringing a fashion concept to life, but in our own way.  I have done several vintage shoots that had an editorial feel, and that was the direction that I wanted to take with this shoot.  However, I didn’t want to lock it into specific decade, per se.  Actually, I wanted it to be hard to pin down a decade so as to make it more timeless.  I even wanted to give it a futuristic flair, akin to a “Jetsons” look.  The idea was retro, but futuristic, but still pinup… but still fashion. The Post-Retro concept was born.

As planning was developing for this shoot, I had done a test shoot with another amazing model, Megan Ducharm.  The test shoot was more casual, but we got excellent results.  I knew that I wanted to see how she would handle a more stylized concept.  I pitched the idea to her about this theme and she was on board with it.

When considering a location for this shoot, I knew that I wanted something that was going to offer a lot of options.  I wanted the shoot to progress through several looks, and I wanted a combination of indoor and outdoor.  I wanted a pool as well.  Isidro knew a couple of friends that had houses with pools, and we spent an evening checking them out.  This is the planning and time spent before a shoot that people don’t see, yet is so critical to the final outcome.  When I saw Craig Scherman’s home, I knew that we had found our location.  The pool was huge, and it offered the possibility of a lot of different compositions, and more importantly, clean compositions.  The inside of the home, to me, was even more spectacular. The structure of the home had skylights throughout, which was great for natural lighting.  There was also a lot of vintage decor that I could use that blended perfectly with our theme.

MAKEUP – I brought on master makeup artist Isidro Valencia for the shoot.

“I focused on providing drama to the eyes. I wanted something dramatic and colorful. The use of eye shadow color is an easy and straightforward way of making eyes pop. This was a way to bring attention in their eyes.”  Isidro

HAIR – Matthew Tyldesley was my hairstylist of choice for this shoot.

“For post-retro I really got to experiment with hair inspired by the the 1960’s and 1970’s. I got to create several looks that were more exaggerated to reflect my own style and to make the collection feel current. The looks utilized lots of heat styling expanding on traditional roller placement and finishing. It was important for me to study the model’s facial structure to get the right balance. I also used custom extensions to create density, length and dimension. For my alternate looks, I used hair pads and a lot of back combing to create large silhouettes that were reminiscent of the time period. The hair is such an important factor and I want the viewer to see the beauty and seduction of the styles that both model bring to life.”  Matthew

WARDROBE – For the wardrobe and accessories, Genna Yussman was extremely helpful by providing that for the shoot.  And the looks of the outfits could not have been better for the theme.

PHOTOGRAPHY – As far as my approach to the photography techniques, I wanted to take advantage of the location as much as possible, but have a natural interaction with the models during the sets.  Although I never lose sight of what the light is doing in a setting, I had an intense focus on getting unique compositions with the location.  This involved using all 3 lenses I had in my bag, using different vantage points, shooting on top of ladders, through furniture, hanging off of porch railing, etc.  As far as light, I used natural light for all but 2 sets.  Indoors, I loved the natural light provided by the large windows and skylights, which gave great overhead, diffused light.  The only time that I used a strobe indoors was when I fired a light through a large glass panel behind Megan to blow out the background.  Outdoors, I took advantage of the cloudy day, and used natural light.  For the last set, I used an Einstein shot into a white beauty dish.  I wanted to get a high fashion look that was very sharp and crisp.

Overall, I consider the shoot a success, and I’m very lucky to have worked with these beautiful and talented people.  I always say that they make my work look good, and this shoot was no exception.