Vintage inspired, rock n roll infused shoot for a jewelry brand
Roles: Art director, photographer, editor
“Elizabeth took the vision I had and translated it perfectly. She knew exactly what she was doing” -Renee, Love+Leather
I was lucky enough to find a jewelry brand here called Love+Leather. The work of a very talented visionary, Renee. Although L+L is founded here in Central Florida, their vibe is West Coast and the look for all their visual collateral is very defined. The user generated content they choose to share is masterfully curated to maintain this look and feel. So while I have drooled over everything they put out, I didn’t imagine I’d get to be behind the camera working with this brand which has been seen in Free People and boutiques in LA.
But you know what? Amazing things can happen when you just SHOW. UP. I just said hey, let’s do something together. And this is what we did. Renee was on it like white on rice. She pulled together her squad and discovered our model, Riley, who was in.friggin.credible.
The Model
At the time of shooting. Riley was 16. And so amazing with her body but particularly her hands. They were always absolute perfection which is important to me as a photographer. The hands can give a lot away. Nerves, inexperience, general awkwardness. But she knew what she was doing and so this wasn’t an issue which was a relief to me. I sometimes spend 80% of my time posing a model just looking at and adjusting her hands. Anyway, Riley channeled all the 1970s mojo we needed her to and from the very first shots (like the one below) she was in it to win it. She’s represented by Next.
The Story
This shoot is a story. Our character wakes up (looking like perfection, naturally!) goes shopping, listens to music, travels to her gig, hangs out back stage and ends her journey rocking out like the rockstar she is.
The Crew
Some words about this collaboration. It wouldn’t be what it is without the women who all worked together to pull together these looks and keep their eye on every detail while I kept my eye in the viewfinder. Our crew was Brittany on style and set (she owns the Owl’s Attic vintage boutique in Winter Park), Daecie on makeup, Jamie on hair Renee on jewels. My assistant was Andrew who is, himself, an up and comer in photography. Headbands are I’m With the Band. That gorgeous velvet lingerie is Solstice Intimates.
The Technical Details
Shot with a very beat up 5DmkIII. Did the whole shoot with my 1 favorite lens, a Sigma art series 35mm. Mostly kept the aperture around a healthy 4.0. A few shots toward the end were wide open 1.4. Reflector outside. Portable soft box and off camera Speedlite inside. Blah blah blah there you go.
Links
See the L+L Mellow Yellow look book created with these images. And their own blog post about the shoot (with an interview with me) can be found here.
The Videos
In addition to the images, I produced some ultrashort videos for use on the brand’s Instagram.
The Images
