Hunter Jumper Class

Two shots from a delightful early spring day out with Anne Healy, regional location expert and horsewomen.

jewelry test shots

Some quick shots showing different surfaces for a potential jewelry shoot.  

Mermaid Show

I missed Paris Hilton's show featuring the Weeki Watchi mermaid show, but was glad to find time to see it

 in person on a recent trip to northern Florida.  Unfortunately my shots in the underwater theatre didn't amount to much, but I thought the exterior shots of the grand landscape features were worth a post.

STYLING TEST

Bottle / wood / leaves.  A quick mock up I sent off recently.  Something about those 

narcissus, visible in the glass bottle, speak to me, as did the scent of the geranium leaves. 

Like the first brush with a tomato plant (or marigold) when spring has arrived. 

H&M skirt

A couple of out takes from a modern art shoot I did with  Jeff Johnson in his studio.  Laurie Leumann brought the skirt which is from H&M, but it's all about the boots, which are Marnie.

CHATEAU COURANCES

For an American Friends of Versailles dinner at Courance, Craig Hoffman helped me transform this fabulous outbuilding into a magical sultry Indian destination.  Anne-Marie de Ganay (our hostess and uber-talented A.F.V. friend) concentrated on the table settings - mixing anglo printed tin plates with monkey themed fabric and modern glassware.  I chose mixed hot colored dahlias, protea and figs to set the tone for the arrangements, with 8' palm fronds and lanterns fashioned from Indian prayer shawls for the rafters (easy in theory).  Incense in huge pots of floral outside added an earthy mystic quality.  The gardens (of Courance) influenced Le Notre's designs for Versailles and are open to the public - absolutely worth a look see.

INTERIORS

The demise of the June Lune Theatre was a tragedy.  The sale they had after was an amazing experience.  In the warren of storage rooms (with no light) I found some wonderful backdrops, some of which became draperies (within about 45 minutes).  The crowd scene was painted in perspective and now wraps two sets of oversized double french doors. (top)

A vintage French poster mixes nicely with curry colored louis XVII style chairs. (bottom)

STYLING

Two looks for target knockdown furniture, on location.  Chad Holder photographer.

                                                                        In the studio.

HIGH LOW STYLE

Target stemware with two different looks.  World Market "Coke" bar glasses.

STYLING

 Out takes from a nice shoot with Jeff Johnson Photo. Cathy Iverson (Market of Fleas) did the Interiors of this location. 

TREND MID CENTURY

     If you take time to think about it,  Is "trend forward" an oxymoron?

 

INTERNATIONAL STYLING

            A few shots from the last Gand bals du Versailles.  Allison Lisk and I used large paper parasols with streaming ribbons to get a sense of scale in the orangerie.  the feathers on the long tables a nod to Marie Antoinette's  grand bed, and the silver juliep cups with antique spray roses and mini herbs  to her passion of the simple sweetness of a garden.    

Truly a pleasure to have our friend Quentin Bacon (quentinbacon.com) over to photograph the event.  Joel Cottin (head gardener of Versailles) and his staff suprised us with crates of orange blossoms to scatter.                                                   

CRAFTSMANSHIP

  It's always been my belief that workmanship and craftsmanship have been the bench mark of any era.  It's interesting to think, that at any given time, even the oldest examples of craftsmanship were in fact innovations in their day.  When I find fine examples of some of these stylistic elements, some of which are still used or have been reinvented for today, I feel a certain continuity that gives me security.  In Particular, as quality goes down and references

 to things like proportion are disregarded, I find there isn't any semblance of order to even the most mundane things. With the current economy, I wonder if part of what some of us are experiencing is actually discernment (finally) regarding how much mediocrity is produced. 

 Is less of more sometimes actually more?

INTERNATIONAL STYLING

  

 Chalk, condensation, and Champagne in the cloister at Dom Perignon. 

     In the gallery at Chantilly.

                                                                          Veuve on the street.

Some days it's the little things that make a difference:  While styling at Versailles, on a film produced by my friend Kristin on the history of Champagne, we had the chance to meet and greet the Greek ambassadors to Russia, as  they strolled through where were were shooting which sort of took the edge off what was fast becoming a potentially hectic shooting schedule. At Dom Perignon we were dually impressed with all the talents of the various players and (by their own accord) with the Bells at the Abby (where dear Dom, the father of Champagne happens to be buried) chiming at the moment we had our final taste.   The word sexy was never used  but of the eight champagne houses we visited there was  palpable sensuality there. 

PERFECT PAIRING

     Designer Chad Flynn's take on an IKEA sink paired with a french "necessaire" cabinet.  Clean and Classic