This morning I stumbled upon a world of new fashion blogs that I had never seen before! I found some of these to be super inspiring and refreshing and thought I would share!
Enjoy!
Last week I photographed a super-cool fashion shoot for the March issue of Metro Magazine! The concept is SO much fun, I can't wait for you all to see the final product this spring!
We shot a Orbit Studios, which is an oh-so-lovely studio space! I fell in love with the giant sweep there and just HAD to use it for this shoot!
Special thanks to Louisa for taking these behind-the-scene photos from our day! If you want to see more, head on over to Fashion Editor, Mary O'Regan's blog!
As always, I couldn't have pulled off this magic if it wasn't for the help of one AMAZING crew:
Styling // Erick DeLeon of Modern Day Dapper
Makeup // Fatima Olive
Talent // Tom Sellwood, Wehmann & Orlando, Vision
Assistants // Louisa Podlich, Brandon Werth, Collin Hughes
Publication // Metro Magazine
Location // Orbit Studios
And we couldn't help but have a little fun on the side....
The latest issue of Metro Magazine is fresh on the news stands and I am SUPER excited about this issue!
This month's issue includes the 2010 Keeper Awards, which is an award given out by Metro to 7 amazing artists in our city! I've photographed this article for the past 3 years and we have always done in-studio portraits for this. When I was invited to shoot it again, I wanted to switch it up! Sometimes I think that we are bombarded by fancy, over produced shoots, whenever we look in a magazine. I wanted to give the readers a break from all of that and offer them some amazing, honest imagery! All of these portraits were photographed on location and using the existing natural light that we had! I am beyond excited to share this with all of you, because I am super proud of this year's spread! I also wanted to give the readers a stronger sense of exactly who these people are!
Make sure to pick up your copy, which also features some yummy breakfast on the cover (breakfast is my personal favorite food!) Check out all of the amazing artists who are the current Keepers of Minneapolis!
Congratulations to all of the wonderful people who I met while shooting this! You made this an AMAZING feature!
I am beyond happy with this latest test shoot! Testing is all about allowing yourself the freedom to create! I absolutely love film and wanted to go back to the basics. I wanted to create a menswear spread that was clean and authentic, without compromising quality and, of course, style! Erick DeLeon styled the shoot, and I had my heart set on using attire from BlackBlue. I absolutely LOVE this store. The vibe, the selection, the clientele - everything about it is beautiful and I just had to have them be a part of it! Lucky for me, they agreed and some pure magic happened!
This shoot was so refreshing for me, because it was truly so simple! In studio, all natural light, and since we photographed it with film, there wasn't any post production! The process was just about as inspiring to me as the final images!
CREDITS//
Photographs: Eliesa Johnson
Attire: BlackBlue
Styling: Erick DeLeon
Talent: Jason of Ignite Models
Hair/Makeup: Margo Gordon
Film Development: Richard Photo Lab
Woo Hoo!!! We just wrapped up THE most inspiring test shoot!
It was honestly, one of the simplest shoots I have ever put together. It all began when Ignite, which is an amazing agency in town, sent me over a photo of a new guy they had just signed on. This model had no experience - which is honestly some of my most favorite subjects to work with. Simply, because they have no idea what they are doing yet and they also don't have a pre-conceived-notion of what a model is 'suppose' to do. This particular model had the most amazing freckles, and I dreamed up this winter fashion spread all around his look!
Erick, once again, worked his magic on the styling and my current FAVORITE store for menswear, Black Blue lent us all of our amazing looks!!
The photographs were shot with all film cameras. We used both a 35mm camera - the Canon FT-QL and a Medium Format 500C Hasselblad (which, for the record, is like a little slice of heaven to look through that viewfinder!)
Our film was: Velvia 100F Fujichrome and Fuji Pro 400H
The best part about this shoot for me, and probably the reason it was so inspiring was just how simple it was! We didn't need to worry about downloading cards or even looking at the camera! It was just me, a window full of natural light, one model and an amazing camera! That, my friends, is what it is all about!
We've been searching for the perfect roll of film for my next test shoot! Here are some out takes from a test roll we shot in the studio! I think it is super interesting to notice the color change, depending on what we are wearing and how the camera picks up certain tones in some shots and not in others! I am SUPER pumped for this next shoot - it's coming together beautifully and I can not wait to share it with you all!
These images were photographed with Fuji Pro 160S and we used a Canon FT QL 35mm camera!
Well, I have some exciting news!
For the first time ever, I entered the AdFed Awards - and I WON!!!
AdFed MN is a non-profit professional trade association serving the local advertising community including agencies, advertisers, suppliers and students. Each year, they host a big awards show, that is basically the Academy Awards of the local ad world! Advertisers, Agencies, Designers, and Photographers from all around submit work in several different categories. These categories range from everything from Guerrilla Marketing Campaigns to Billboard ads!
I entered in two of the Photography categories this year and here is how I placed:
Photography - Self Promotion - Campaign
Title: The Modern Day Man
Award: SILVER!!!
Photography - Editorial - Campaign
Title: Fine Lines
Award: Merit
I am BEYOND thrilled that The Modern Day Man shoot took the Silver honor!! This was a test shoot for my portfolio and to be honest - I didn't expect to place at all! I was more entering this competition for the experience and exposure to just be critiqued and judged, so I am SO excited about actually winning! I also love that this was something that I dreamed up and worked with an amazing team to create - and that it is good enough to be award winning! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make the awards show, so I'm don't fully understand what this winning thing means, but I do know that my work gets published in a book that is distributed among the Advertising community!
I've posted images from both shoots below - enjoy!
The Fine Lines Shoot for Metro Magazine also received a Merit award in the Editorial Campaign Category!
I'm on the CUSP of getting ready to send out my portfolios and begin the official ELIESA campaign! That's right...I said campaign! As far as I am concerned, this is a mission of three things:
1) To get my work in front of new editors/agents/art directors/designers and publications.
2) To network and begin building relationships with potential clients
3) To book some kick ass jobs!
While all of these above things are necessary and exciting, I am a big believer that it all starts with me. I want my potential clients to know me, just as much as they know my work. I want them to WANT me soooo bad, they can't say no! In the commercial world, I have always been taught to 'sell your work' first, but I'm taking a different approach this time around! I'm selling myself, and the idea of working with me, just as much as the amazing work we produce! I want clients to know that they are getting the complete package and that we are going to ROCK whatever concept we are given!
This past week, I had the lovely opportunity to get in front of the camera and update my personal photos with my friend, Collin Hughes. I have always loved Collin's work and it made complete sense for him to photograph me. When choosing a photographer to take images of you, choose wisely! I chose Collin, not because he is such a good friend, but rather because his work and the energy in his work emulates the exact vibe that I want to put out there for my clients. Needless to say, he did an amazing job! Here is a tiny quick preview of some of the images from our shoot!
CREDITS //
Photographer - Collin Hughes
Hair + Makeup - Margo Gordon
Styling - Alice Sydow
It's done! It's finally done! I am SUPER stoked about how the images from my last test shoot turned out!
The concept was somewhere in between a Dolce & Gabbana ad campaign and the Drug, Sex, and Rock-n-Roll attitude! I wanted to have this juxtaposition of a trashy environment, mixed with classy attire. I wanted it fashionable, yet gritty. Polished, yet messy. Refined, yet questionable! I was super lucky to, once again, work with an AMAZING team! A. Michele Boutique let us use their gorgeous pieces to style all of the models! Seriously, this boutique had absolutely everything we needed to pull the shoot together and I really, really appreciate local shops who are willing to collaborate with us on these test shoots! Collaboration is what this is all about! Now, onto the sexy car...I was coming into the studio a few weeks prior to this shoot and my friend, Betty - who is an amazing jewelry designer, drove by in this beauty of a ride! I literally chased her down and was like...BETTY! I MUST USE YOUR CAR!!! It fit perfectly in the setting and was the perfect pop of color to tie in the whole shoot!
CREDIT//
Photography // Eliesa Johnson
Production // Chelsey Paul
Hair // Micah Savage
Makeup // Margo Gordon
Talent // Kristina & Elle – Ignite Models, Ewalt & Siddiqee – Vision Management
Assistants // Jonny Bennett, Louisa Podlich
Post Production // Liz Hardt
Clothing // A Michele Boutique
Car // Betty Jager
