love this photo. feel it with your eyes.

I love this photograph by Norman Jean Roy!

Simona Coppola with Walter Schupfer Management (they rep artists) just sent me this beautiful photograph of actors Michelle Williams and Alan Cumming by photographer Norman Jean Roy. The shot was styled by WSM's artist Alicia Lombardini for New York Magazine.

photograph of Michelle Williams and Alan Cumming by norman jean roy for New York Magazine

I'm not really sure if Norman Jean Roy shot on 8x10 but the quality of this perfectly composed image suggests that he did. It's so awesome to see a beautifully lit black and white image—those rich rich blacks and smooth contrast. The highlights are just where they should be (like rimming the Simon's glasses—and not shielding his eyes) and the shadow tones are just dense enough to "shape" the subjects without being "muddy". Look at the leather, you can touch it! Feel it with your eyes! When a photograph is this well lit, I like to call it a "photograph" and not a "picture". I would like all of our images in Genlux to be photographs. 

fake it 'til you make it? oscar de la renta did.

One might find it shocking to hear that such a talent as Oscar de la Renta once needed to pull out the ‘fake it till you make it’ card, but truth be told, he did. In his new book, The Style, Inspiration, and Life of Oscar de la Renta (Assouline), he admits that in 1959, while interviewing for a position with Antonio Castillo at Lanvin—a skilled position for which he clearly wasn’t qualified—he exaggerated his work experience at Balenciaga. Castillo hired him on the spot. To get up to speed, well, let’s let Oscar tell the story: “I bought time by saying I had to go back to Spain and collect my things. Then I went straight out and looked up the biggest advert for a fashion school in the yellow pages. I called up the lady and asked if she could teach me everything she knew in the space of two weeks.” 

50 years in the making: The Style, Inspiration, and Life of Oscar de la Renta, published by Assouline, $125, assouline.com

     From there, Oscar came to New York in 1963. At a dinner on his very first night in the city, he was strategically placed (thanks to Count Lanfranco Rasponi) next to Elizabeth Arden, whom Rasponi knew was on the hunt for a new designer. As it turns out, Castillo had left Arden to start his own collection—something that angered Arden. So Oscar played up the fact that he worked as Castillo’s assistant, and Arden, who couldn’t resist a little payback, bit, hiring him the following morning. Five decades later, and Oscar de la Renta has designed for major film stars, royalty, politicians, and some of the most important ladies who ever lunched.

Oscar de la Renta designed the wool-and-cotton coat and straw hat for his debut collection for Elizabeth Arden, 1963. Louis Faurer/Vogue, © Condé Nast

Oscar’s first dress was made for Beatrice Cabot Lodge, the daughter of the U.S. ambassador to Spain, for her coming-out ball in Madrid, 1956.

Though he considers himself to have “the memory of a mosquito,” and not one to look back—with nary an archive to speak of—this book resolves all of that. It is full of wonderful anecdotes and stunning photographs that document Oscar de la Renta’s enduring legacy. “What matters above all are the people I love and to try to have a life that is well-lived. Every day I wake and see the sunrise, I look up and say, ‘God, thank you.’” The Style, Inspiration, and Life of Oscar de la Renta, published by Assouline, $125, assouline.com

Kate Moss in an Oscar de la Renta bias-cut silk chiffon dress, 1996. Bruce Weber /Vogue,© Condé Nast

Sarah Jessica Parker modeling an Oscar de la Renta flamenco-inspired strapless organza gown with a cutout embroidered bodice for the designer, 2002. © Mario Testino/Vogue, Condé Nast

a photograph so tragic, it's beautiful...

The other night we held our Aesthesia Studios+MOPLA+Genlux photographic competition event. What's that you ask? Well over the past few months, through an effort spearheaded by Lew Abramson, we've been collecting photographic entries (images shot on film—NO DIGITAL IMAGES ALLOWED). The big night—to reveal the winners—had finally arrived.

The party was held at Aesthesia Studios. owned by Grant and Tiziana Mitchell. There were delicious tray-passed hors d'oeuvres, lots of cocktails and tasty (and carbonated) Hint Water courtesy of our friend, Paul Palacios. The top three winners were awarded crystal trophies, studio time in Aesthesia Studios and all will be published in Genlux magazine's Summer issue! The evening started with a talk by photographer Art Schreiber, but that needs it's own post so more on that one later.

The judges were: Cat Jimenez – Executive Director, Lucie Foundation, and Co-Founder MOPLA; Deborah Burch, Executive Producer Snog Productions; Kwaku Alston, Professional Photographer and Educator; and Marc Baptiste, Celebrity Fashion Photographer, Director and Philanthropist; and me!

We were asked to judge all entries on a scale of 1 to 5. Of all the entries, I only gave one of them a 5. And it was this winning entry by photographer Heather Williamson. A haunting image of a man in a helmet with a tracheotomy apparatus around his neck, noticeable scars and an eerie stare that seems 100% genuine. It reminds of the line about Edith Piaf's life that goes, 'she lived a life so tragic it was beautiful.' I look at this photo and say it's definitely tragic, and it's definitely beautiful. Take a good look for yourself and then I'll tell you the rest of the story. 

Photo by Heather Williamson of Abraham. A photograph of pure wonder. How many question can you ask of this one image. That's what makes it so wonderful. 

Heather Williamson, the photographer told me she took only one photograph of this man whose name was Abraham. He had just gotten out of a downtown hospital. There are so many great things about this photograph. The tonal quality, the grain structure, the composition, the lighting, the expression, the graffiti on the helmet (Did he do the graffiti? Did he find this helmet?), the tracheotomy neckpiece (What is that about?), the rosary beads, the scars on his face, the soulful eyes of a man whose conscious state may or may not be present, the beautiful tonal background that splits the image so beautifully both horizontally and vertically, and the "by chance" band of light that almost looks representational of a fold of an old photograph.

It's mind-boggling that this is just ONE image. ONE shot. Only ONE. Not one picked from 20, or 10 or even two. It's only one of one. It's not setup, or staged or created in post. This is one real, genuine, photograph shot on film. According to the photographer, she went up to Abraham on the street, asked to take his photo, got real close to him, waited for a moment and then took it. Just one photograph. She does have the negative but has no intention of reproducing another print. That's it. So many times we've had the discussion, "Is photography art." I've always argued that it's NOT art. But then I look at an image like this and I say, hey, maybe I'm wrong—photography can be art—especially if the photographer is really willing to destroy the negative after making just one print. That's art.

shooting katherine evelyn anita "katie" cassidy

We shot Katherine Evelyn Anita "Katie" Cassidy today (Sunday, April 6, 2014). She's on that CW show called Arrow. She's also the daughter of David Cassidy the 70s star from the Partridge Family.

Photographer Marc Baptiste was in from New York for a photo contest we judged together, so i set up for him to shoot Katie on the rooftop of the Luxe Hotel on Rodeo Drive. It all came together in our usual Genlux fashion—quickly and serendipitously. Quixote Studios was kind enough to deliver some staging to the rooftop so we could lift Katie up above the level of the wall that surrounds the patio of the hotel. Then, this morning I had this thought to make it look super summery by adding a lawn—so I zipped over to Home Depot and loaded up my car with 64 square feet of sod. You see the result below. That white building directly behind her is the CHANEL boutique on Rodeo and Brighton and those dots on the building are all CHANEL logos. (Okay, when was the last time you saw Home Depot and CHANEL in the same paragraph). 

We had a late start. Katie just flew in from Vancouver this morning for the shoot. so our call time was 11:30. (We usually like to start by 9) Being as she needed to be hard-out at 5 to get back on her plane to Vancouver (whew!) we were going to be hard-pressed to get a full fashion story. Especially since Marc called me early this morning to let me know that the light was going to be too harsh to shoot from about noon to 3. Really? Hmmm. So I grabbed a ladder from my garage, went in the backyard and cut down three huge palm branches that we then could use to "cut" the light. It worked! Gives a cool summery vibe while allowing us to shoot mid-day light! And much easier to transport than a 12-by scrim and high-rollers. So now you want to hear about some drama, right? 

Katie Cassidy standing on  64 square feet of sod on a platform four feet high under the shade of one palm branch. That's the CHANEL building in the background on Rodeo Drive.

Remember, our call time was 11:30, so we all knew we had to get shakin' as soon as everyone arrived. Ashleigh Louer from The Wall Group (she did that brilliant bowling alley shoot—Alley of the Dolls with us last year) was the first to arrive and got Katie going in makeup as Elisa Wishan with The Rex Agency immediately started her manicure. Then, I'm not sure why it hadn't hit me before, but a whole hour went by before I realized that Robert Steinken our hair stylist was not on set. And he's ALWAYS on time. His agent Susanna Burke at CloutierRemix HAD confirmed "receipt" of call sheet on Friday—something I always request of the artists and agents—so I was sure 'all was good.' So anyway, I don't say a thing, I just casually walk out of the hotel space and go outside to call Robert on his cell—THERE'S NO ANSWER! I call Cloutier to get their "emergency" phone number from their answering machine. I call it. It goes nowhere. Not even connected. ARE YOU KIDDING? So then, without showing worry because I always know things are meant to be, I walk back in and I guess everyone knew what was happening because Katie was on the phone to her hair girl and hands me the phone. I give her the info and ask that she gets down as soon as possible. She was there in less than 30 minutes and she was FANTASTIC! Everything is meant to be. It's hard to understand in the moment why seemingly "bad" things are happening, but have faith. Everything is going to work out fine. At around 2 I get a call from a VERY apologetic Robert Steinken who said he thought the shoot was not til tomorrow! Listen, if Robert wasn't the best, I'd place him on my blacklist.

Now, during this time, a truly miraculous thing is happening. The publicist, who I'm working with for the first time, is NOT freaking out. She's being calm. Not yelling. Not getting in my face. Not being a B. She is being cool. She is being calm. She is letting the creative process play out in a positive way. AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHY THINGS WORKED OUT SO QUICKLY!! Sure, she was concerned, but she's mature enough to know that getting negative on us is not going to help solve anything. Next to Brad Cafarelli, who is also as chill as can be on set, this girl is my new favorite pr person! Kimberly Simone with BWR. 

So by 2:00 we started rolling. The fashion was awesome. That's Katie in a Valentino coat in the shot above. Our stylist who pulled a brilliant "strong solid graphic color" story was Holly Copeland with The Rex Agency. Talk about a hard worker. She had a shoot yesterday. Has our shoot today and one tomorrow. Crazy! Anyway, Katie worked so well that we finished by 4:00. AND we stopped to have lunch. I'm not quite sure how that all works but sometimes during our shoots TIME STANDS STILL. We can be shooting and I'll look at the time, and it's like it hasn't moved. I think God protects us in some kind of creative bubble, where time does not matter. He's good like that.