willie mays or wylie hays

I grew up a San Francisco Giants fan. And my hero was Willie Mays—the greatest baseball player of all time. Some would say he was the best because he loved what he did. Another hero of mine was Steve Jobs. Steve's advice to finding success was: "To find what it is you love to do." 

I'm lucky or blessed to love what I do. And I think most of those I work with feel the same way. The photographers, stylists, makeup artists, models, hair stylists, manicurists, prop and set decorators—they all have a common thread of loving what they do. 

Today we hit a homerun of a different kind. This one name Wylie not Willie; and Hays not Mays. Wylie Hays is with NEXT and she's an 18-year-old superstar model on the rise. She's already walked for Proenza Schouler and Alexander Wang and been in Wang's ad campaign. 

Wylie Hays with NEXT models. The 6 foot, 18-year-old beauty is one to watch. 

On set at the famed Mack Sennett Studios was a group of those job-loving types. Jeff Berlin was our photographer; Holly Copeland with Rex Agency was our stylist; Camille Clark with Aim Artists was our makeup artist; and Paul Desmarre was our hair stylist. We also were lucky to have two super helpful interns: Emily Hassard and Tori Baldridge. 

Let me tell you about the cool Mack Sennett Studio. It's located in Silverlake right off of Hollywood Blvd. It was recently purchased by Jesse Rogg who is the studios President and Head of Production. He poured some serious money into creating a studio that maintained much of the old Hollywood heritage while infusing modern touches like a ginormous styling room and well-designed makeup room. 

In the basement of the studio are priceless relics from Hollywood history including the original cases that held props from such classics as Gone with the Wind. 

Hairstylist Paul Desmarre in front of huge Paris backdrop

Jeff Berlin shot on Sony's answer to the Red Cam. A high-definition movie camera that let's us grab high-res stills.

Wylie Hays in the basement of Mack Sennett Studios showing off her 37 inch inseam. 

we got wylie

Thank you Lord! We got Wylie from NEXT for our shoot today. She's pretty amazing. Six feet tall—hopefully not taller. Funny how when the girls that are less than 5' 10" always have 5' 10" on their cards. And when they're over 6' tall, they'll write down that they're 6'.

Most times I book the girls without seeing them first. Some would say that's not a good idea but we have so many shoots going on there's little time for castings, so as long as I see polaroids, I'm good. I'll be honest, there have been a few times when we've been shocked by the girl that walked into hair and makeup—looking nothing like her book. Let me tell you one.

There was this one model who we booked for a shoot in Las Vegas. She flew in and met us there on the morning of the shoot. She looked NOTHING like her book. It was shocking. The challenge was her nose and every photographer had photoshopped this girl's nose in exactly the same way. So her book looked consistent. And her book was good. So we made the decision (I mean, what could we do, we're in Vegas) to shoot her and photoshop her nose too. She looked gorgeous in the photos. 

One of my favorite things is to interview our actresses or top models for our cover features. Yesterday I interviewed Katheryn Winnick from the History channel's Vikings. She's smart, witty, and is a third degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and second degree black belt in Karate. Girl will kick your ass. A few of her favorites were: Song: Hotel California; Movie: Shawshank Redemption; Color: Blue; Getaway: Napa Valley; Emotion: Laughing hysterically until my stomach hurts. (Love that answer!) 

katheryn winnick at our genlux photoshoot. that's our intern ashly andrade, the famed photo bomber.

Oh no! I just found out our manicurist can't make it to the shoot this morning. Yikes! Okay, let me go send out some emails and get this handled. 

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c'mon next models, let us have wylie. please.

We have a shoot on Friday at Mack Sennett Studios and REALLY want to have this NEXT model, Wylie Hays. I guess we have a second hold which means we're in line. Hopefully that first hold releases tonight and we can grab her for our fashion story. Jeff Berlin is shooting. We have other options but I'm trying not to think about them. You know, keep the universe in check.

Wylie Hays from NEXT Models. She is amazing! My only concern is it says her shoe size is a 12. Hmmmm. The largest we've worked with is an 11 on Paris Hilton. 

I finished editing the cover and fashion story with Katheryn Winnick today. I love the story. It has great energy and soul to the images. Marc Baptiste has a way of connecting with the models like nobody else. It's his enthusiasm and his passion for what he does that emerges through during the shoot. He's always upbeat, positive and full of life. That's Marc. We've become great friends over the last six or so years. Our first editorial shoot together was with Dita Von Teese. To this day it's one of my favorite shoots. Dita has been on the cover of Genlux twice, as has Jessica Alba. Our next cover is with Lydia Hearst whose also been on the cover of Genlux before—that one shot by BrakhaX2. 

Marc Baptiste's first cover for Genlux. Dita Von Teese for our Fall 2008 issue. Styled by Angel Terrazas. 

katheryn winnick? who's that?

When I mention that our cover girl is Katheryn Winnick—most didn't have a clue who I'm talking about. All I can say is, 'You will!'  She's the star of Vikings, a sort of obscure television series on the History channel. Her publicist is Leslie Sloane with BWR which means a lot because Leslie is one of the best and works with some of the best talent in the world. So when Leslie said to shoot this girl for your cover, I listen. 

Superstar hair stylist Robert Steinken with Cloutier Remix coiffing out Katheryn Winnick

We brought out photographer Marc Baptiste from New York to shoot her. He always uses his trusted digitech Drew Schwartz (who also happens to be a good shooter). Together they make a great team. 

Marc Baptiste meeting Katheryn Winnick in makeup area at Aesthesia Studios, Culver City

Some of the usual antics surfaced with the publicists. I wanted a start time of 9:00 and the publicists asked to move it to 10:30. Since our end time was 4:00 with a hard-out at 5:00, I was concerned we'd be hard-pressed to get the cover and interior pages done, so I asked if we could work through lunch, but, in favor of diplomacy, that I'd leave it up to them. They came back with, 'Yes, we prefer to work through lunch." Okay, fine. 

The day before the shoot, which was Sunday, I get an email from one of Leslie's associates that the talent required gluten-free food. WHAT? Didn't you guys say you wanted to work through lunch? Oh, but I'm supposed to know that when you say that we're not having lunch, what that really means is: I'm still supposed to setup lunch. Grrrr!!!

The shoot day went great. We had lots of gluten-free snacks from Trader Joe's and lunch from il Forno Caldo, a great restaurant in Beverly Hills. Everyone seemed happy—especially Katheryn, who, of course, didn't eat a bite. 

Our glam team was one-of-my-fave stylists Lisa Cera, Robert Steinken with Cloutier Remix on hair; Melissa Rogers with Art Mix Beauty; and Elisa Wishan on nails. The team took a little longer than usual to get through hair and makeup and our first shot wasn't taken until 1:30. 

We used Robert, the guard of the jewelry in our shot with Katheryn Winnik. That's Marc Baptiste on the right. 

If there's one thing that drives me crazy, it's when fashion shooters don't shoot from a low angle. If you're going to shoot from standing position, you may as well just shoot portraits and not fashion. The main reason is the shoes. All shoes look better when you can see the space between the heel and the ground. At least try from a lower position as an option. Composition ends up being stronger 75% of the time. Um, that means most of the time if you're scoring at home. 

We were shooting in front of the elevator door as our prop when all of a sudden it opened and this man popped out. Couldn't figure out if he was her boyfriend or manager. He said manager, but we suspected more. 

One of the coolest things about Aesthesia Studios is this outdoor coved cyc that is on wheels. You can roll it around to optimize the natural light. Herb Ritts used to use an outdoor cyc all the time. Almost can't get a bad shot on one. 

Shooting on Aesthesia Studios rolling outdoor cyc. On a beautiful day it doesn't get better than this.

I'm getting a little anxious. I won't say stressed...yet. I have an interview to complete with Winnick and start designing some of the editors' pages. Also need to edit the images from yesterday and need to start selecting models for a shoot on Friday with photographer Jeff Berlin. I'm excited to be working with stylist Holly Copeland again. Another beautiful day in Beverly Hills!